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Both the Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro users believe that their program is best but the main question is which video editing software is best for you and which one you should use. Well, both these applications have unique features as well as notable differences so. Final Cut Pro X Video editors and pro social creators are making the switch from Final Cut Pro X to Premiere Pro. It's the only application with Auto Reframe, Color Match, Auto Ducking and more, for better control, effortless integration, and a faster workflow.
Final Cut and Premiere Pro have been battling for the top spot in editors' hearts for the past decade. Which one best suits your needs?
It's been the subject of heated bar debates and post-production meetups since the advent of the two programs — Final Cut or Premiere? Both Mac-heads and die-hard Adobe fans have battled it out for the better part of two decades with this argument. The top market share position has ebbed and flowed between both programs due to updates on both sides of the aisle, and frequent shifts in what editors prefer at the time.
While the market share has lost its majority to NLE's such as DaVinci Resolve and the industry titan Avid Media Composer, the overwhelming choice for your common editor will boil down to Adobe Premiere and Final Cut.
But who is right? Who is wrong? Well, as with all choices, it matters on what you use it for. Today, we are going to take a dive into each program, what strengths they have to offer, as well as the weaknesses they present. Let's dive in!
Adobe Premiere Pro — $52.99 per Month
Adobe's Premiere Pro has pretty much solidified itself in the realm of indie filmmaking as the preferred tool for video editors. Most post houses and small production studios either rely on Avid Media Composer or Premiere.
It's a program that's easy to learn, yet hard to master. A beginner could drop some clips on a timeline and figure out an export in just a few days, but when it comes to the more complicated maneuvers in this NLE, it takes a little bit more knowhow compared to Final Cut. So what are the best things that Premiere has to offer?
+: Excellent Organization and Timeline Layout
Premiere Pro: Organization
As someone who learned NLE layouts and workflows from Final Cut 7 way back in 2010, this timeline is comfortable and familiar. It magnetizes when you need it, and lets you space out clips when you don't. The flexibility of the timeline is also a huge plus for the program — it can handle a project with just one video and audio layer, but can also manage twenty-layer timeline projects.
The asset organization in Premiere is one of my favorite parts of the software. The bin organization structure is very clear and concise. It dutifully holds a feature's worth of clips in color-coded bins that transfer to the timeline with a simple drag.
+ : Integration with Motion Graphics Software (After Effects)
Premiere comes with integration with After Effects, its companion motion graphics software. If you need to build out a motion graphic that's beyond the scope of a normal NLE, there's a simple linking tool within Premiere to automatically create a new AE sequence within your timeline.
After Effects is arguably the top program for motion graphics and animation within the industry, so Premiere has a pretty big advantage with the ability to link to it.
+ : Versatile Scalability
Premiere Pro and Versatility
Out of all of the NLE's available on the market today, in my opinion Premiere has the best UX for constant scalability through an editor's growth timeline. As a beginner you can maneuver your way through the program without too much hassle. Then, as you grow into a better editor, more functions and tools are there for you to scale up your projects from a small two-minute short film to a 120 minute documentary feature with hundreds of hours worth of footage.
– : Frequent Program Drops and Crashes
Onto the gripes of the program. Premiere users are unfortunately familiar with the frequent program drops and crashes. Even when working on a laptop or a computer that's moderately powerful, I've had plenty of issues with the program freezing during a crucial edit, which in turn crashes the program. Premiere has done some work over the years to remedy this problem, but it still happens much more frequently in Premiere compared to all the other NLEs on the market.
Premiere Pro: Organization
As someone who learned NLE layouts and workflows from Final Cut 7 way back in 2010, this timeline is comfortable and familiar. It magnetizes when you need it, and lets you space out clips when you don't. The flexibility of the timeline is also a huge plus for the program — it can handle a project with just one video and audio layer, but can also manage twenty-layer timeline projects.
The asset organization in Premiere is one of my favorite parts of the software. The bin organization structure is very clear and concise. It dutifully holds a feature's worth of clips in color-coded bins that transfer to the timeline with a simple drag.
