Video editing skills are becoming a necessity for many jobs and sometimes even for running your online presence. There are countless tools out there dedicated to it and choosing the right one may be somewhat overwhelming for a beginner.
It’s important to consider both your needs and your abilities before deciding on a tool you plan to use. That way you can find the software solution that will solve your problem, but that won’t have too much of a learning curve.
What Operating System You’re Using?
There are video editing tools that only work for iOS or Windows, and there are those that work on both major operating systems. This is the first thing to consider when choosing a tool. Regardless of how good it is, if it doesn’t fit with the rest of your ecosystem, it becomes useless.
It’s also possible to change your operating system in order to adapt it to the video editing software, but that’s usually too much work and it’s easier to simply find software that’s suited to the system you already use.
One-job Tools
Sometimes, all that you need is a simple tool to complete a simple task. In those cases, you don’t need to get complex video editing software, but a small tool that’s inexpensive and does what it’s supposed to. For instance, you should be able to get a watermark remover free of charge.
Those tools are useful when you want to quickly remove a watermark left by software that you use to record or that someone has stapled on their video. If you don’t need to edit the video any further, such a tool will be enough to fix this problem.
Free vs Paid Video Editing Tools
Most of the editing tools come in a free and paid version. For the most part, free versions will be more limiting and won’t offer the full range of features. In some cases, they also come without storage and cloud features. If you want a full range of options, a subscription is the best way to go.
However, if you don’t need the full range of services most of these professional tools have to offer, you can stick with the free version and still get as much as you can out of it. You can always switch to the paid version when you need to.
Cloud Storage
Editing tools often come with cloud storage you could use to save and share files. That’s a rather useful feature when you’re working with large files and always need a bit of extra space. The option is also rather useful for collaborative work and sharing files with teammates.
If you don’t need any of these services, you should look for an editing tool that comes without any cloud space. That’s an additional cost and there’s no reason to get it if you don’t have the use for it.
CPU requirements
Editing software is a rather complex tool to use and it requires a lot of CPU power to run smoothly. If you have an older computer, chances are that it may cause trouble and cause your machine to slow down and even freeze from time to time. If you absolutely need an editing tool with a lot of power, you’ll need to update your computer as well.
Before deciding on a tool you plan to use, make sure you’re aware of the CPU requirements so that you’re sure that it’s suited to the equipment that you already have at your disposal. There are also tools online that can help you match the tool to the performance of your computer beforehand.
How Easy it is to Learn?
Editing software usually has a learning curve to it and can’t be used such as it is right away. It takes time until you figure out everything that a tool can do and how to create a workflow with it.
Choosing a software tool that you can grapple with is therefore essential if you want to get things done right away. It doesn’t pay off to have a complex software solution with a lot of features that you wouldn’t know how to use.
Customer Support
As is the case with any other piece of software, things will sometimes go wrong and you’ll need to use customer support to get yourself out of trouble. A tool that has a good customer support system is therefore worth the extra charge. You should look for customer support that is easy to work with and that can solve the issue you’re having as quickly as possible.
It’s also useful to have multiple ways of contacting the support and in some cases, it helps if the support is available in a variety of different languages.
Additional Features
It’s also important to consider additional features that editing software can provide. For most users, that will be the ability to make 360 degrees’ videos and to use the software to edit in VR. Those technologies are the future of video editing and they will become increasingly important.
These aren’t available with every software tool and if you plan to use them in the future, it’s important to think about that option once you make your subscription. If you don’t plan to use such features, it may be a good place to save.
The Price
In the end, as is the case with any other purchase you should consider your price range and stick to it, once you’ve decided on it. It’s also useful to consider long-term planning since subscribing for a longer period usually costs less in the long run as well.
However, if you’re planning to test the product out and use it for a limited period only, you’ll do better with shorter subscriptions that allow you to change your mind more often. It’s best to go for the product that’s a bit above what you need at the moment in order to prepare for the future and have more tools in your arsenal.
