Aduku Stacker vs Zerene Stacker
Aduku Stacker
aduku.app
Zerene Stacker
zerenesystems.comSide by side
| Figure | Aduku Stacker | Zerene Stacker |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 4 |
| Spec score · Focus Stacking Software | 7.9 (#9) | 7.6 (#15) |
| Privacy | The app processes photographs locally and says it does not upload images, create user accounts, or transmit analytics or telemetry. | The privacy policy says the company does not use personal information for marketing or share it except as required by law or to complete a customer-initiated transaction; the software may collect IP address, version, and license-key information for piracy protection. |
| Purpose | Aduku Stacker combines focus-bracketed photographs into one sharp image for macro, product, landscape, and microscopy photography. | Zerene Stacker is focus stacking software designed for challenging macro subjects and discerning photographers. |
| Retouching | Users can paint from aligned source frames, erase strokes, and undo or redo retouching; the app does not yet have a clone tool. | Retouching is supported by all versions, including the lowest-price version. |
| Support | The maker lists [email protected] for questions and support, and says it has no obligation to provide support, maintenance, or updates. | The maker provides support by email and says Professional Edition includes extended access to support staff. |
| System requirements | The stated requirements are macOS 13 or later or 64-bit Windows 10/11; 8 GB RAM is sufficient for most stacks and 16 GB is recommended for deep 16-bit RAW stacks. | From 2026, the maker says new versions use Java 25 and require a 64-bit processor with Windows 10 or 11, macOS 10.14 or later, or a recent Linux version. |
Plans
Zerene Stacker
- Student Edition$39, paid once
- Personal Edition$89, paid once
- Prosumer Edition$189, paid once
- Professional Edition$289, paid once
In their own words
Aduku Stacker
Aduku Stacker combines photographs taken at different focus distances into a sharp image, for macro, product, landscape and microscopy photography. The free app offers five merge methods: Wavelet, Pyramid, Weighted, Hybrid and Depthmap. Its default workflow processes images at 16-bit and uses 32-bit floating-point merge calculations, with memory-bounded batching for deep stacks. Automatic alignment uses feature matching and subpixel refinement; options include focus-breathing correction, homography, mesh warp and manual alignment seeding. It imports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, HEIC and DNG, and exports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, linear DNG and depth maps. Proprietary RAW files may require Adobe DNG Converter on macOS. Retouching lets users paint from aligned source frames, erase strokes and undo or redo, but there is no clone tool. Processing is local and does not require an internet connection. It runs on macOS 13 or later and 64-bit Windows 10/11; 8 GB RAM is sufficient for most stacks, with 16 GB recommended for deep 16-bit RAW stacks.
Zerene Stacker
Zerene Stacker has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.