It has a deep feature set that many editors know and like, along with useful AI tools, decent media management and more.

When it comes to the UI and editing features, Premiere Pro is hard to beat. (For a breakdown of the differences between Resolve and Resolve Studio, check here.) UI and editing However, I’ll be sure to mention any features available in the Studio version that aren’t available on the free Resolve 16.2 app. Software-wise, I’ve got a full (paid) Adobe Cloud subscription and license for the Studio version of Resolve 16.2. Both have 32GB of RAM, fast NVMe internal SSDs to run the program and relatively fast SATA SSDs for editing. I tested both on my Gigabyte Aero 15X laptop with quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU and NVIDIA GTX 1070 Max-Q graphics, as well as a desktop machine with an 8-core Intel CPU and NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti graphics. I edit both at home and on the road, so I wanted to see how the apps performed on a decent laptop and high-end desktop machine. I took a long look at elements like speed, color correction, audio and text handling and checked with Engadget’s video producer Chris Schodt - here’s what I discovered. To that end, I wanted to see if the benefits of replacing Premiere Pro with Resolve would outweigh the drawbacks. For many editors, it could disrupt their workflow enough to be a dealbreaker. And Adobe Premiere integrates tightly with other apps, like Photoshop, that are less easy to replace. Still, switching apps for something as complex as video editing can be terrifying.

It also has a deep set of tools for HDR, color, FX and audio, along with fast exports and other benefits. And while Premiere Pro CC seems to get slower and buggier with every release, Resolve 16 has become cleaner and snappier. Resolve 16 is quite an improvement over the last version, especially when it comes to ease-of-use. To start with, Resolve 16 is free, and even the $300 Studio version costs less over time than Premiere Pro’s obligatory monthly plans. Since Blackmagic Design’s Resolve 16 came out last year, a lot of video editors may have been tempted to ditch Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

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