If you’ve recently bought yourself one of the best tablets or one of the best laptops, you may have an interest in breaking it in with some creativity. If that’s the case, an Adobe free trial is something worth looking into, as Adobe for decades has been known for providing editors, designers, and other artists with some of the best software tools for harnessing their creativity. With latest updates that make apps like Lightroom a whole lot more useful, and with real-time editing in Premiere Pro and After Effects, testing the Adobe library of software to see if it fits your needs is an idea worth exploring.
There is an Adobe free trial, and it’s a pretty impressive offering. An Adobe free trial is good for seven days, and you’ll need to create an account and provide a credit card for Adobe to keep on file. From there, you’ll get access to the entirety of Adobe’s software offerings, which total more than 20 creative desktop and mobile apps. These include some of the best photo editing software in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, and some of the best video editing software in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. Free trials are available for Adobe’s individual apps as well.
The Adobe free trial is essentially a seven-day experience of what it would be like to have a fully paid subscription to Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite of software. You’ll get to experience the power of the desktop apps or the versatility of the mobile and tablet apps, and each is available to you based on what hardware you’re most comfortable working on. An Adobe free trial also includes 100GB of cloud storage to house your projects and the media associated with them. You can cancel your free trial within seven days of starting it, and from there the full suite of Adobe Creative Cloud is $55 per month.
The seven days of free, full use of Adobe’s software as part of the Adobe free trial is about as close as you can get to getting Adobe software for free. With the subscription model Adobe has chosen to offer its software through, the days of software arriving on disks or CDs are long gone, and Adobe uses your account and login credentials to verify you’re a paying subscriber when you open the software up. There’s some talk that Photoshop may be coming to the web for free, and there’s an Adobe Photoshop free trial available as well. Your best bet at receiving the entirety of the Adobe software library for free, however, is with an Adobe free trial.
Adobe does regularly offer discounts and deals, with pretty impressive discounts available for students and teachers. While the entirety of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of software starts at $55 for a monthly subscription, Adobe also is willing to knock this price down pretty regularly for new users to the software, and potentially for power users such as businesses. You can also get a much lower price on Adobe software subscriptions if you aren’t interested in the entire suite of software. Adobe offers a Photography Plan that starts at $10 per month and includes both Lightroom and Photoshop. Subscriptions are available for individual apps as well, with prices ranging from $10 per month to $21 per month per app.
It was a big week for the customer experience market, with two major players in the marketing tool space taking swings to bring the idea to the next level. The pair of moves taken together could move customer experience closer to reality after a long period of ambition.
“Customer experience” is kind of a vague notion. The idea is that you want your customers to feel good every time they interact with you, whether in person or online. You certainly know when that doesn’t work well, but it can be more subtle than simply a big smile in person or a successful outcome online. It’s more about taking the extra step to get ahead of problems before they happen or designing a product in an elegant way to reduce friction.
It seems that with all the data we have about customers these days, companies should be doing better at generating positive experiences. In fact, there is so much data from so many sources that companies like Adobe and Salesforce have created customer data platforms (or CDPs for short) to pull all of that data into one place with the goal of delivering optimal customer experiences based on the knowledge you have collected about customers.
Two of the biggest companies involved in gathering and using this data are Salesforce and Adobe. While Adobe doesn’t have a CRM, it certainly has marketing tools, and its $20 billion purchase of Figma was all about designing great products, which ultimately should lead to a better customer experience.
At the same time, at Dreamforce this week, Salesforce’s annual customer conference in San Francisco, the CRM giant announced a new approach to data integration on a platform called Genie. While it works in conjunction with the platform of tools itself, and with external partners like Snowflake and Amazon, the ultimate goal is to use the massive amounts of customer data to generate the best customer experiences possible at the moment they’re needed.
There is no avoiding the fact that innovation often fails. No matter how much love and care we put into our ideas, there are no guarantees our customers will share this same love. Yet ironically, it is this very love for our ideas that’s often one of the main reasons they fail.
In part two of our two-part feature series on brand purpose, we share five practical ways not-for-profit organisations can better leverage their brand to survive and thrive in a world awash with purpose.
