10 Best Lightworks Alternatives in 2024

Are you interested in finding a worthy Lightworks alternative that can do professional editing at a low price? Then these programs are what you need.

The described apps are capable of performing noise reduction, fades, adding titles, color grading, and more for either a small fee or even free of charge.

Top 10 Lightworks Alternatives

When editing a 4K video, you may need the help of smart tools and built-in effects. Unfortunately, Lightworks cannot provide you with such options and offers poor performance in some areas. Therefore, many people try to find a fully functional Lightworks alternative at a low price.

Top 3 Lightworks Alternatives:

"With these three alternatives, you can easily work with any video and audio file format, from simple editing to complex professional tasks. Wide functionality and a rich set of intuitive tools will help you with processing.

Also, the Article Considers:

1. Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro, sometimes referred to as Adobe Flex, is one of many video editing software applications released by Adobe Systems Inc. First released in 2015, Adobe Premiere Pro is basically a timeline-based motion-gesture-based video editing software program designed by Adobe Inc. and released as a component of the Adobe Creative Suite software.

First released for Mac OS X, later it was made available for Windows operating systems. With an easy-to-use interface, Adobe Premier Pro offers both sophisticated and simple editing operations, supporting both simultaneous recording and playback, a large variety of transitions, and an extensive range of effects.

adobe premiere pro interface
Pros
  • Adobe’s other software
  • Excellent, accessible feature set
  • Quality sound modes
  • Customizable work interface
Cons
  • Not found

Adobe Premiere Pro includes a comprehensive range of digital media tools including a wide variety of filters, graphics, text effects, and visual FX. The software also comes with an extensive library of VFX tools, which include things like smoke, fog, rain, and blurring.

There are a number of texturing tools available in the program and a good collection of visual FX options. The flexibility offered by Adobe Premiere Pro makes it easy for users to complete a range of jobs.

2. Davinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve is an expensive software package for professional artists, used mainly in the film and television industry, used for grading footage and other important video workflow processes.

DaVinci Resolve has several unique features, one of which is the use of a powerful matrix tool, which allows a user to combine multiple images into one, using matrices and other mathematical methods. The software is designed specifically for animating the process of retouching and can be used for both photo retouching and digital asset editing.

davinci resolve interface
Pros
  • Top quality & good at everything
  • VR editing
  • Multiple video types
  • Support multiple file formats
Cons
  • Patchy support

As compared to other free video editing software, DaVinci Resolve comes with a number of useful add-ons, which include filters and graphic tools, that could be helpful when editing your footage. To date, the program remains one of the most popular video editors available, thanks to its powerful processing power, reliable setup and powerful retouching abilities.

If you are interested in trying out the program, the best place to do so is through the internet. You could then download it for free, burn the software onto a CD or DVD and then install it on your computer.

3. Olive Video Editor

Olive Video Editor was one of the best products I have ever bought. It is a software that will help you to edit videos and it comes with a number of different features. If you are interested in learning to use this program, I want to show you how you can learn to do some of the most basic things yourself.

The great thing about this product is that there are dozens of different video editors that are available for download, and since I have tested this product thoroughly, you can find out which video editor works the best for you by testing the trial version of the software.

olive video editor interface
Pros
  • Responsive interface
  • Integrated work process
  • Creating video titles
Cons
  • Some free video editing software have more effects

All of the features of Olive Video Editor are great, and if you are serious about becoming an editor, you will be able to learn how to work with the programs quickly. The program also comes with a video library that will allow you to save your projects easily and access them at any time.

The library will store a variety of different videos, allowing you to open a project from the library anytime. You also get some other free bonus features, which are helpful if you ever run into any technical problems with the software.

4. Kdenlive

Kdenlive is an award winning multimedia authoring and editing software. Kdenlive uses Open Source tools and provides an interface that is easy to use. It is not as sophisticated or as advanced as some other products in the multimedia world and it is definitely not something you would want to compare it to.

What is great about this software is that it is free and you can download it absolutely free. However, this software is not the kind that will make your multimedia creative tasks easy and fast.

kdenlive interface
Pros
  • Adjusting the sections
  • Applying transitional effects
  • Configuration keyboard shortcuts
Cons
  • Poor meta data processing

Kdenlive is free software that does not have a good support system. Although the program has many functions and you can create some remarkable works with it, but the user interface may be complicated for those who are not familiar with it.

You will surely spend a lot of time just trying to understand the complicated program controls. Many users have reported about the poor audio performance, the poor screen display and the poor processing of the videos.

5. Shotcut

Shotcut is an open source and free cross-browser video editing software for Unix, Linux, MAC and Windows. Started by Dan Dennedy, Shotcut was developed in late 2021 by the same person who created the famous Camtasia.

A simple, quick to use and versatile desktop publishing tool, Shotcut offers an outstanding feature set, a great user interface and an intuitive, step-by-step interface that makes it easy to learn and get the most out of using the software. With its simplicity and intuitive design, Shotcut looks much more professional than Adobe After Effects or Apple iMovie and will save you the expense of purchasing a high-end software package.

shotcut interface
Pros
  • Flexible and user-friendly interface
  • Robust user support system
  • Preloaded with a broad variety of transitional effects
Cons
  • Convoluted way of working

Another unique feature of Shotcut that differentiates it from other similar programs is the built-in feature viewer. This is a feature that not every software package includes, which allows users to view the footage of their entire project, instead of being confined to a small portion of the video.

