Well, optimizing your RAW images can mean various depths of editing, in my understanding. If my only goal is to optimize my RAW images, is it worth it to get the Photo Lab? I believe the processed DNG option was introduced in PhotoLab 4 (the previous version) and have not had a compelling reason to use it yet. However, if storage were not a concern, I could see where batch processing the noise and optical corrections overnight to (corrected) DNG files could be a useful time saver. For what it's worth, I tend to go from the camera produced DNG to jpeg bypassing the intermediate DNG. For images taken at my daughter's school in low light and high ISO, I'm happy with the DxO corrections. PhotoLab works for me as a rank amateur but may not be for everybody. As someone who captures all images with raw+jpeg, I'm aiming to get it right in camera most of the time. I am a fan of the deepPRIME noise reduction and optical corrections. It really depends on investment in other tools and your preferred workflow. If PhotoLab offers compelling enough standalone editing functionality then PhotoLab would be a better choice. If you don't want/need PhotoLab as a standalone editior, then PureRAW makes sense. From a sales standpoint this makes sense, leverage the existing technology used in PhotoLab and make it available to those that would never purchase PhotoLab due to an existing workflow with other tools. When using other software to process the exported DNG, some corrections might need to be disabled in the other tools so they are not applied twice (e.g., noise reduction). My understanding is that PureRAW provides noise reduction, optical corrections, sharpening, etc and is intended to be included as one component in established workflows (Lightroom, Photoshop, etc) from raw to finished imaged format. I don't have a need to own both so never paid much attention to PureRAW. I am not familiar with PureRAW as I've owned PhotoLab going back to when it was called Optics Pro 9.

Hopefully, an expert user will offer up better advice.

Dxo lab 3