Welcome to the era of better creative, not better budgets. Over the last few years, some of marketing's most viral moments have involved nothing more than a wisely worded tweet, a trend-led TikTok or a crowdsourced user-generated (UGC) Instagram post.
Mario Tama/Getty Images News
When Adobe's (NASDAQ:ADBE) Illustrator was released in 1986, it worked only on Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) Mac computer which was powerful enough to run the new program. You had to wait until 1993 for the software to become available on Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows, but, many complained about the quality.
Then, for Adobe's Digital Media, Creative, and Document products to be so pervasive today at the point of being present on most designer's laptops, its partnership with the software giant must have been crucial. This deserves analysis, especially given that the stock has been battered by more than 55% in the last year to trade at less than $300. A comparison with Microsoft in the orange chart below reveals the extent of the damages but these started well before the Figma episode.
This thesis is also of the opinion that it is important to look beyond the astronomical acquisition costs of 50x revenues, and instead focus on the benefits to Adobe's competitive positioning in light of the partnership.
I start by making sense of the acquisition.
First, Adobe, the creativity company, does not do many acquisitions and is more focused on organic growth, and boasts a rich pipeline. While it is predominantly known for its Reader software in order to open PDF documents, other products like Adobe InDesign and XD are used by graphic designers in creating, and publishing documents for print and, increasingly for digital media.
With everything going digital, comes the concept of “collaborative creativity” whereby, in order to deliver a project involving multi-skilled persons working together on a tight schedule, there is a need for active collaboration as well as the need to be creative. However, with the advent of Covid, the way teams operate has changed, with the team leader no longer being constantly around in order to motivate his team of web designers. He can still use tools like Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) to communicate remotely with them as they mostly work from home, but, just think of a scenario where the collaboration can be achieved within the very software they are using to do their work. Well, this is enabled by Figma, a little-known company, but with a great collaborative platform used mostly for browser-based design.
Figma Collaboration (www.figma.com)
After initially being adopted by smaller companies, Figma has become popular at Salesforce (CRM) and Atlassian (NASDAQ:TEAM) together with Oracle (ORCL), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). This popularity became an acute problem for the creativity company, especially with the usage of Figma at Microsoft, which has traditionally used Adobe products, to the point of threatening the partnership between these two.
This partnership which started decades ago as I mentioned earlier was reinforced in April 2015 and involved integrations between Adobe’s Document Cloud and Microsoft products, giving users the ability to create a PDF directly in applications like Office 365, which is Microsoft’s cloud-based version of its office productivity tools.
Moving beyond the technical integration phase, the partnership later expanded to the co-selling of applications and co-marketing products, with one concrete example being software integrators having to purchase both licenses of Adobe’s Document cloud and Microsoft products. Therefore, the deal has been lucrative for both.
At the same time, deeper integration at the application level ensured less customization works for both Adobe and Microsoft resellers with fewer support hours in tackling customer support requests. As a result, not only Adobe's annual revenues (as measured on a year-on-year basis increased) but gross profits as well, since the end of 2015 as shown in the charts below. At this point, it can be argued whether Adobe's phenomenal progress was solely due to its partnership with Microsoft, but, one has to admit that there is indeed some coincidence.
The YoY progression in Adobe's annual revenues since 2012 (Seeking Alpha)
Pursuing further, given its product positioning focused primarily on design for the web, Figma is a strategic company and in case it is acquired by someone else, Adobe may see an erosion of market share.
This said Adobe remains committed to Apple and, to this end, Adobe XD, its competing product for Figma was first released as "Adobe Experience Design CC" in March 2016 for macOS, with the Windows version only released eight months later.
Without going into the Mac-Windows debate, choosing between these two is more a matter of preference and finances, but, it is Microsoft's gear that equips most corporations' desktops today, and, Adobe's strategy which consisted of expanding from a niche customer base (composed of macOS users) to a more commoditized one (Windows) has immensely benefited the creative company.
Then, of course, there is the competitive standpoint.