+ : Integration with Motion Graphics Software (After Effects)
Premiere comes with integration with After Effects, its companion motion graphics software. If you need to build out a motion graphic that's beyond the scope of a normal NLE, there's a simple linking tool within Premiere to automatically create a new AE sequence within your timeline.
After Effects is arguably the top program for motion graphics and animation within the industry, so Premiere has a pretty big advantage with the ability to link to it.
+ : Versatile Scalability
Premiere Pro and Versatility
Out of all of the NLE's available on the market today, in my opinion Premiere has the best UX for constant scalability through an editor's growth timeline. As a beginner you can maneuver your way through the program without too much hassle. Then, as you grow into a better editor, more functions and tools are there for you to scale up your projects from a small two-minute short film to a 120 minute documentary feature with hundreds of hours worth of footage.
– : Frequent Program Drops and Crashes
Onto the gripes of the program. Premiere users are unfortunately familiar with the frequent program drops and crashes. Even when working on a laptop or a computer that's moderately powerful, I've had plenty of issues with the program freezing during a crucial edit, which in turn crashes the program. Premiere has done some work over the years to remedy this problem, but it still happens much more frequently in Premiere compared to all the other NLEs on the market.
– : Clip Freezing When Previewing/Rendering Problems
Premiere Pro: Clip Freezing
One of the main issues with Premiere I've had over the years is the constant issue of video previews freezing up or skipping frames. When working with high caliber clips such as 4K or RAW formats, it's almost a certainty that you have to cut down the preview quality of the video by at least half or a fourth to get it to play normally (unless you are working on a monster PC or Mac). This also happens on the timeline from time to time if you're working with different layers of color grading or effects. It's one of the most common complaints about the program. With other programs such as Final Cut and Resolve that have lossless playback, it's time for Premiere to catch up to the competition.
Final Cut — $299
Final Cut has been either sitting comfortably on the top of the industry standard or slumped down in the lower rungs for the past two decades. When Final Cut 7 was released in 2007 to compete with Avid Media Composer, it quickly became the indie darling NLE. It was even used as the chosen NLE for the Coen Brother's production of True Grit.
When I started out in my editing career way back in 2008, I first learned non-linear editing through Final Cut 7. But, in 2011, Apple execs made a bold choice. They released Final Cut X, which at the time cut out a lot of the features and recognizable UX that Final Cut 7 offered in the name of 'innovation.' This angered a lot of editors, who suddenly and loudly moved over to Premiere to do their editing. Over the past decade, Apple put in a lot of work to try and grab back their corner of the market share. That appempt has mostly been successful.
Let's go into what the current iteration of Final Cut has to offer you, as well as its drawbacks.
+ : Seamless Video Playback
Final Cut: Seamless Playback
This to me is one of the clear advantages Final Cut has over Premiere. I've never had a problem with clear video playback within the software. Even when working with big 4K clips, it's always played back for me as clear as day.
In this same vein, Final Cut X never presented an overwhelming crashing problem to me. Granted, I've never done large-scale projects within the editor, but in a completely subjective manner, I approve of its ability to handle heavy duty work.
+ : Excellent at Getting a Project Out Fast
One of the biggest draws to Final Cut is its ability to get a project in and out in a very short amount of time. The simple design clearly lays out the project for you in a very approachable manner, and lets you crank out one-minute social cuts in a matter of hours. This is also thanks to its drag-and-drop effects that you can preview and load in just a matter of seconds.
+ / – : Extremely Simple UX
(Too?) Simple UX
Our first plus and minus of the list comes from Final Cut's extremely simple design.
For editors coming from iMovie who are looking for more features, it's a seamless step up into the professional editing realm. But, for seasoned editors who have been working in Premiere and Avid Media Composer, the simplistic design is almost limiting. When you are comfortable with the timeline of other NLEs, Final Cut is a radical jump from any other in the market. Its magnetic timeline is confusing for editors who like to organize different sections on the timeline in their own specific way.
