I tried CapCut alternatives and here are my thoughts
I saw a lot of discussions on here regarding what CapCut has been doing lately such as putting everything behind premium, price hikes and forcing ads so I thought to make a very thorough list to help everyone.
Before I start, I want to say I personally use CapCut Pro and pay for a subscription at $9.99/month and believe that's an incredible deal. There are not many apps that provide unlimited captions in multiple languages as CapCut does. In fact, many features it has are usually either not found in alternatives, take too long to do in alternatives, or have limits like requiring credits for AI features when its not an AI heavy task (I'm talking to you Filmora). Many of these features are offered as standalone products by other companies such as the new eye contact feature, video upscaling, removing background and captions.
I do understand people complaining though because if it was paid from the start or was free with Pro features already defined, I am sure no one would complain but to rugpull everyone after getting used to the features is scummy.
If you want to get CapCut Pro and its saying anything other than $10/month or $90/year then first try going on desktop browser (while being signed out) if that doesn't work then try signing in and see if you get that offer. If that doesn't work, then try mobile app and if that doesn't work then try mobile app browser. Yes, these will yield different prices and apps know if you're accessing the pricing via desktop browser or mobile browser. Again, I do believe its a great deal but it depends on how much you use it to justify the price. Casual editing then only use free but if you have inspirations to gain a following or just enjoy editing like 3+ hours a week, then the cost is definitely justified and everyone on CapCut Pro has been locked in at the price they initially got it at.
Now before I mention the alternatives, it is important to know what you want your video editor to do. People recommending DaVinci Resolve are wrong for recommending it as an alternative but if your edits are simple and you have a modern computer, then DaVinci is not that hard at all. Also if you are editing on your phone, then DaVinci shouldn't be recommended at all.
So here are the alternatives:
For mobile users (in order): YouCut, InShot, VN Video Editor, Project Violet (bumped up because its 100% free no in app purchases or ads), VivaVideo, VITA, Premier Rush are great. YouCut and InShot are especially nice because its a one time payment for $20 then its yours forever. Project Violet is great but its an Adobe product so might switched to becoming paid so for this reason if you get it, then DO NOT UPDATE!
LumaFusion is a great app as well and is feature rich but it has a $30 one time payment. I did not use it for this test but I used it on my wife's iPad a few months ago and it seemed easy enough at the time but I couldn't retest because she's at her parents house for a week. If I remember this post I will update my thoughts on that app because $30 is a good chunk of change so maybe watch tutorials before buying.
For desktop users:
DaVinci Resolve is excellent. It is difficult to master but again, it depends on the edits you make. Benefits of DaVinci is if you get good at it, you can actually make a career out of it. I would like to eventually learn how to use it and switch to it completely because I know what it is capable of, but for the meantime, CapCut.
Filmora is almost the same visually as CapCut on desktop. If you know how to use CapCut then jumping to Filmora will be 95% the same experience. It has a free version but I would prefer buying the perpetual license. You will not get any updates to newer versions but you will get all the features and tbh, I use it more than CapCut but I use AI features of CapCut because its unlimited compared to the credits required by Filmora.
VN is amazing because even though it has no AI, they can be easily made in other apps and transferred to finish the project in VN. They offer a Pro version for $7/month or $50/year but it barely adds any features worth paying for.
Movavi is great and offers a lot of features for free although it does also have a paid version. I didn't play with this much because it seemed similar to CapCut and Filmora so I didn't poke around a lot especially since it is more expensive than Filmora with no perpetual license. I did look at its plans though and one thing it does better it seems that it doesn't require AI credits for captions or other AI features like Filmora does which is a plus.
Premiere Pro lately has been on fire. I have never used it beyond the free trial but it has added many new features, the only reason I cannot recommend it is because its expensive $22 and also pretty complex. In some areas its easier than DaVinci for example it offers text based editing but in other places it is harder to use.
Final Cut Pro is the only answer if you have a Mac. Smooth, fast and simple. It also received a ton of updates after almost a decade. It has the Apple philosophy of simplicity and I got used to it just by poking around no tutorial needed. Doing what I need it to do would take longer than CapCut so I don't use it. You don't need to pay for it btw just delete the apps cache (not the app itself) and the free trial will restart for another 90 days. Just keep doing that every 90 days and you'll be good.
Lastly, I tried using OpenShot and PowerDirector on my MacBook M1. OpenShot would not open so I couldn't test it and PowerDirector was buggy as soon as I started using it. I did not use Riverside FM or Descript but I really wanted to. Might add a comment later if I decide to try them out because they seem promising but they are paid or too restricted in free plan to be of any use. I didn't try HitFilm because when I went to their site it seems they are going out of business.
Final thoughts, most of these apps all include some type of subscription or one time price. The ones that offer one time price usually its a huge upfront charge except mobile/iPad versions.