The acquisition was also done because of the increasing competition faced by Adobe XD, which is part of the Creative Cloud segment, and to this effect, the blue chart below shows how segmental revenues, despite showing progress, seem to have reached a peak. Thus, revenues grew to $2.63 billion in Q3-2022, representing an 11% year-over-year growth, but this is down from the 21% growth experienced in the third quarter of 2021 when revenues were $2.37 billion.
Charts built using data from (Seeking Alpha)
For this purpose, the orange chart above depicts how the year-on-year growth has been decreasing, and the fact that Adobe charges $9.99 per month, or less than Figma's $12 seems not to have helped much.
Adopting a dose of realism, some of the deceleration is also due to Adobe’s revenues being impacted by the war in Ukraine and foreign currency headwinds, but, Figma, on the other hand, seems to be immune to these concerns as it is enjoying "explosive revenue growth". Moreover, as per Adobe's CEO, Figma is profitable too.
Consequently, by buying out the competition, Adobe, not only makes sure that it will see growth in a period when there are risks of market stagnation due to recession risks but should also see more profitability, as Figma's margins get added to its own and there is a reduction in sales and marketing expenses.
Viewed from this angle, the acquisition makes sense, but, with opportunities also come challenges.
As per Adobe, the two entities will not merge since Figma will maintain independent operations. This is perfectly understandable given that Adobe XD also has its own strength namely as a vector-based design tool for anything from fully-fledged websites to smartphone apps. There will also be switching costs in case customers move away from products like User Experience ("UX") designer and Adobe’s Photoshop or Illustrator.
Adobe XD (Adobe)
Consequently, equipped with Figma and XD, Adobe has a unique opportunity to "tie up" designers and developers by proposing a broader range of solutions, while progressing to create new markets. Talking figures, Figma's TAM alone is estimated at $16.5 billion by 2025. Add to this, the TAM of $205 billion forecasted by 2024, comprising Adobe Experience Cloud, Document Cloud, and Adobe Creation cloud, then, you have a total market opportunity of over $220 billion.
Therefore, there are opportunities to increment the top line and bottom line as listed in the table below.
| 1 | Growth Opportunities | Add to topline growth in 2023 |
| 2 | Microsoft Partnership | Makes sure the partnership is sustained |
| 3 | Adobe XD competition and Profitability |
Ensuring that growth continues for Creative Cloud, Less operating expenses |
| 4 | Total Addressable Market | Above $220 billion |
| 5 | Execution |
Two completely different corporate cultures Product overlapping features How Figma's customers will adapt to Adobe |
|
6 |
Regulations |
Buying out of the competition Regulators in the U.S. and the E.U. |
However, the above table also highlights the execution aspect, with, on the one hand, Figma relying on adoption mostly through a freemium business model, while for Adobe, it is primarily a top-to-bottom approach whereby designers have to use its products after its sales representatives have inked an agreement with an enterprise. Hence, some customers may not digest the acquisition, but the fact that Adobe intends to keep Figma as a separate entity should help.
Furthermore, it would be useful to watch how Adobe executives execute the product and go-to-market strategies due to the overlapping features between XD and Figma. Equally important, it will also depend on how things work out with partner Microsoft.
Sticking with the cautionary side, while regulations seem less stringent in the software industry, it is also important to watch out for how the regulatory approval plays out, especially in an economic landscape where the cost of doing business escalates globally. Here, investors should bear in mind that the Federal Reserve's hawkishness aimed at addressing the inflation problem should induce further volatility in the stock market till the end of this year unless the CPI (consumer production index) which was quite hot for the month of August stabilizes.
This is the reason, why, unless you are a trader who wants to profit from a bounce, it is preferable to avoid both stocks for the time being and wait for a better margin of entry. According to some sources, the S&P 500 could drop to 3,020 points or 22% below the current value of 3,873.
In addition to competitive reasons, it makes sense for Adobe to disburse $20 billion to ensure that its products continue to occupy the sweet spot-on Windows desktops as well as in Microsoft's cloud. However, in a market where steady top-line growth, profitability, and stable free cash flows are being prioritized, caution is mandated when investing, especially for the creative company.
