Best video editors for YouTube

Edited byNataly Bogorad

March 21, 2022

Producing professional-quality creative video content is becoming easier as video-editing software becomes more user-friendly and accessible. Now you can edit, enhance, and perfect your video in a few clicks before easily sharing it to YouTube and other social media platforms. You may be looking for a simple solution with basic editing tools to tidy up your video before sharing it online. Or you might have a more ambitious project in mind that requires options such as audio and video effects, filters, masks, overlays, chroma key, voice-overs, motion tracking, or 360° functionalities. There is a lot to consider when making your video editor software choice! To help you in your research, we have put together a detailed list of the best video editors for YouTube. Each of these software solutions offers an extensive selection of features and effects to make your personal and professional projects come alive. Read on to see which one best fits your creative needs and vision.

Quick summary

  • Editor’s choice: Movavi Video Editor
  • Easily make your creative vision a reality.

  • Complete YouTube content management tool: YouTube Studio
  • An official tool to edit and coordinate your video content published on the platform.

  • Best-in-class editing tools: CyberLink PowerDirector 365
  • A feature-rich offer for producing stunning video content.

  • Best free cross-platform video editor: VideoProc Vlogger
  • Expect high-quality results with a user-friendly approach and intuitive interface.

  • Top-rated for smooth user experience: iMovie
  • Edit and enhance your creative vision with an impressive array of features.

  • Best YouTube editor for Windows: Vegas Pro
  • An added benefit of a deep-learning module to enhance the creativity of your projects and accelerate editing.

  • Best non-linear video editor: Lightworks
  • A user-friendly, non-linear video editor with industry-standard results.

  • Preferred by Hollywood heavyweights: Final Cut Pro
  • A full post-production suite, with industry-level results for Mac users.

  • Best editor for YouTube gaming: Blender
  • A powerful, free, open-source, cross-platform 3D creation suite.

  • Best open-source cross-platform video editor: Shotcut
  • Extensive video effects with advanced features for quality videos.

  • Top-rated non-linear video editor for Windows: VSDC Video Editor
  • The app features a customizable interface, drag-and-drop functionalities, and a YouTube uploader.

  • Recommended by video industry professionals: DaVinci Resolve
  • Industry-level creative and editing tools deliver high-quality results.

  • Top-rated free, reliable, and powerful: Hitfilm Express
  • Powerful editing tools for both beginners and professionals.

  • Best online video editor: Fastreel
  • A fast, easy-to-use online video-editing tool that delivers high-quality results in only a few clicks.

  • Top-rated social media video content tool: VEED.IO
  • A simple, sleek interface with extensive features for optimal personal and professional use.

  • Best AI video editor: Magisto
  • An integrated smart video-editing tool that lets users intuitively edit video content.

  • Best YouTube video editor for Chromebook: WeVideo
  • The app requires no previous experience to make high-quality, modern video content.

  • Top-rated for fast and reliable creative solutions: Kapwing
  • A quick and intuitive way to navigate with extensive features and a media library.

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YouTube video editors online and desktop programs

This selection features the best video editors for YouTube videos that will make your life easier as you edit and enhance your video to make your content shine. Regardless of your background and experience or whether you are a Windows, Mac, or Android fan, you will find a YouTube video editor software program to suit your individual needs. All these options allow easy upload and sharing to YouTube and other social media platforms.

Movavi Video Editor is a user-friendly video-editing software solution packed full of easy-to-use features, effects, and tools. Due to its intuitive interface, it is adapted for video creators who are just getting started as well as more experienced users. If you are producing video content for personal or professional projects, social media platforms, or educational tutorials, this program offers a seamless user experience and high-quality results. With features such as special effects, filters, slow motion, titles, transitions, picture-in-picture, animations, chroma key, stabilization, and voice-over, you can easily make your creative vision a reality. There is a free 7-day trial available, and then you will have the choice of 2 paid plans.

What are its best features?

  • An intuitive interface
  • Lots of effects and features
  • High-quality video
  • Fast performance
  • Affordability

What could be improved?

  • Rendering videos takes a bit too long

YouTube Studio is the official tool to edit and coordinate your video content published on the platform. Use this tool to edit your video, blur sections, add automatic subtitles, manage playlists, monitor your analytics, access the royalty-free music and sound library, plus respond to comments. It’s worth noting that the editing tools on offer are not advanced, but they are effective for simple tasks such as trimming. The software is easily accessible within YouTube and available for Windows, Mac, and Android. If you are looking to work directly from your Android phone, this is the best YouTube video editor for Android and can be downloaded from the Google Play online store.

What are its best features?

