The best video editor for Mac is the one built for the videos you make. A wedding film, a YouTube tutorial and twenty vertical reels a month need different tools, and the most expensive editor isn't the right answer for most of them.
This guide sorts the main Mac editors by need, with current prices. This page is about choosing the tool. If you already have one and want the steps for making reels in it, read how to edit reels on a Mac instead. Prices were checked in October 2026 from Apple's and each vendor's announcements and pages. They change, so confirm before you buy.
Which video editor for Mac fits which job?
| Editor | Price | Best for | Learning curve |
|---|---|---|---|
| iMovie | Free with every Mac | Family videos, quick widescreen edits | Low |
| Final Cut Pro | $299.99 once, or $12.99 a month in Apple Creator Studio | Mac users who edit often | Medium |
| DaVinci Resolve | Free; Studio is $295 once | Color grading, full control | High |
| CapCut (desktop) | Free tier, paid Pro | Captions, effects, trends | Low |
| Premiere Pro | Subscription only, no free plan | Teams on Adobe, shared projects | High |
| Easy Reels (browser) | $19 or $39 a month, 14-day free trial | Vertical videos cut to music, in batches | Low |
Is iMovie good enough?
For a lot of people, yes. iMovie is free, already on your Mac, and fast for a birthday video or a simple widescreen edit with titles and music. It handles footage from an iPhone without any setup.
Where it stops: iMovie on the Mac is built around widescreen projects and has no vertical setting, so it's a poor fit for Reels, TikTok and Shorts. It also has limited color and audio tools. When you outgrow it, Final Cut Pro is the natural next step because it feels familiar.
Is Final Cut Pro worth paying for?
If you edit on a Mac several times a week, probably. Final Cut Pro is optimized for Apple hardware, so it stays fast on laptops where other editors struggle. Its magnetic timeline makes rearranging clips quick once you get used to it.
Since January 2026 there are two ways to pay. You can buy it once on the Mac App Store for $299.99. Or you can subscribe to Apple Creator Studio for $12.99 a month or $129 a year. That bundle adds Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion and Compressor. Apple says some premium content is only for subscribers. For vertical video you set a custom format of 1080 × 1920 when you create the project.
Is DaVinci Resolve better than Final Cut Pro?
It depends on what matters to you. Resolve's free version is a complete professional editor with no watermark, and it started life as a color grading tool: its color page goes deeper than any other editor here. The Studio version, $295 as a one-time payment, adds higher export limits and extra features most social creators won't need.
The trade-off is time. Resolve has the steepest learning curve here, and it asks more of your Mac. Pick it if color matters most, or if you want a free editor you won't outgrow. Color grading short video covers the basics you'd use in it.
Should you use CapCut on a Mac?
CapCut's desktop app is the quickest free way to get a captioned, trendy video out of a Mac. You pick the aspect ratio when you start, so vertical is easy, and the effects library tracks what's current on TikTok.
The catch is that the free tier has been shrinking. Using a Pro-tagged effect or template watermarks the export unless you subscribe, and features move behind the paywall over time. Our CapCut review has the current prices and what's still free.
When does Premiere Pro make sense?
Premiere Pro is subscription-only with no free plan. It makes sense when you already pay for Adobe apps, work with a team that shares Premiere projects, or need it for client work that expects Adobe files. For a solo creator on a Mac, Final Cut Pro or Resolve usually costs less and runs faster.
What about a video editor for vertical, beat-synced video?
All five editors above are timeline editors. You place every cut by hand, and each new video starts from scratch. That's fine for one careful video a month. It's slow when you post the same kind of reel every week.
Easy Reels runs in Safari or Chrome, so there's nothing to install. It does one job: you upload a song and a folder of your own clips, it detects the beats, cuts your clips onto them, applies your color filter and saved text, and renders a 1440 × 2560 vertical MP4 of up to 60 seconds. The edit is saved as a template, so the next video is one click, and a batch makes 10 videos on Pro or 50 on Ultra, each drawing different clips.
It isn't a replacement for Final Cut Pro or Resolve. There's no timeline, no frame-by-frame editing and no horizontal output from templates. Many people use both: a timeline editor for the long video, and Easy Reels for the weekly vertical clips. How to batch-create reels shows that workflow. On Ultra you can also connect Easy Reels to Claude or ChatGPT on your Mac and describe the edit in words; see MCP video editing.
Which one should you pick?
- Free and simple: iMovie.
- Free and powerful: DaVinci Resolve.
- Paid, fast, Mac-first: Final Cut Pro.
- Quick captions and trends: CapCut desktop.
- Already on Adobe or a team: Premiere Pro.
- Vertical videos to music, every week: Easy Reels.
The next step: install the free option that matches your need and edit one real project in it before paying for anything. If that project is a vertical reel cut to a song, try Easy Reels free for 14 days, then $19 a month for Pro or $39 for Ultra. Cancel before the trial ends and you're never charged.
Common questions
What is the best free video editor for Mac?
DaVinci Resolve if you want a professional tool and don't mind learning it. iMovie if you want something simple that's already installed. CapCut's desktop app sits in between and handles vertical video, with some features behind its paid tier.
Is Final Cut Pro a one-time purchase?
It can be. Apple still sells it for $299.99 once on the Mac App Store, and since January 2026 it's also part of Apple Creator Studio at $12.99 a month or $129 a year.
Do I need a powerful Mac to edit video?
For short clips, no. Final Cut Pro and iMovie run well on recent Apple silicon laptops. Resolve and 4K footage ask more of the machine. A browser tool like Easy Reels renders on its own servers, so an older Mac is fine.
Can you edit vertical video on a Mac?
Yes. CapCut and Easy Reels are vertical from the start, Resolve lets you set a 1080 × 1920 timeline, and Final Cut Pro does it with a custom format. iMovie on the Mac doesn't have a vertical setting.