Moreover, a lot will also depend on Microsoft, and to this end when responding to a general question about its partners and the use of third-party technology in its cloud during a latest conference organized by Goldman Sachs (GS), Microsoft's EVP and CCO, Judson Althoff, responded that their approach depends primarily on making the customer successful.
Finally, bearing in mind that Microsoft prioritizes the customer over its partners, it is important to monitor the software giant's product strategy while also waiting for Adobe's guidance for 2023 which should comprise Figma's financials.
Software provider Adobe Inc. (ADBE) has entered into definitive merger agreement with web-first collaborative design platform Figma. Adobe will pay approximately $20 billion in stock and cash, as announced on Sept. 15, 2022. This is another big tech merger unveiled in 2022, following Microsoft Corporation's (MSFT) acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI) and Broadcom Inc.'s (AVGO) acquisition of VMWare, Inc. (VMW).
Adobe's purchase of privately held Figma is expected to close in sometime in 2023. The transaction is subject to regulatory clearances and approvals, among other conditions, which include the approval of Figma's stockholders.
The roughly $20 billion payment from Adobe will comprise approximately half cash and half stock. About 6 million additional restricted stock units will be granted to Figma's CEO and employees. These units will vest over the four years subsequent to closing. Adobe expects that the cash consideration will be financed through cash on hand and, if necessary, a term loan.
Adobe says that its "mission is to change the world through digital experiences." The company asserts that "the digital economy runs on Adobe's tools and platforms." In particular, Adobe cites its main accomplishments as ranging from: "revolutionizing imaging and creative expression with Photoshop; to pioneering electronic documents through PDF; to creating the digital marketing category with Adobe Experience Cloud."
Adobe states that Figma's mission is to help teams collaborate visually and make design accessible to all. It also notes that Figma pioneered product design on the web and that it facilitates collaboration through "multi-player workflows, sophisticated design systems and a rich, extensible developer ecosystem." Adobe also indicates that Figma's platform is used by millions of designers and developers and that it also has "a loyal student following." The combined company, Adobe claims, "will reimagine the future of creativity and productivity, accelerate creativity on the web, advance product design and inspire global communities of creators, designers and developers."
Shares of Adobe dropped sharply on Sept. 15, 2022, down by approximately 16% by early afternoon from the prior close. Year to date in 2022, shares of Adobe are now down by nearly 45%.
The negative reaction of the markets on Sept. 15 appears to be a combination of concern that Adobe is overpaying for Figma and disappointment over Adobe's earnings report for the third quarter of its current fiscal year. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) beat estimates by 1.5% and were up year over year (YOY) by 9.3%, but revenues were down YOY by 4.1%.
It feels like everybody goes through a quick “graphic design is my passion” phase once in their life, and then quickly gives up after one failed abstract macaroni painting. But everyone practices design in their lives in some way, however. Whether that’s by touching up selfies, making memes or making slideshows for a work presentation, we make decisions on design every day.
Thankfully, software company Adobe has recognised this and the importance that everyone deserves access to design software and the ability to learn how to use them. This becomes more vital as employers are starting to prioritise candidates with design experience.
To help every aspirational hobbyist, including students and small business owners, Adobe has been aiding in the democratising of great design through Adobe Express, an all-in-one free content creation tool. The web and mobile-based app, which launched in December of last year and has continued to evolve and meet the needs of creators by releasing new and exciting features and updates. These changes have helped hopeful creators get started on their design passion and given them the tools to start quickly creating standout content in no time.
The software is free to sign up for so you can start your journey in content creation with no strings attached. There is also an additional Adobe Express Premium offering, for $14.29 a month if you find yourself wanting to access more tools and creative cloud integration.
In Adobe Express Premium, you’ll receive access to further tools such as Photoshop and Premiere Express. These can be great if you’re looking to start a personal video diary or want to Excellerate on your TikTok game. With Adobe Express you’ll be able to edit your videos on the fly to cut together a quick recap of your day to send to loved ones, edit out annoying objects in your photos or videos, or fix any issues with lighting to match your godly whims.
Not only has Adobe Express simplified the design learning process, but it’s also simplifying Adobe’s collection of creative tools. Bringing together Adobe Stock images, a wide array of templates, content scheduling and quick actions powered by Photoshop, you’ll have a wide variety of tools at your disposal. You’ll also gain access to a large selection of fonts from Adobe’s library.
