Best budget editing software for Mac?

[Scott Wilkinson]

In my job for the past few years I've been fortunate to have a university-paid Adobe CC subscription—and access to the latest version of Premiere Pro.

Alas, I'll be leaving my job soon—and because my budget will be tight for a while, I'm not going to fork out $50/month just to be able to use Premiere Pro.

This has me looking around for a less expensive option for basic editing on my MacBook Pro. (By "basic" I mean nothing fancy—no multiple video layers, no heavy-duty compositing...mostly just straight cuts, dissolves, and titles.)

There's always iMovie of course, but I'd like a bit more professional capability than that.

Aside from Final Cut Pro X (which I believe costs $299), does anyone have any other recommendations for budget-conscious editing apps on the Mac?

What about Premiere Elements? While obviously less capable then Premiere Pro, is it more robust than iMovie?

Thanks!
Scott

[Brian Drysdale]

You could check out Lightworks, currently it's still at the public beta stage on Mac and a number of the final features aren't yet in place. You've got a number of options in how you pay for it, monthly, or annual subscriptions or an outright purchase ($7.99. $79.99. $279.99 respectively) or free for 720p to Youtube (If your funds are really limited there's method of working that Edishare seem to currently allow to be used with the free version ), although I'm not sure how that's working at this stage of the beta process, I've a feeling it may currently be free.

Its background is cutting narrative films and documentaries and is best known as the NLE used by Thelma Schoonmaker on Martin Scorsese's films.

[Scott Wilkinson]

Thanks Brian—I wasn't even aware of Lightworks, so good to know it's out there. I may check out the public beta...
Scott

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Scott,

The $50 figure is for the entire suite of Adobe products - you can subscribe to a single app like Premiere CC at $19.99/month

Thanks