For Mac

Best Video Editing Software For Mac (Paid & Free)

Remember those days when we had to rush to a professional video editing expert just to get our basic home videos edited and burn into a CD? Well, not anymore!

All thanks to the technological revolution and advanced software innovation, video editing has become like child’s play.  Now whether you want to create a beautiful birthday composition or a musical parody from a camcorder, video editing doesn’t feel like a hassle anymore. If you’re looking for good video editing software for Mac, you’ve landed at the right place.

So, without wasting any extra minute, let’s explore these best software to edit and refine videos on your Mac

Top 10+ Video Editing Utilities For Mac OS?

Most of the users prefer Mac for work because it enhances productivity, according to a survey. Also, several of them believe that using Mac simply boosts their creativity and collaboration.

What’s more? Using reliable Apple Video Editing Software will help you make your work stand out in terms of excellence and quality. Here are some frequent choices amongst Mac users:

1. Wondershare Filmora

Blend Of Basic & Advanced Features To Make Outstanding Videos

 

Website: https://filmora.wondershare.com/

Compatibility: Windows & Mac

Pricing Models: 

Key Features: 

  • Tools for classic video editing like cropping, trimming, splitting, combining & more.
  • Action Cam Tool to chop & merge large footages within a few minutes.
  • Advanced editing options like Tilt-Shift, Mosaic, Jump Cut, Face-Off & more.
  • Capable of converting tons of edited videos to any popular video file format.
  • Proffers up to 100 audio & video tracks to enhance overall quality.
  • Audio mixer & equalizer for professional video results.

Filmora has established itself to be a pioneer in the world of video editing & we certainly can’t deny the fact that it produces one of the best video editing software for Mac. Being as good as Apple iMovie, Filmora comes along with a simple user interface designed to be accessible to anyone of any age group. All you need to do is simply drag and drop, cut and chop your videos, use refining tools until you get the desired effect. It is undoubtedly an ideal choice for editing personal & professional videos.

Pros

  • Wide support for different file formats.
  • 300+ stunning effects for multiple niches.
  • Burn videos to DVD or upload directly to YouTube.

Cons

  • Plug-in extensions not supported

Pricing Models: Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Subscription Plan  US$44.99/Year
Perpetual Plan  US$69.99 (One-Time Fee)
Bundle Subscription Plan  US$104.87/Year

Must-Read: Best Video Player Apps For Mac

2. iMovie

Best Free Video Editor For Apple Devices

 

Website: https://www.apple.com/imovie/

Compatibility: Mac & iOS

Key Features: 

  • Offers over 20+ trailer templates with stunning graphics.
  • Choose from over 40+ video and audio effects to refine your output.
  • Design soundtracks using built-in music and sound effects or import from iTunes.
  • A dedicated tool to stabilize shaky videos.
  • Tons of tools to boost a video with easy-to-use color controls.
  • Excellent one-click Enhance option to improve the look of video & audio.

Apple iMovie’s simple interface makes it a convenient choice & easy to use video editor for amateurs. You can edit your clips and footage by applying relevant background music, or add some funky captions accordingly. You can also take advantage of their advanced set of features that supports changing the speed of a video, apply split-screen effects and picture-in-picture capability. It even offers beautiful templates to effortlessly import your videos and produce interactive videos.

Pros

  • Supports 4K video editing.
  • Browse your clips and create Hollywood-style trailers.
  • Free video editor with tons of audio effects.

Cons

  • Limited to 2 video & audio tracks.
  • No custom video sizes available for Social Media Platforms.

Pricing Models: Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Free Plan:  $0

Must-Check: Best Alternatives To iMovie For Mac & Windows

3. Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Powerful Video Editor For Professionals

 

Website: https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/premiere.html

Compatibility: Mac & Windows

Key Features: 

  • Boasts several plug-ins, templates & scripts.
  • Supports a great number of codecs & presets.
  • Offers a wide variety of effects and color correction tools.
  • Has a huge range of audio editing tools.
  • Best choice for batch product video editing.

Adobe Premiere Pro CC makes it fast and fun to create quality videos that can be easily shared on social media platforms. With Adobe, you can work with anything from virtual reality to 8K footages in native format. Adobe has always been a pioneer in an image or video editing which is one of the major reasons that makes this tool one of the best video editing software for Mac. It even proffers free motion graphics templates from Adobe Stock. You can streamline audio to refine and mix pristine sound using it.