This service aims to highlight its flexibility for any user’s design needs. Whether you’re removing a background, adding colour to your text, or placing your logo on a product image. In just a few taps, you can resize content for your socials and create easy, high-quality graphic designs.
There are plenty of great on-the-go features as well, such as the ability to edit, export in JPG or PNG or resize or convert or export to PDF as well. This app can be your swiss army knife as a designer if you’re ever caught off guard and need to make a quick edit on your phone.
If you’re a small business owner, you’ll be able to quickly add your logo to any photo, or design your business identity yourself. You’ll also want to take advantage of Adobe Sensei, which will help quickly edit your videos for Insta, and streamline business processes by turning notes into shareable PDFs in seconds.
Adobe is also extending its services to schools through the Adobe Education Exchange, which provides free tutorials, courses, lesson plans and videos to students. The hope for this program is that it will help students develop stronger creative skills while giving students and teachers direct access to resources that can help them.
A key issue in software comes down to accessibility. Thankfully Adobe Express works on all platforms and browsers, so you’ll won’t be locked out of any features based on your hardware of choice. Adobe is deeply committed to supporting Adobe Express and its community for many years to come and will be providing frequent updates to the platform and responding to feedback.
To learn more about Adobe Express and Adobe’s collection of creative tools, tune in to Adobe MAX, streaming October 20 across the Asia Pacific. Register to the free event here.
If you’re looking to take another stab at that graphic design passion, try signing up for Adobe Express for free here.
Finding the best alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro opens up a wealth of post-production video editors that bring the same Hollywood-grade polish to your films that you’ll find in Adobe’s feature-rich software.
As an industry-standard tool, it's one of the best video editing software tools on the market. Adobe Premiere Pro packs all the tools and features professionals demand. It even offers seamless integration with Adobe After Effects for total control in post.
That advanced toolset can make it difficult to identify which Premiere Pro alternative is best for you. But it’s not a tool for everyone. Some users are turned off by the subscription-only pricing, while others dislike the complex interface that threatens to overwhelm video editing beginners. It may have been known to crash once or twice, even on the best video editing computers.
Whether you just need a simple video editor for quick trims or a workhorse program for bigger projects, there are plenty of free, subscription-free, and budget-friendly software that deliver pro results without a Creative Cloud subscription or the steep learning curve.
To help you bring your projects to life, we’ve tested, reviewed, and rated the best alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro.
For more post-production tools, we've also tried out the best free video editing software and the best video editing apps for Android, iPhone, and iPad.
DaVinci Resolve (opens in new tab) started out as a color grading app but has since evolved into a fully comprehensive post-production suite that’s fast becoming an industry favorite.
In our hands-on review, we said "DaVinci Resolve is a tough app to beat. It’s incredibly powerful, it’s updated regularly, and to top it all, it’s free. It puts a lot of competing software to shame. The only downside is so much power leads to a complex interface."
The tool has separate workspaces for editing, color, audio, and visual effects, each with in-depth features allowing a deep level of control, making it a clear alternative to Premiere Pro.
Rather than editing in one program and sending the project to a separate VFX software or audio editing app, the whole post-production process is contained in one app. With multi-user online collaboration, various team members can work on their aspects of a project simultaneously.
The standard version, which has all the main features, is completely free. A premium version - DaVinci Resolve Studio - is available and includes features such as a neural engine, stereoscopic 3D tools, and advanced HDR grading. It costs a one-off fee of $295/£270.
Resolve is one of the most in-depth video editing programs available, so it is targeted at professionals rather than newcomers. This does mean it may be too complex for some, but does prove its worth as the best free alternative to Premiere Pro.
Read our full DaVinci Resolve review
CyberLink PowerDirector (opens in new tab) is aimed at a prosumer market: it’s neither for complete novices nor full-time professional editors, but is a solid Premiere Pro alternative for those in between.
The PowerDirector interface is attractive and efficient, and once you’ve mastered the basics, you’ll find that it has a wide array of features.
