Filmora is Wondershare's desktop video editor for Windows and Mac, sold as an annual subscription or a one-time Perpetual licence, with a free tier that exports with a watermark. What decides whether it suits you is how much you plan to use its AI tools, since those run on a separate AI Credits allowance rather than being unlimited on any plan.
What is Filmora?
Filmora is made by Wondershare. It installs on Windows and Mac, with companion mobile apps for iOS and Android. There is no browser version: editing happens in the desktop app, on your own machine.
Editing in Filmora
Editing covers multicam projects for cutting between camera angles, plus motion tracking for following objects through a clip. Color grading runs on HSL adjustments, curves and color wheels alongside professional scopes, including a waveform monitor, vectorscope, parade and histogram, and Filmora supports HDR color editing.
A proxy workflow lets you edit with smaller stand-in files before switching back to the source footage. Object masking and green-screen keying run inside the app, and a bundled Mocha Pro integration adds planar tracking and visual effects work without leaving Filmora. Filmora does not support a camera raw video format.
What the AI does
Filmora's AI Speech-to-Text transcribes audio into subtitles and can proofread and refine the grammar. Text-based editing lets you cut a video by editing the transcript it generates. An AI Video Extender adds footage or duration to an existing shot, and AI Video Translation dubs a video into other languages with voice cloning and lip sync built in. A text-to-speech voiceover tool covers 33 languages and can clone your own voice, and an AI Audio Enhancer and AI Audio Denoise clean up sound, alongside an AI-driven Auto Reframe for reshaping a video to a different aspect ratio. All of this runs through Filmora's AI Credits allowance rather than being metered separately from the plan itself.
Working with other people
Filmora includes a library of more than 2.9 million stock media assets, with a smaller free-tier allowance and a larger library on paid plans. It runs on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. It has no shared-project collaboration feature and no public API.
Filmora pricing: what you actually pay
The free tier is a standing edition rather than a time-boxed trial, but its exports carry a watermark and a lower resolution cap that the paid plans lift. The Basic plan is billed at $49.99 a year, Advanced at $59.99 a year adds 1,000 AI Credits a month, and Premium at $99.99 a year adds 2,000 credits a month and the Creative Assets library. A one-time Perpetual licence costs $89.99, includes 1,000 AI credits, and covers updates to its current major version rather than future major versions. Paid plans also add export without a watermark and 4K export. AI Credits beyond what a plan includes are sold separately, including through a Creative Assets add-on with its own 7-day trial.
Privacy and support
Filmora edits on your own machine, so your footage stays local; a Wondershare account is used for licence activation and cloud AI features. Wondershare's privacy policy states that usage data is not used for AI model training, and describes EEA-specific data handling for European users. Support runs through phone and email.
Who Filmora suits
Filmora suits editors who want multicam cutting, scopes-based color grading and HDR support alongside a wide set of named AI tools, such as video translation with lip sync and an AI video extender, and who are comfortable paying for AI Credits on top of a plan price.
It suits less well anyone who wants unlimited AI generation included in a flat price, needs a shared-project workflow for a team, or wants to avoid the watermark and export limits of the free tier without upgrading.
How Filmora compares
Filmora scores 8.6 out of 10 among the professional video editors we rate. These three do the same job and are the closest to it, compared on what each vendor publishes.
Adobe Premiere
Filmora keeps a free tier plus a Perpetual one time licence, selling its AI features as separate credits. Adobe Premiere has no free tier for the desktop app and never sells a perpetual licence, only a subscription at $22.99 a month on the annual plan. Premiere adds camera raw import and Frame.io collaboration for several editors on one project, both missing from Filmora. Filmora answers with a free way in and a licence you can own outright instead of renting forever.
Pick Adobe Premiere if you need camera raw import and multi editor collaboration.
Pick Filmora if you want a free tier or a one time licence instead of renting.
CyberLink PowerDirector
Filmora grades colour with a full set of video scopes; CyberLink PowerDirector has no scopes and relies on one-click auto colour correction and LUTs. Both offer a free tier, a one time purchase edition, and AI dubbing plus AI generated footage, though Filmora bills its AI features as separate credits. PowerDirector's monthly plan is $24.99 a month, while Filmora's paid plans are yearly or a Perpetual one time licence.
Pick CyberLink PowerDirector if you want CyberLink's cloud AI model lab for generated footage.
Pick Filmora if you want colour scopes and built in compositing without extra plugins.
DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve's free edition is the whole editor and never expires; Studio adds extras like Magic Mask as a one time purchase, no subscription needed. Filmora also has a free tier and a Perpetual one time licence, but sells its AI tools as separate credits. Filmora dubs translated audio and extends clips with AI generated footage, both missing from DaVinci Resolve. DaVinci Resolve instead builds Fusion, a full node compositor, into the same app, and skips a stock media library that Filmora includes.
Pick DaVinci Resolve if you want Fusion's node compositor built into the same app.
Pick Filmora if you want AI dubbing, generated footage and a built in stock library.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Filmora cost?
Filmora Basic is billed at $49.99 a year, Advanced at $59.99 and Premium at $99.99, or you can buy a one-time Perpetual licence for $89.99. A free tier is also available, with watermarked, limited exports.
What machines does Filmora run on?
Filmora installs on Windows and Mac, with separate mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Do Filmora's AI tools cost extra?
Yes. AI features such as video translation, the video extender and text-to-speech draw on an AI Credits allowance that comes with a plan, and additional credits are sold separately from the editor licence itself.
Does Filmora keep my footage private?
Yes, editing runs on your own machine. Wondershare states that usage data is not used to train AI models, and its privacy policy describes EEA-specific handling for data from European users.
