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100% freeopen sourceno account neededno watermarks

The video editor
that respects you.

bettercut is a lightweight, open source video editor. All the editing power you expect — none of the subscriptions, watermarks, or locked features. Free forever, because software this essential should belong to everyone.

↓ download bettercut star on github donate · soon

v0.1.0 public beta is out · windows now, macos & linux planned — free, forever, no strings

The bettercut editor: media bin, preview showing plasma footage, inspector, and a multi-track timeline with four clips and an audio bed

demo

See it in action

A quick look at editing a video in bettercut, start to export.

screenshots

Everything where you expect it

A familiar layout: media bin, preview, inspector, and a multi-track timeline.

A selected clip in bettercut with transform handles in the preview and the Effects inspector open
per-clip effects, animation, blend & masks
The bettercut export dialog: H.264 1080p preset, vertical and square variants, loudness control — no watermark
clean, watermark-free export

features

Powerful, not bloated

The essentials done well, in an editor that stays out of your way.

Actually lightweight

Built to stay fast on 8 GB of RAM, integrated graphics and an older 4-core CPU. Proxies are generated on import so even heavy footage scrubs smoothly.

Real timeline editing

Multi-track editing with trimming, splitting, ripple delete, snapping, markers, rubber-band multi-select and frame-accurate nudging. Everything is one undo step.

Effects & keyframes

Keyframe any parameter. Masks, green screen, blend modes, motion blur, clip animations, color adjustments and transitions — composited on the GPU.

Auto-editing tools

Silence removal, beat markers, scene detection and automatic reframing take care of the tedious parts, so you spend your time on the cut.

Titles & captions

Animated titles with entrances and exits, lower thirds, and SRT/VTT captions in and out on a lane of their own. Templates included — add your own.

Never lose work

Journaled projects with snapshots, crash recovery and media relinking. Go back to any version, or see what changed since.

MCP integrationcoming soon

An editor AI agents can drive. Connect Claude or any MCP client to bettercut and let it cut, arrange and caption alongside you via the Model Context Protocol.

No watermarks, no account

Export at full quality with nothing stamped on it, no sign-up walls, no telemetry. Your projects and media never leave your machine.

Free forever, open source

Every line of code is public — audit it, fork it, improve it. No trials, no premium tier. Funded by donations, not by you being the product.

support the project

Become a beta tester

Donate $2.50/month or more and get early access to new features 2–3 weeks before public release. Everything always ships to everyone — beta testers just help us polish it first. bettercut will never have a premium tier. Donations open soon.

support bettercutgithub sponsors · soon