DaVinci Resolve 20 (2025)

You can't argue with free professional-grade editing tools, even if some of the best features are kept for Studio

- STEVE PARIS

When it comes to professional video editing, you might think of Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer or Final Cut Pro. You might also imagine paying a small fortune for them. But there's another option that offers professional-grade tools for free: Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve.

There are no awkward compromises here; no ads, no watermarks.

It does have limitations, the biggest being that it restricts exports to 4K and 60fps. DaVinci Resolve Studio raises the ceiling to 32K/120fps and includes a host of other advanced features for £225, and that fee includes all future updates, large or small.

Here, we're focusing on the free version. A program that not only allows you to edit a video project, but integrates a bunch of powerful features that would often be offered as a separate dedicated program. To make it easier working with so many tools, Resolve is broken down into seven different categories.

These are organised in the order in which your project progresses: you import and sort out your clips in the Media page, then use Cut or Edit to build your project; then comes Fusion, where you assemble complex special effects, followed by Color for colour correction, Fairlight to work on audio and Deliver to export your work.

It's all well designed and easy to understand for newcomers, with the possible exception of Cut and Edit.