Choosing an editing app in 2026 mostly comes down to three names: Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve. All three can produce professional work — the right choice depends on your platform, budget, and what you edit most. Here's an honest breakdown.
Premiere Pro: the industry standard
Premiere is the safe, cross-platform choice. It runs on Mac and Windows, integrates tightly with After Effects and Photoshop, and is the format most collaborators and clients expect. The tradeoff is the subscription cost and a heavier system footprint. If you work with others or move between apps constantly, Premiere's ecosystem is hard to beat.
Final Cut Pro: fast and Mac-native
Final Cut is a one-time purchase and it is fast on Apple silicon. Its magnetic timeline divides opinion — some editors love the speed, others miss traditional tracks — but for solo creators on a Mac who value performance and battery life, it's a fantastic value. The catch: it's Mac-only, and some studios don't accept FCP project files.
DaVinci Resolve: the color powerhouse
Resolve has the best color tools of any editor, a genuinely capable free version, and a one-time purchase for the Studio tier. It's the top pick if color grading matters to you — its node-based workflow is the industry benchmark. It's the most demanding on hardware, though, so a strong GPU helps. Before installing, check our DaVinci Resolve system requirements guide.
Hardware matters as much as software
Whichever you pick, your storage and GPU will shape the experience more than the logo on the app. Our guide to the best SSD and GPU setup for video editing covers what actually moves the needle for smooth playback and fast exports.
So which should you choose?
Pick Premiere if you collaborate, work across Adobe apps, or need Windows. Pick Final Cut if you're a solo Mac creator who wants speed and a one-time price. Pick Resolve if color is your priority or you want a serious free option. Good news: our color and title tools work across all three, so your assets come with you whichever you choose.
Whatever you edit in, level it up with MoonBear's LUTs, titles, and effects.