Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is a task-based, web and mobile product used to create and share rich multimedia content – from social media posts and stories to invitations to marketing materials like logos, flyers and banners.
$0
DaVinci Resolve
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
Australian company Blackmagic Design offers their video editing application DaVinci Resolve for a wide range of high quality ultra HD effects, render queue, and video uploading options among other features.
$0
Free
Pricing
Adobe Express
DaVinci Resolve
Editions & Modules
Free
$0.00
Premium
$9.99 / $99.99
per month
Teams
$9.99
per month per user
DaVinci Resolve 17
$0.00
Free
DaVinci Resolve Studio 17
$295.00
perpetual license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe Express
DaVinci Resolve
Free Trial
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
Contact Adobe directly for Enterprise pricing plan details.
Canva is very similar to Adobe Express, but Canva is better because of the whole Adobe suite and because the ability to customize is more intuitive. It's hard to describe why. Perhaps it's the interface.
I would definitely recommend Adobe Express to students in my university as they have the free access to it as our university provides the free Creative Cloud Suit in which they have all the premium Adobe product access for free
I learned so much from this instructional exercise, and I appreciated how the educator is an expert all-day colorist. The section on sound reduction was particularly instructive. I noticed a few inconsistencies between certain methodologies in this instructional exercise and approaches suggested in the Advanced Color Grading in Resolve 15 instructional exercise (e.g., where to place sound reduction in the hub tree), but this is to be expected given that there is no one right way to do any of this. I also learned a lot about Resolve's "Restoration" modules for working with authentic film. This instructional exercise will come up again and again in my work.
Comprehensive - It has video editing, motion graphics, audio, and export tools in one package. It's probably more than most people need, but you don't have to use all of the tools.
Platform and format agnostic - I like that I can work on projects on Mac or PC, and there are regular updates for new codecs and cameras. You can edit pretty much any format with no compatibility worries.
Price - They offer a free version which has most of the functionality. It's a great way to try before you buy and learn the tools. The final price is only $300 per license for the full product. It's a bargain for everything you get, and you don't feel like you're not getting your money's worth, even if you don't use all of the tools.
Some areas of Resolve can leave inexperienced users feeling a bit handicapped. Multiple user sign-ins can be confusing, and determining where to place the database of users might need troubleshooting. The exporting workflow is a bit finicky and will need to be learned to use for even simple capabilities.
Resolve is not friendly on a single screen editing workflow, and even worse on a laptop. Ideally, an editor has multiple screens in the first place, but because a colorist needs to see scopes and monitor, handling both on the same screen, along with all tools is a challenge. This software is best with more screens.
While the NLE capability of Resolve makes for a quick editing workspace, my little experience with it leads me to the conclusion that unless someone desires a completely free alternative to other NLE software, Resolve is not your best friend. Other programs are better.
I give it a 10 because Adobe Express has become an essential part of our daily workflow. It allows us to design faster, stay on brand, and produce high-quality content without needing multiple tools. The AI features, templates, and easy collaboration make it a platform we rely on for client work, training, and internal operations.
The overall usability of the software was strong. The application, especially relative to other Adobe services like Photoshop that can demand a lot of knowledge and skill, was highly easy to use. At the same time, that also speaks to the somewhat limited amount of customization opportunities that allow content designers to truly create content that is dynamic, engaging, and different than the standard stuff that floods our vision every day.
I give it 9 out of 10 because I have been using Resolve since 2013 and am happy to see its evolution over the years. The Blackmagic team has really done a great job to make it better on a year-on-year basis. I like its workflow, that it has all a video editor needs, like transcoding, supporting a wide range of codes, video editing capabilities, a professional color grading suite, and improved Fusion and Fairlight, and in the end its export and mastering capability i can export pretty much every formate from it.
Because adobe is so widespread the community support is amazing. I have never actually used adobe support short of their website, but I go to youtube a lot to get my questions answered. You can google any problem you have and not have any issues finding an answer. In my opinion, community support is much more meaningful and helpful than support directly from the company
Not only do they have classes available in Los Angeles, but they'll also allow you to work from home with the manual and demo materials, and then let you test out to get a certification. They get back to you quickly when you email, and they've got a "family" approach to customer service, they make you feel like you're important to them.
I think Express is a great tool for quick edits or creation. As someone who works in the more robust platforms, I do not always enjoy going into Express because of the more limited features.
It has a free version that is very complete. It lets everyone on the team use a lot of very good tools for video editing that would be very expensive while using other solutions that are equally excellent but not as generous. The cost is a very good reason but not the only one, the software is actually really good.
Adobe Creative Cloud Express is included with an Adobe Creative Cloud account. Our company has a corporate team membership so it is nice to have a professional and powerful tool that anyone on our team can use for free. The pricing structure of giving the tool away for free will be fundamental to users utilizing the tool. Similar tools, such as Canva, cost significantly more but do not offer the same features
The professional services for Adobe Creative Cloud Express is top notch and should be highly commended. I am thoroughly impressed with how far Adobe has come. In the past, I had several issues with how something were handled, but in the past few years things have been better than ever and they get no complaints from me
Most of my videos are not public which is shown to clients. There is a clear improvement of quality which impacts the client interest. It's difficult to put a number but I am much more confident in showing our videos in the sales pitch.