Additions in latest updates include custom masking, precise keyframing tools, and a library of customizable animated sketches, which are an easy way to add color and energy to a video.
That said, it does lack in a few areas; the color-grading tools are a bit rudimentary compared to Adobe’s video editor (not to mention many Premiere Pro competitors).
There are several versions: PowerDirector Essentials is free but basic. PowerDirector Ultra includes most features, and PowerDirector Ultimate adds a few advanced tools.
For those that appreciate Premiere Pro’s easy subscription set-up, PowerDirector 365 is the subscription version, packed with all the video editing features for a monthly or annual cost.
Read our full CyberLink PowerDirector review
The Mac-only Final Cut Pro (opens in new tab) video editing and compositing package crammed with features. It’s currently at version 10.6, which includes a slew of minor tweaks and improvements, making this the sturdiest and most stable version of the video editing app yet.
This is a powerful and versatile video editing app, with a well-designed, no-fuss interface that makes editing intuitive without compromising features. Its magnetic timeline makes it easy to insert shots within a sequence without other clips losing relative position, and the assembly process feels slick.
Other impressive features include 360° video, HDR, and advanced color grading tools.
On top of all that, new features add a few welcome cherries on top. These include the ability to fully control footage shot on an iPhone 13 in Cinematic Mode, an incredibly easy to use Motion Tracker, and a nifty AI that allows you to apply an effect onto a specific part of an image.
The app is a great Premiere Pro alternative on Mac, running natively whether your computer is powered by Intel or Apple silicon.
It’s incredibly good value for money, and after a lull in its upgrade cycle, it appears to have picked up the pace recently. Most definitely worth a look if you’re interested in an affordable, sturdy and versatile video editing tool that rivals Adobe’s own.
Compare how the software stacks up against Adobe's video editor in Adobe Premiere Pro vs Apple Final Cut Pro.
Read our full Final Cut Pro review
Pinnacle Studio (opens in new tab) once had a reputation for poor performance and limited functionality. Thankfully, latest updates have significantly improved the video editor.
Think of it as the grown-up version of Corel VideoStudio (it’s from the same developer). Expect a few similarities between the two, as Pinnacle builds on the more simplified Corel alternative.
That said, it’s still less in-depth than the likes of Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. But it is still a versatile editing program. The interface is intuitive, and besides the performance issues being fixed, many useful new features have been added.
These include a title designer with an impressive level of control over animated text, keyframing controls that enable you to adjust clips and effects over time, and face-tracking masks. This lets you adjust the lighting or effects on a face, even when the subject is moving.
You’ll find three versions available for a one-time purchase: Standard, Studio Plus, and Studio Ultimate. It’s worth paying the extra for Ultimate if you’re likely to use the additional features, which include masking and 4K editing.
Read our full Pinnacle Studio review
Lightworks (opens in new tab) is a video editor with a bit of a pedigree. Go to their website, and you’ll see how proud they are of the numerous professional feature films that have been cut with it. But this is with the Pro version.
The Free option offers you the same interface, but has a more limited selection of tools. Still, don’t let that dissuade you: most of the pro features really are destined for professional users, and if you’re an amateur, enthusiast, or just starting out, you’ll have a great time learning the ropes with it. Everything is pretty intuitive, and the new contextual help windows guide you through your first steps effectively.
The only major downside to the free version is an inability to export your finished product beyond 720p. We’d understand if 4K was deemed a pro feature, but 1080p is a baffling decision.
Find out how one of the best free video editing software tools compares to its free rival in Adobe Premiere Pro vs Lightworks.
Read our full Lightworks review
Formerly known as HitFilm Express, HitFilm (opens in new tab) is one of the best alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro for beginners and experts alike.
In use, it’s an undemanding video editor app - and it’s packed with tutorials that help newcomers learn the basics of video editing.
The software is a bit of an all-rounder - an all-in-one program that even comes equipped with basic VFX software for adding visual effects to your footage. At the free end, these are unlikely to satisfy pros familiar with premium special effects programs like Adobe After Effects. But their addition is welcome.
