If LW Basic was not free but cost $5-10 do you think your question would be the same? If you're happy with LW Basic then stick with it. I'm happy with LW pro & did notice a difference. But I can't answer for everyone due to everybody's different set-ups & other issues that might close the gap between Basic & Pro. It performs well for me but it might not make a difference for everybody. I used basic for 3 years before using Pro. I also jumped back to basic on odd occasions on windows & an earlier Mac OS for experimental reasons.