If you are a professional video maker, freelancer, Youtuber, Vlogger, or hobbyist video maker, we all at some point need video editing software to make our footage looks professional and interesting for the viewers. Especially, a freelance video editor makes money from video editing, and it is very important for a freelancer to choose the best video editor to increase productivity.
There are lots of free and paid video editing software available for freelancers to edit the videos. What video editing software a freelancer uses, depends on the choice of a freelancer and his requirement.
One important point to remember is that not all software tagged as free are fully featured software. Free does not mean full-featured software, but it’s more of a freemium software with some features free to use and for advanced features, you need to purchase it to unlock.
Table of Contents
Best Free Video Editing Software
1- Kdenlive
Probably the best video editing program for casual creators out there. It is open-source software, like all good software should be!
2- Shotcut (Free)
It is open-source and updated very frequently. If you’re looking for a “lightweight Premiere” non-linear editing suite, be sure to check this one out.
3- Olive Video Editor (Free)
Very easy to use, for those not savvy with video editors. If you want to perform the basics like splitting, fade in, fade out. This does so much more. It works on Windows 10 great.
4- Avidemux (Free)
The best free program for cutting/splicing videos. Great for trimming and splicing videos (without re-encoding). Can also re-encode/convert a video into different formats.
5- OpenShot (Free)
Use it if you just want to cut parts of a video out to move parts around or add in different videos, this might save you some time. Not with advanced editing features.
6- Cinelerra (Free)
This has a lot of nice features and effects, but it gets very confusing even if you know what you are doing. If you want to do quick editing on a video, then this is not a good program for you.
Best Paid Video Editing Software
1- Adobe Premiere Pro
Suitable for even the most demanding users. Adobe Premiere Pro is an expansive, professional video editing program with excellent collaboration tools but comes up with a high price tag of subscription plans.
2- Cyberlink Power Director 365
Power Director is a fast, full-featured consumer-level video editing program. It has a robust feature set including a timeline, many transition/text effects, PIP, and much more. This software is not too bad in its genre. It provides pretty advanced features if you take the best version of it.
3- DaVinci Resolve
A massively powerful professional video production application. DaVinci Resolve includes all the cutting, key-framing, color grading, and audio tools pros want. Easily customizable without ever turning into a mess. The free version works amazing too.
4- Final Cut Pro (Mac)
Apple’s professional-level video editing software, Final Cut Pro, brings a wealth of power in an interface simple enough for pros and consumers alike. Recent highlights include AI-powered cropping for social media output and support for Apple’s Silicon-based Macs.
5- MAGIX Vegas Pro
MAGIX Vegas Pro is probably the best Non-Linear Editor available, not only it is fast and really uses the GPU correctly it’s also amazing quality, it renders 16 bits and 32 bits of color space in the video if the source material has it, previously owned by Sony.
6- HitFilm Pro
HitFilm has come a long way in the past few years, adding GPU acceleration, higher resolutions, greatly improved speed and stability, better motion tracking, 3D environment workflows (not just 3D animation, but tracking 2D footage to add 3D objects, backgrounds, etc), better sound, and compatibility with files and plugins from other film editing software ecosystems.
7- Camtasia Studio
Camtasia Studio has a very usual traditional interface. It runs smoothly and has all the necessary features for a basic but good video editor. Compared to the likes of Filmora, it’s not outstanding, but it’s definitely not bad either.
8- Pinnacle Studio
This has some really nice features and a lot of effects, more than most programs. It is easy to use, a lot of transition to apply between and on photo and video.
9- Adobe Premiere Rush
Feed your channels a steady stream of awesome with Premiere Rush, the all-new app for creating and sharing online videos. It’s easy to use, works across all your devices, and it’ll transform the way you create content. Go from shoot to showtime in record time. Built-in camera functionality helps you take pro-quality video on your mobile devices. Editing is easy, with simple tools for color, audio, motion graphics, and more. Share right from the app to favorite social channels like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
10- Corel VideoStudio Pro
VideoStudio first needs to create smaller versions of the video files before being able to play them back in the timeline. It has very different video editing procedure.
