Every online video editor in 2026, compared

I make Mastershot Studio, a video editor that runs in the browser, so I spend a lot of time looking at the other ones. I wanted one page that lists all of them, with the things that actually decide which one you can use: what the free plan lets you export, what it costs after that, whether you need an account, and whether your video gets uploaded to someone's servers.

So I went through every browser-based video editor I could find. On October 18, 2026 I read each one's pricing page, opened the main editors in a fresh Chrome window to see which ones let you in without an account, and read their help pages for where your files go. That came to 73 editors and SDKs, plus a list of ones that shut down or turned into something else.

Mastershot Studio is mine, so take what I say about it with that in mind. I've tried to hold it to the same standard as everything else.

TL;DR: Most online editors upload your video and put a watermark on free exports, cap them at 720p, or both. The ones whose free plans export without a watermark are Clipchamp (1080p), Canva (1080p, up to 30 minutes), Adobe Express (1080p, up to 30 minutes) and CapCut (no 4K or 60 fps). If you'd rather your video never leave your computer, Clipchamp, Mastershot Studio, OpenReel, FreeCut, Omniclip and Pikimov all edit and export on your own machine.

How I compared them

• Browser-based means you can edit in a browser tab without installing anything. Some of these also have desktop or phone apps, but I only looked at what works in the browser.
• Prices are in US dollars, per month, for paying a year at a time, since that's the number most pricing pages lead with. Where I also saw the month-to-month price, I list it.
• Free plan means what you can actually export without paying: watermark, resolution and length limits. A free trial isn't a free plan.
• Your video is where the editing happens. "Uploaded" means the editor sends your files to its servers, which you can tell from the upload limits and cloud storage on its pricing page. "Stays on your computer" means the editor's own documentation says your files are edited and exported on your machine.
• Account is what happened when I opened the editor in a fresh browser with no cookies. "No" means I got to a timeline I could add a video to.

Prices and limits change all the time. Everything here is what the sites said on October 18, 2026.

Which one to use

• Free, with no watermark, and you don't mind an account: Clipchamp if you're on Windows or have a Microsoft account, Canva if your video is under 30 minutes, or CapCut if 1080p is enough.
• Free, with no account and no upload: OpenReel or FreeCut for a full timeline in Chrome or Edge, Pikimov for motion graphics, or BrowserCut and edit.video for quick trims.
• Editing a talk, podcast or interview by its transcript: Descript has the most to it, and Riverside if you also record there.
• Turning long videos into short clips: OpusClip or Vizard. Both have free plans with a watermark.
• Captions for short videos: Submagic, Captions or VEED.
• Videos made from templates, like ads, slideshows or explainers: Canva, Adobe Express, FlexClip or Animoto.
• 4K with no watermark for free: Mastershot Studio, OpenReel, Omniclip and Pikimov. The big editors that upload your video all charge for 4K.
• A team that edits together: Kapwing, Canva, Flixier and InVideo all have shared workspaces and live editing.

All the full editors at a glance

These are the editors with a real timeline: you bring your own clips and cut them together. Short-clip tools, template makers, screen recorders and SDKs are further down.

Editors that upload your video

This is most of them. You upload your clips, the editor keeps them in its cloud storage, and its servers make the final video. The upside is that your project is there on any computer you sign in on and you can share it with a team. The downside is the wait while a big file uploads, the storage and length limits that come with it, and that your footage sits on someone else's servers.

CapCut Online

CapCut is ByteDance's editor, and its browser version mirrors the desktop and phone apps. You can open the editor without an account, but it asks you to sign in before you can upload your own videos.

• Free: CapCut's help center lists 4K and 60 fps exports, removing the watermark, AI generation, premium templates and effects, and more cloud storage as Pro features. CapCut doesn't add a watermark to your own edits, but many templates end with a CapCut logo clip.
• Paid: Pro is about $16.18* a month paid yearly or $22.62* monthly, with 1 TB of storage and 1,200 AI credits a month. Ultra is about $72.79* ($77.35* monthly), and there's a Teams plan too.
• Catch: if a project uses anything marked Pro, CapCut asks you to subscribe when you export, and the free export resolution isn't written down anywhere I could find.

