iMovie
Shares rank 12 of 20 video editors by recommenders
Free Apple video editor that people point to for its simple interface and as a first step toward Final Cut. Critics call it basic and say it requires an Apple Account.
Free Apple video editor that people point to for its simple interface and as a first step toward Final Cut. Critics call it basic and say it requires an Apple Account.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 12
- approval share
- 40%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 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.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Crashes or fails to launch
“the original iMovie that used to work earlier, just stopped launching”
Comment from 18 Feb 2026 in “27-year-old Apple iBooks can connect to Wi-Fi and download official updates” “It would hang everytime and I had to restart it.”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “"Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers” Basic, missing features like text overlays
“much more capable than basic editors like iMovie”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “State of Kdenlive” “I can't believe iMovie doesn't have text overlays”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (July 2026)”
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 Pro | 25 | 23 | 52% | 9 | — | — |
| Mosaic agentic video editing | 25 | 13 | 66% | 5 | — | — |
| iMovieThis page | 8 | 12 | 40% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
19 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“you need to be a pro to even make a basic video”
“iMovie and other suites of software were often updated with advanced features without sacrificing ease of use.”
“None use the file system in anything like the way their unix underpinning would have files be understood or organised for users.”
“The problem was using a far too complex tool to do a simple job”
“is a palaver with its whole pre-rendering thing just to export what should be a trivial edit”
“I was unable to discover how to save the resulting file, and gave up.”
“It would hang everytime and I had to restart it.”
“I can't believe iMovie doesn't have text overlays”
“backed by cloud juggernauts that either asked already or will ask for a perpetual licence”
“You also cannot use certain applications like iMovie (which is pre-installed) without an Apple Account.”
“much more capable than basic editors like iMovie”
“iMovie too uses a "Library" which is code for "Apple Magic."”
“the original iMovie that used to work earlier, just stopped launching”
“No Garageband or iMovie feels like they've abandoned them”
“iMovie to Final Cut progression”
“macOS (QuickTime/Preview, iMovie) can't read .mp4 files”
“what I miss the most about using a Mac whenever I'm on Windows or Linux is Apple's bundled apps”
“Numbers, GarageBand, iMovie, Keynote, Pages, Clips”
“iMovie can still capture DV streams from Firewire”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.