Top 6 Professional Video Editing Software/Apps to Try

Seeing all amazing videos on YouTube, TikTok or Instagram, you must be wondering what editing software do professionals use. Well, we must say there are tons of choices there. Which one is the best professional video maker very depends on what you are creating, what device are you in, and possibly, the price.

After extensive research, here we summarized the top 6 professional video editing software/apps according to the supported OS, price and the best video type for each editor to create. Check them out!

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Top 6 Professional Video Editing Software Free to Download

1. Adobe Premiere Pro

Supported OS: Windows and Mac

Price: $20.99 per month, annual plan costs $239.88

Best for Creating: Ads, Documentaries, Films

Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the leading video editors. Besides clear, flexible interface, powerful tools, excellent stabilization, it has a rich ecosystem of video production apps to help with more editing, such as After Effects and Media Encoder.

Adobe Premiere Pro also guarantees great video quality. The exported definition is up to 4K. When it comes to dealing with video content, you can add as many tracks as you wish to make sure every detail is perfect. 3D videos, 360° VR content are all supported. All these respects make Premiere Pro a professional editor’s choice.

Among all professional video editors, Adobe Premiere Pro is easy to catch up with because there are so many video tutorials out there for you to watch and follow. Most Premiere Pro tutorials are helpful.

There are indeed some shortcomings. Premiere Pro doesn’t support motion tracking. Moreover, Premiere Pro doesn’t have any sound effects. Most important of all, blogs, sorry to fail you all, Premiere Pro can’t help upload your video contents to social media platforms directly.

Adobe Premiere Pro Tutorial

2. Final Cut Pro

Supported OS: Mac

Price: $299 for a 6 year license

Best for Creating: Vlogs, Entertainment Videos

Let’s talk about Final Cut Pro’s interface first. Even though Final Cut Pro has been announced several updates, but none introduced major interface change, which is a smart decision to make. The beginner-friendly UI is what most people like this software.

As a matter of fact, these professional video editors don’t have many differences when it comes to features. Multicam editing, 360° VR content are all supported. What Final Cut Pro exceeds Adobe Premiere Pro is Final Cut Pro has motion tracking feature and the output can be shared to social media directly. Sadly, Final Cut Pro doesn’t support 3D video editing.

This year’s update improves Final Cut Pro’s performance, making it less likely to crash and response quickly. Incorporating with Mac computer’s system, it will bring the most smooth editing experiences.

Final Cut Pro Tutorial

3. Blender

Supported OS: Windows and Mac

Price: Free

Best for Creating: Animation, 3D Models, VFX, Sculptures

Blender is a well-known open-source 2D and 3D graphics software.You can use it to create 3D models, animations, sculptures, VFX and a lot more. However, it also provides lots of video editing tools.

Blender used to be criticized about the interface. It has so many editing tools that beginners would find using Blender a great challenge. Since the last update, Blender has improved a lot, the current version is more user-friendly, but people still have to learn and figure out the features one by one. There are indeed lots of tutorials online, to find something specific might take you lots of time, which can be quite frustrating. Yet, every feature is free, you don’t need to buy a subscription premium package. What else can we ask for?

As a video editor, the best features to name are text effects and audio editing. You can add text with transparent background, change the pitch and volume of the sound to give your video a brand new look.

Blender Tutorial

4. Lightworks

Supported OS: Windows, Mac and Linux

Price: Free version available. Pro version price: $24.99 per month

Best for Creating: News video

As its name suggests, Lightworks makes video editing a “light” work. Compared with other professional video editing software, the interface is much easier to master. Those without any editing experience wouldn’t find it too much of a hassle. Besides, its workspace is customizable. You can change the position of the tools according to your habits.

It is true that Lightworks offers free version. To access all features, you might need to upgrade to the Pro version. The free version is enough for people to make edits. The pro version has automated quality control, which is clearly a useful tool for broadcast editors. The tricky thing is, even if you have upgraded to the Pro version, you are still limited to 720P-1080P, which might not be good enough for TVs.

LightWorks Tutorial

5. iMovie

Supported OS: Mac and iOS Devices

Price: Free

Best for Creating: Daily Vlog, Commercials, Social Media Videos

iMovie is Apple devices’ default app to edit videos. It can used both on Mac computers and iOS devices. However, we strongly suggest people using it on iOS devices since it is more convenient and there are not too many professional video editors for phones.

The biggest pro of iMovie is that iMovie has excellent templates, which other editors don’t have. That makes iMovie extremely beginner-friendly professional video maker. Another good thing about iMovie is its color matching tool. This tool can give your movie a consistent look. The great Chroma-keying tool is also worth mentioning. iMovie chroma-keying tool is so much easier to use than other professional video makers.

iMovie is not as powerful as Adobe Premiere Pro. It doesn’t have motion tracking, 3D editing, and only 2 video tracks are supported. These missing features are great compromise to simplicity.

iMovie Tutorial

6. CapCut

Supported OS: iOS and Android Devices

Price: Free

Best for Creating: TikTok Videos

CapCut, developed by ByteDance, is a tool as a plus tool for TikTok. TikTok can help people edit videos, but for more editing, CapCut is there for everyone. It wins lots people’s admiration so that people keep asking when CapCut desktop version comes out.

The biggest merit about CapCut is its impressive royalty-free music and sound effects, just like TikTok. Even though it doesn’t provide a full song, but 30 second royalty-free music is good. By the way, you can find lots of popular filters and effects, making your video a trend in social media.

CapCut features, we must say, are quite limited. They include Split, Speed Control, Reverse, Filters, Stickers and Text. No more other advanced tools. Yet, they are still great for editing TikTok videos.

CapCut Tutorial

Elena /

Member of PearlMountain Limited. Has a mania for video editing. Love to share photo/video shooting tips and ideas.