– : Disorganized Media Storage
My biggest gripe with the Final Cut design is how they set up their bin layout for clip storage. Coming from someone who is more comfortable organizing their clips into individual bins, the 'Project' and 'Event' tabs are a clear step in a different direction from other NLEs. Compact 2tb external hard drive. It may be comfortable to some editors, but from someone who likes a 'traditional' layout, it just doesn't cut it.
So, Which One Should You Pick?
Choosing the Right One for You
So obviously, this is going to come down to personal preference when deciding between the two. Are you a new editor who prefers a simple layout that can perform pro functions without too much hassle? Then Final Cut may be your choice. Are you a seasoned editor who wants a traditional NLE with the backing power of the Adobe Suite? Then Premiere is a solid bet.
The only way you can really get to know both programs is actually editing a project in both. It will become pretty apparent to you which one is a better fit for your workflow. Both programs allow a trial period (Adobe/Final Cut), so if you have a Mac, give 'em both a shot. You might be surprised with which one becomes your favorite.
Do you have a PC, or do both of these sound unappealing? Well, check out all the other options you have on the market.
Top image via Artem Furman.
Want more on choosing the right NLE for you? Check these out.
Final Cut Vs Premiere
Professional video editors around the globe rely on Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro for anything from creating a short corporate presentation to putting together the next blockbuster movie. Both offer an incredible variety of editing tools and transform ordinary footage into the stuff of dreams. Which one should you choose, though?
This guide aims to explore the similarities and differences between the two. We must stress that the Pro in their names is justified – both programs offer everything an editor could possibly want. With that in mind, Final Cut Pro vs. Premiere Pro becomes a subjective showdown. It's the differences in approach to video editing that each program embodies that will have the greatest sway on your decision. Explore them by reading on and choose the program that aligns with your own views.
Suitability for new users
While both programs cater to the enthusiast and professional editors, there's no reason why someone with little to no prior knowledge couldn't get into either. That being said, it takes more dedication to learn the basics of Premiere Pro since Adobe assumes you're already familiar with how an editing workflow unfolds.
Simplicity is at the core of every Apple product, even ones as advanced as Final Cut Pro. People who've used iMovie will find the transition to be painless, but even newbies whose experience boils down to trimming a few videos on their iPhones can quickly learn the ropes.
+1 for Final Cut Pro
Asset organization
Complex projects end up using dozens, if not hundreds of disparate media files, so a logical and easily accessible retrieval system is a must. Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro handle asset organization in different ways, both of which have merit to them.
Premiere Pro behaves like most traditional NLEs or non-linear editing environments in that it organizes media files into bins. These act similarly to folders and have a structure that allows bin within bin placement. You can color-code them based on the type of stored media or devise a system of your own. Sharing media with other adobe products like Photoshop is easy as well.
Final Cut Pro uses the Library to keep track of not just files, but events and edits as well. It's easy to search for a required file with the keyword finder, and you can batch rename similar clips to organize them into groups quickly.
Draw
Interface
The interface is where you'll first get a taste of both companies' approaches to video editing. Premiere Pro is permeated with a sense of purpose and flexibility. Opening it up reveals a complex layout with many components, each of which can be moved around, resized, or removed altogether. It takes some practice, but you can end up creating a user interface that spans multiple monitors and is tailored to your unique preferences.
You'll feel right at home with Final Cut Pro if you've ever used an Apple-designed program before. Its standard layout is clean and simplistic but can be expanded as the need arises. Apple is particular about individual component placement and doesn't let you move core parts of the interface like the timeline around wherever you want them to be. That being said, the chosen layout feels intuitive and makes for a gentler learning curve. Expect to be up and running in minutes if you're transitioning from iMovie.
Draw
Timeline
If you've worked with other NLEs before, Premiere Pro‘s timeline will be familiar. It has a conventional layout with timestamps on the top. Under them are tracks dragging a clip to a track creates separate audio and video parts you can hide, move around, or trim.
