COMPARISON ▸ UPDATED 5 NOVEMBER 2026
Negs or SpektraLab?
Pick by your computer.
Both are free, open-source apps built on Andrea Volpato’s spektrafilm, so they start from the same film model and the same measured films and papers. Negs adds 29 more films, adapted from Fotufilm. Where they differ most is where they run. Here’s a fair comparison, so you can pick the one that fits.
Choose SpektraLab if…
- You have an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 15 or later
- You want an app for iPhone and iPad from the App Store
- You want a date back, half-frame pairs, or to sync settings across a folder
- You want to script it from a command line or an MCP server
- You prefer a Mac app that’s signed and notarized
Choose Negs if…
- You want to use it in a browser, with nothing to install
- You use Linux: Flatpak, AppImage or Arch
- You have an Intel Mac, or macOS 14 Sonoma
- You use Windows and want the same engine there
- You want more films: 51, among them Agfachrome, CineStill, Eterna and LomoChrome
- You want to import presets from Python spektrafilm
- You want to export a .cube LUT of a film and paper
01 ▸ SIDE BY SIDE
Platforms and features.
| Negs | SpektraLab | |
|---|---|---|
| In the browser | Yes, the full editor at getnegs.com/try. Photos stay on your device. | A light table for viewing your exports. Editing needs the app. |
| Mac | macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. Not notarized: you allow it once in Settings. | macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon only. Signed and notarized. |
| Windows | x64 installer or portable .zip. Experimental, not code-signed. | x64 installer, pre-release. Needs Vulkan and WebView2. Not code-signed. |
| Linux | Yes: Flatpak, AppImage, or a native Arch/Omarchy package. | In development. No builds published yet. |
| iPhone and iPad | In Safari, through the web app. Photos up to 4.4 MP on touch screens. | App Store app, free, iOS 17 or later. |
| Engine | Rust, from spektrafilm-rs. GPU rendering on Mac, Windows and Linux, WebGPU in the browser. | C++ and Metal, a native port of spektrafilm. |
| Colour, slide and cine films | 44: spektrafilm’s 20 (Portra, Ektar, Gold, UltraMax, Fujicolor, Ektachrome, Kodachrome, Velvia, Provia, Vision3 and Verita), plus 24 adapted from Fotufilm, among them Agfachrome, Astia, CineStill, Eterna, Aerochrome and LomoChrome. | spektrafilm’s 20. |
| Black and white | 7: T-Max 100, HP5 Plus, FP4 Plus, Delta 3200 and Acros II, plus Tri-X 400 and Double-X 5222, both experimental. | 4: Tri-X 400, T-Max 100, Acros II, HP5 Plus 400. |
| Papers | 10, including Endura, Crystal Archive, Vision 2383/2393, Ilford Multigrade and Kodak 2302 black-and-white print film. | 9, the same families. |
| Film borders | White, keyline, film edge, a 120 frame, and 35mm frames with the stock’s edge print. | Film Edge in many formats (135 to 6×12, XPan), frame numbers, and a date back. |
| Presets | Save and share as a file or link. Imports Python spektrafilm presets. | Settings clipboard, synced across selected photos. |
| Export | PNG, TIFF or JPEG at 8 or 16 bits; sRGB, Display P3, Adobe RGB or ProPhoto. .cube LUT. | Export recipes with soft-proofing: JPEG, 16-bit TIFF, PNG, or a digital intermediate. |
| Scripting | — | Command line and MCP server, off by default. |
| Languages | Web app in English and Simplified Chinese; desktop apps in English for now, Chinese on the way. Website in English and Chinese. | English, Chinese and Japanese. |
| Price and licence | Free, GPL-3.0. | Free, GPL-3.0-or-later. |
SpektraLab details are from spektralab.app and its download page on 4 November 2026: Mac 1.3.5, iPhone and iPad 1.1.2, Windows pre-release 1.3.4. If something here is out of date, please open an issue and it will be fixed.
02 ▸ WHAT THEY SHARE
Same roots, different branches.
Neither app invents its own film look. Both follow light through the film’s dye layers, the enlarger and the paper, using the profiles that spektrafilm measured from the manufacturers’ data. So Portra 400 on Supra Endura starts from the same numbers in both apps. Defaults, controls and finishing tools differ, so the same photo won’t come out pixel for pixel the same. Negs’ 29 extra films are adapted from Fotufilm’s profiles instead, and a few of them, such as LomoChrome and Aerochrome, are modelled from sample photos rather than datasheets.
The simplest way to choose is to try both. Negs needs nothing installed: open getnegs.com/try and drop in a RAW.
Questions
Is there a SpektraLab for Linux?
Not yet. SpektraLab’s download page says Linux is in development with no builds published. Negs runs on x86_64 Linux today, as a Flatpak, an AppImage or an Arch package, and in any browser.
Does SpektraLab run on an Intel Mac or macOS 14?
No. SpektraLab needs Apple silicon and macOS 15 or later. Negs is a universal app for macOS 14 or later, on Intel and Apple silicon.
Is there a SpektraLab web app?
SpektraLab’s website has a light table for viewing photos you’ve exported. To develop photos in a browser, use Negs online.
Is there a SpektraLab for Windows?
Yes, as an early pre-release. Negs also has a Windows x64 build, which is experimental too: an installer or a portable .zip.
Are Negs and SpektraLab related?
No. They’re independent projects that both build on spektrafilm. Negs is not affiliated with SpektraLab, and neither is affiliated with spektrafilm or with Kodak, Fujifilm or Ilford.