There's a side-by-side of CapCut and Mastershot Studio on the CapCut alternative page.

Canva

Canva is a design tool first, but its video editor is good for anything that starts from a template: social posts, promos, presentations.

• Free: Canva's help page says free accounts download MP4s up to 30 minutes long at up to 1920 × 1080. Uploads are capped at 1 GB a file and 5 GB in total.
• Paid: Pro is $120 a year, with 4K downloads up to 2 hours, 100 GB of storage and premium stock. Business is $210 a year per person.
• Catch: on the free plan, changing the download quality away from the default brings up an upgrade prompt. Canva also turns uploaded 4K footage into 1080p, according to its upload help page.

Adobe Express

Adobe Express is Adobe's template editor for social posts and short videos, and the video side has a simple timeline.

• Free: videos up to 30 minutes, 5 GB of storage, Adobe Stock photos and music, and 4,000 fonts. 4K export and video background removal are Premium features, and Adobe's pricing table says premium content gets a watermark on the free plan.
• Paid: Premium is about $11.33* a month, with videos up to 2 hours, 4K, 100 GB of storage and 250 AI credits a month. Firefly Pro, about $22.65* a month, adds 4,000 credits for Firefly's AI video and audio.
• Catch: it's built for short, designed videos. For a long edit with many clips, a regular editor is easier.

Adobe Firefly

The Firefly video editor is Adobe's newer browser timeline, built for putting AI-generated clips together with your own footage. It came out in private beta in October 2025 and opened to everyone in December 2025. It has a timeline and text-based editing, and Adobe's help page lists exports in 720p, 1080p or 4K.

• Free: you get daily free AI generations without a plan. Adobe doesn't say what the editor itself lets you export for free.
• Paid: Firefly plans go from Standard at about $11.33* a month with 2,000 generative credits, through Pro at $22.65* and Pro Plus at $56.63*, to Premium at $229.77* with 50,000 credits.

VEED

VEED opens straight into the editor without an account, which is rare among the big ones. It's strongest on subtitles and AI tools.

• Free: exports up to 10 minutes long, in 720p, with a watermark. 2 GB of storage, 1 GB uploads, and 10 minutes of automatic subtitles a month.
• Paid: Creator is $10 a month paid yearly or $20 monthly, with no watermark, 1080p and unlimited subtitles (fair use of 50 hours a month). Pro is $21 ($44 monthly) with 4K. Studio is $35 ($70 monthly).
• Catch: prices are per seat, and AI credits don't carry over to the next month.

There's a side-by-side of VEED and Mastershot Studio on the VEED alternative page.

Kapwing

Kapwing also lets you start without an account, and it's built around teams, with shared workspaces and live editing.

• Free: 10 credits, exports up to 4 minutes long and 30 minutes a month, 720p, with a watermark. Uploads up to 2 GB, 5 GB of storage that's kept for 3 days, and free projects are unlisted, not private.
• Paid: Pro is $16 a month paid yearly or $24 monthly: no watermark, 4K, exports up to 2 hours, 6 GB uploads and 200 GB of storage. Business is $50 ($64 monthly).
• Catch: the free plan deletes your uploads after 3 days.

There's a side-by-side of Kapwing and Mastershot Studio on the Kapwing alternative page.

Flixier

Flixier does its rendering in the cloud, and it opens without an account (you sign up to save).

• Free: 10 minutes of exports a month, in 720p, with a Flixier watermark. 5 minutes of subtitles a month, 2 GB of storage and 3 days of project history.
• Paid: Starter is about $9.06* a month paid yearly or $19.09* monthly, with 1080p, 60 export minutes a month and no watermark. Creator, about $17.80* ($38.51* monthly), has unlimited exports in 4K and editing by transcript. Business is about $30.74* ($69.58* monthly).

WeVideo

WeVideo is mostly sold to schools now, and there's no free plan for individuals anymore, only a trial.

• Paid: Creator is $240 a year, with unlimited storage, 4K and no watermark. Teams is $624 a year for three seats. Education plans start at $384 a year for 30 seats.

FlexClip

FlexClip is a template-heavy editor, and you can open it without an account.