The workflow is based on the absolute time in the timeline, and a clip's priority since footage closer to the top takes precedence. Like the rest of Premiere Pro's interface, this section of the UI is entirely configurable. You can display or hide specific information like keyframes and waveforms, or color-code footage from different sources to keep the timeline tidy.
Final Cut Pro's Magnetic Timeline is controversial. Some editors find that it speeds up their workflow immensely while others used to standard NLE practices find it disruptive. The magnetic in its name comes from the fact that clips automatically snap together as they're added to the primary storyline. Removing a clip will cause adjacent ones to snap together and leave no room for empty frames. This is especially useful if you've got a lot of clips and want to avoid accidentally leaving a couple of frames blank.
Instead of being tied down to the general timeline, clips in Final Cut Pro have relationships with each other. Let's say you need B-roll footage of a coffee shop before cutting to a dialogue. Placing the B-roll clip onto a traditional timeline would keep it in place if you move the A-roll footage. The Magnetic Timeline creates a relationship between them and moves one as you move the other. Of course, you can sever such links and not use the snap-on function altogether.
Both programs receive a point in this category as either approach will find a welcoming audience.
+1 for Premiere Pro
+1 for Final Cut Pro
Audio editing
Audio is another category where it's hard to pick a clear winner due to how each program handles it. While not necessarily more capable, Premiere Pro's approach is more serious. Dropping an audio clip onto the timeline automatically creates a new track in the mixer. There you can play around with volume unit edits and designate the track as mono, stereo, or surround. Subscribing to the entire Creative Cloud opens up Audition, an effective sound editing program that gives you access to advanced equalizer settings, noise reduction, and a slew of effects.
Final Cut Pro intelligently edits audio, so much so that you can leave hum and noise elimination to its AI while you focus on other aspects. You can adjust these as well as peaking manually or sync audio from one source with video footage from another. Buying Final Cut Pro gives you access to more than a thousand free audio samples, and logic Pro X plugin integration is available if you own it too.
Draw
Color correction & grading
Color correction has long been a part of the editing process in which Premiere Pro had the upper hand. The Lumetri Color tools that are now an integral part of it offer nuanced control over every aspect of color manipulation. You can quickly make sweeping or minute changes to white balance, saturation, black point, RGB levels, and a host of other parameters. Alternately, you may want to make use of more than thirty lookup tables and apply specific film effects to your scenes.
Were we still in 2017, the story would have ended there as Final Cut Pro didn't have much to offer in terms of color correction until December of that year. That's when a new version introduced color wheels along with hue, saturation, and color curves.
The old color board is still here. However, using wheels is more precise since it adds a more accurate visual representation of not just color, but saturation and exposure too. You can change these for highlights, shadows, or midtones. Adding curves to a clip lets you adjust luma along with RGB levels and will be familiar to photographers. Lastly, there's a color inspector that gives you access to custom lookup tables and lets you change individual colors with an eyedropper.
Final Cut Pro has come a long way, but Premiere Pro remains more comprehensive, so it's getting our vote.
+1 for Premiere Pro
Titling and graphics templates
Both programs make it easy to design unique titles, but Final Cut Pro offers more out of the box. Premiere Pro focuses more on text creation and manipulation. Many fonts, transitions, and effects are at your disposal. Final Cut Pro has all of that while also sporting an integrated 3D text design tool. There are close to two hundred animation templates and twelve 3D templates for text along with a slew of materials you can apply to the text to achieve great-looking results.
+1 for Final Cut Pro
Render times
This is a category where Final Cut Pro would have won hands down a few years ago, but things aren't as straightforward nowadays. Premiere Pro is still slower at rendering, but not by much. It takes advantage of your graphics card's CUDA cores and pushes multi-threaded CPUs to their limit. You can also turn on Hardware Encoding in the export settings to get another performance boost.
Even so, Final Cut Pro remains the better choice, partially because of the way it handles rendering and exporting. Not only are render times shorter even on older hardware, but Final Cut Pro can export and render at the same time. For example, it can start to upload a video to YouTube as its being rendered and save you the hassle of having to go through two separate steps.