  • Not just an editing tool but a complete content management dashboard
  • Access to royalty-free music
  • Fast performance
  • Constant adding of new effects

What could be improved?

  • Lack of a greater range of video-editing tools

CyberLink PowerDirector 365 is video-editing software designed to appeal to both enthusiasts and professionals. With an easy-to-navigate interface, this program is feature-rich and allows you to produce stunning video content with templates, masks, effects, transitions, titles, color correction, chroma key, keyframe editing, audio correction, and voice-overs. While it’s now available for Windows and Mac (since 2021), the Mac version doesn’t have as many functionalities or features. This software solution is available on a 30-day free trial, but then you will need to subscribe to an affordable paid version which includes regular updates and access to new effects, plugins, and a stock library of music, images, and graphics. Be aware that this is not a lightweight program, and you will need more than 1 GB of hard disk space.

What are its best features?

  • An extensive range of effects
  • Fast rendering
  • Cross-platform functionality
  • Ease of use

What could be improved?

  • The program takes quite a lot of space

VideoProc Vlogger is a free video editor for Windows and Mac that offers high-quality results with a user-friendly approach and intuitive interface. Beginner-level video content creators will appreciate the drag-and-drop functionality and easy-to-learn tools. Professionals will particularly like the advanced features such as split-screen, chroma key, time-lapse, color grading and correction, plus motion and speed editing. Audio editing is also seamless and includes noise reduction, sound customization, voice changing, and voice-overs. This software solution is totally free with no paywalls or upgrades required. It has extensive customer support, with its own YouTube channel full of video guides and as a lightweight program won’t take up valuable space on your hard drive. All this makes it a serious contender for the best free video editor for YouTube.

What are its best features?

  • Beginner-friendliness
  • A wide range of features
  • High-quality video
  • Support for a large selection of file formats
  • Light weight
  • Cross-platform functionality

What could be improved?

  • Lack of personal customer support – just tutorials and user guides

iMovie is the free, built-in video-editing software for Mac. With this user-friendly software solution, you can crop, cut, trim, and edit your footage, add subtitles, customize music, layer text, photos, and music, plus add visual effects to your video creations across your iOS devices in real-time. Your video will therefore be stored in the iCloud for you to access it from all your iOS devices. Although it offers advanced features, the video-editing process is seamless and suitable for all levels of experience, and the results are industry-standard. As it comes pre-installed when you buy a Mac, it is free, and there are no paywalls. Edit and enhance your creative vision with an impressive array of features, then save and share it to social media, including YouTube.

What are its best features?

  • Ease of use
  • An extensive range of templates, features, and tools
  • Beginner-friendliness
  • Editing across iOS devices in real-time

What could be improved?

  • Lack of cross-platform functionality

Vegas Pro is powerful video-editing software for Windows. It offers advanced features for professional video editors, with a wide range of filters, effects, transitions and titles, nested timelines, multicam editing, and unlimited video and audio tracks. With the added benefit of a deep-learning module to enhance the creativity of your projects and accelerate editing, this innovative software solution is the best YouTube video editor for Windows users. While its many features may sound daunting, it is actually very easy to use and now even suitable for beginners as well as more experienced video makers. This is due to a recently updated, more appealing interface and easy-to-navigate workflow.

What are its best features?

  • User-friendliness
  • Simplicity and power
  • Support for a large range of file formats
  • High-quality results

What could be improved?

  • The rendering speed can be too slow at times

Lightworks is a professional-quality, non-linear video editor that is known for its industry-standard results. It’s widely considered to be one of the best video editors for YouTube. The app is user-friendly and self-explanatory and offers a good range of video-editing tools and features. There is a free version for home users that will suit small projects and includes access to a good range of features. As a beginner or enthusiast, you will have everything you need in the free version – editing tools, visual effects, customization, and more. The Pro versions unlock more options and are more suitable for professionals working in content creation, marketing, and filmmaking. Both versions have useful preset profiles that help you export your video in the file format that corresponds with the platform you are sharing to.

What are its best features?

  • Ease of use
  • A comprehensive free version
  • Fast and reliable performance
  • Lots of features

What could be improved?

  • The resolution cap of 720p in the free version

Final Cut Pro is a full post-production, video-editing software program for Mac users. It has a user-friendly interface and is packed full of features, including templates, extensive editing tools, multichannel audio, motion graphics, color grading, 800+ stunning effects and graphics, transitions, 360° video capabilities, and an object tracker. This is industry-quality software designed to cover all aspects of video projects, delivering professional-quality results. There is a 90-day free trial, but after that you will need to sign up and buy the program. This is the best video editor for YouTube for Mac users wishing to take their video creations to the next level, then share them to YouTube or other online platforms.

What are its best features?