• Free: 720p, videos up to 10 minutes, up to 12 projects, and one stock video and one stock audio track per project. Watermark-free exports are on paid plans.
• Paid: Plus is $11.99 a month paid yearly or $19.99 monthly: 1080p, no length limit, no watermark, 30 GB. Business is $19.99 ($29.99 monthly) with 4K.

Clideo

Clideo started as a set of single-job tools and now has a full editor that opens without an account.

• Free: exports in 720p with a watermark, files up to 500 MB, kept for 14 days, and 10 AI credits a month.
• Paid: Pro is $108 a year: no watermark, 4K, no file size limit.

There's a side-by-side of Clideo and Mastershot Studio on the Clideo alternative page.

Media.io

Media.io is made by Wondershare, the company behind Filmora. Its editor sits next to a lot of AI generation tools.

• Free: 720p with a watermark, exports up to 10 minutes, uploads up to 512 MB, 1 GB of storage and 5 minutes of subtitles.
• Paid: Standard is $7.99 a month paid yearly or $15.99 monthly, with 1080p, no watermark and 60-minute exports. Premium is $13.99 ($27.99 monthly).
• Good to know: Media.io's pricing page says uploaded files are deleted from its servers within 7 days.

InVideo

InVideo is now built around AI agents that edit for you on a multi-track timeline, with live editing for teams. You need an account to start.

• Free: the pricing page doesn't show a free plan, but InVideo's help center describes one with a weekly allowance and a watermark.
• Paid: Starter is $10 a month paid yearly or $20 monthly, and the full timeline is on every plan. Plus is $30 ($60 monthly) and Max $75 ($150 monthly), mostly for more AI credits.
• Good to know: InVideo's older template editor is still up as InVideo Studio, and Kizoa's website now sends you to InVideo.

Typito

Typito is a simple editor known for its text animations.

• Free: projects up to 5 minutes, 30 minutes of exports a month, 250 MB of storage kept for 3 months, 720p, with a watermark.
• Paid: Solo is $15 a month paid yearly, with no watermark and 10-minute projects. Pro is $29 with no limits.

Wave.video

Wave.video combines an editor with video hosting and live streaming. You need an account.

• Free: a basic editor, videos up to 15 minutes with a watermark, and watermarked hosting and streaming.
• Paid: Streamer is $16 a month paid yearly or $20 monthly (videos up to 5 minutes). Creator is $24 ($30 monthly) with videos up to 30 minutes. Business is $48 ($60 monthly) with videos up to 2 hours.

Picsart

Picsart's video editor is part of its photo and design app, and you need to sign in.

• Free: Picsart says watermark-free exports depend on your plan and export options, and doesn't say more than that.
• Paid: Pro is $10.50 a month paid yearly or $15 monthly.

Vimeo

Vimeo's editor is built into its hosting platform. It has templates, a timeline and a text-based editor.

• Free: Vimeo says videos made in the editor can be watched and downloaded in up to 1080p on any plan, and edited up to 2 hours long. The free plan has 1 GB of storage, and Vimeo says its paid plans, starting with Starter, remove the Vimeo watermark.
• Paid: Starter is about $15.53* a month paid yearly, with 2 TB of storage. AI features and text-based editing are on paid plans, and text-based editing starts on Standard, about $56.63* a month paid yearly for 5 seats.

Google Vids

Google Vids is Google's video app in Workspace, next to Docs and Slides. It can turn a slide deck into a video, has a recording studio and stock library, and generates clips and avatars with Gemini. It's at vids.new on a computer, and you need a Google account.

• Free: personal Google accounts can use it, with a small monthly allowance of AI generations. Google hasn't published the exact number.
• Paid: more AI generations and features come with Google Workspace and Google AI plans.

Rendley

Rendley began as a video editor SDK for developers and now has its own editor with an AI agent.

• Free: 5 watermark-free exports in 1080p, plus an hour of captions and 15 minutes each of voiceover and AI music a month.
• Paid: Starter is $15 a month, with no watermark and Full HD. Pro is $30 with 4K.

