Adobe Premiere vs Final Cut Pro
Adobe Premiere scores 8.0 to Final Cut Pro's 7.2 among the professional video editors we rate, and is the better pick for 2 of the 4 kinds of buyer below.
Adobe Premiere wins, 8.0 to 7.2
Premiere is subscription only, at $22.99 a month, with no way to ever buy a licence outright. Final Cut Pro runs only on Mac and iPad, while Premiere also runs on Windows; Final Cut Pro's cheapest figure is the $12.99 a month Apple Creator Studio bundle, which also carries Logic Pro, Motion and other Apple apps, though its Mac app can be bought outright separately. Premiere generates new footage, edits by transcript and translates captions; Final Cut Pro does none of those three.
Pick Adobe Premiere if you need generative footage extension, transcript editing or caption translation.
Pick Final Cut Pro if you're on Mac and want to own the app outright.
Best for
Who each one suits, decided on the criteria that matter to that buyer and the checked facts where the two differ.
- Generates new frames or footage: Adobe Premiere yes, Final Cut Pro no
- Edit the video by editing its transcript: Adobe Premiere yes, Final Cut Pro no
- Translates captions or audio: Adobe Premiere yes, Final Cut Pro no
- Several editors on one project: Adobe Premiere yes, Final Cut Pro no
- Scripting or workflow API: Adobe Premiere yes, Final Cut Pro no
- Sells a licence you own outright: Final Cut Pro yes, Adobe Premiere no
- Free trial: 30 days against 7 days
- Cheapest way to pay, monthly: $12.99 against $22.99
How they score
Both are scored the same way, against the other professional video editors we rate, from facts on each vendor's own pages. Adobe Premiere leads on 2 of 5 criteria.
Where they differ
Every point where the two vendors' published facts disagree, with a link to where each fact was read. "Not published" means the vendor does not say either way.
Published by only one of them
Where they match (14)
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
Adobe Premiere
Final Cut Pro
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
Adobe Premiere
- Object Mask masks and tracks a subject with just a hover and a click, instead of manual rotoscoping.
- Generative Extend can extend clips, add frames and generate missing ambient sound using Adobe's cloud AI.
- Team Projects and an included Frame.io let multiple editors collaborate on the same project.
- Adobe Stock's music and footage panel is built in, with AI that auto-fits a track to your clips before you license it.
- There is no perpetual license: Adobe Premiere is sold only as a subscription.
- There is no free tier for the desktop app, only a seven-day trial.
- Generative AI use is capped at 25 monthly credits on the Premiere plan, far below the 4,000 on Creative Cloud Pro.
Final Cut Pro
- You can buy the Mac app outright for a one-time price instead of only subscribing.
- Camera raw footage is supported through ProRes RAW, which Final Cut Pro can also color correct directly.
- Magnetic Mask separates a subject from the background without a green screen or manual rotoscoping.
- Final Cut Pro for iPad is a free download, but its full features need the Apple Creator Studio subscription rather than a one-time purchase.
- There is no live shared-project collaboration between editors.
- Final Cut Pro does not run on Windows or Linux.
Adobe Premiere vs Final Cut Pro: common questions
Which is better, Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro?
Adobe Premiere scores 8.0 and Final Cut Pro 7.2 out of 10 among the professional video editors we rate. Adobe Premiere is ahead on aI in the editor and workflow and teams. Final Cut Pro is ahead on pricing.
Is Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro cheaper?
Adobe Premiere's cheapest paid plan is $22.99/mo billed annually (Premiere single app) and Final Cut Pro's is $12.99/mo (Apple Creator Studio bundle); $299.99 once for the Mac app. Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
What can Adobe Premiere do that Final Cut Pro cannot?
On the facts both vendors publish: generates new frames or footage, edit the video by editing its transcript, translates captions or audio, several editors on one project and scripting or workflow API.
What can Final Cut Pro do that Adobe Premiere cannot?
On the facts both vendors publish: sells a licence you own outright.
