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Both cover video editing. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Blender | Shotcut | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Pricing model | Free | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux |
| Covers | Motion Graphics & Animation, Design & Graphics, Video Editing | Video Editing |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
3D, motion and compositing, free forever
Blender models, animates, simulates, renders, composites and cuts video, and the Blender Foundation gives all of it away under the GPL with no tier above it. For motion graphics it is the free answer to a monthly subscription, and the ceiling is the artist rather than the licence. The learning curve is what it costs instead, and that is a real price.
Our note
The honest comparison is not against a cheaper subscription but against time: Blender costs nothing and asks for weeks. If motion graphics is a recurring part of the work that trade is worth making, and if it comes up twice a year it is not.
Only on this side
A free desktop video editor, open source
Shotcut is a free desktop video editor that has been maintained for well over a decade and runs on Linux, macOS and Windows alike. It reads a wide range of formats because FFmpeg is doing the work underneath, and it asks for no account at any point. The interface takes a session to settle into. Nothing is upsold later.
Our note
This is the answer when the budget is nothing and the work is real, and the interface is the price you pay instead. DaVinci Resolve's free build is more capable if your machine can run it.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.