123apps

123apps, the company behind Online Video Cutter, has a timeline editor with several layers. You upload your files, and its page warns this can take up to 10 minutes.

• Free: no watermark and no account. Its pricing page says free files can be up to 10 GB, with ads.
• Paid: Premium is about $57.93* a year or $6.15* monthly, and removes the ads and runs faster.

Video Candy

Video Candy is an editor plus 70 single-job tools.

• Paid: $3 a month paid yearly, $8 monthly, or $79 once. That removes the watermark and allows 8 GB uploads.

Movie Maker Online

Movie Maker Online needs no account and adds no watermark, and it's paid for by ads. It previews in your browser, but its page says the final video is encoded in its cloud.

Editors that keep your video on your computer

These editors open your files from your own disk, edit and export them on your computer, and never upload them. Nothing to wait for before you start, no storage limits, and nothing on anyone's servers. The trade-off is that your computer does the work, so long 4K projects need a decent machine, and most of them need Chrome or Edge.

Clipchamp

Clipchamp is Microsoft's editor. It's built into Windows 11 and also runs in the browser, and it's the only big editor that doesn't upload your video. Microsoft's help page says that for personal accounts, your media "don't get uploaded to a server for processing", and editing and exporting happen on your computer. Your project is saved to your Microsoft account and OneDrive, but the video files stay on your computer unless you turn on content backup.

• Free: exports in 1080p with no watermark, with the AI tools, screen and camera recording, and basic filters and stock. You need a Microsoft account.
• Paid: Premium comes with Microsoft 365 Personal or Family and adds 4K exports, premium stock, filters and effects, and a brand kit.
• Catch: since you're asked to keep your original files on your computer, a project opened on a different computer will ask you to find them again.

There's a side-by-side of Clipchamp and Mastershot Studio on the Clipchamp alternative page.

Mastershot Studio

Mastershot Studio is the editor I make. It opened to everyone on October 6, 2026.

• Free: everything. Exports in up to 4K with no watermark, and the automatic tools are free too: subtitles, Magic Cut (which cuts out pauses), background removal, blurring faces and cleaning up noisy audio. They all run on your computer.
• Paid: there's no paid plan.
• Catch: you need an account, which keeps your list of projects. It runs in Chrome, Edge or Safari on a computer, not on phones yet. It's new, so it has no template library or stock clips yet, and there's no team editing.

OpenReel

OpenReel is an open-source editor (MIT license, 5,400 stars on GitHub) that does a surprising amount: a multi-track timeline with keyframes and transitions, captions and SRT import, audio mixing with EQ and ducking, color wheels, curves and LUTs, green screen, and a motion design workspace with 3D. Exports go to MP4, WebM or MOV, with the codecs your browser has.

• Free: all of it, with no watermark and no account. Editing and exporting happen on your device.
• Good to know: its AI assistant works with your own OpenAI, Anthropic or compatible API key. It suggests Chrome or Edge, and there are desktop (alpha) and phone apps too.

FreeCut

FreeCut is another open-source editor (MIT, 2,300 stars on GitHub), and the closest thing here to a desktop editor in a tab: ripple, roll, slip and slide edits, a source monitor with insert and overwrite, nested sequences, keyframes, GPU color scopes, and on-device transcription. It saves projects as plain files in a folder you pick.

• Free: all of it, with no account and no upload.
• Catch: it needs Chrome or Edge 113 or newer, and it says itself that it's in beta.

Omniclip

Omniclip is an older open-source editor (MIT, 1,500 stars on GitHub) with trimming, splitting, text, transitions, filters and 4K exports, all in the browser with no account. Audio editing and keyframes are still on its to-do list, and version 2 is in the works.

Pikimov

Pikimov is a free motion design editor modeled on After Effects and CapCut, and it says it was inspired by Photopea. It has a classic editor, a 2D compositing editor and a 3D one, with keyframes, motion tracking, particles, rotoscoping, background removal, and After Effects-style expressions.

• Free: all of it, up to 4K, no account, no upload. It runs in Chrome or Edge.
• Paid: Patreon supporters get a desktop app.

editing.video

editing.video is a newer, simpler timeline editor with video, image, title and audio tracks, stickers and shapes, and a sound library. No account and nothing uploaded.

