--- description: Review of Lightworks Software: system overview, features, price and cost information. Get free demos and compare to similar programs on Software Advice Ireland. image: https://gdm-localsites-assets-gfprod.imgix.net/images/software_advice/og_logo-55146305bbe7b450bea05c18e9be9c9a.png title: Lightworks | Reviews, Pricing & Demos - SoftwareAdvice IE --- Breadcrumb: [Home](/) > [Video Editing Software](/directory/4729/video-editing/software) > [Lightworks](/software/210940/lightworks) # Lightworks Canonical: https://www.softwareadvice.ie/software/210940/lightworks Page: 1 / 3\ Next: [Next page](https://www.softwareadvice.ie/software/210940/lightworks?page=2) > Lightworks is a video editing platform designed to help businesses develop and export video content across several platforms such as Vimeo or YouTube. Features include stereoscopic output, trimming, data backup, project archive and timeline rendering Lightworks enables users to produce video content in multiple formats, collaborate with team members in real-time and share media, edits, or bins. Professionals can import a batch of files, render third-party FX or export documents while performing edits. With its GPU pipeline architecture, users can add various effects such as primary or secondary color correction, masking and blurring. Lightworks is available on monthly and yearly subscriptions and also for a one-time fee. Support is extended via community forums, documentation and email. > > Verdict: Rated **4.2/5** by 34 users. Top-rated for **Likelihood to recommend**. ----- ## Quick Stats & Ratings | Metric | Rating | Detail | | **Overall** | **4.2/5** | 34 Reviews | | Ease of Use | 3.6/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Customer Support | 3.8/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Value for Money | 4.4/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Features | 3.9/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Recommendation percentage | 70% | (7/10 Likelihood to recommend) | ## About the vendor - **Company**: Lwks Software - **Location**: Watertown, US ## Commercial Context - **Starting Price**: US$49.99 - **Pricing model**: Per User (Free version available) - **Pricing Details**: Lightworks Free: Free Lightworks Pro: $24.99/month, $174.99/year, $437.99 (one-time) - **Target Audience**: Self Employed, 2–10, 11–50, 51–200, 201–500 - **Deployment & Platforms**: Mac (Desktop), Windows (Desktop), Linux (Desktop) - **Supported Languages**: English - **Available Countries**: India, United States ## Features - Audio Capture - Data Import/Export - Image Editing - Media Library - Social Sharing - Supports HD Resolution - Video Editing ## Support Options - Chat ## Category - [Video Editing Software](https://www.softwareadvice.ie/directory/4729/video-editing/software) ## Alternatives 1. 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Even the free version is very good and can be used by anyone. For quick and precise editing, this software is probably the only one that comes to mind. > > **Cons**: For people who might've been using Adobe's Premier, it may be a bit confusing at first, the keyboard keys but after a while it slides like a glove. Foe people looking to use the free version, the only downside might be that the max resolution produced is 720p but that's still pretty good too \! > > in the big picture, it honestly is a great software for people looking to make YouTube videos or vlogs or short movies. It can definitely produce high quality stuff and you honestly don't need to learn a lot to use it. I mainly used it to edit my game play of the games I made in my company. ----- ### "A very able video editing tool, quite intuitive. Also has a free trial that can be renewed" — 5.0/5 > **Lucas** | *11 December 2019* | Writing & Editing | Recommendation rating: 10.0/10 > > **Pros**: I consider Lightworks' interface to be quite intuitive, as I required almost no time to get used to it. I usually have no issues importing images, audio or other clips to a video project. Exporting also usually goes smoothly. I happen to have other video editing softwares installed, but very rarely had the need to use anything other than Lightworks. > > **Cons**: I have no complaints about Lightworks. Its frugal set of features - that for some other people could be a turn-off - was enough for the edition whole Hollywood movies such as Pulp Fiction and The Wolf of Wall Street, so a little getting used to it should go a long way, especially for most beginner video editors. > > I