Final Cut Pro
Shares rank 3 of 20 video editors by recommenders
Fast, smooth editing workflow many editors prefer, sold as a one-time purchase with free desktop updates. Critics say it trails DaVinci Resolve and Apple drops older versions.
Fast, smooth editing workflow many editors prefer, sold as a one-time purchase with free desktop updates. Critics say it trails DaVinci Resolve and Apple drops older versions.
48 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 23
- approval share
- 52%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fast editing and smooth workflow
“The one thing I will say is for speed cutting, it's probably the best.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Apple Creator Studio” “FCP is just faster to edit and has a smoother end-to-end workflow.”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve 21” One-time purchase that lasts years
“if you paid the one-time price back then, you're still getting free updates today (at least on desktop)”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Apple Creator Studio” “I bought all of these apps back in like ~2013 and have been using them for literally 13 years”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Apple Creator Studio” “long term they do hold value compared to paying Adobe a subscription”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Apple Creator Studio” - Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Apple Creator Studio”
Handles 4K and multicam footage
“Final Cut Camera on iPhones along with Final Cut on an iPad allow for full multi camera controls”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple introduces the new iPad Air, powered by M4” “I edited my 30-45 min long 4k race videos in FCP on that air just fine.”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “Big Data on the Cheapest MacBook” “I edit 4K ProRes and H.265 footage, sometimes with multicam”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra” Runs well on modest Macs
“I edited my 30-45 min long 4k race videos in FCP on that air just fine.”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “Big Data on the Cheapest MacBook” “even Final Cut run perfectly fine in 8Gb”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces MacBook Neo”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Trails rivals in features
“FinalCut lost big time against DaVinci for all semi-professional users which are exactly FinalCut's main target group.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Apple Creator Studio” “It's been a LOOOONG time since final cut pro was a killer app.”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “RTX 5090 and M4 MacBook Air: Can It Game?” “I felt that FCP was underpowered for compositing and grading”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve 21” Old versions stop working on new systems
“The issue that stands out to me was the once in 17 year 2019 cut-off for 32 bit apps with a lacking Quicktime X and Final Cut X”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman” “Can't even download Final Cut on it anymore because Apple won't let me pull the latest supported version”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “Chuwi Minibook X: the netbook we deserve” “it's been woefully supported the last few years and no one should be on it anymore”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Apple Creator Studio”
Other video editors people recommend
The four most recommended other video editors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DaVinci Resolve | 175 | 66 | 73% | 11 | 3 yrs14 owners | Approved |
| Kdenlive | 56 | 25 | 69% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Final Cut ProThis page | 25 | 23 | 52% | 9 | — | — |
| Mosaic agentic video editing | 25 | 13 | 66% | 5 | — | — |
| OpenShot Video Editor | 25 | 17 | 60% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 52 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“FCP is great for all sorts of things needed when editing video.”
“most of my manual things I still feel more comfortable in FCP”
“I edit 4K ProRes and H.265 footage, sometimes with multicam”
“if I were to go pro and have less time for tinkering then it’d be FCP for me”
“if I were to go pro and have less time for tinkering then it'd be FCP for me”
“I felt that FCP was underpowered for compositing and grading”
“FCP is just faster to edit and has a smoother end-to-end workflow.”
“I’ve used FCP for a long time but have never loved it.”
“Can't even download Final Cut on it anymore because Apple won't let me pull the latest supported version”
“It's been a LOOOONG time since final cut pro was a killer app.”
“more recently Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro”
“The issue that stands out to me was the once in 17 year 2019 cut-off for 32 bit apps with a lacking Quicktime X and Final Cut X”
“backed by cloud juggernauts that either asked already or will ask for a perpetual licence”
“Fina Cut better than Premiere Pro or Resolve or Avid”
“It made the computer feel like an appliance.”
“many people buy Macs solely to run Logic Pro or Final Cut Pro”
“Its first incarnation was a huge slap in the face for features and workflow.”
“Imagine running Photoshop or Final Cut Pro via prompts.”
“It took forever to render a minute or two of video.”
“I edited my 30-45 min long 4k race videos in FCP on that air just fine.”
“even Final Cut run perfectly fine in 8Gb”
“Final Cut Camera on iPhones along with Final Cut on an iPad allow for full multi camera controls”
“I was very pleasantly surprised.”
“looks like some garbage free app with ads that Microsoft might bundle in Windows 11”
“The FCP7-FCPX transition was a disaster as well.”
“FinalCut lost big time against DaVinci for all semi-professional users which are exactly FinalCut's main target group.”
“if you paid the one-time price back then, you're still getting free updates today (at least on desktop)”
“The one thing I will say is for speed cutting, it's probably the best.”
“Pixelmator Pro looks like a toy app compared to Logic or Final Cut.”
“It's a good value for some, especially if you want to use FCP”
“I would rather not use Logic, Final Cut, or PixelMator unless Apple really improves those”
“FCP is still great for edits.”
“I bought all of these apps back in like ~2013 and have been using them for literally 13 years”
“it's been woefully supported the last few years and no one should be on it anymore”
“long term they do hold value compared to paying Adobe a subscription”
“one-time final cut pro purchase”
“exports are cancelled if you so much as switch to another app during the process”
“we'd now be fully switched to FCP7 in all departments”
“This way they don't have to even have 10% of the features to force you to buy again.”
“it was plenty for this one time effort of digitizing old Hi8 tapes”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.