To take advantage of this feature, users must purchase additional licenses for the software. This feature can also be found in the Apple iMovie software, but is nowhere near as useful as the built-in feature viewer in Shotcut.

6. OpenShot

OpenShot Video Editor is simply a free and open source video editing software for Linux, MAC, and Windows. The project was launched in August 2008 by Jonathan Thomas with the goal of offering a very friendly, free, and cross-platform video editing software.

The software utilizes the powerful Adobe Flash library and includes a feature-rich drag and drop interface. The software is easy to use and offers a wide range of features that include; background play integration, chroma key control, screen capture, bloom effect, framescales, thumbnail, rotate, video stabilizer, image filter, video compression, and much more.

openshot interface
Pros
  • Multi-platform
  • 70+ languages
  • Animation & key frameworks
Cons
  • Crashes and lags during work

Overall, OpenShot is a great open-source solution for anyone interested in video editing. For the individual that is looking for a quick and easy way to create professional quality videos or cut together a nice presentation, OpenShot is definitely a great option.

However, if you are considering a paid professional program, I recommend that you do not go with OpenShot. OpenShot is open-sourced software and as such, is available for anyone to use under the terms of the license agreement.

7. Avidemux

Avidemux is an open-source and free video editing software for transcoding and non-linear image editing. The developers plan it as "an easy tool for simple audio processing tasks", to enable users to "do elementary tasks in an easy way". A lot of features are included in this software, from time correction to creating animated backgrounds. This is a program designed for both Mac OS X and Windows OS.

avidemux interface
Pros
  • A wide range of seamless transitions
  • Excellent audio editing features
  • User-friendly, intuitive interface
Cons
  • Сannot be used as movie editing software

Avidex offers more than just text and image insertion. It also provides support for Avid Media Players (AMP), Real Audio, Video Effects, High-Resolution Digital Video Recorder (HRDCR), Motion Detection System (MS), Scene Tracer, Image Tracking and Color Management System.

All these features have been improved since the previous versions of this software. This new version of Avidex is the most feature-rich program for any serious AV hobbyist who needs software that will let them create, edit and enhance high quality videos.

8. HitFilm Pro

HitFilm Pro is a software based sequencing and editing software that enables its users to create professional looking videos and films. With HitFilm Pro, you can not only make professional looking videos, but you can also edit them too, add music and sound tracks, use complex visual effects and much more.

There are several different versions of this software, all of which offer a different way to edit and produce videos and films.

hitfilm pro interface
Pros
  • Great new features
  • Customisable workspace
  • Impressive list of compositing tools
  • Fill color effect update
Cons
  • Needs a powerful computer to make full use of it
  • No XML or AAF compatibility

One particular feature that is available with the HitFilm Pro software is the HitFilm Animation Studio. The Hit Film Animation Studio enables you to add special effects to your films and movies with the help of the built-in animation tools.

The animation tools in the Hit Film Animation Studio are simple to use and are perfect for creating character movements, storyboard, backgrounds, smoke and fog, and a whole lot more.

9. VSDC

VSDC is an easy to use, royalty free video editing software developed by Multilab LLC. The program is capable of processing very high-resolution footage such as 4K UHD, VR and 360-degree video.

VSDC enables for applying multiple post processing effects, real-time color corrections, and advanced motion detection. This program also features an intuitive interface, user-friendly video keys, and comprehensive Help.

vsdc free video editor interface
Pros
  • Media support
  • Built-In rigging and animation tools
  • Double exposure
Cons
  • No multicam editor
  • Complex video export

The VSDC software has all the standard video editing features you would expect from a professional video editor program. It allows you to import and save your media files in various formats, including AVI, MP4, JPEG, MP3, PNG, Tagged and Transcoded Forms.

It allows you to work with digital media such as video, photos, animation, and audio. Some of the great features of this software include a large library of filters, touch screen interface, drag and drop operation, customizable toolbar, adjustable graphic settings, and built in broadcast tracking.

10. iMovie

iMovie is a powerful video editing software program developed by Apple Inc. It was initially released as a Mac OS 8 program bundled with the very first Apple FireWire- enabled consumer Macintosh model -- the iMac DV.

A few months later, it moved to the highly popular Windows 95 platform, which had been introduced just prior to the iMac's introduction. While iMovie for Windows was pretty good, the Mac version still holds its own among the other choices of consumer-grade video editing software applications.

imovie interface
Pros
  • 4K FPS update
  • Outstanding editing features
  • Professional visual effects
Cons
  • Slightly longer render times

In a nutshell, iMovie allows you to edit any video or photo using your computer by means of what is known as a drag and drop interface, which is actually what is made possible by using this particular type of software instead of other similar programs that require you to have actual graphic software programs on your computer in order to edit your media.

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