am a big fan of beginner-friendly creative tools. Lightworks allows me to make short advertisement videos for my freelance business, even though I have no formal education in video edition. It also allows me to create and edit those videos on a computer that is not a high-end machine by any means. I usually export my short videos (with a length of up to 2 minutes) to a YouTube-usable format, H264-720p, with no issues and little wait ----- ### "Overtakes all audio settings on desktop - extreme PITA." — 2.0/5 > **Dan** | *19 February 2022* | Music | Recommendation rating: 0.0/10 > > **Pros**: I liked that the software was free, and got exactly what I paid for, minus most of my Saturday morning. > > **Cons**: The audio only exports through System Sound, which by itself is not bad. But who the hell wants to toggle between audio devices, let alone rearrange speaker cables in an audio rack, just to open a piece of software? Furthering my annoyance, was the fact that ALL software on my computer defaulted to System Sound upon opening Lightworks. > > A lot of people seem to like this software, but the time I would have spent using it was spent troubleshooting my sudden and complete loss of audio. The time that this software would have saved me was made up for by the time I spent trying to work around the grayed-out IO hardware settings. The fact that a decision to lock the user out of audio settings in editing software can even be made in this day and age, is enough to call Lightworks a hot mess and move on. ----- ### "Lightworks is to video what Gimp is to photos - powerful and free" — 4.0/5 > **Benu** | *30 April 2018* | Recommendation rating: 6.0/10 > > **Pros**: Lightworks is a capable, flexible, and valuable video editor that almost anyone can learn. The workflow is adaptable to most project types, and the system requirements are easily achieved. Should a user require more advanced features, there is a "pro" version the company sells for a reasonable price, but this is optional. The fact that users can learn and evaluate the software, without spending a dime, is a huge plus. Lightworks is also one of the few capable editors that has Linux support, so that is a huge plus. More Linux support is always a good thing, and this software opens up lots of value to those users. Overall, Lightworks is to video editing as Gimp is to photo editing. Anyone can pick it up and learn for free, and it helps build creativity and technical skill for a diverse userbase. > > **Cons**: The UI of Lightworks is archaic. This might seem like an arbitrary complaint, but for a video editing program the user needs clarity in what tools and windows are intended to do. Lightworks' iconography and relatively bright color scheme distracts from the work to be done. Also, Lightworks changes the mechanics of certain basic editing tasks, notably edit replace and ripple edit. My displeasure with the differences might just be my muscle memory from other programs, but these are fairly normal tasks that should be as easy/standard as possible. Perhaps for new users, there will not be much transition pain, but for seasoned editors, it may be a bother. > > Lightworks is free, capable, and flexible. For new editors, it's a good first step into the world of nonlinear editing, and it opens the door for Linux users to practice better digital creativity. ----- ### "Very simple to use video editor" — 4.0/5 > **Carlos** | *20 April 2021* | E-Learning | Recommendation rating: 10.0/10 > > **Pros**: I am not a professional editor, I use the software for academic purposes, basically editing Zoom recordings of university lectures. The software does what I need, trimming, adjusting audio, cutting video segments, with a low learning curve for somebody with almost no experience in video editing. It works fine, and it works in Linux. > > **Cons**: The free version offers limited options for exporting video, so I must use ffmpeg to get to the final version. The H264 codec is not optimized for long videos, so I use ffmpeg to recompress the result. > > Very good experience, It does what I need and I managed to get it working without previous knowledge. The support in forums is very good. ----- Page: 1 / 3\ Next: [Next page](https://www.softwareadvice.ie/software/210940/lightworks?page=2) ## Links - [View on SoftwareAdvice](https://www.softwareadvice.ie/software/210940/lightworks) ## This page is available in the following languages | Locale | URL | | en | | | en-AU | | | en-GB | | | en-IE | | | en-NZ | | ----- ## Structured Data