The best video editing software in 2023

01. Adobe Premiere Pro

The best video editing software for professionals

Adobe Premiere Pro is one of two industry-premium tools for video editing. The other is Final Cut Pro (number 6 on our list), Mac only as Premiere Pro runs on both Windows and Mac, making it our number one pick for video editing professionals in 2022. 

Professional video editors routinely use Premiere Pro to create everything from YouTube videos to Hollywood movies, including 2021 Oscar nominee Mank. It’s also frequently used in the workflow of designers, animators, and VFX artists.

The interface enhances your capacity by dividing everything into several workspaces, including editing, effects, and audio. Each workspace helps you to manage each specific task and minimizes distraction. 

The tool supports 4K, 8K, and VR formats. Its trimming and editing tools give you high precision and control. You can work on a limitless number of video tracks, which can be imported from any source.

The automatic sync is a jewel when you have multi angle shots, and it’s tough to fault the stunning-tuning tools that make your video stand out from the crowd. Plus, you get customizable keyboard shortcuts along with excellent collaboration features.

So what’s the easiest way to download Premiere Pro? Well, if you subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud, you get Premiere Pro as a package, and you’ll be able to utilize it seamlessly with other software, from motion graphics tool After Effects to Adobe Stock. Instead, you can subscribe to just Premiere Pro as a standalone app. There’s a seven-day free trial to try it out for free first. 

Like all Creative Cloud programs, Premiere Pro is constantly updating so that subscribers get all the latest updates for free. In February 2022 (version 22.2), the newest update introduced Remix for retiming music to match video content and an offline Speech to Text function.

02. Pinnacle Studio

The best video editing software for beginners using Windows

Never edited any video before or used a Windows computer? Pinnacle Studio is another excellent choice for beginners with video editing. Like Premiere Elements, it comes in between more basic free tools and professional-level video editing tools, both in terms of price and capability.

You can get more than 1,500 effects, titles, templates, six-track HD video editing, a dedicated stop motion feature, time remapping, color correction tools, and more for a one-off payment. It’s also very effortless to use. 

The newest edition, version 25, was launched in August 2021 and brought everything nicely up to date. Highlights included the introduction of intelligent 8K import, object tracking, new blend modes, keyframe groups, and new audio features. 

Pinnacle Studio is relatively cheap, and if you want it, you can always upgrade to one of the more fully-advanced packages, Pinnacle Studio Plus and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate.

03. Adobe Premiere Elements

The best video editing software for beginners

Adobe Premiere Pro is one of two industry-premium tools for video editing. The other is Final Cut Pro (number 6 on our list), Mac only as Premiere Pro runs on both Windows and Mac, making it our number one pick for video editing professionals in 2022. 

Professional video editors routinely use Premiere Pro to create everything from YouTube videos to Hollywood movies, including 2021 Oscar nominee Mank. It’s also frequently used in the workflow of designers, animators, and VFX artists. The interface enhances your capacity by dividing everything into several workspaces, including editing, effects, and audio. Each workspace helps you to manage each specific task and minimizes distraction. 

The tool supports 4K, 8K, and VR formats. Its trimming and editing tools give you high precision and control. You can work on a limitless number of video tracks, which can be imported from any source.

The automatic sync is a jewel when you have multi-angle shots, and it’s tough to fault the stunning-tuning tools that make your video stand out from the crowd. Plus, you get customizable keyboard shortcuts along with excellent collaboration features.

So what’s the easiest way to download Premiere Pro? Well, if you subscribed to Adobe Creative Cloud, you get Premiere Pro as a package, and you’ll be able to utilize it seamlessly with other software, from motion graphics tool After Effects to Adobe Stock. Instead, you can subscribe to just Premiere Pro as a standalone app. There’s a seven-day free trial to try it out for free first. 

Like all Creative Cloud programs, Premiere Pro is constantly updating so that subscribers get all the latest updates for free. In February 2022 (version 22.2), the newest update introduced Remix for retiming music to match video content and an offline Speech to Text function.

04. Adobe Premiere Rush

The best video editing software for mobile

Only a decade ago, doing video editing on a mobile device would have seemed joke-able. But Nowadays, the latest tablets and smartphones are much more powerful, and it’s perfectly possible for even pro video editing to be done while on the move.

In our view, the best video editing software for mobile is currently Premiere Rush, which makes all the essential bits of Premiere Pro available on your tablet or phone. Available for iOS and Android, it’s available for quite a cheap subscription, and even the free version is pretty powerful. 

Premiere Rush offers a simpler version of the Premiere Pro interface, with large icons and panels that are easier to click on a small touchscreen. And while there this means fewer features, you still get all the basics, such as adding videos to the timeline through drag-and-drop and mixing in music. (For more details, see our article Premiere Pro vs. Premiere Rush.)

