I’ve been using Nik Collection post-processing tools for over 15 years. Whether you want dramatic changes or subtle tweaks, they’re genuinely powerful tools — and Color Efex (for color work) and Silver Efex (which I use in most of my black-and-white photography) are fixtures in my daily workflow.
The software has changed hands a few times over the years, and that unusual history means there’s a completely legitimate, free version you can still download today: Nik Collection 1.2.11, the last release Google put out, back in 2016.
The free version: Still legal, still working
Nik Software originally created the collection. Google acquired the company in 2012, relaunched the suite, and in 2016 made the entire thing free to download. In 2017, Google sold it to the French imaging company DxO Labs rather than continuing to develop it.
Nik Software itself goes back further than most people realize. Nils Kokemohr founded it in 1995, and the company — later based in San Diego — built its reputation on U Point, the control-point system that lets you drop a point on a sky or a face and have the adjustment sort out the edges for you. That technology is still the backbone of the plugins, in both the old free Google release and DxO’s current one.
The free version available today is that final Google release — version 1.2.11. It’s not pirated software or a grey-market copy. It’s simply a product that Google made free, then moved on from. It will never receive updates or bug fixes, but it still works well for the core tools.
It’s worth being clear about what the free version isn’t. The activation codes, key generators, and “cracks” that circulate for Nik Collection 5 and later all refer to DxO’s paid releases, which have never been given away — there is no legitimate free key for any of them, and the installers bundled with those codes are a well-worn way to pick up malware. The only free version that exists legally is the 2016 Google one described here. If you want a current version without paying, DxO’s own 30-day trial is the legal route.
Compatibility with Windows 11 and macOS
The final Google release was Nik Collection 1.2.11, available for both Windows and Mac — though running a decade-old installer on a modern operating system is where things get complicated.
- On Windows 11, it installs and runs normally as a standalone app. Plugin integration with current versions of Photoshop and Lightroom is untested on my end — your mileage may vary.
- On Mac, it’s a tougher road. The installer fails on macOS Sonoma and later, throwing an error that it requires “Mac OS 10.7 or newer” — it simply can’t recognize modern Apple operating systems. On older systems like macOS Catalina it may still install without issue.
Where to download Nik Collection 1.2.11 free
DxO previously hosted the legacy Google files on their own site but quietly removed that page. You can still download the original 1.2.11 installer safely from these archives:
- https://archive.org/details/nikcollection-full-1.2.11
- https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6809-google-nik-collection.html
What’s included
The free 2016 download includes the complete original suite:
- Color Efex Pro 4 — color image tools
- Silver Efex Pro 2 — black-and-white conversions
- Analog Efex Pro 2 — film emulations
- Viveza 2 — targeted color and tone adjustments
- HDR Efex Pro 2 — high dynamic range tools
- Sharpener Pro 3 — output sharpening
- Dfine 2 — noise reduction
Bugs and limitations
Because this version is frozen at 2016, bugs won’t get fixed. The selection tools can glitch occasionally, and pairing a decade-old plugin with a current version of Lightroom or Photoshop is always going to carry some risk of unexpected behavior. It’s worth testing on a few images before committing to it as a regular part of your workflow.
The current DxO version: Nik Collection 9
If you’d rather not try to fight against any compatibility bugs lurking in that old version, DxO’s current version is a much cleaner option, albeit one coming with a price tag. DxO rebuilt the codebase from scratch — version 6.3 (released in 2023) was the first built entirely on their own code — and has released major updates roughly annually since.
The current release is Nik Collection 9, which came out in April 2026 and adds AI-assisted masking tools, new creative filters including Color Grading and Halation, and blending mode support across the filter library. If you used the original Google version, the core tools — Silver Efex, Color Efex, Viveza — feel immediately familiar, though the interface is considerably more polished, and the results more reliable, and your custom recipes can be moved across too.
It’s a one-time purchase rather than a subscription: $179.99 for a new license, or $99.99 if you’re upgrading from version 7 or 8. The 30-day trial is the full suite with nothing switched off, so you can see how it handles your own files before deciding.
Nik Collection 9 promo code
DxO offers a 30-day free trial if you want to test Nik Collection 9 before committing to a purchase — there’s no promo code needed to unlock it.
If you decide to buy, DxO provided me with a discount code to share with my readers; use this at checkout:
PAR_457609675_25MCEO4UE6M2