Pros

  • Video tutorials & learning content to help you get started.
  • Integrate with hundreds of third-party extensions.
  • Stable video editing program for Mac users.

Cons

  • Subscription model.

Pricing Models: Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Free Trial $0
Standalone App (Premiere Pro CC)  US$324.07/Year
Creative Cloud All Apps (Premiere + All Adobe Creative Apps) US$810.70/Year

Must-Read: Compile Your Favorite Tracks With Best Music Players For MacOS

4. Final Cut Pro

Clever Choice From Hobbyist To Pro Users

 

Website: https://www.apple.com/uk/final-cut-pro/

Compatibility: Mac

Key Features: 

  • Supports Multicam footage editing.
  • Supports 360-degree video, graphics & effects.
  • Expert tool in creating HDR content.
  • Tons of advanced post-production Color grading tools.
  • Multi-track timeline.

Final Cut Pro combines revolutionary video editing capabilities with powerful media organization to produce professional results with an incredible performance. No, it doesn’t end right here. It uses all the GPUs in your Mac for superior real-time playback performance and fast background rendering. What’s more? Using the Apple video editing software, you can easily add third-party workflow extensions to smoothen your task.

Pros

  • Non-linear trackless video editing app for Mac.
  • All libraries, projects & events are organized in a logical structure.
  • Supports 4K, 8K, and VR video editing.

Cons

  • Will not support legacy file formats starting this fall.

Pricing Models: Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Free Trial  90 Days
Full Version $299.99

Must-Read: Best GoPro Editing Software For Windows & Mac

5. Movavi Video Editor

Easy To Use Video Editing Tools For Both Mac & PC Users

 

Website: https://www.movavi.com/mac-video-editor/

Compatibility: Mac & Windows

Key Features: 

  • Spice up your videos with titles, filters & transitions.
  • Grab stickers & other designing elements created by professionals from Effect Store.
  • Wide variety of special effects and tools to create stunning videos & slideshows.
  • Hassle-free video conversion in 180+ file formats.
  • Supports screen capturing with sound in high-quality.

Packed with a plethora of features that allows users to make interactive home videos, presentations, or professional-looking movies and trailers. Movavi Video Editor proffers tons of pre-sets (with top-notch filters, titles, transitions & ready-made intros & outros). Movavi brings two different editions of the video editing program: Free for Beginners & Plus version for Professionals and freelancers. Both versions have an interesting set of features, however, with Plus, you can enjoy keyframe animation, stickers, adjustable filters, and so on.

Pros

  • Simple drag & drop interface.
  • Save movies in MOV, AVI, MP4 & other popular file formats.
  • Feature-packed video editing program for Mac users.

Cons

  • Working with 4K Videos sometimes gets difficult.

Pricing Models: Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Free version $0
Movavi Video Editor Plus (1-Year License) $39.95
Lifetime/1 Mac $59.95
Complete Video Suite (Lifetime/1 Mac) $79.95

6. DaVinci Resolve 17

King of Colour Matching & Grading

 

Website: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve

Compatibility: Mac & Windows

Key Features: 

  • Supports drag & drop editing.
  • Lots of automatic trimming tools.
  • Has dual timelines & smart editing to work faster than ever.
  • Tools for adjusting contrast, temperature, mid-tone details, saturation & more

DaVinci is a top-notch video editing program, best-known for color correction, quality of visual effects, motion graphics & post-production. It even incorporates high-quality image creating capacities, enhanced video editing tools all packed in an elegant and modern interface. The all-new version of DaVinci Resolve offers a powerful audio engine, immersive 3D audio workflows, and more, making it a perfect all-in-one solution for both professional audio & video editing.

Pros

  • Supports external hard drives for faster video editing.
  • Outstanding tool for producing larger projects such as TV Shows etc.
  • Customizable keyboard shortcuts to ease the work.

Cons

  • Extremely resource intensive.

Pricing Models: Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Free version  $0
Full version  $299

In case you’ve missed our previous guide on: Switching From Mac To Windows: Effective Tips To Ease The Transition

7. OpenShot

Best Open-Source Video Editing Program

 

Website: https://www.openshot.org/

Compatibility: Mac, Linux & Windows

Key Features: 

  • Effective tools to trim down your videos.
  • Powerful animation framework.
  • Add fading, sliding, bouncing & other effects in your video project.
  • Visualize your audio files as waveforms.
  • Control the video speed, reverse, slow down & more.

