Adobe Premiere vs Lightworks (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Adobe Premiere grades higher than Lightworks: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Adobe Premiere grades higher on features and platforms. Lightworks grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Adobe Premiere
Professional video editor for desktop, with a free mobile app
Lightworks
Pro video editor with a free tier and paid Create and Pro plans
Which one is for you
Pick Adobe Premiere if
- Fits if you already pay for Photoshop or After Effects and move between them
- Works for editors of interviews and podcasts, who can cut by editing the transcript and get client sign-off in Frame.io
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you hate subscriptions: you can't buy it outright, and the $22.99 price needs a year's commitment
- Pricey if you edit a few videos a year, when DaVinci Resolve has a free version and Final Cut's bundle is $12.99
- Not for you if you want to be editing in ten minutes, as there's a lot to learn
- Not for you if you're on Linux, Windows 10 or a Mac older than Sonoma, as the desktop app needs Windows 11 24H2 or macOS 14
- Watch out: the 7-day trial rolls into a paid plan, and the free phone app's AI costs credits and is iPhone only
Pick Lightworks if
- Fits if you want a desktop editor with 1080p export for nothing
- Works for people who need AAF, XML or EDL exchange formats
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need 4K, which starts at Create, $20 a month
- Tight if you upload anywhere but YouTube and Vimeo on the free plan
- Watch out: advanced transitions, titles and TotalFX aren't on Linux
- Not for you if you want a phone or browser editor, since it's desktop only
- Watch out: we couldn't read yearly or one-time prices, only monthly
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAAdobe PremiereGood | 2.4GPALightworksFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D$22.99 a month, and only if you commit to a year. That's more than twice the $10 middle for video tools here, and you can't buy it outright at any price. DaVinci Resolve has a free version and Apple's Final Cut bundle is $12.99. | BThe free plan covers editing, color and 1080p export, and paid Create starts at $20 a month, which is where the dearer quarter begins. Yearly and one-time prices weren't readable. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe phone app is free: no watermark, unlimited 4K exports and a timeline, though its generative AI costs credits and is iPhone only. The desktop app you actually came for gets 7 days, and that trial needs a card and rolls into a paid plan unless you cancel. | BA free plan with timeline editing, effects, color correction and 1080p export, with no watermarks. Upload goes only to YouTube and Vimeo. |
| Features | AA full pro timeline with color, audio, effects and multicam, plus rough cuts built by copying and pasting the transcript, and search that finds a clip from a plain-language description. The single-app plan comes with 25 generative credits a month. | CTimeline, trimming, color, audio, exchange formats and quality checks. The listing shows gaps: 4K and 8K need paid plans and advanced titles aren't on Linux. |
| Ease of use | CThe 4.8 from about 26,000 App Store ratings belongs to the free phone app, not this. The desktop editor is a professional tool with panels everywhere: Adobe's own free workshop for learning it runs two hours, and founders on Hacker News said they kept looking up simple edits. | CNo store rating on record, and a timeline editor has a learning curve. |
| Platforms and integrations | BMac and Windows on the desktop, iPhone and Android for the free app, and it's wired into Frame.io, After Effects and Photoshop. No web version and no Linux, so not the full set. | CDesktop only: Windows, Mac and Linux, with Google Drive, Dropbox and stock links. |
| Best for | pro video editing alongside other Adobe apps | a free editor with 1080p export |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Adobe Premiere and Lightworks. How we grade
Price against what you get
Adobe Premiere starts at $22.99 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Lightworks starts at $20 a month for each person and scores 2.0.
Adobe Premiere scores higher, and starts $2.99 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other screen recording and video tools on the chart, 3 score higher than Adobe Premiere for less, and 43 score higher than Lightworks for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Lightworks can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Adobe Premiere also covers transcription, noise cancellation and templates.
At a glance
| Adobe Premiere | Lightworks | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | US$22.99 per month, on an annual plan billed monthly | $20 per user / month on Create, paid monthly |
| Free plan | Premiere on mobile is a free standalone app for iOS and Android with core editing and unlimited watermark-free 4K exports. The desktop app has no free version, only a seven-day trial. | Free plan with timeline editing, effects, color correction, multitrack audio, 1080p export and YouTube and Vimeo upload, with no watermarks. |
| Free trial | Seven-day free trial of the desktop app; it converts to a paid membership unless cancelled | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Adobe | LWKS |
| Price read from | adobe.com | lwks.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Adobe Premiere
- The desktop app is subscription only; Adobe says it cannot be bought as a perpetual license.
- The US$22.99 price needs an annual commitment billed monthly, and the seven-day trial converts to a paid membership unless cancelled.
