OpenFocus vs Zerene Stacker
OpenFocus
github.comZerene Stacker
zerenesystems.comSide by side
| Figure | OpenFocus | Zerene Stacker |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 4 |
| Spec score · Focus Stacking Software | 8.4 (#5) | 7.6 (#15) |
| Purpose | OpenFocus aligns and fuses multi-focus image sequences into images with greater depth of field. | Zerene Stacker is focus stacking software designed for challenging macro subjects and discerning photographers. |
| Retouching | The retouch brush paints pixels from a source frame and automatically chooses the sharpest frame beneath the cursor. | Retouching is supported by all versions, including the lowest-price 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
OpenFocus
OpenFocus aligns and fuses multi-focus image sequences to create images with focus throughout. It offers ECC and Homography alignment and several fusion methods: Guided Filter, DCT, DTCWT, GFG-FGF and the StackMFF V4 AI model. A wipe view lets users compare source frames with results, and the software can generate depth maps showing focus position per pixel. It supports folder-based batch processing and a headless command-line interface for scripting and CI. Listed inputs include JPG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, MP4 and numbered image folders; the manual also describes decoding additional video formats. Outputs include those image formats, image-sequence folders and GIF animations. Research functions include metadata-calibrated scale bars and multi-page TIFF stacks that preserve 16-bit depth. The interface supports English, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish, with automatic system-language detection. OpenFocus is free under the MIT License, though included algorithms may have separate license terms. Its Windows and macOS app builds are unsigned and may trigger SmartScreen or Gatekeeper warnings on first launch.
Zerene Stacker
Zerene Stacker has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.