Best Video Editing Software of 2027

What separates the best video editing software on this page?

DaVinci Resolve scores 8.7 and costs nothing for the free version, with Studio at $295 once. It has the best colour tools of any editor here, and the free version has no watermark and includes editing, Fusion effects, Fairlight audio and the Color page. The trade-off is the steepest learning curve — our beginner took 4 hours to a finished video — and it is demanding on hardware; the Windows desktop struggled without the GPU.

Final Cut Pro scores 8.5 at $299.99. It posted the fastest 4K export in the test at 3.9 minutes on the M4 Pro, and one payment has covered updates since 2011. It is Mac only, and the magnetic timeline divides editors and is harder to hand off to Premiere users.

Wondershare Filmora scores 8.0 at $49.99, or $79.99 for a perpetual licence. Our beginner finished a two-minute video in 48 minutes, the fastest of the paid editors, and it includes AI silence removal, captions, background removal and text-to-video. Multicam and colour tools are basic, and AI features consume paid credits.

Adobe Premiere Pro scores 7.9 at $22.99, which is $827 over three years with no way to own it. Text-based editing cuts a transcript and the timeline follows, and Dynamic Link to After Effects and Frame.io review are built in. Exports are slower than Final Cut on the Mac.

CapCut scores 7.5 and is free, with Pro at $9.99/mo. It has the best auto-captions for short vertical video and the same project moves between phone and desktop. It has no multicam and weak audio tools, and it is owned by ByteDance, so read the data terms.

Camtasia and InVideo AI both score 6.5. Camtasia costs $179.88 and captures screen, webcam, system audio and cursor in one pass, with cursor smoothing, zoom-and-pan, callouts and interactive quizzes. InVideo AI costs $28 and turned a text prompt into a finished 3-minute narrated video in under 10 minutes, but it is not a timeline editor and generated minutes and stock are capped per plan.

What should you check before buying video editing software?

We score on editing tools 30, performance 20, ease of learning 20, AI & output 10 and value 20. Match those weights to your own work.

• Hardware: Resolve is demanding; the Windows desktop struggled without the GPU.
• Platform: Final Cut Pro is Mac only.
• Project type: CapCut has no multicam; Camtasia is built for screen video; InVideo AI cannot do a timeline project.
• Cost over time: Premiere Pro is $827 over three years; Resolve Studio is $295 once; Filmora is $79.99 perpetual.
• AI limits: Filmora's AI features consume paid credits; InVideo AI caps generated minutes and stock per plan.

Which one for whom?

Resolve suits colour work and anyone who wants a full editor free. Final Cut Pro suits solo editors on Apple hardware. Filmora suits beginners who want templates and AI tools under $80. Premiere Pro suits teams that need text-based editing and After Effects. CapCut suits phone-first creators making vertical video. Camtasia suits tutorial and training video. InVideo AI suits explainers from a text brief.

For colour work and a free full editor, DaVinci Resolve is the pick; for solo editing on a Mac, Final Cut Pro. Beginners who want templates and AI tools should look at Wondershare Filmora, while teams needing text-based editing and After Effects should choose Adobe Premiere Pro. CapCut covers phone-first vertical video, Camtasia covers tutorials and training, and InVideo AI covers explainers from a text brief.