HitFilm Express

Pros

• Truly free program with no watermarks that offers professional features.
• Accessible to beginners and powerful enough for pros.
• Comes with many amazing features and over 100 hours of tutorials.

Cons

• The home screen is fairly cluttered, but the other screens are very organized.
• Might be hard to run on weak or old computers, but most computers can unlock its full strength.

HitFilm Express is a free video editing program that offers many premium features. From an intuitive interface to drag-and-drop editing, many people find this simple to use and it is appropriate for numerous video projects. This also doesn't have the limitations often found with free programs.

Main Features

HitFilm Express is a surprisingly powerful video editing tool that is completely free. Despite being free, it has tools that allow you to edit video, audio, text and many other aspects of your movie until it is perfect. There are also numerous special effects that you can add to your projects to make them look even better.

While many professionals use this program, it is built to be accessible to newcomers as well. If you're looking to save money or play around with video editing, then you'll find that this program matches your needs.

Though it might lack some of the truly professional tools found with expensive and advanced video editors, this is versatile enough to be appropriate for commercials, internet videos, personal projects, movies and more.

Free Tutorials and Courses

Those who are accustomed to video editing programs will be comfortable with HitFilm Express. Not only is the interface intuitive, but it's similar to other programs. Chances are that you will feel right at home if you've mastered another video editing program.

If you're new to video editing though, then you might find it hard to use tools or understand more advanced editing techniques. This program comes with an extensive library of tutorials and courses that are completely free. You can follow the tutorials one after the other, or you can view them based on your needs right now. This ensures that you learn exactly what you need to before getting back to your editing project.

There are over 100 hours of free tutorials and courses. Not only that, but they are completely free just like the program itself. This means that you can go from novice to master of video editing without spending a penny.

No Watermarks

Many free programs have annoying limitations or advertisements that push you to spend money on a premium version of the software. One way free programs do this is by placing a watermark on your finish video project. You might spend hours making your movie just perfect, but there will be an annoying watermark either in the corner or center of your finished video.

While that's common for many programs, the good news is that you won't see that here. HitFilm doesn't have any of those annoying limitations or problems found with most free programs. Free programs are often free with a cost, such as having fewer tools or having to suffer through advertisements, but that's not the case here. This is a truly free program that looks and feels like a premium one.

Larger Program

One of the best things about free programs is their accessible price since they cost nothing, but another advantage is that many of these programs are lightweight and require few computer resources. Some people use these programs because they don't have much space on their hard drive or because their computers have weaker hardware.

Lightweight or portable programs make the best use of limited resources, which can be good for some users. While HitFlim Express isn't a huge program, it also wouldn't be considered a lightweight or portable one. You need a moderately powerful computer in order to unlock it's full power.

Modern computers should have no problem running it at full speed, and even somewhat older computer should be just fine. At the same time, those with much older computers, cluttered hard drives or very weak CPUs might find it hard to use this program.

The vast majority of users will have no problem, but those with weak or old computers might need a lighter program.

Motion Tracking

You might be surprised to hear about motion tracking with a free program, but that's one of the many features available with HitFilm Express. For those who don't know, motion tracking is an advanced tool that has been used for many years in conjunction with animation and special effects.

This tool records motion data from actors and stores it for more detailed processing. For example, you can have an actor complete anything from a simple walk cycle to gymnastic stunts. Regardless of what they are doing, the angles and speed of their movements will be stored as data. This can then be placed over 3D models, animation, special effects and much more.

Speaking of animation, there are also numerous animation tools included with this program. Motion tracking information tends to be somewhat large, so many sure you have the space available for it, but this can be incredibly helpful for professional video editing.

Excellent for Beginners

HitFilm Express is an excellent tool for beginners. It offers an intuitive interface that has many tools, but it's accessible for those with minimal knowledge of video editing. The vast majority of newcomers will find it easy to learn the tools, and the included tutorials will further enhance your understanding.

There is an editing timeline that allows you to see the current video. You can then clip sections, move clips, add new footage and more. New users should be able to quickly understand how to add text, basic special effects and more to make the project look more professional.

You can choose to start a new project all on your own, or you can select one of the preset projects to get a little extra help. For example, there are presets for social media videos, professional productions and more. Not only that, but you are free to either accept or reject the presets. You can change special effects, tools, editing choices and more to suit your specific needs.

Premium Tools

You gain access to many advanced tools with this program, but there are some premium add-ons that are behind a paywall. Unlike some programs that keep essential tools behind a paywall and make the software almost unusable unless you pay, you'll find that the vast majority of tools are available without spending a cent.

The premium tools here are great for advanced users, those who want to save time or those who find that the basic version doesn't have quite enough power for them. For example, you might gain access to new special effects or macros for quicker editing for a modest price. You can choose as many add-ons as you want, and each package is fairly priced.

Cluttered Home Screen

Like many programs, HitFilm Express has numerous screens made for different purposes. You'll spend most of your time in the editing and effects screens. These include the timeline and most of your editing tools. You'll find that these screens are intuitive, easy to use and well organized.

At the same time, the home screen is cluttered and somewhat disorganized. This is the first screen you'll see each time you open the program. Some new users will be scared off by this home screen as they might believe the entire program is this cluttered and difficult. You are presented with too many options and it can be hard to differentiate them.

If you just take a moment to get to the next screen, then you'll find that this is a very organized program that's great for beginners and pros. It's easy to pass judgement after seeing the initial screen, but take a few extra minutes to move forward into the actual editing and you'll find that the rest of the program is excellent.

Consistent Updates

There is a tendency for some free programs to be far behind in updates. This is especially true with unpopular programs or those with disorganized developers who rarely improve the original program.

The good news is that HitFilm Express has a large user base and the developers are constantly creating new updates. Some of these are behind the scenes and improve functionality, reduce errors and make the program safer against malicious users. Other updates give you extra tools, add-ons, special effects and more.

Another good thing is that while the developers are making the program better, they rarely change the overall interface. The interface is largely the same as when the program was first released. This is good because it means that returning users will have no problem navigating the program. Some programs receive radical changes that make them harder to use, but this program prioritizes being intuitive and accessible.

Pros

• Truly free program with no watermarks that offers professional features.
• Accessible to beginners and powerful enough for pros.
• Comes with many amazing features and over 100 hours of tutorials.

Cons

• The home screen is fairly cluttered, but the other screens are very organized.
• Might be hard to run on weak or old computers, but most computers can unlock its full strength.