Best Free Video Editing Software

Video production for whatever your business does is a fantastic thing and if your not doing it then your behind the competition.

“85% of businesses now have internal staff or resources to produce video in-house” [1]

Not everyone has the budget for it, however, so we have compiled free and cheap software that you can use for yourself or for your business. 

App store editing software – If you want to edit videos straight from your phone

 i-movie

Positives

  • Simple interface
  • Professional-looking themes and trailers
  • Abundant audio tools
  • Theater feature shares movies to all Apple devices
  • Supports 4K

Negatives

  • Lacks multicam, motion tracking and 360-degree features
    Limited output controls  [2][3]
  • If you don’t like the negatives of Imovie how about this

Luma Fusion

Benefits over i-movie

  • True multiple editing
  • PAL support
  • Audio Mixer
  • Advanced Titles
  • Colour correction
  • Keyframe animation

Negative:

  • Cost £14 in app store

Basic desktop software

These basic software options are pretty straight forward and intuitive to pick up and use and better still the two options below are both free.
After the removal of Windows Movie maker, this gives rise to other free software packages:

VideoPad

Positives

  • Excellent file format support
  • Fully customizable filters
  • Clear, well designed interface

Negatives

  • No ready-made export profiles for different devices [4]

imovie for Mac 

Positives

  • 4K video support
  • Importing/Exporting of 1080p at 60fps
  • Very inexpensive
  • Media organization
  • A good tool for novice and intermediate editors

Negatives

  • Wrapping Timeline was removed
  • Although in our basic editing software category, imovie is pretty much on par with the likes of the intermediate software options.

Intermediate/multiple channel editing

If you are looking for something that’s a bit more advanced than drag and drop and allows you to add in additional transitions and multiple video and audio tracks.

Hit Film Express

Let’s you add additional layers, but may take a bit of time to get your head around it. However, I would recommend this if you are recording separate audio and video so that you can sync them together.

Professional

Although these options aren’t free I thought I would include them to give you an example of what the professionals pay.
These bits of software are amazing once you have learnt how to use them. They may require additional tutorials, however, to get to grips with how they work.

Final Cut pro: £299.99

  • For Mac

Premiere Pro: £49.90 per month

  • For windows and mac

But you can get a free trial!

References:

[1] Hubspot. (June 28, 2017, updated August 24 2017). 16 Video Marketing Statistics to Inform Your Q4 Strategy. Retrieved from URL. http://bit.ly/2hHAexC[2] Logopedia (2017). The Logos of wiki. http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/IMovie[3] Dove, J (April 13, 2017). Tom’s Guide. http://bit.ly/2wJ1Sp3[4] Ellis, C (June 11, 2017). Shotcut Review. http://www.techradar.com/reviews/shotcut