SnipStudio

SnipStudio is a timeline editor aimed at short social videos. Its standout is a text-to-speech voiceover that runs on your computer (a model of about 88 MB downloads once), with captions timed to the script. No account, no watermark, and nothing uploaded.

BrowserCut

BrowserCut is for single quick jobs: trimming, merging, compressing, converting, changing speed and adding subtitles, without uploading. It runs FFmpeg in your browser and takes files up to 8 GB.

edit.video

edit.video is a free demo of Pintura, a paid editor SDK. It does one video at a time: trim, crop, filters, color, stickers and text. No account, no ads, no cookies and no upload.

VideoEditorOnline

VideoEditorOnline.org says your videos stay on your device. Its home page says no sign-up, but when I opened the editor it asked me to sign in first. It has a paid "AI HD Export".

Editing by transcript

These editors turn your video into text, and you cut the video by deleting words. That's much faster for talking videos, like podcasts, interviews and tutorials.

Descript

Descript is the best-known one. It runs in the browser at web.descript.com or as a desktop app.

• Free: 60 media minutes a month, 100 AI credits once, 720p with a watermark, 1 GB uploads and 5 GB of storage.
• Paid: Hobbyist is $16 a month paid yearly or $24 monthly: 10 media hours, 1080p, no watermark. Creator is $24 ($35 monthly) with 4K. Business is $50 ($65 monthly).
• Good to know: you can send the edit to Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools, Logic or Audition.

Riverside

Riverside is a recording studio first, with a text-based editor for what you record there.

• Free: no free plan, only a 14-day trial.
• Paid: Pro is $24 a month paid yearly or $29 monthly, with 4K, no watermark, unlimited text-based editing and clips. Grow is $34 and Webinar $79.

Async

Async is what Podcastle is called now (podcastle.ai sends you there). Its editor works by chat as well as by transcript.

• Free: a free plan is listed, without details on exports.
• Paid: Essentials is $11.99 a month, Pro $23.99 and Teams $49.99 per creator. Paying yearly saves 40%.

Tella

Tella is a screen recorder with timeline and transcript editing, automatic zooms, and an AI agent that edits from chat.

• Paid: no free plan. Pro is $13 a month paid yearly, with 4K exports. Premium is $19.

Kapwing, VEED, Flixier and Vimeo above also let you cut by transcript, usually on paid plans.

Short clips and captions

These tools take a long video and cut it into short vertical clips, or add the big animated captions you see on TikTok and Reels. They have editors, but they're built for that one job.

OpusClip

OpusClip finds the best moments of a long video and gives each one a score. The free plan can't edit the clips at all, and they stop being downloadable after 3 days. Starter ($15, monthly only) adds the editor and removes the watermark. Pro can send clips to Premiere and DaVinci Resolve.

Vizard

Vizard does the same job and, unlike OpusClip, lets free users into its full editor. Free exports are 720p with a watermark. Creator unlocks 4K.

Submagic

Submagic is for captions on short videos. Starter limits videos to 2 minutes and exports in 1080p with no watermark. Pro raises that to 5 minutes, and Business to 30 minutes in 4K at 60 fps.

Captions

Captions started on the iPhone and now works in the browser too. Mirage Studio accounts moved into it. Its pricing page says the prices shown are for iOS.

Headliner

Headliner is for podcasters: audiograms and captioned clips. Its free plan is unusually generous, but most audiograms on it get a watermark.

Zubtitle

Zubtitle adds captions and headlines to talking videos. Free is 2 videos a month at 720p with a watermark; Guru is $190 a year for 10 videos a month in up to 4K.

Klap and Ssemble do AI clipping too, without much of an editor.

Templates, slideshows and animation

These start from a template or a script rather than your footage. They're good for explainers, slideshows, ads and training videos, and harder to use for editing a video you shot.

A few notes on these. Animoto's Basic plan is the cheapest way to get 1080p there, and Professional adds 4K. Powtoon's Lite plan only removes the watermark from 5 exports a month. Lumen5's free and Basic plans don't include 1080p; that starts on Starter at $59 a month. Biteable's Pro plan caps videos at 10 minutes, and Premium at 20.

