If you are a YouTuber, an aspiring Filmmaker, or You just want to make videos of your Dog, you need software that can help you get started.
I am listing out some Software that is Beginners friendly since they are mostly free or offer a free version of their software.
I’ve categorized them according to their availability for different platforms so that it’s easier for you to pick the best one for your editing needs.
For Windows Only
1. VSDC Free Video Editor
VSDC is a simple and lightweight (44.1Mb) software for Video Editing.
And since the installation package is not heavy, don’t expect the UI to be pleasing to the eye. It is meant to get the job done, which it will.
Thankfully the Free software doesn’t put any watermark on the export file.
There is a Pro version of the software as well, which offers features like Video Stabilization, Hardware Acceleration.
2. Windows Movie Maker
Windows users might be aware of the Classic video editor which was available to download for free.
We all have used it in the early 2000s, it offered decent features to make decent home movies.
Support has ended for Windows Movie Maker as it has been discontinued, but you can still download from non-Microsoft websites and install it on your PC.
Mac Only
1. iMac
This one comes free for Mac users. But the word free does not make it a basic software.
It is capable of producing excellent videos. In fact, it has been built so beautifully that it is better than many paid video editing software out there.
Whether you are looking for creating videos for friends and family or you are looking to start a YouTube channel, iMovie is an amazing piece of software for video editing.
It can be installed on Mac Computers from the App Store.
For Windows & Mac
HitFilm Video Editor
The Hitfilm express is free and is going to cost you just a social media share click on this link to download HitFilm Express for free.
Blender Video Editor
Blender is actually more than just a video editor. It’s an Open Source 3D creation tool and video editing is a part of it.
This software offers to edit more complex projects by allowing users to add up to 32 different slots for adding video, images, audio, scenes, masks, and effects.
Download Blender Video Editor for Free
OpenShot
The OpenShot video editor is quite amazing. The best thing is, it’s cross-platform, available for Windows, Mac as well as Linux.
The UI looks nice and easier to use. I saw a few video tutorials for the OpenShot video editor and it seems a complete package for anyone looking for a free video editor to create decent enough videos.
If you are a YouTube and just getting started, this might be a useful piece of software for you.
Download OpenShot Video Editor
VideoPad Video Editor
VideoPad is another cool cross-platform Video Editing Software. It’s cool and offers many features. Enough to create any type of video.
It’s product page actually talks about a bunch of use cases for the Video Editing Software.
Filmora Video Editor
Filmora is a freeware, it gives you all the features to use and the interface is also quite user-friendly.
The free version will put a Filmora Watermark at the end of the video, which can be removed by upgrading to the pro version ($59.99 for Lifetime)
The good thing is it only ads the watermark at the end of the video. So you can use another tool to slice the end part and still have a decent video.
Shotcut
Shotcut is another nice software that is free of cost and yet offers features that are only avialable in paid ones.
The only downside of this video editor (as it the case with other awesome free video editors) is it’s UI, which is pretty basic.
The software comes with a bit of learning curve, but if you are looking for a software that can do more than just adding a few clips and putting music in the background to make a video, then Shotcut could be your choice.
The Tutorial page talks about how to use its different features, such as stabilizing a video clip, putting transitions, adding filters to the clips etc.
Web-based Video Editors
Using a web-based video editor would mean it would only work on files that can be uploaded to the cloud. Which might not be easy for every type of project.
It is pointless to talk about such an option if you are planning to create videos out of a 2GB raw footage.
But if you are looking to create videos for your Social Media channels, that viral kind of videos where there are only a few images and short clops and there is a lot of text moving on the screen.
Veed.IO
Veed.io is my current favorite browser-based video editor. because of its feature richness. It has an inbuilt screen recorder that lets you do screencasts along with your webcam turned on, although it is an option.
You can record your entire screen, or a window, or even a single tab of your Google Chrome browser. This speed is the process of creating tutorial videos.
You can also upload your footage recorded from digital cameras into your Project. There is a free plan also which has a limitation of recording videos in 720p resolution for up to 10 minutes.
Adobe Spark
Adobe Sparks is similar to Lumen5, offers an easy user interface but is a little restricted when it comes to offering a bank of images and footage to use.
Promo
Lastly, Promo is an all one solution for any startup or media agency to create video content faster. You have tons of templates to choose from to get your videos faster. It also integrates with premium services like iStock and Gettyimages from where you can import photos directly into your project.
Promo video editor is free to try and costs $199 per month, which is definitely not cheap, but the yearly plan brings the cost to $99 per month. Considering this is a tool to create quality content much faster, without the need for any technical or prior video editing skills, you can save money you would spend on hiring someone with that expertise. You can think of investing this amount of money into a web app like this.