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Free · Open source · Mac and Windows

Your shoot, culled in an instant.

Pelli Instant sets aside blurry shots, closed eyes and duplicates, keeps the best of each burst, and leaves the final call to you. It runs on your computer: your photos never leave it.

Download for MacDownload for Windows
  • Free with a Pelli account
  • Mac with Apple Silicon · Windows 10 and 11

Pelli Instant at a glance

  • Runs on your computer: your photos are never uploaded

  • Open source: the whole app is on GitHub

  • RAW and JPEG from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm and more

  • Nothing is deleted: your originals stay as they are

The first pass is done. You keep the last word.

Four steps from a folder of RAWs to a selection ready for editing.

  1. Drop a shoot

    Drag a folder onto the window, with its sub-folders if you like. A RAW and its JPEG twin count as one photo.

  2. It sorts

    Focus, motion blur, exposure, faces and eyes, bursts: every photo is checked, and the grid fills in as it goes.

  3. You review

    Selected, To review, Rejected, each rejection with its reason. Change any call in one key.

  4. You export

    Stars and colour labels for Lightroom, a copy of the selection, or the rejects moved aside.
How it judges a photo

It tells a mistake from a choice.

Creamy bokeh, a low-key portrait or eyes closed during a kiss aren't errors: on its default sensitivity, Pelli Instant doesn't hold them against a photo. When it sets one aside, it says why.

  • Focus you can trust

    It measures how wide edges are, not how contrasted, so shallow depth of field and high ISO aren't taken for blur. A face's focus comes first.

  • Motion blur

    Camera shake and a moving subject are spotted, without confusing them with hair, fur or fabric.

  • Closed eyes

    It reads each face's eyes and tells a blink from a smile. On Balanced and Lenient, closed eyes send a photo to review, never straight to the rejects.

  • Exposure in stops

    It estimates how many stops a photo is off. One stop is never flagged; two usually go to review, since a RAW can recover them.

  • Bursts and duplicates

    Shots taken seconds apart are grouped and the best one, or the best few, is kept. Exact copies are found whatever their date.

  • Three sensitivities

    Strict, Balanced or Lenient. Switching re-sorts the shoot instantly, without analysing it again.

  • AI search

    Type “bride bouquet” or “first dance”: the matching photos come first. No keywords to add beforehand.

  • Ratings for Lightroom

    Stars and colour labels in an .xmp file next to each RAW, for Lightroom, Capture One, Bridge or darktable.
Every check, in detail

Made for the way you already work.

A dark, neutral interface like Lightroom, the Lightroom keys, and a loupe at 100%.

Your projects

Pick up where you left off.

Your shoots stay on the home screen. Open a folder again and only new or changed photos are analysed.
Pelli Instant home screen: drop a shoot folder to sort it, with your recent projects below

At the keyboard

Keep or reject, with one key.

Grid, loupe and side-by-side compare of a burst. P, X and U work everywhere, like in Lightroom; your own choices always win over the AI's.
  • ↑keep
  • ↓reject
  • PXUpick, reject, unflag
  • 1–5stars
A shoot sorted by Pelli Instant: the selected photos with their score, with To review and Rejected one click away

Photos in the screenshots and the animation: Flickr photographers, under CC BY 2.0 and CC0 (credits (opens in a new tab)).

Privacy

Your photos never leave your computer.

The AI models are installed with the app and run locally. Pelli Instant reads your files where they are, and sorting never sends them anywhere.

  • Sorted locally

    The analysis runs without the internet. Your folders stay untouched until you export, and your files are never modified or deleted.

  • What Pelli receives

    To sign you in and count your photos: your computer's name at sign-in, how many photos you sort, the app version, your system and the interface language. Never your photos, their names or their content.

  • No telemetry

    No analytics and no crash reporter. The models are fixed files: they don't learn from your shoots.

Read the code on GitHub (opens in a new tab)

Tuned for what you shoot.

The same checks, weighted for the realities of each kind of work.

From culling to delivery

Straight into your editing workflow.

Pelli Instant hands your selection to the tools you already use, then you deliver it with Pelli.

  • Ratings in Lightroom

    Stars and colour labels for each decision, in .xmp files that Lightroom, Capture One, Bridge and darktable read. Settings already in a sidecar stay.

  • A clean selection

    Copy the selected RAW, JPEG or both to the folder of your choice, sub-folders kept, or move the rejects to a sub-folder.

  • Delivered with Pelli

    Once edited, deliver the photos in a Pelli client gallery: publish from Lightroom Classic with the Pelli plugin, or upload them to a gallery.
Discover Pelli galleriesThe Pelli plugin for Lightroom

Free, with a Pelli account.

Download it for free and sign in with a Pelli account, free to create. Your Pelli plan sets how many photos you sort each month.

Photos sorted per month with Pelli Instant, by Pelli plan
Pelli planPhotos / month
FreeNo subscription200
LiteFrom €5/month1,000
ProFrom €15/monthUnlimited
UltraFrom €35/monthUnlimited
Free trial15 days, no credit cardUnlimited
  • A RAW and its JPEG twin count as one photo.
  • Sorting a shoot again doesn't count.
  • The count starts again on the 1st of each month.
See pricing

Your questions

All questions

Is Pelli Instant free?

Yes. The app is free and open source under the MIT licence. The official builds ask you to sign in with a Pelli account, free to create. You then sort 200 photos a month on the Free plan, 1,000 on Lite, and as many as you like on Pro, Ultra or during the 15-day free trial.

Why do I need a Pelli account?

That's how Pelli funds the work on Pelli Instant: the monthly number of photos follows Pelli's plans. The account only signs you in and counts photos. The code stays open, and anyone can build the app without the account.

Do my photos leave my computer?

No. The analysis runs on your computer and never sends your photos anywhere. With an account, Pelli receives your computer's name when you sign in, the number of photos you sort, the app version, your system and the interface language: never your photos, their names or their content.

Will it reject every photo with closed eyes?

No. On Balanced and Lenient, closed eyes send a photo to review, never to the rejects on their own: a kiss or a prayer closes them on purpose. It also tells a blink from a smile that narrows the eyes.

Which cameras and files does it read?

Canon CR2 and CR3, Nikon NEF and NRW, Sony ARW, Fujifilm RAF, DNG, Olympus and OM System ORF, Panasonic RW2, Pentax PEF and Samsung SRW, plus JPEG, PNG and TIFF. HEIC files and Canon CR3 files shot in HDR PQ mode aren't supported.

How do I get the ratings into Lightroom?

Export the ratings, then in Lightroom Classic select the photos and choose Metadata, then Read Metadata from Files. Lightroom has no XMP field for its Pick and Reject flags, so a rejected photo gets −1 star, which Lightroom shows as Rejected.

Does it work offline?

The analysis runs without the internet, but signing in needs a connection. On Pro, Ultra or a free trial, you can sort offline. On Free and Lite, the app needs a connection to count new photos before sorting them; reviewing and exporting a shoot already sorted works offline.

Which computers does it run on?

Macs with Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) on macOS 12 or later, and Windows 10 and 11 PCs (64-bit).

Try it on your next shoot.

Install Pelli Instant, sign in with Pelli, drop a folder. The AI models come with the app.

Download for MacDownload for Windows
  • Free with a Pelli account
  • Open source (MIT)
  • Mac with Apple Silicon · Windows 10 and 11