On the other hand, if visual effects are a priority, you might want to opt for a paid platform. Pulling together clips and managing basic effects and transitions is easy, and Hitfilm Express has been filling in basic gaps in its editor with every new release.

If you’re on a tight budget and don’t need visual effects beyond what Hitfilm Express ships with, then we highly recommend this software. The decision between Hitfilm Express and those competitors comes down to what you need. The most relevant competitors to this software are paid platforms like Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects and Pinnacle Studio. So impressive, in fact, that there’s hardly any sense in comparing it to other free video editing platforms. Hitfilm Express is extremely impressive for a free software. Any custom export settings can be saved as a preset for future use.

You can take advantage of Hitfilm Express’s 14 configuration presets or create your own. On the plus side, the new export panel is easy to use. Hitfilm Express 15 requires that you set up an export in the timeline before you can start the rendering process using the export panel (Image credit: FXhome) All of those advanced controls Hitfilm Express now offers are neatly contained in a dedicated text panel. Just click the text icon in the viewer panel and start typing. We found creating text in Hitfilm Express to be more straightforward than in many paid editors, too. The software also enables you to add multiple outlines to individual characters, which means you can generate some very eye-catching titles. In Hitfilm Express 15, you can now create all caps, subscript, and superscript text, plus set kerning and tracking for individual characters. Hitfilm Express has been rolling out increasingly complex text controls over the past several releases. This is standard among high-end editors like Adobe Premiere Pro, but it’s often lacking in free video editors.

We also appreciated that Hitfilm Express enables you to trim and render clips inside the media panel before dragging them onto the timeline. Hitfilm Express makes it easy to organize, trim, and render source clips when starting a new project (Image credit: FXhome)

Hitfilm express reviews