5 Best Alternatives to Lightworks Video Editor in 2024 [Windows, Mac]

When it comes to video editing software, Lightworks is widely regarded as one of the best options out there for high-quality film and TV editing. Editors for award-winning movies have utilized the full version of Lightworks when creating famous films that have made a significant impression on American cinema history. 

However, there are other terrific options for video editing. Some include more features than Lightworks, while others are far simpler to learn and use. And in at least one case, like with our top pick, both are true.

Below we will dive into the details of the five top alternatives to Lightworks so you can find which best fits your needs.

• Top 3 Alternatives to Lightworks Video Editor Snapshot
• What is Lightworks?
• 5 Best Alternatives to Lightworks Video Editor
1. PowerDirector - Best Overall
2. Final Cut Pro - Best for Professionals Using Mac
3. Adobe Premiere Pro - Best for Professionals Using Windows
4. Shotcut Video Editor - Best for Amateurs Using Windows
5. iMovie - Best for Amateurs Using Mac
• Best Alternatives to Lightworks Comparison Chart
• How to Edit With an Alternative to Lightworks
• Download the Best Alternatives to Lightworks for Free
• Lightworks FAQ

Top 3 Alternatives to Lightworks Video Editor Snapshot

What is Lightworks?

Lightworks is a video editing program with various tools and compatibility with different media types. One of the main benefits of this software is its compatibility with multiple formats (such as 2K, 4K, PAL, NTSC, and HD).

5 Best Alternatives to Lightworks Video Editor

1. PowerDirector - Best Overall

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

Overall Rating: 10 / 10

Beginner-friendly: 10 / 10

Key Features

• Full feature editor
• AI motion tracking, sky replacement, and speech enhancement
• 4k and 360-degree footage support

PowerDirector video editing software bridges the gap between professional editing and user-friendliness. Its intuitive interface, powerful features, and outstanding support for formats make it the best video editor and alternative to Lightworks. 

It has often been ahead of the other pro products with support for new formats and technologies. It’s also loaded with tools that help you create compelling videos with transitions, effects, and titles. Best of all, it helps speed up the work with AI tools and fast rendering. 

With such a wide array of features in the program, there isn't any other option if you're looking for something with ease of use yet powerful enough to do what you need without spending hours watching tutorials!

Reasons to Recommend

• Effectiveness: A suite of tools for basic video editing
• Price: Free to download
• Ease of Use: Video Editing that is intuitive and simple
• Support: Numerous video tutorials available, excellent customer service, and more

2. Final Cut Pro - Best for Professionals Using Mac

Image from BolderVideo.

Compatibility: Mac

Overall Rating: 9 / 10

Beginner-friendly: 6 / 10

Key Features

• Magnetic Timeline
• Compound Clips
• VR content creation

Final Cut Pro, Apple’s professional video editing software, aims to satisfy users who want more power for their video editing projects than iMovie offers. Professionals who create content for movies and television have relied on Final Cut for years.

While some professionals may complain about its nontraditional trackless timeline, and amateur users may scratch their heads over its wealth of sophisticated options, it is still an excellent tool. It provides voice isolation, duplicate clip detection, focus options when shooting on the iPhone 13's original movie setting (Cinematic), and performance enhancements.

Final Cut Pro remains an excellent choice if you are willing to pay for this costly software and invest the hours it takes to learn it.

3. Adobe Premiere Pro - Best for Professionals Using Windows

Image from Adobe.

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

Overall Rating: 8 / 10

Beginner-friendly: 5 / 10

Key Features

• Seamless integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud products
• 8K, VR, and 360-degree video editing
• Multicam editing

Adobe Premiere Pro continues to hold onto its spot as an industry-wide accepted video editing software thanks to its versatile interface, countless tools, and powerful functionality. With new features such as generating subtitles automatically, Premiere Pro is well worth your investment if you're a professional in the market for high-quality video production software.

After updating Final Cut Pro X, Apple has created a drastic new change from the past. In contrast, Adobe has taken an incremental approach of polishing its interface and adding state-of-the-art tools to Premiere. As a result, professionals in the field will appreciate how recognizable Premiere is. 

If you are a beginner in video editing, it might be advisable to steer away from Premiere Pro as it requires an expensive subscription to use and extensive video editing knowledge.

4. Shotcut Video Editor - Best for Amateurs Using Windows

Image from Shotcut.

Compatibility: Windows, Mac

Overall Rating: 8 / 10

Beginner-friendly: 8 / 10

Key Features

• White balancing with eye dropper tool
• Auto-rotate
• Easy-to-use fader controls

Shotcut is an open-source video editor with a scaled-back approach making it more ideal for beginners. The timeline adjusts according to your needs as you add files to the software; different settings can be chosen depending on how much quality you want or need, such as resolution, aspect ratio, codecs, frames per second, scanning mode, and field order.

 Shotcut offers customizable filters, effects, and other features such as color correction and noise removal. With 4K video support, the program can handle both popular video and audio formats. 

This program does not include the advanced editing tools needed for more complicated projects.

5. iMovie - Best for Amateurs Using Mac

Image from DesignBuckle.

Compatibility: Mac (iOS)

Overall Rating: 8 / 10

Beginner-friendly: 8 / 10

Key Features

• Support for 4K resolution
• Cloud storage lets you work on the same project from your iPad, iPhone, and Mac
• Dozens of title animations

iMovie comes bundled with MacOS and is an easy-to-use editor. It simplifies the video creation process - everything from importing footage to exporting. This is an excellent option for making amateur content that can be uploaded directly onto YouTube.

One of the best aspects of iMovie is that you can edit on any device - from an iPhone to a MacBook Pro. The Movie Magic feature lets you create fully edited videos complete with titles, transitions, and music. These are obviously not professional-level videos, but they are good enough to share with friends and family.

While iMovie is a great tool, you can expect to outgrow it quite quickly if you want to do anything more than just cut together home movies.

Best Alternatives to Lightworks Comparison Chart

How to Edit with an Alternative to Lightworks?

Let's look at the steps you'll need to follow when editing videos with the best alternative to Lightworks, PowerDirector.

1. Download and install PowerDirector onto your Windows or Mac.
2. Once you have opened the software, select the Import Media Folder near the top left of the page, then upload the videos you want to edit.

3. Drag your video clips and any audio or photo files to the timeline in order of preference.
4. Trim or split your video clips as needed.
5. Add transitions between your clips via the Transition Room.

6. Add a Title via the Title Room.

7. Once you are satisfied with the results, you can Produce the edited video file.

Download the Best Alternatives to Lightworks for Free

PowerDirector is the best video editor and Lightworks alternative. It's easy to navigate but still provides powerful editing tools that professionals use to create engaging videos. If you have never edited before, this is an excellent program to download for free and give video editing a try.