Screen recording with editing

These are recorders first, with editing for what you record. A few can edit other videos too.

Loom's paid plans add trimming and stitching, and Business + AI ($24) adds filler-word and silence removal. TechSmith launched Camtasia Online in June 2025 as a free, lighter version of Camtasia in the browser that hands projects to the desktop app. ScreenPal's full editor is on Deluxe.

For developers: editors you can build into your own app

If you're building a product and want a video editor inside it, these are SDKs and APIs rather than editors for you to use.

Banuba's video editor SDK is for iOS, Android, Flutter and React Native, not the web.

Ones that are gone or changed

If you've used online editors for a while, some names you remember have changed:

• Kizoa: kizoa.com now sends you to InVideo.
• Moovly: moovly.com shows a "coming soon" page from a domain registrar.
• Freepik's video editor: freepik.com/video-editor now goes to Magnific, Freepik's AI site, and shows a 404.
• Fotor: its video editor page now goes to an AI editor that builds a video from a chat.
• Simplified: now sells AI marketing agents, and its video side generates and repurposes videos.
• Ssemble: was a free online editor, and is now an AI clipping service.
• YouTube Studio's editor: still there, but it only trims, cuts and blurs videos already on your channel, and since June 2025 you can't undo changes after you save.
• Video Toolbox: videotoolbox.com showed a Cloudflare connection error when I checked.

What I left out

• AI video generators and avatar tools, like HeyGen, Synthesia, Vidnoz, Pippit, Google Flow and Runway. They make new video from a prompt rather than edit yours. Some have a timeline for arranging what they generate, but you can't really use them to edit footage you shot.
• Desktop and phone editors, like DaVinci Resolve, Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Filmora, Shotcut, iMovie and the CapCut app.
• Single-job tools, like trimmers, compressors and converters on their own. Mastershot has those too, separate from Studio.
• Self-hosted editors you have to run yourself, like FableCut, which was on Show HN in July 2026 and keeps its timeline as a JSON file that an AI agent can edit.

Questions

What's the best free online video editor with no watermark?

Clipchamp (1080p), Canva (1080p, up to 30 minutes), Adobe Express (1080p, up to 30 minutes) and CapCut (no 4K or 60 fps, and some templates add a logo) all export without a watermark for free, as long as you stay away from their premium items. If you'd rather not upload your video, Mastershot Studio, OpenReel, FreeCut, Omniclip and Pikimov are free with no watermark, and all but FreeCut say they export in 4K.

Which online video editors don't upload my video?

Clipchamp for personal accounts, Mastershot Studio, OpenReel, FreeCut, Omniclip, Pikimov, editing.video, SnipStudio, BrowserCut, edit.video and VideoEditorOnline.org. Every other editor on this page uploads your files to its servers.

Which online video editors work without an account?

When I checked, VEED, Kapwing, Flixier, FlexClip, Clideo, Media.io, 123apps and Video Candy opened without one, though most ask you to sign up to save or to export without limits. CapCut opens too, but wants you to sign in before you upload. OpenReel, FreeCut, Omniclip, Pikimov, editing.video, SnipStudio, BrowserCut and edit.video never ask.

Is CapCut Online free?

Yes, but 4K, 60 fps, removing the watermark, premium templates and effects, and AI generation are Pro features. If your project uses anything marked Pro, CapCut asks you to subscribe when you export. You also need an account to upload your own videos.

Is Clipchamp free?

Yes. The free plan exports in 1080p with no watermark. 4K and premium stock come with Microsoft 365 Personal or Family.

Which online video editor is best for long videos?

On the free plans, Canva and Adobe Express go up to 30 minutes, VEED and Media.io to 10, and Kapwing to 4. Paid plans usually go up to 2 hours. Editors that keep your video on your computer, like Mastershot Studio, OpenReel and FreeCut, don't have a length limit, because there's nothing to upload; how long you can go depends on your computer.

Something wrong or missing?

I checked all of this on October 18, 2026, and these sites change their plans often. If something here is out of date, or I missed an editor, tell me through the Feedback link at the bottom of the page and I'll update the post.