The topaz photo AI program used in LR that you right click on the mouse… Is that what’s called the stand alone? works much better then the plug-in where you drop down in the file menu
The right click method is still a plugin, just a different workflow from the File menu. Standalone is when you use Photo AI by itself, and not as a plugin for a host editor like Lightroom or Photoshop. If you only open the Photo AI app on your computer, that’s standalone.
To address your other concern, what makes you say it works better in the file menu? Are you processing RAW files?