Final Cut Pro vs Adobe Premiere in 2023: Which Video Editor?

This guide will help you choose whether your next video editing software is Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro.

Both video editors are hugely popular with both amateurs and professionals in 2023, with famous YouTubers split in their preference.

Both Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro offer free trials – as long as you have a Mac, you can experiment with both video editors (Final Cut Pro isn’t available for Windows PCs).

However, video editing is a time-consuming process, and the learning curve for both Premiere and Final Cut is steep – to save you hours of testing, we’ve chosen our favourite video editing app.

Let’s take a closer look at the comparison of Final Cut Pro vs Premiere to justify our choice.

Comparing Final Cut Pro vs Adobe Premiere Pro in 2023

1. Pricing

Final Cut Pro

One of the main differences between Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro is pricing.

Although Final Cut has a one-time payment of just under $300, it’s just that — a one-time payment.

This means you won’t deal with the hassle of monthly payments you forget about until you decide to check your bank account.

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro operates on an ongoing Creative Cloud subscription.

Adobe offers a variety of flexible payment options, including an annual plan paid for with a monthly subscription of $20.99 and a month-to-month plan of $31.49. These monthly plans are great for those who can’t afford to drop lots of money immediately.

If other monthly bills are manageable, the gradual payments of Adobe Premiere Pro may be best. 

2. Platform & System Requirements

Final Cut Pro

Unfortunately, Final Cut Pro is exclusive to Macs, so those with PCs don’t even get to test drive it. Adobe Premiere is compatible with PCs and Macs, which offers more flexibility.

Final Cut Pro requires macOS 10.14.6 at least or a later version, as well as an Intel 6th Gen or more recent CPU.

You’ll also need at least 4-8 GB of RAM with an open CL-capable graphics card, 1 GB of VRAM, and 3.8 GB of available disk space to optimize Final Cut Pro performance. Apple recommends at least 8 GB of RAM for moving titles, as well as 360-degree and 4k editing.

Adobe Premiere Pro

For Adobe Premiere Pro, you’ll need either Microsoft Windows 10 or later or macOS Big Sur v11.0 or later. This is the same for Adobe Premiere Elements.

You also need Intel 6th Gen or newer or AMD Ryzen™ 1000 Series or newer CPU. And you’ll need at least 8 GB of RAM, 2 GB of GPU VRAM, and 8 GB of hard disk space.

However, Adobe suggests at least Intel 7th Gen or CPU with Quick Sync or either AMD Ryzen™ 3000 Series or AMD Threadripper 2000 series. Adobe also suggests using an internal SSD, at least 32 GB of RAM and 4 GB of GPU for HD and 4K video editing, and 16 GB for high-def media.

3. User Interface

Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is ideal for professional videographers but can also suit amateurs. An array of built-in features let you easily search, organize, sift, and save, making Final Cut Pro a go-to for new and experienced users.

You can find exactly what you need by searching clip names, notes, and markers. You can also lean on Smart Collections, which automatically gather content based on your customized criteria.

And the Object Tracker elevates usability even more by detecting objects and faces, helping with color matching, and adding dynamic text to moving footage.

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe is known for having clean, intuitive interfaces without a ton of clutter, and Premiere Pro is no exception.

Built for beginners and professionals with the highest industry demands, you can store legacy, graphic, video, and audio title clips all by simply navigating to the lefthand side of the screen, where you can open existing projects or start a new one.

You can then move up to the easy-to-use header bar, which includes tabs for importing, editing, and exporting.

Adobe Sensei AI is what truly sets Premiere Pro apart from the rest by combining machine learning and artificial intelligence for an enhanced user experience. And accelerated tools ensure top-notch results when editing color, video, and graphics on your desktop or phone. 

Workspaces are another innovative feature that puts Adobe Premiere Pro above the rest, allowing each application to run on a set of panels for project, metadata, and timeline in an arrangement known as your workspace for easy panel access in the default or modified layout.

You can also drag clips from the project panel into the timeline — but more on that later.

4. Workflow

Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is known for its magnetic timeline, which allows you to easily connect video clips and scenes without limiting your creative license. Because you can trim and move clips without worrying about colliding or syncing issues, you can play around with editing until your heart’s content.

You can easily group separate audio and video clips into a single package for convenience. And the handy auditions feature lets you experiment with multiple takes.

The synchronized clips feature allows you to line videos up with second source audio for a cohesive final product. And you can even adjust the timeline with color coding to keep things in tip-top order.

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro’s timeline feature is remarkable at helping you create sequences from a variety of sources, including graphic, audio, and video clips. You’ll see thumbnails on video clips and waveforms on audio clips.

And you can easily modify and make executive creative decisions on clips with the source monitor, which means you can make partial selections that can be added to your timeline sequence.

Clips are added to tracks — audio tracks all play together as a mix, but video clips can be easily layered. As you play your sequence in the timeline, you’ll notice the clips on upper tracks appear in front of clips on lower tracks via the program monitor, which will also show you your newly completed final project.

You’ll also find transitions, titles, and stacked video clips within the program monitor. And you can zoom in and out to make adjustments with optimal precision.

5. Supported File Formats

Final Cut Pro

Just like the latest iPhones, Final Cut Pro supports High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) codec software for compressing and decompressing HEVC videos.

Final Cut Pro is also compatible with formats from Sony, Canon, cPanasonic, ARRI, RED, and more.

And because it supports XML, you can make bulk imports and exports.

Adobe Premiere Pro

By supporting over 40 image, audio, and video formats, Adobe Premiere Pro is ideal for editing various forms of professional media.

Like Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro supports native camera formats, including Canon, ARRI, Panasonic, Sony, RED, and more.

It can even gracefully handle Final Cut Pro’s XML exports, which means nearly any kind of video can be effectively imported, edited, and exported.

6. Audio Editing

Final Cut Pro

Because Final Cut Pro automatically alters flaws, audio editing is fairly easy.

Final Cut Pro detects and automatically fixes peaks, hums, and other noises, but you can also adjust them manually if you prefer to be in control.

Audio tracks that have been captured separately can also be easily matched up, and more than 1,300 sound effects are included royalty-free.

Adobe Premiere Pro

Using an audio mixer feature, Adobe Premiere Pro comes equipped with cutting-edge traits like volume unit meters, clipping indicators, mute, and pan balancing.

And thanks to Adobe Premiere Pro’s remix feature, you have the ability to take any track and reduce it down to any size. Adobe does the rest — remixing that track to ensure it fits within the timeframe you’ve chosen.

But don’t just take our word for it! Learn more about the innovative remix feature in the video below.