Adobe Premiere Pro is a really good video editor, but I didn’t want to keep paying for a subscription anymore. This led me to test out a wide range of video editors, from freemium proprietary tools to unique open-source options. To date, DaVinci Resolve is probably the best Premiere alternative there is, but it’s not open-source. There’s also Kdenlive, which is open-source, but it doesn’t have the smoothest interface.
Enter OpenShot. This open-source editor strikes the perfect balance of powerful yet approachable. Even though it is a little simpler than Premiere, I was surprised to find that much of my workflow carried over easily. It’s an editor I’ve grown to love since canceling my Adobe subscriptions and building an open-source editing stack. And while it doesn’t replace the entirety of Premiere, it doesn’t really need to because it handles most video and animation projects without it feeling like a downgrade.
What is OpenShot?
A top open-source video editing tool
OpenShot is a free, open-source video editor built for timeline-based editing. It gives you all the core tools you’d expect from any modern editor: multi-track, trimming, snapping, transitions, titles, keyframes, effects, color controls, audio controls, and flexible export. What I like most about it is how simple and readable the interface is, so regardless of what you’re working on, it stays predictable. It’s designed to handle complex projects without overcomplicating things.
OpenShot is for anyone who wants a capable editor without committing to subscriptions. It’s ideal for editing YouTube videos, social clips, tutorials, screen recording, animation projects, and client projects. The app is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Unlimited tracks
It’s suitable for big projects
OpenShot doesn’t limit how many video or audio tracks you can use, which matters more than it sounds. You can stack B-roll, overlays, screen recordings, music, sound effects, and adjustment clips without having to constantly merge or flatten your layer stack to make space. This makes it more than suitable for large and complex projects, and keeps the timeline readable and flexible. I also like how useful this makes it for experimenting with effects so I can try variations without breaking my original structure.
Keyframe control
Precise control for animations
Keyframes are essential to determining the state of a clip as it moves from position A to position B - no comprehensive editor would ship without this feature. OpenShot has its own version of keyframe control. You can animate position, scale, rotation, opacity, volume, and every effect in the OpenShot library. This effectively lets you create animations and dynamic movement across your clips.
OpenShot doesn’t have a full graph editor. That said, Premiere’s graph editor requires highlighting individual keyframes, opening a couple menus, and navigating to the specific property to access the keyframe curves - so it’s not exactly approachable or something you can adjust on the fly, anyway. OpenShot’s keyframe function is much simpler, yet very effective. All you have to do is right-click on the property and open the Bezier curve presets.
Sure, you can’t adjust the interpolation manually, which would be a nice addition, but the curve presets are more plentiful than I’ve seen in any other editor.
It has chroma keying
For green screen effects
Green screening is something even basic video editors started incorporating; it’s not as complicated as you’d think. All it does is remove the green (or any other bright color) from a clip, rendering that area transparent, and revealing the layer underneath it - this allows for some pretty cool, multi-layer composite effects.
OpenShot has a built-in tool for green screening, called the Chroma Key, and it’s dead-simple to use. All you need to do is select the color and adjust the threshold, and the green screen will start to disappear, revealing the graphic layers you’ve stacked underneath it. While not quite on par with the precision of Premiere’s Ultra Key feature, I like that it’s much quicker to apply.
OpenShot supports a wide range of formats
It plays nicely with most media
One of OpenShot’s strongest technical advantages is its format support, thanks to its use of the FFmpeg library. You can import a wide range of video, audio, and image formats, including MP4, AVI, MOV, MKV, WebP, PNG, JPEG, WAV and many more without pre-converting your files.
It includes built-in profiles that cover standard containers and codecs including H.264 (libx264), H.265/HEVC (libx265), VP9 (libvpx‑vp9), AV1 (librav1e/libsvtav1), MPEG‑2, and others. You can push your final exports to formats like MP4, AVI, and MOV with customizable bitrates, resolutions up to 4K, and flexible frame rates. All while maintaining compatibility with most devices and platforms you’re targeting.
OpenShot can handle serious projects
While OpenShot isn’t a one-to-one replacement for Premiere, it covers most of the same ground. It has unlimited tracks, keyframing, advanced effects like chroma keying, and a massive export range. Plus, it’s completely free, open-source, and much easier to navigate. It’s the perfect video editor.