OpenShot Video Editor
Shares rank 3 of 20 video editors by recommenders
Free, open-source video editor that people find easy for casual editing and capable, with no accounts needed. Critics say it is still buggy and less polished than alternatives.
Free, open-source video editor that people find easy for casual editing and capable, with no accounts needed. Critics say it is still buggy and less polished than alternatives.
42 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 17
- approval share
- 60%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not 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: 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.
- 1.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Free and open source
“open source editors like Openshot and Kdenlive are generally underrated and easier to use than they used to be”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “FOSS, cross-platform, no accounts and very capable and easy to use.”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: VidStudio, a browser based video editor that doesn't upload your files” “it’s free, so give it half an hour or an hour and see?”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” Easy for casual editing
“open source editors like Openshot and Kdenlive are generally underrated and easier to use than they used to be”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “significantly easier to use and does what you need for casual editing”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “openshot allows me to edit videos quickly on linux. I like it.”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” Powerful with capable features
“It has more audio capabilities built-in than many other video editors”
Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “FOSS, cross-platform, no accounts and very capable and easy to use.”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: VidStudio, a browser based video editor that doesn't upload your files” “This program is powerful, quite powerful indeed!”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” Polished, good-looking interface
“looks like a great release. UI looks like it got a nice touch up”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “Who knew a QT app could look this good?”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “I couldn’t tell it looks so good”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Buggy and crashes at times
“Openshot is alive and well and actively developed, but it's still buggy as hell.”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “State of Kdenlive” “it crashes on my M1 Sequoia”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “The main option was Openshot, which was also in development and buggy”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “State of Kdenlive” - Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “200 MB RAM FreeBSD Desktop”
Less polished than alternatives
“Unlikely to be near that polish and feature completeness.”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “much more robust and performant than openshot”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve 21” “they too have a lot of room for improvement”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “State of Kdenlive” Complicated and hard to learn
“it seemed neat but a bit complicated to use”
Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “The current design makes me not use this software.”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “I just could not get used to their UIs”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “DaVinci Resolve 21” Missing VST and caption workflow
“If it had VST support I could use it instead of DaVinci Resolve.”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor” “The caption editing workflow has been a pain point for years.”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “OpenShot 4.0 – Open-source video editor”
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 |
| OpenShot Video EditorThis page | 25 | 17 | 60% | 4 | — | — |
| Final Cut Pro | 25 | 23 | 52% | 9 | — | — |
| Mosaic agentic video editing | 25 | 13 | 66% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
39 of the 44 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it seemed neat but a bit complicated to use”
“Oh so it hits the LUFS target automatically?”
“It has more audio capabilities built-in than many other video editors”
“good to see this is still under active development”
“This program is powerful, quite powerful indeed!”
“They all felt rather cheap.”
“open source editors like Openshot and Kdenlive are generally underrated and easier to use than they used to be”
“openshot allows me to edit videos quickly on linux. I like it.”
“The caption editing workflow has been a pain point for years.”
“I couldn’t tell it looks so good”
“The current design makes me not use this software.”
“I have hope for OpenShot, but it's still not there.”
“you can just install it from your distro's software repos or as a flatpak”
“Who knew a QT app could look this good?”
“the windows download link just punts you right back to their own site”
“I've supported OpenShot financially in the past, but I'm currently leaning towards LosslessCut and Shortcut.”
“it crashes on my M1 Sequoia”
“this small open source tool developed from the good will of developers in their free time”
“That was my experience some years ago and I decided I will skip a decade to see it all working.”
“it’s free, so give it half an hour or an hour and see?”
“this thing solves half of the problems the above solve, and it does it half-good”
“it runs buttery smooth and robust”
“If it had VST support I could use it instead of DaVinci Resolve.”
“significantly easier to use and does what you need for casual editing”
“OpenShot is not a bad video editor.”
“Unlikely to be near that polish and feature completeness.”
“looks like a great release. UI looks like it got a nice touch up”
“Adtech cookie banner on a .org domain for a thing whose name starts with Open? No thanks.”
“I just could not get used to their UIs”
“much more robust and performant than openshot”
“It's better than openshot”
“not fit for any serious purpose”
“FOSS, cross-platform, no accounts and very capable and easy to use.”
“Openshot is alive and well and actively developed, but it's still buggy as hell.”
“The main option was Openshot, which was also in development and buggy”
“they too have a lot of room for improvement”
“working with openshot or odb crashes often”
“KDenLive/OpenShot don't really cut it for most”
“FOSS options (KDEnlive, Openshot, Shotcut, Avidemux etc)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.