Filmora vs iMovie
Filmora scores 8.6 to iMovie's 4.4 among the professional video editors we rate, and is the better pick for 4 of the 4 kinds of buyer below.
Filmora wins, 8.6 to 4.4
iMovie costs nothing, with no paid tier at all, but it also has no colour scopes, proxy editing or AI tools beyond automatic dialogue clean-up. Filmora keeps a free tier too, alongside yearly plans and a Perpetual one time licence, and its AI features, sold as separate credits, extend clips, mask subjects, dub translated audio and reframe to vertical by themselves. iMovie runs only on Mac and iOS, while Filmora also reaches Windows and Android.
Pick Filmora if you want AI dubbing, masking and vertical reframing tools.
Pick iMovie if you want a completely free editor with no credits to buy.
Best for
Who each one suits, decided on the criteria that matter to that buyer and the checked facts where the two differ.
- Colour grading with scopes: Filmora yes, iMovie no
- Multicam editing: Filmora yes, iMovie no
- HDR editing and export: Filmora yes, iMovie no
- Generates new frames or footage: Filmora yes, iMovie no
- Edit the video by editing its transcript: Filmora yes, iMovie no
- Masks a person or object by itself: Filmora yes, iMovie no
- Where it runs: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android against Mac, iOS
- Sells a licence you own outright: Filmora yes, iMovie does not say
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. Filmora leads on 4 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 (7)
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
Filmora
iMovie
For everything else about each tool, read the full Filmora review and iMovie review.
Filmora vs iMovie: common questions
Which is better, Filmora or iMovie?
Filmora scores 8.6 and iMovie 4.4 out of 10 among the professional video editors we rate. Filmora is ahead on pro editing, aI in the editor, workflow and teams and pricing. iMovie is ahead on privacy and support.
Is Filmora or iMovie cheaper?
Filmora's cheapest paid plan is Free; paid from $49.99/yr (Basic) and iMovie's is Free. Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
What can Filmora do that iMovie cannot?
On the facts both vendors publish: colour grading with scopes, multicam editing, hDR editing and export, compositing and effects in the same app, proxy editing, motion tracking, third-party plugins, generates new frames or footage, edit the video by editing its transcript, masks a person or object by itself, translates captions or audio and reframes to vertical or square by itself.