+1 for Final Cut Pro
Supporting software
Neither video editing program exists in a vacuum, but Adobe's network of support software is superior. The Creative Cloud brings together programs that enhance your filmmaking experience in different ways. Story CC is great for developing a script and planning a shoot while After Effects, Photoshop, and Audition drastically increase the number of audiovisual enhancements at your disposal.
These programs are integrated into Premiere Pro much better than anything Apple has to offer. For instance, you can work on a project in After Effects and import it to Premiere Pro in seconds. Better yet, you can alter the same project in one program, and changes will be updated in the other.
Final Cut Pro has several noteworthy companion programs. Compressor expands the number of file types you can export to and helps with customizing either single or batch output files. There's also Motion, a versatile tool for creating 3D animation, titles, and transitions. Neither these nor standalone software like Logic Pro X are as intuitively integrated into Final Cut Pro's workflow, though.
Filmora Vs Adobe Premiere
+1 for Premiere Pro
Collaboration
Collaboration is one of Premiere Pro‘s big selling points. The program allows you and other creatives t to form a collaborative network. You can then work on multiple projects, all work on the same one simultaneously, and share files without the need for cloud storage. Managing access is straightforward, too, since you can lock a project or parts of it while you're working so others can't make changes until you're finished.
Apple doesn't have a clear-cut collaboration solution. You can export projects and share them with others, but there's no revision history or the option to communicate with other editors directly built into Final Cut Pro.
+1 for Premiere Pro
Operating system compatibility
This one is a no-brainer. Premiere Pro works on both PC and Mac, while Final Cut Pro is exclusive to Apple's environment. Premiere Pro performs well on Macs with only slight slowdowns in render times when compared to optimized PC setups.
Final Cut Vs Premiere Pro
+1 for Premiere Pro
System requirements & stability
While both programs can run on most run-of-the-mill machines that came out in the last five years, Premiere Pro is noticeably more power-hungry. It requires a 6th-gen Intel Core or 1st-gen Ryzen processor along with a minimum of 8GB of RAM and a graphics card with 2GB of ram. These are just the minimum specs; the better processor and more RAM you have, the shorter your render times will be.
Final Cut Pro is integrated fully into apple's hardware and can achieve similar results with worse specs. It requires half the RAM and video card memory to work and runs flawlessly on older MacBooks.
As it's tailor-made for Macs, it's no surprise that Final Cut Pro runs smoothly. You can work on projects for months without experiencing a single crash or hiccup. Meanwhile, Premiere Pro is notorious for frequent freezing, crashing, and file corruption. Adobe is aware of the problems and is improving the situation with each patch, but you'll still have to rely on automatic and manual saving much more than with Final Cut Pro.
+1 for Final Cut Pro
Pricing
Apple and Adobe have entirely different philosophies when it comes to pricing. You have to pay a one-time fee of $299.99 for Final Cut Pro X and get to keep it forever. The program is regularly updated, too, so optional plugins are the only other expense.
Adobe sells Premiere Pro on a subscription-based software as a service principle. Signing up for a year costs $20.99/month or $239.88 if you go for a single annual payment. You can also use Premiere Pro on a per-month basis, which costs $32.99/month.
Adobe's monthly subscription fee looks inviting because it's cheaper in the short term and lets you try the program for a month or two without having to sink $300 into it upfront. However, using Premiere gets costlier over time, especially if you're using other programs from Adobe's Creative Cloud in conjunction with it.
+1 for Final Cut Pro
Conclusion
| Why choose | |
|---|---|
| Adobe Premiere Pro (5 points) | Final Cut Pro (6 points) |
|
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The choice between Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro is a tough one, except if you're a PC user. Both are powerful editing tools, and there's nothing you couldn't create with one that the other couldn't replicate.
In the end, it comes down to your views on editing. Premiere Pro is the better choice if you value in-depth customization and are used to working with a standard timeline. Final Cut Pro is more appealing to creatives who want a clean layout, streamlined workflow, and speedy, stable performance.