However, there are a couple of downsides. For one thing, the impressive feature list isn’t growing as fast as it used to - or rather, more features are being locked behind HitFilm Pro and Creator subscription packages. And the free version isn’t shy about nudging you towards the upgrade option.
On the other hand, by upgrading, professionals and veteran editors will find a video editor that’s even more powerful, and more capable of replicating the results of Adobe Premiere Pro.
You can upgrade via a subscription plan or picking up a perpetual license, which gives you access to 12 months’ worth of updates (the software remains yours thereafter, with renewal discounts available).
Whether you opt for the free version or upgrade, HitFilm offers a powerful, professional, multi-platform experience for beginners and professionals alike. Just make sure your computer can handle this intensive Premiere Pro alternative.
Read our full HitFilm review
Premiere Elements (opens in new tab) is Adobe’s very own Premiere Pro alternative for consumer-level video editors. It's a bit like comparing Apple iMovie to Final Cut Pro in that sense. So, when it comes to the best alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro, you can't go far wrong staying in the same stable.
Premiere Elements designed to make building an edit as easy as possible for anyone with little knowledge of this craft, and it does a very good job of easing beginners into the art.
You have multiple different interfaces, depending on your skills, with a good number of step-by-step tutorials aimed at introducing you to new concepts, and more complex techniques.
The new features for 2022 primarily focus on social media, and creating content destined to be shared online, all of which are welcome and useful, and some are even fun to use.
There’s no subscription service for this software: you buy it outright from the get-go, and only pay for upgrades if you feel the new features are useful to you. A definite strong mark in the software’s favor.
The full program costs $100, with upgrades from older versions costing $80. A free 30-day trial is available for you to check all the features out for yourself.
Read our full Adobe Premiere Elements review
Corel VideoStudio (opens in new tab) comes in two versions: VideoStudio Pro is ideal for standard editing while VideoStudio Ultimate packs in more premium effects. With a one-off purchase of $79.99/£69.99 and $99.99/£89.99 respectively, both are significantly more affordable than Adobe's editor. And with no ongoing subscription, it's one of the best alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro.
Using the video editing app is much simpler, chiefly because it lacks many of Premiere’s in-depth options for fine-tuning clips and effects - although Ultimate boasts the wider feature-set.
That said, Corel VideoStudio is relatively easy to learn. Once you’ve mastered the basics, it does have useful features, such as 360° and multicam editing. In latest updates, the color tools have been significantly improved, too.
There are a few odd issues with the interface: the layout can feel a little clunky and dated, and the way that layers work is upside-down compared to most other software, which might be confusing to editors used to working with other video editing software.
Read our full Corel VideoStudio review
Filmora (opens in new tab) is a video editing software package aimed at the novice, making it one of the best alternatives to Adobe Premiere Pro for quick editing, but with enough power to satisfy others as well.
Not only can you work with your own clips, but you also have access to three royalty-free libraries for stock photos and stock videos straight from the interface.
Editing is a breeze (although it can be hard to differentiate between your clips in the timeline). You’ve got a wealth of additional tools, from simple filters, interesting transitions, and advanced titles.
Speaking of advanced, there are also a bunch of more complex additions, such as color correction, chroma keying, image stabilization, and motion tracking.
You can try most of these features for free, and as of this writing, this package will set you back $50 or $80, depending if you choose to go for the yearly subscription or the perpetual license. Businesses can get different licenses, but only on Windows computers.
With its modest system requirements, Filmora is one of the best alternatives to Premiere Pro for low-end PCs.
Read our full Filmora review
Nero Video (opens in new tab) is a fair alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro. Really, it’s video editing software best for beginners or casual editors and small businesses who need fast editing tools to produce decent-quality content. Its undemanding minimum requirements make it a good substitute for those in need of a video editor for low-end PCs.
In terms of feature-set, tool-kits, and every extra that makes Adobe’s software for editing videos the industry standard, Nero Video can’t quite match it. But what the program excels at is making the video editing process incredibly simple for just about everyone. This is as accessible as editing videos gets - and it's got plenty of essential FX, including chroma-keying, to help bring your movies to life.