If you’re a YouTuber who wants to make quick edits to your clips, Premiere Rush is suitable for that too. Export options are optimized for Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, and more. That alone makes it among the best software for editing videos for YouTube.

Meanwhile, if you’re a professional, you’ll be pleased to hear that Premiere Rush is nicely integrated with Premiere Pro. So, for instance, when you’re on a train, you could make some extra edits to the footage you previously worked on at the studio on your desktop PC.

05. CyberLink PowerDirector 365

The best video editing software for experienced non-pros

If you don’t want to edit video for work but want to play around with some holiday footage of your family for fun, then the two tools listed above are far more complex than you need. Similarly, if you’d like to get into video editing but have never done any before, the learning curve will be intimidating. Instead, we recommend Adobe’s Premiere Elements, the best video editing software for beginners and casual users.

As the name suggests, Premiere Elements is an abridged version of Premiere Pro (1st on our list). That makes it easier to learn. But it still has many practical, high-end features, including face detection, audio effects, and bundled soundtracks. 

Its interface is straightforward and visual, and you get all the video effects you need, along with transitions, chroma-keying, and opacity. You can develop a massive workflow by harnessing intelligent search functionality, video stabilization options, and automated functions, such as smart toning and motion tracking. 

The newest version, Premiere Elements 2022, was released last October and included several cool new features. You can now export and edit videos in social-friendly formats. The latest auto-reframing tool lets you select a subject and then focus on it throughout your video, a new easy-to-use video compression feature based on sliders, and the ability to view animated GIFs within the interface.

Although Adobe makes it, Premiere Elements is not part of a Creative Cloud subscription but for a one-off fee. There’s also a 30-day free trial.

06. Corel VideoStudio Ultimate

The best video editing software for novices on Windows

If you’re a member of Anto’s Web Family, you’re likely comfortable with Corel’s illustration and graphic design programs, such as Corel Painter. And if you like Corel’s way of doing and updating things, you’ll enjoy utilizing Corel VideoStudio Ultimate, which has the almost same interface and general approach that you’ll find in all its software.

This Windows-based video editing software is better for beginners and casual users. It has a straightforward, intuitive interface that makes it very easy to get started with video editing. But, once you’ve experienced the basics, you can explore more robust features, such as 4K support, 360-degree VR video support, motion tracking, 3D text editing, a music library, multi-cam support, and hundreds of special effects. 

Corel VideoStudio Ultimate is not for everyone who wants it. The way it works with layers is a bit different from rivals, and if you are already used to using other video editing software, that can be a bit jarring. And on the whole, it’s not advanced enough to be suitable for video editing professionals. However, for newcomers, it offers excellent value.

07. Filmora9

The best value video editing software for hobbyists

If you’re new to video editing or only do it occasionally, Wondershare’s Filmora is another good choice at a very reasonable price. It benefits from an intuitive interface that’s easy to use, whatever your experience level. There are many handy built-in titles, effects, and filters designed for YouTubers and social media users. There’s a library of royalty-free sound effects and music to give your videos an impact. And you can also record your media directly within the tool. 

In July, the most recent version (10.5.5) introduced Template Mode, which uses AI algorithms to pick highlights from your footage and automatically create the video for you. Another highlight is the new Cloud Files feature, which allows you to synchronize multiple files and use them across applications.

There’s a free version of Filmora, but all your videos will have a watermark, so it’s only helpful to learn video editing or try out the tool. To remove the watermarks, you’ll need to take out either an Annual plan, a Lifetime plan for a one-off fee, or an Unlimited plan, which includes unlimited downloads from a stock library, and new effects each month.

08. Final Cut Pro

The best video editing software for Mac

Besides Premiere Pro, Apple’s Final Cut Pro is used today throughout the TV and movie professions. One of the important reasons to choose it is that, unlike Premiere Pro, it’s subscription-free: you pay once and once only. Note that it’s only capable of Mac, not Windows.

Professional video editors love the Magnetic Timeline, a wide range of effects, grouping tools, good organizational features, and easy ways to add and edit audio. Other features include 360° video, HDR, and advanced tools for color correction. However, despite being powerful and feature-rich, Final Cut Pro is undoubtedly easy to use. And there are many resources to help beginners get up to speed.

As Apple software, Final Cut Pro is optimized to get the most out of your Mac. And as you’d expect, it accommodates other parts of Apple’s ecosystem, such as iTunes collections or your Photos. Every update to Final Cut Pro since its release has been made accessible. For instance, the latest release in November (10.6.1) improved performance when opening large libraries and introduced fixes for multiple file-handling issues. 

Final Cut Pro is pretty expensive, but there is a generous 90-day free trial, which compares strikingly with the one-week practice offered by Premiere Pro.