Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Premiere Pro
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe offers their video editing platform Adobe Premiere Pro, supporting video and audio editing as well as VR presentations, available as part of the company's Creative Cloud suite or as a standalone application.
$22.99
per month
Descript
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Descript is a collaborative audio/video editor, from the company of the same name in San Francisco, that works like a doc. It includes transcription, a screen recorder, publishing, full multitrack editing, and AI tools.
$12
per month
VEGAS Pro
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
MAGIX Software headquartered in Berlin offers the VEGAS Pro line of video editing applications which combines the company's Sound Forge audio editing suite and a wide range of movie production features and effects.
$399
Pricing
Adobe Premiere ProDescriptVEGAS Pro
Editions & Modules
Premiere Pro Single App
$22.99
per month
Adobe Creative Cloud - All Apps
$59.99
per month
Adobe Creative Cloud - Students and Teachers
$59.99
per month
Adobe Creative Cloud - Business
$89.99
per month per seat
Free
$0
Annual billing - Hobbyist
$12
per month per user
Monthly Billing - Hobbyist
$19
per month per user
Annual billing - Creator
$24
per month per user
Monthly Billing - Creator
$35
per month per user
Annual billing - Business
$40
per month per user
Monthly Billing - Business
$50
per month per user
Enterprise
Custom
Vegas Pro 18 Edit
$399.00
Vegas Pro 18
$599.00
Vegas Pro 18 Edit Suite
$799.00
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe Premiere ProDescriptVEGAS Pro
Free Trial
YesNoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDiscounts available for student and teacher plan.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe Premiere ProDescriptVEGAS Pro
Considered Multiple Products
Adobe Premiere Pro
Chose Adobe Premiere Pro
Premiere Pro excels in organization, productivity, and design compared to Sony Vegas, which was the software I previously used to create video content. I am now able to render videos faster, edit, and preview unfinished projects quickly and efficiently. I had little to no …
Chose Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro, for me, is the one with better workflow and easier to learn user interface. One of the reasons for that, is that it takes the same UI/UX path of other Adobe tools that we already use, so the mastery of using it is integrated with the mastery of using these …
Descript
Chose Descript
Descript is in an entire new category of it's own, it has a very specific use case of text based video editing and has a whole suite of features for this format. But it does not stack up to other editors in terms of timeline based edits, which is needed regardless of how …
VEGAS Pro
Chose VEGAS Pro
When we used Adobe Premiere Pro, we found that it was much more limited in terms of the types of source formats it would accept. It also had more trouble mixing and matching different formats on the same timeline. It also crashed more frequently that we liked. Other products …
Chose VEGAS Pro
Due to [what I believe to be] a decline in software stability and lack of customer support I will be using Adobe Creative Cloud moving forward. I urge others to look at other options and companies that invest in customer support.
Chose VEGAS Pro
Not as many options, but does what I need it to at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the complexity
Chose VEGAS Pro
VEGAS Pro beats them all due to simplicity and overall usefulness. It is a true nonlinear editor and not just one with add-ons to protect the faults and weaknesses of the product. VEGAS Pro gets it done and takes your creativity to a higher level. The rest just copy each other …
Chose VEGAS Pro
Vegas Pro is much easier than Adobe Premiere and system requirements of Adobe Premiere are higher than Vegas Pro. Also, the render speed of Vegas Pro is higher than Adobe Premiere. The learning curve of Adobe premiere is very long.
Chose VEGAS Pro
First of all, VEGAS Pro is absolutely and by far easier to use with no doubts about it. I didn't need one class to start using VEGAS Pro while these other options require far more training and research. It's a Windows-based program first and so, unlike these other choices, uses …
Chose VEGAS Pro
We love Sound Forge and Acid. They are sister programs that integrate well into the Magixx/Vegas family. Seamless transitions among products.

