Kdenlive vs Lightworks Comparison 2026
Both cover video editing. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Free multi-track editing from the KDE project
A film editor with a free tier and no time limit
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Kdenlive | Lightworks | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | From $13.99 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Everything, in an open format | Not stated |
| Their cut | None | None |
| Runs on | macOS, Windows, Linux |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Kdenlive
Free multi-track editing from the KDE project
Kdenlive is a multi-track video editor maintained by the KDE community, with proxy editing, keyframes and a configurable interface, and it is free in the sense that matters: no account, no watermark, no export ceiling. It reads and writes whatever FFmpeg handles, which is most of what a camera or a screen recorder produces. Windows, macOS and Linux builds come from the project itself. Support is a forum and a bug tracker rather than somebody answering a ticket, which is the real difference from a paid editor.
Our note
Compare this against Shotcut and OpenShot rather than against paid editors, since all three are free and the difference is which interface you can stand. DaVinci Resolve is the better free choice if colour work matters, and the worse one if your machine is modest.
Lightworks
A film editor with a free tier and no time limit
Lightworks has been cutting feature films since long before the web, and the free tier is the whole editor at a capped export resolution with no trial clock on it. Paying raises the export ceiling and opens the formats a delivery spec actually asks for. Three ways to pay sit on the same page, including a single payment for anybody who does not want another monthly line. The interface comes from broadcast rather than from the web, so the first afternoon is spent learning 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.