  • An extensive range of advanced features and tools
  • Fast rendering
  • Professional-quality results
  • Beginner-friendliness

What could be improved?

  • Lack of cross-platform functionality

Blender is a free, open-source, cross-platform 3D creation suite that offers support and tools for everything from a 3D pipeline, modeling, animation, and motion tracking to video editing and game creation. It doesn’t have a very user-friendly interface, and it will take some time to master all the features, but once you are ready, you will find it’s the best video editor for YouTube gaming. The suite is widely appreciated by gamers and developers and has strong community support. Additionally, as open-source software, it’s constantly being developed and updated.

What are its best features?

  • Powerful 3D design features
  • High-quality results
  • Light weight
  • Sleek and fast rendering
  • A wide range of post-production tools and functions

What could be improved?

  • Lack of some tutorials or guides to help reduce the steep learning curve
  • The GPU performance is suboptimal

Shotcut is a free, open-source, cross-platform video-editing software program. The video effects are comprehensive and include advanced features such as chroma key, 360° filters, 3-way color wheels for color correction, speed effects, and more. The full suite of video-editing tools allows you to make both simple edits and more complex changes to produce quality videos. It also offers an impressive range of audio functions such as scopes, filters, mixing abilities, fades, and transitions. As an open-source program, there are regular updates and improvements, with open-source developers able to contribute. While there is a built-in audio library, you can also import your own music choices to the program.

What are its best features?

  • Support for many audio/video file formats
  • Good customer support
  • A wide variety of editing tools and features
  • Regular updates and addons

What could be improved?

  • The app could be more user-friendly and have a more intuitive interface
  • Lack of an audio library

VSDC Video Editor is a free non-linear video editor packed full of features. It does, however, have some limitations worth taking into account. If you can go beyond the user-unfriendly interface, you will discover some interesting options such as a customizable interface, drag-and-drop functionalities, and a YouTube uploader. The biggest hurdle is the inability to preview your video within the program. But these negative points are outweighed by the diverse range of creative audio and video effects available.

What are its best features?

  • A non-linear format
  • Original and powerful video effects
  • Support for most audio and video formats
  • A YouTube uploader
  • Light weight

What could be improved?

  • The interface is not user-friendly

DaVinci Resolve is a free professional-grade, comprehensive post-production software program. PC and Mac compatible, it offers powerful tools for video editing, color correction and tracking, mixing audio, and visual effects. There is a high level of customization possible too, for more advanced video makers. The interface and integrated workflow are user-friendly but mastering all available features might take time if you are an absolute beginner. However, once you get on top of things, this feature-rich video-editing software will help you produce high-quality creative projects. While it’s recognized by industry professionals for its technical quality and film effects features, it’s also adapted for smaller video projects and clips. The handy export tool will guide you through the correct file formats to upload to YouTube and other online platforms.

What are its best features?

  • A comprehensive free version
  • Professional-quality results
  • Industry-level creative and editing tools
  • An intuitive interface

What could be improved?

  • Lack of personal customer and technical support

Hitfilm Express is a free multi-platform video-editing software program that comes complete with powerful editing features and tools that are adapted for both beginners and professionals. With an appealing and easy-to-navigate interface, this program offers a large array of advanced editing tools, audio/video filters, layers, masking, color grading, time remapping, green-screen effects, as well as 2D and 3D composition tools. More experienced video makers will enjoy the capacity to customize many of the effects and transitions. Not all features are free, however – some of the effects options are available in paid packages and there is also a paid version (HitFilm Pro) that offers more advanced features, effects, and functionality. However, the free version offers a comprehensive array of video-editing tools.

What are its best features?

  • A comprehensive free version
  • User-friendliness
  • Great features
  • A full suite of editing tools

What could be improved?

  • Lack of more video transitions
  • Lack of export options in the free version

Best online video editors

These video editors operate exclusively online. This means no need to download and install software on your computer, freeing up valuable space on your hard drive. All you need is an Internet connection to access these online options from your PC, Mac, or mobile device. These cloud-based solutions provide the option to download and save your videos or to store your projects in the cloud for easy access and sharing between platforms. Browse the selection below to discover the best online video editor for YouTube. Then simply upload your files, use the available options to work your creative magic, then export to share to YouTube or social media.

Fastreel is a fast, easy-to-use online video-editing tool that delivers high-quality results in only a few clicks. Take advantage of the wide selection of video-editing tools to create professional-looking slideshows and videos. There are different functions available, letting you cut, crop, merge, flip, loop, rotate, mute, reverse, resize, and compress your video. You can add text, music, subtitles and use ready-made templates which are fully customizable to fit your creative vision. Its intuitive interface makes life easy for beginners to quickly master different options and gives more experienced video creators a smooth, user-friendly experience. While there is a free version available, the Unlimited Premium is quite affordable and allows access to all tools and templates and an unlimited number of exports.