Premiere was difficult to master and not as stable as Vegas Pro.
Chose VEGAS Pro
  • VEGAS Pro has more features than iMovie but is nowhere near as complex (or robust, for better or worse) as Adobe Premiere Pro. It is also not as robust as the Avid video editing suite, including Avid Media Composer. However, I do not have much familiarity with that product line …
Best Alternatives
Adobe Premiere ProDescriptVEGAS Pro
Small Businesses
iMovie
iMovie
Score 10.0 out of 10
Ableton Live
Ableton Live
Score 9.0 out of 10
iMovie
iMovie
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
iMovie
iMovie
Score 10.0 out of 10
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 9.0 out of 10
iMovie
iMovie
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Vyond
Vyond
Score 8.7 out of 10
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 9.0 out of 10
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe Premiere ProDescriptVEGAS Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(86 ratings)
7.5
(16 ratings)
3.8
(12 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(6 ratings)
7.2
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
3.2
(16 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
8.1
(6 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Premiere ProDescriptVEGAS Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
I have actually recommended Adobe Premiere Pro to many people looking to get into the editing field. It is perfect for any type of video creation. It would not be very useful for someone who isn't serious about video editing and wants to just use something to cut out the beginning or ends of clips. It's too advanced for that and [maybe] confusing for someone not educated in the field.
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Descript
Descript is well-suited for fast editing of training videos, tutorials, podcasts, and screen recordings, where transcript-based editing and quick cleanup save time. It works best when you need a simple workflow to record, transcribe, remove filler words, tighten sections, and apply basic enhancement tools like noise cleanup.
It is less appropriate for high-stakes projects where losing edits would be very costly, or when you need strong guarantees around long-term project history, backups, and recovery. Based on our experience, if you are doing many hours of edits and expect to revisit projects months later, you may want an additional export/archive process outside the platform.
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Boris FX
VEGAS Pro [in my opinion] has so much potential to be great. So many powerful features for audio and video editing. Unfortunately, after the sale from Sony to MAGIX [I believe] the software has become less stable even on CAD-certified workstations. [From what I've experienced] there is no customer service telephone number or support email address. All support requests must go through their website and my last requests have gone unanswered after a month. When Sony owned the software I [was] able to get on a live chat with a tech who would solve issues in minutes, not days. Not true today [per my experience]. With the decline in reliability and lack of customer support, I can no longer recommend a MAGIX product.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Premiere is able to import video in almost any format and has a number of excellent export formats and styles.
  • Premiere has a great interface that once learned feels very intuitive.
  • Premiere aligns easily with the other suite of Adobe software allowing for easy integration of graphics and audio.
Read full review
Descript
  • Removing filler words is a click of button and get rid of 'ums' and 'a's"
  • Fine tune your edited script in a timeline to adjust timing
  • Import and export Final Cut Pro or Premier XML video speeding up the editing process
Read full review
Boris FX
  • One of the things that I love about VEGAS Pro is that I can do automatic tracking control to an object or image, this is a very remarkable function in VEGAS Pro, because this way you can add better mobility to the video in general, in addition , you can focus the video view to a specific object.
  • The image edits with the VEGAS Pro filters are really fantastic. For us, having a good visualization and definition of our images is very important, which is why this function has provided really remarkable results. We have been able to modify the tonality of the images that we add to the video and we have also managed to change the colors thanks to the filters available for video in general. These filters are very varied, I can add a filter to give my image a warm touch, a touch of cold or sunset.
  • At the bottom of the platform, the audio barrier is shown, where you can add several audio tracks and thus be able to modify the audio of the entire video for every second that passes, however, this function is much more impressive as it also allows you to add another audio barrier to play two audio tracks at the same time.
  • The autosave is fantastic, VEGAS Pro has an excellent autosave system capable of saving all the progress that has been made in the video that is being edited, the autosave does not consume additional capacity to the computer, so it is very easy to have it activated and not worry about computer performance.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • Export times: I do a massive amount of exports with intensive graphics. They often need to be done quickly. If export times could be reduced by 90%, my life would improve drastically.
  • Importing errors: Certain video formats are not compatible, such as specific types of MP4s and MKV files. Greater flexibility would be wonderful.
  • End the subscription model. I'd gladly pay one flat fee once and be done with it.
Read full review
Descript
  • UX Performance. Because it's synced to the cloud, there can be some delay or lag in the UX when editing.
  • Editing Transcriptions. Machine-based transcriptions always need some post-editing. While Descript makes it pretty easy, I still think there is some room for improvement. For instance, I would like to be able to automatically update for all occurrences of a word after fixing it in the transcript.
  • Automatic importing of YouTube and hosted video files. I often have to download a video from YouTube to be able to import it into Descript. Would be nice to be able to just paste in the URL to the video and have Descript automatically import it.
Read full review
Boris FX
  • While Vegas Pro does handle 4k video, I find that it still struggles a bit to keep up when playing back or processing 4k. I suspect this is at least partially due to the fact that the computer I am using for Vegas is not quite powerful enough to really handle 4k efficiently.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
There is not better program for your needs than Adobe Premiere Pro. It doesn't matter if it can be hard to learn because this product is the top of the line and you will not find a better video editing program. This is what the professionals use. It is worth the learning curve.
Read full review
Descript
No answers on this topic
Boris FX
The best and easiest editor I have ever used. I have used everything as an Emmy-Award-winning news journalist, and this program has always done what I needed it to do. Nothing less than the best out there and can get the job done.
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Usability
Adobe
Premiere Pro is a very powerful tool, but it's not intuitive - it's virtually impossible to use without some kind of training or instruction. That being said, once you've learned how to use the product so that you can take advantage of its various video editing and creation options, it's an incredible program in terms of features and tools.
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Descript
It's pretty user friendly, has a easy-moderate learning curve. However during updates they do change the features in different panes / sections that make them harder to find. The text editor is near perfect, some of the other tools such as colour, templates, audio etc. are arranged in a slighlty less intuitive manner
Read full review
Boris FX
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Adobe
It is a professional team that provides customer service at any time. I think that the team does not rest until they find a solution to your problem. I think this makes this company great because when a company offers a good service, and they treat you well, the customer always returns satisfied.
Read full review
Descript
We had a very frustrating experience with Descript and their support.

