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The Bottom Line
Apple’s Final Cut Pro gives you a wealth of powerful video editing tools in a relatively simple interface, making it well worth the one-time price for professionals and serious hobbyists alike.
Pros & Cons
- Superb organization tools
- Fast performance
- Magnetic, trackless timeline
- Supports 360-degree footage and wide color spaces
- Excellent multicam editing
- Powerful masking and chroma keying
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- Import and export experiences could be clearer
- Some techniques require extra software (Motion and Compressor)
- Runs only on Apple hardware
- Fewer collaboration and AI features than Premiere Pro
Apple Final Cut Pro Specs
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of Video Tracks | Unlimited |
| Motion Tracking | |
| Multicam Editing | |
| Supports 360° VR Content | |
| Keyword Tag Media | |
| Supports 4K XAVC-S Format | |
| Exports to H.265 (HEVC) |
How Much Does Final Cut Pro Cost?
Final Cut Pro is available on the Mac App Store for a one-time payment of $299.99. You can install it on multiple Macs, and you receive updates automatically—no subscription necessary. Apple offers a generous 90-day free trial, which requires only an Apple Store account to get.
For comparison, Adobe’s competing Premiere Pro costs a minimum of $22.99 per month. DaVinci Resolve, similar to Final Cut Pro, carries a one-time price of $295. DaVinci Resolve’s perpetually free version is extremely capable, however. The standalone Ultimate edition of CyberLink PowerDirector goes for $139.99, while a subscription version costs $74.99 per year.
If you want motion graphics and encoding to many output formats, you need to fork out another $49.99 each for Apple’s Motion and Compressor ancillary applications. DaVinci Resolve includes these capabilities. Premiere Pro’s After Effects motion graphics tool requires a separate $22.99-per-month subscription, but its Media Encoder utility is part of the subscription price.