What are its best features?

  • A free version available
  • User-friendliness
  • Fast performance
  • A large selection of templates
  • A complete set of video-editing tools

What could be improved?

  • A watermark from the free version
  • No possibility to move between templates when editing a video

VEED is an easy-to-use online video-editing service. With a simple, sleek interface, this is a great option for personal and professional use. The many tools allow you to crop, trim, merge, loop, and resize your video, plus add subtitles, captions, overlays, music, images, and to enhance your creative content. Make the most of the in-depth tutorials available that guide you through the best practices for making video content to suit your chosen platform, business and interest area, or niche. Use it for free for simple projects or sign up to a paid plan for access to more options and features.

What are its best features?

  • A good selection of video-editing tools and effects
  • User-friendliness
  • Fast performance
  • Tutorials on creating content for each social media platform

What could be improved?

  • Customer service and customer relationship management could be improved

Magisto is an online video editor aimed at social media content creators and sales and marketing professionals. It offers a modern, easy-to-navigate interface and an extensive library of templates, music, and photos as well as a suite of editing tools. It also provides access to a smart video-editing tool that lets you work with video content. Within the program, you can edit, stock, and share your video creations from the cloud. The program also includes a video management tool to help you coordinate the sharing of videos to YouTube and other online platforms. This is useful for activities such as lead generation and brand awareness for marketing professionals. There is no free version, and you will need to choose from 3 different pricing plans, two of which offer a free trial period.

What are its best features?

  • Ease of use
  • Professional quality results
  • A large selection of templates and tools
  • How-to guides

What could be improved?

  • The customer support response time could be improved

WeVideo is an online video editor that requires no previous experience to make high-quality, modern video content. This cloud-based video-editing solution offers an excellent selection of templates, titles, captions, credits, overlays, backgrounds, transitions, and themes as well as access to a stock library of video and audio files. Aimed at social media users, marketers, teachers, and video enthusiasts, this software offers a quick and easy way to create, store, and share your video creations. The free version is quite limited, but affordable pricing is available for beginners and professionals alike. This video editor offers excellent support for its community in terms of advice on best practices for video content creation by theme or niche. It also facilitates the sharing of videos to YouTube and other social media channels.

What are its best features?

  • An intuitive interface
  • Lots of features
  • Good technical and customer support

What could be improved?

  • The rendering could be sped up
  • Lack of functionalities in the free version

Kapwing is a free online video editor that has an easy-to-use interface that is quick and intuitive to navigate. This is a great option for users of all levels of experience, wanting to trim, edit, and resize their video content, remove background, add subtitles, a watermark, logo, or music, or create a GIF. It also offers a wide variety of templates and video-editing tools as well as an extensive media library. Particularly adapted to social media, the app lets you create high-quality content quickly and easily, store it in the cloud, and then share it across different online platforms.

What are its best features?

  • User-friendliness
  • A comprehensive media library of audio and video files
  • Good customer support
  • No watermark

What could be improved?

  • The low upload limit in the free version
  • The limited storage time in the free version

Summary

To find the best video editor for YouTube for your video content projects, first, identify your needs and priorities. What is key to your successful creation of engaging, professional-quality videos that clearly share your message and your creative vision? When making your decision, consider the importance of the following points.

  • User-friendly interface: do you need to be guided through software or do you already have experience in video editing and feel confident in navigating it regardless of the interface?
  • Features, effects, tools available: what features are the most essential to your project? Do you need a complete suite of editing tools or just wish to make a few trims? Do you want to have the choice of adding filters, masks, transitions, audio, images, graphics, etc.?
  • Price: do you prefer a free software solution? Some software options have a free trial and then a compulsory upgrade to the paid version. Paid doesn’t always equal better. Sometimes the best video editor for YouTube is a free option.
  • Online or downloadable: would an online tool suit your technical requirements better? This would save space on your hard drive and allow you to store your video files in the cloud, with access from anywhere, anytime. A downloadable version means you don’t have to rely on a stable Internet connection, and you can store and share your projects however you like.
  • Customer support: do you want to be able to speak to customer support directly or can you manage with user guides and tutorials? What if you have a technical issue you can’t solve?

Nataly Bogorad

Nataly Bogorad is a content creator and a chief editor. With qualifications in English and American studies and art criticism, she specializes in writing SEO-optimized and user-friendly content. Nataly graduated from Universität Kassel with a bachelor of arts degree and worked as a project assistant for Regionalmanagement Nordhessen GmbH.