During our time with the program, we found Nero Video “the definition of ‘quick and easy’. Drag-drop-cut-done.”
However, we noted that the tool offers little to advanced and professional editors, while newcomers, enthusiasts, and hobbyists are often better served with free editing software like HitFilm Express.
Still, the editing experience is effortless, the value is good - it’s a budget one-time buy/perpetual license deal - and, as you’d expect from Nero, you can still burn your movies to disc.
Read our full Nero Video review
Choosing which Premiere Pro alternative is best for you begins with identifying what you like (or dislike) about Adobe’s video editor.
Premiere Pro’s interface is simple, intuitive, and easy to use. It houses an extensive toolset. It’s paid for through subscription. This is a good baseline for making your comparison.
Previous experience and intended use counts. DaVinci Resolve is an excellent alternative because, like Premiere Pro, it’s an advanced post-production tool for professional editors. But Corel VideoStudio is the better alternative for beginners, because it unlocks the same core editing functions.
Price in the price when making your decision. Creative Cloud All Apps subscription is good when you use a lot of Adobe apps, and some other software offer similar easy payment plans. If that doesn’t suit your budget and on-going needs, or if you’d prefer to pay for your software outright (or get it for free), look for perpetual or lifetime licenses, There may be some trade-offs here, particularly in the features department - either they lack Premiere Pro’s depth, like Pinnacle, or they’re more complex, like Resolve.
Like all creative software, it’s important to pick the app that works for you. It’s not about following an arbitrary checklist. It’s about finding the video editor that helps you innovate the art. All the best Premiere Pro alternatives offer free trials. See which one fits your flow.
When we test the best Premiere Pro alternatives, we’re looking for similarities and differences, where the alternative improves on Adobe’s video editor, and where it underdelivers.
A good user experience is critical. Adobe’s interface is easy to grasp at all skill levels - it’s one of the reasons why it remains a popular tool for creatives in the film and TV industry. The best alternatives, even those with steep learning curves, should be accessible, and make sense in operation.
We also explore integrations and additional tools. Premiere Pro plays brilliantly with creative apps like Adobe After Effects, and we want to see other video editors work well with that sort of VFX software. It's even better when those tools come built into the editor, like Lightworks's admittedly basic visual effects or DaVinci Resolve's Fusion - one of the best After Effects alternatives for professionals.
We review how well these video editors meet the needs of the intended audience. Video editors are not all alike, mirroring Premiere Pro in different areas. Small businesses will delight in crafting professional-looking visual assets with tools like CyberLink PowerDirector and Pinnacle Studio. They may not need Premiere Pro’s in-depth tools. Unlike professional editors, requiring access to the sort of powerful features found in Final Cut Pro and Resolve.
Performance is important, since video editing and rendering is intensive. It can be a strain on computers, even for Premiere Pro alternatives for low-end PCs, which often lack the ‘powerhouse’ stylings of other editing suites. After working the laptop fan for hours, is the footage usable or does it stutter from start to finish? Users want to see that the juice was worth the squeeze.
When Adobe announced it was buying Figma for $20 billion earlier this month, the news was a bombshell. But what stunned a lot of people wasn’t just the truckload of money — it was that a company whose whole raison d’être seemed to be going after Adobe was suddenly going to be part of Adobe.
Was this about Adobe and Figma building something better together, or was it a case of a big company taking a key competitor off the market? It depends on whom you asked.
Certainly, the consensus on HackerNews was disappointment that a promising startup was being absorbed by a big corporation yet again. Several designers we spoke to had similar feelings.
“The threat was not unlike Instagram to Facebook, where an upstart captured a community that was central to its company mission.” Ehab Bandar, founder, Bigtable.co
Andrew Drach and Monika Jociunaite of Solwey, a design consultancy, said they were shocked by the news and felt it represented a step backward for the industry.
“We all saw the marketing battles between Adobe and Figma, and it’s odd to see Figma, an ‘anti-Adobe’ platform, actually joining the Adobe family,” they said in an email. “Figma has always been very clear with its value proposition, differentiating itself far away from legacy Adobe products and design processes. At the end of the day, Figma was created because Adobe couldn’t meet the market needs.”
