What is the best video editing software for beginners? People ask me this all the time, so, I’m going to answer this once and for all. I’ve come up a list of five video editing software that beginners can get started with.
Before we begin, I have one requirement for the software that made it into my top five. I know that what I’m about to say is going to be a bit controversial because it might offend some users. They are probably going to be those who use Final Cut Pro because when they see this list, I’m sure they’ll ask, “Where’s Final Cut?”
My requirement for the best video editing software for beginners is that the software must be available on both Mac and PC. Now you know why Final Cut can’t be on my list this time.
There we go. Here are five of what I think are good software for video editing beginners:
Adobe Premiere Pro
I’m going to start with the fifth software on my list. Now, you might think, why would beginners start with Adobe Premiere Pro? Adobe Premiere Pro is what many video editors in Hollywood use to edit videos and that makes it seem super complicated.
I’m putting it in the last place because I have the end game in mind. When we get to the number one video editing software for beginners, we’ll talk about it being a great software to edit from, and more importantly, to learn from.
But Adobe Premiere Pro is really where you should end up when you have moved through the ranks of the different pieces of video editing software. Adobe Premiere Pro is the end game because it’s so flexible and it can do anything. But for beginners who are just getting acquainted with how video editing software works, Adobe Premiere Pro, sits at number five for now.
Adobe Premiere Rush
At number four is Adobe Premiere Rush. With this software, you can edit videos in a really simple way, and I think it’s very much like iMovie.
If we’re looking at just Mac software, iMovie, of course, can be equivalent to Rush. Actually, it’s slightly better in some ways than Adobe Premiere Rush. But the great thing about Adobe Premiere Rush is you can start editing on your mobile phone. Because it uses cloud storage for the actual video footage and the project files, you can then continue editing on a tablet or a laptop and PC.
So, imagine you’re in the field and you’re filming something on your mobile phone. Then, you want to take that footage straight away and put it into a project for editing. Adobe Premiere Rush can do this. My wife tried it when we went on a holiday in Florida for two weeks.
She was out in the field and was filming stuff with the kids and all that. And she was putting the clips in the project every day as we go. By the time we got home, the whole project timeline was there in order of the days that we were on holiday.
So, it really allowed us to rapidly edit the footage. It has other great features like making titles and speed control. But it’s just missing some other stuff like green-screen editing. So, it has to sit at number four because it’s entry-level.
Filmora
I was looking for alternatives to Final Cut that actually does a good job. And, I think it’s Filmora.
If you search for “Final Cut Pro for Windows in Google”, Filmora comes up. They’ve taken that phrase and put Google ads behind it, which is amazing because they recognize that people do want an alternative.
I’ve played around with FilmoraGo a little bit on my mobile phone. I just think it’s a nice, easy entry-level software for beginners. And dare I say, it feels child friendly.
If you jumped to Adobe Premiere Pro as a beginner, you’d probably find that it’s quite complicated. So, Filmora really just eases you into editing and I genuinely think it’s a nice place to get started.
Descript
Number two is the biggest surprise. And that’s because it’s not really a video editing software. I’m talking about the software called Descript.
Descript was traditionally a software for podcasts because it allowed you to edit audio really easily. It allows you to caption and generate subtitles. And then they recently added some video editing features as well. So now, you can add assets like logos to the screen. You can also chop down the video footage, and you also have a multi-track option. I believe they’re working on multi-camera timelines as well.
There are loads of things you can do with Descript. It’s a really simple piece of software but it’s super powerful in terms of the output that you can create. You can make viral videos with a similar style to Gary Vee’s video.
I have a business called Hazel Skye and it’s a content marketing agency. From a commercial point of view, Descript is super convenient. Simple but a super powerful platform.
Camtasia
Number one is Camtasia by TechSmith. I’ve been in IT for 20 years, and I’ve been in video for seven years, and Camtasia by TechSmith is one of the first screen recording software I used.
And it is so, so simple. For anybody that’s thinking about making presentations with slide decks, doing screen recordings and demos, editing videos with green screen removal, these kinds of things, Camtasia has it all.
I’m not paid by Camtasia to put it at number one. I just genuinely believe it’s one of the best pieces of video editing software for beginners. I teach people how to do video editing and I start with Camtasia. Its video editing user interface is really nice and beginners can easily get used to it. It’s not overwhelming.
Now, that’s it. That’s my top five. Adobe Premiere Pro is the one that’s got the biggest learning curve. And TechSmith Camtasia being on top, I think, has the smallest learning curve. Another thing I love about Camtasia is that it has a lot of documentation and support. If you need extra help, you can easily get it, and that’s what makes this software great for beginners.
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