- Premiere on mobile is free, but its generative AI features use paid credits and are currently available on iOS only.
- The desktop app requires Windows 11 v24H2 or macOS Sonoma (version 14) or later.
Lightworks
- The Free plan exports up to 1080p and uploads only to YouTube and Vimeo; 4K needs Create and 8K needs Pro.
- The yearly and one-time license prices sit behind toggles on the pricing page and were not read, so only monthly prices are recorded.
- Some Linux functionality is restricted, and the advanced transitions, advanced titles and TotalFX are not available on Linux.
- The pricing page showed the Free plan as £0 and the paid plans in dollars, and says prices are offered in USD, GBP and EUR.
Key features
Adobe Premiere
- Timeline editing
- Three-point editing on a professional timeline, with footage from nearly any camera and export to formats including H.264, HEVC and Apple ProRes.
- Text-Based Editing and captions
- AI transcribes footage on import so a rough cut can be built by copying and pasting text. Captions can be translated into 18 languages.
- Generative Extend and Object Mask
- Generative Extend uses Firefly to add frames and ambient sound to a clip. Object Mask selects a subject with a click and tracks it.
- Media Intelligence search
- Describe a clip in everyday language and the Search panel finds it by the objects, locations and framing it contains.
- Color and audio tools
- Color wheels, curves and video scopes for grading. Enhance Speech cleans up dialogue and removes background noise, and Remix retimes music to fit.
- Premiere on mobile
- A free phone app with a multi-track timeline, auto-captions and background removal. Paid desktop members can continue mobile projects on desktop.
Lightworks
- Timeline and trim tools
- Multiple video, audio and FX tracks with simple and advanced trimming and audio track sync, plus bins, tags and search for organizing footage.
- Background processing
- Import, rendering of complex effects and export can run in the background while you keep editing.
- Color and audio
- Color correction and grading with scopes on every plan. Native audio effects such as compressor, limiter and noise reducer come with the paid plans.
- Exchange formats
- The pricing page lists AAF, XML, OMF and EDL interchange, and sequence exchange with Premiere, Media Composer, DaVinci Resolve, Pro Tools and Reaper.
- Cloud and stock media
- Connects to Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive, pulls stock footage from Pexels and Pond5, and publishes to YouTube and Vimeo.
- In-edit quality control
- QScan checks for issues such as video levels, missing audio and loudness and shows markers on the timeline. This is listed among the paid features.
Plans
Adobe Premiere
Premiere on mobile$0
Free standalone app for iOS and Android with core editing and watermark-free 4K exports. Generative AI features use paid credits and are iOS only.
PremiereUS$22.99
per month, on an annual plan billed monthly
Premiere on desktop and iPhone, Adobe Express Premium, Frame.io for Creative Cloud, 100GB of cloud storage and 25 monthly generative credits.
Premiere for teamsUS$37.99
per license / month, on an annual plan billed monthly
The single-app plan for businesses, with 1TB of cloud storage, 25 monthly generative credits and business features.
Creative Cloud ProUS$69.99
per month, on an annual plan billed monthly
20+ apps including Premiere, Photoshop and After Effects, plus Firefly AI, 4,000 monthly generative credits and 100GB of cloud storage.
Creative Cloud Pro for teamsUS$99.99
per license / month, on an annual plan billed monthly
The multi-app Creative Cloud Pro plan, including Premiere, licensed per person for teams.
Lightworks
Free$0
Timeline editing, effects and transitions, color correction, multitrack audio and export up to 1080p.
Create$20
per user / month, paid monthly
Adds 4K export, BRAW and ProRes decode, NewBlue Titler Pro, audio effects and noise reduction, and cloud storage integration.
Pro$35
per user / month, paid monthly
Adds up to 8K and 10-bit video, HDR editing and full scopes, Apple ProRes encoding, and AU, VST3 and LADSPA plugin support.
Ways to pay less
Adobe Premiere
- Education
Students and teachers: US$19.99 a month
Eligible students and teachers pay US$19.99 a month for Creative Cloud Pro, including Premiere, in the first year and US$39.99 a month after that, on an annual plan billed monthly.
Lightworks
- Lifetime license
One-time license
The pricing page offers a Once option beside Monthly and Yearly, described as a perpetual license. The price was not readable in this check.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Adobe Premiere or Lightworks?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Adobe Premiere starts at US$22.99 per month, on an annual plan billed monthly, and Lightworks starts at $20 per user / month on Create, paid monthly. One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Adobe Premiere or Lightworks?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Adobe Premiere and Lightworks have a free plan.
Which platforms do Adobe Premiere and Lightworks run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Adobe Premiere lists iOS and Android apps and only Lightworks lists a Linux app. Both list macOS and Windows apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.