If you’re looking for a video editing program suitable for newbies, then choose none other than OpenShot. It’s a free and open-source tool with a simple drag & drop function to quickly make interactive videos. It features an incredible set of tools to quickly cut and trim down your videos. It proffers unlimited tracks, an amazing video effects engine, a title editor, a set of 3D animation, and much more. Additionally, unlike any other video editor for Mac, OpenShot supports more than 70 languages across the world.

Pros

  • Multilingual video editing platform.
  • Easy to use & quick to learn.
  • Best choice for newbies.

Cons

  • Sometimes lags or freezes for a few minutes.

Pricing Models: Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Free  $0

 

8. Blender

Best Cross-Platform Video Editing Tool

 

Website: https://www.blender.org/ 

Compatibility: Mac, Linux, Windows & OpenBSD

Key Features: 

  • Set of tools for texturing, UV unwrapping, skinning, animating & other simulations.
  • Supports high-level customization.
  • Complete set of 3D creation suite.
  • Has a variety of sculpting tools & brushes.
  • Comes with an integrated game engine.

Blender is a free 3D demonstrating and compositing application that has been utilized for prominent creations. Being an excellent non-linear video editing platform, you can rely on Blender to create 3D apps, animated files, and professional level visual effects. It brings a complete set of advanced features if you are interested in making impactful character animations and more. Additionally, you can use the tool to cut/splice videos, mix and sync audios or apply a variety of transitions & effects.

Pros

  • Used for making TV Commercials. 
  • A perfect tool for complex editing tasks, such as engineering simulation.
  • Best free video editing program for Mac users.

Cons

  • Not a purpose-built video editor.

Pricing Models: Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Free  $0

In case you’ve missed our previous guide on How To Make A Video From Still Photos?

Honorable Mentions: Solutions For Editing Videos On Mac

Apart from these top 7 utilities for editing videos, here are some worthy options you can consider for quick video making and refining:

  • Avid Media Composer

When it comes to video editing software then Avid Media Composer is one professional piece of choice. With its unique Source Browser feature, you can navigate through your clips, have a glimpse of the previews, and import media files as well. Get it now!

  • Shotcut

It is another free, open-source, cross-stage video supervisor; however, currently, it is still under dynamic improvement. The components are similarly as noteworthy as OpenShot, yet Shotcut additionally includes a simple-looking interface that more nearly takes after a genius-level application than a free open-source effort. Get it now!

  • KdenLive

KdenLive has grown significantly throughout the years and now looks more like an expert video editing suite than it used to. The most recent rendition highlights multi-track video altering, bolster for an extensive number of video configurations, impacts, and moves, the capacity to include titles, support for keyframes, and a customizable interface. Grab it now!

  • Shred Video

Shred video is free for all users you can without much of a stretch download it from the App Store and utilize it on your Mac for Free. One of the best elements of this is to share your shred video to your shred profile as well. You can easily access and get to and watch it anyplace on the web. So, what are you waiting for? Start making great movies in seconds!

Writer’s Recommendation: Which Is The Best Tool For Editing Videos?

iMovie is probably the best all-rounder choice since it’s free to use and is designed while keeping the Apple hardware in mind. Hence, you will not face unnecessary lags & other issues. Apart from Apple iMovie, you can rely on Wondershare Filmora, as it has a plethora of features to satisfy beginners and mid-tier users. In case you are looking for a dedicated video editing tool for professional purposes and edit RAW videos, then you should undoubtedly go for Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro CC. 

So, which one will be your go-to solution for editing and refining videos on Mac? Share your favorites in the comments section below!

People Also Ask:

Q1. What’s Better Than iMovie For Mac?

One of the greatest alternatives to iMovie for Mac is Filmora for Mac. To know more about the tool, read the complete review, right here!

Q2. Which Is The Best Video Editor Used By YouTubers?

Final Cut Pro & Adobe Premiere Pro CC are some of the most useful and effective tools used by YouTubers to create interactive clips for social media sharing.

Q3. What is a Good Video Editing Program For Free?

Try using DaVinci Resolve or Shortcut to freely edit videos on Mac.

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