We used Descript to record and edit several videos. The edits were done around May, mainly using the web app. When we opened those same projects in December, many of them looked like raw recordings again. Cuts were missing and effects were missing.

Support and engineering told us they checked their logs and only saw “creation → recording → transcription,” and they said they could not find proof the edits were ever made. That explanation does not match what we saw in the app. The affected videos show two project backup files. In Descript, backups only appear after you start editing (the app even says so). But when we checked other projects that we know are raw, those do not show any backup files. We asked a simple question: if backups appear only after editing, why do the “raw” affected videos have two backups while truly raw videos have none? They did not answer this clearly.

One rep also said they noticed a spike in network errors in May. That is exactly when the edits were done, which makes it very likely the edits did not save or sync correctly. Instead of admitting this could be the cause, support kept pointing to “no logs of edits” and that it was our fault.

They refunded one month, but called it a “courtesy.” That was disappointing. We also stopped using Descript while they were investigating because we did not feel it was safe to keep working in the platform. If that one-month refund was meant to cover the time we could not use the service during the investigation, that still does not address the real damage. We lost many hours of work, we paid our editor hourly, and we paid for the subscription for convenience and reliability. For the amount of inconvenience and loss we experienced, one month is clearly not enough.
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Boris FX
Because Vegas Pro is widely used software, the user interface is similar to smartphone editing tools. That is why learning time is very short in Vegas Pro. Whenever you have a question YouTube is your best support assistant. You don't need to contact anyone.
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In-Person Training
Adobe
Utilizing one of the many books available on Adobe Premiere Pro, each video editor can learn at their own pace.
Read full review
Descript
No answers on this topic
Boris FX
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
DaVinci Resolve is a powerful editing and color-grading application, and the base version is free. However, I've found that with the Lumetri Color panel in Premiere, I really have no need for Resolve as it meets all of my needs. Additionally, I've found Resolve to be lacking in support for the broad range of file types that Premiere handles gracefully.
Read full review
Descript
Descript is by far superior to the other editing software you can get on Apple computers. It's able to do a lot more and really save us tons of time. Other Adobe apps are great, but take a while to learn. Descript is very user-friendly, making it easy to start from day one with very little training.
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Boris FX
I had Adobe Premiere but I don't like having to subscribe. VEGAS Pro is a one-time purchase which was a better economical and financial decision for me. My friends that are editors didn't like when Apple changed Final Cut so I did not elect to use it when I had the chance to. I believe it is just as good as other platforms just not as high profile.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Speed of workflow has increased- specially when coupled with keyboard shortcuts
  • Jobs have had a faster turnover rate which makes clients happy.
  • I have two Adobe accounts, one for work and one for personal use. Both of these accounts are paying for themselves through the work I can provide with the use of Premiere.
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Descript
  • I can get video completed much more quickly and cheaply
  • We can produce more video content because of the speed with which we can have a finished product
  • We can have shorter timelines for example I record on Monday and we publish on Tuesday which wouldn't be otherwise possible with other methods I've used
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Boris FX
  • For web design, creating spiffy video which integrates with a site!
  • This software has paid for itself over and over since I started using it in 2003.
  • Every year or so they upgrade it and so I upgrade every five or so years.
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