FilmLab vs Nostalgia
FilmLab
filmlabapp.com
Nostalgia
getnostalgia.aiSide by side
| Figure | FilmLab | Nostalgia |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $5/mo | $6.67/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 6 |
| Spec score · Photo Scanning Software | 9.3 (#1) | 8.2 (#11) |
| Platforms | FilmLab Desktop is offered for Windows, macOS, and Linux; FilmLab Mobile is offered for iOS and Android. | The site says web and iPhone/iPad are available, Android is in Google Play testing, and a Mac beta supports compatible scanners. |
| Privacy | The privacy policy says photos stay on the device and are not uploaded unless the user shares them through another app. | The maker says it does not use uploaded photos or restoration outputs to train or fine-tune AI models without separate explicit consent. |
| Purpose | FilmLab converts digital captures of film negatives into color or black-and-white images using a custom processing engine designed to produce darkroom-inspired colors and tones. | Nostalgia helps families scan, restore, organize, and privately share old family photographs with their stories. |
| Support | Support is provided by email, with the company saying a real person from its small team will respond. | The support page says replies typically arrive within one business day and lists help for restoration, account, billing, and privacy issues. |
Plans
FilmLab
- EducationFree
- Monthly$7.99 a month
- Annual$59.99 a year
- Lifetime$199.99, paid once
Nostalgia
- FreeFree
- Family (monthly)$7.99 a month
- 50 credits$9.99, paid once
- 200 credits$24.99, paid once
- 500 credits$49.99, paid once
- Family (yearly)$79.99 a year
In their own words
FilmLab
FilmLab converts digital captures of film negatives into color or black-and-white images with a processing engine designed for darkroom-inspired tones. Desktop apps open raw files from popular DSLR and mirrorless cameras, along with raw DNG and TIFF files from scanners. Adjustment tools cover exposure, color balance, contrast, brightness, cropping, rotation, and perspective correction. Users can batch-edit and copy or paste settings across images. Editing leaves original scans unchanged and saves processing instructions in adjacent `.fprc` files. Mobile apps can preview negatives, create proof sheets, review older negatives, and make quick scans for sharing. FilmLab is standalone and does not require other software. Listed export formats include JPEG, TIFF, and JPEG XL. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. The paid plans offer full access after a 14-day trial: $7.99 per month or $59.99 per year; lifetime membership is $199.99 once and includes future updates and features. Free education licenses are available by request to qualifying educators. Desktop does not support collaborative real-time editing, and nonrenewing customers can still access images and metadata they created.
Nostalgia
Nostalgia helps families scan, restore, organize, and share old photographs together with their stories. Its tools include repair, deglare, denoising, enhancement, optional colorization, background removal, and animation. Photo Insight checks an image and recommends a restoration step before one is applied. The archive can keep source photos and restored versions with people, captions, notes, dates, and places. Family-tree import can connect people in photos with relatives, and relatives can answer shared photo questions without accounts; the account holder reviews replies before adding them. Prints can be scanned by phone, while the Mac beta supports compatible flatbed scanners. Nostalgia is available on web, macOS, iOS, and Android. The free plan includes 10 restores per month and 30 welcome restores, with one restore used for each cloud repair pass. Family costs $7.99 a month and includes 60 restores monthly, 50 GB storage, and batch restoration for up to 100 photos. The maker says uploaded photos and restoration results are not used to train AI without separate explicit consent.