Culvia vs Keeper

Culvia is a local-first workbench for photographers to cull, score, review, and prepare photos for delivery. It can import folders or temporary uploads, scan subfolders, and deduplicate repeated paths. Local models score images for aesthetic and technical qualities and generate thumbnails for browsing. An optional OpenAI-compatible vision review can add image critique, subscores, retouching advice, and shooting advice. Photographers make the final selections by marking images as picks, holds, or rejects, with star ratings and color labels also available. Filters and sorting cover recommendations, technical quality, AI review, manual status, and other review dimensions. Culvia exports picked photos and CSV results for later editing and delivery; documented CSV fields map to Lightroom ratings, flags, and color labels, and to Capture One ratings and color tags. Photos and working data stay on the user's machine by default; images go to an external service only when vision review is enabled. The project is free and open source, with desktop packages for macOS, Windows, and Linux and a local web app. It is early-stage and does not replace a full RAW editor.

Keeper is a macOS photo culling app for photographers reviewing large shoots and selecting images for editing and delivery. Its keyboard workflow uses single-key shortcuts to rate, pick, reject, filter, and change views. A cursor-following loupe supports full-resolution checks of focus and sharpness. Face detection and similarity grouping assist with review, while the final image selections remain with the photographer. The app exports chosen original files and their matching XMP sidecars to a selected folder. Keeper runs photo review and AI-assisted analysis locally on the Mac, and culling does not require an internet connection. The maker says it is built for Apple Silicon, can handle 10K+ photos, and targets 60 frames per second. It currently supports macOS 15 and later. Blur detection is listed as coming soon. Keeper is paid, with a 30-day trial and a lifetime license listed at $15 as a one-time purchase as an early access price; the regular price is $30. There is no free plan.