They combine the previously discrete Events and Projects panels.
Libraries, Import, Organizeįinal Cut Pro Libraries let you keep assets together for use in multiple projects. As you might expect with the iMac's specs, performance was responsive whether I was importing, scrubbing, previewing compound picture-in-picture montages, or adding effects, but it's also reasonably performant on the less powerful laptop. I tested Final Cut on 2019 iMac with a 3.6GHz Core i9 processor, a Radeon Pro Vega GPU, and 16GB RAM running macOS Catalina and on a 13-inch MacBook Pro with at 3.1 GHz Core i5 CPU and 8GB RAM and Touch Bar. Apple claims that these can render projects up to six times faster, though they compared with Core i3-based Macs-hardware that few serious video editors would be likely to use. As mentioned above, it runs natively on the new Apple Silicon M1–based Macs.
The program requires a machine running macOS Catalina 10.15.6 or later, an OpenCL-capable video processor, 3.8GB free disk space, and a minimum of 4GB RAM (8GB is the recommended amount).
Apple offers a very generous 90-day free trial if you just want to kick the software tires it only requires an Apple Store account.Īt over 3GB, Final Cut Pro is a hefty download, so make sure you have enough local storage. Once you've bought Final Cut Pro, you're entitled to all updates. By comparison, you can only get Adobe's competing Premiere Pro with a Creative Cloud subscription for $19.99 per month.
There's no upgrade pricing, but, really, compared with the old Final Cut's $999 price, $299 is basically upgrade pricing.
You can install it on multiple Macs for $299, and you receive updates automatically-no subscription required. How Much Does Final Cut Pro Cost?Īs with any modern Mac app, you can get Final Cut Pro in the Mac App Store.
The result is a surprisingly powerful and (once you get the hang of it) easy-to-use application. The company did this to take advantage of the more powerful hardware in newer Macs as well as to reimagine the craft of video editing. Rich support for 360-degree VR content, updated color grading tools, and support for HDR and HEVC (High Efficiency Video Codec, aka H.265) arrived in version 10.4, along with a slew of smaller tweaks and added capabilities, stability, and fixes.įinal Cut Pro still shuns the traditional timeline-track interface of its predecessors, a change that drove off a lot of video professionals. Those have been joined by many more capabilities, including powerful 3D titling and an impressive Flow transition to smooth out jump cuts. Other prominent recent features include Smart Conform, which uses machine learning AI to crop widescreen content to fit mobile device screens and social media formats-similar to Adobe Premiere Pro’s Auto Reframe tool.įinal Cut has long since regained initially missing pro-level features-including multicam editing, XML importing, and external monitor support. It also adds the ability to transcode media automatically when you copy or consolidate a project, and searchable and downloadable user guides are also welcome new arrivals. The highlight of the latest version, 10.5, is support for Apple’s new Apple Silicon M1–based computers. Final Cut Pro remains a PCMag Editors' Choice for video editing software. It does a remarkable job of bridging these two worlds, and, though professionals may complain about its nontraditional trackless timeline and amateurs may scratch their heads over its wealth of sophisticated options, it's in fact a magnificent tool for both groups.