When comparing KDENlive vs Hitfilm Express 2017, the Slant community recommends KDENlive for most people. In the question“What is the best free video editing software?” KDENlive is ranked 1st while Hitfilm Express 2017 is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose KDENlive is:
Kdenlive is licensed under GPLv2, and built on top of other open source projects like FFmpeg.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Open Source
Kdenlive is licensed under GPLv2, and built on top of other open source projects like FFmpeg.
Pro Works great as an audio editor
Audio is edited in the same way as video, which makes it one of the best audio editors.
Pro Surpisingly complete
Although this editor is not up with the top of the professional pack of editors, it certainly packs a powerful punch, and should provide enough features for amateur montages, ranging from alpha manipulation, to multiple audio and video live track editing.
Pro Its great for learn the basics of video-editing
Pro Subtitles included
Pro Combines editing and VFX tools in one package
Pro Lots of beginner-friendly tutorials
Pro Powerful presets & visual effects
Color grading, motion blur, lights, flares, 3D muzzle flashes, procedural fire, etc. They both work out of the box and can be heavily customized. More than 150 visual effects and more are added constantly.
Pro Offers 4K input and output
Pro YouTube direct upload
Pro Beginner friendly
Amazing all-in-one starter software thanks to a lot of powerful presets and a simplified workflow. There are tips, guides, explanations and easy access to community support. The interface is intuitive and easy to overview.
Cons
Con It's laggy and freezes, with some chance of crashing
Con Timeline cursor is not working
Timeline cursor is not working well on Kubuntu, very difficult to use it. You have to switch all the time between project monitor and clip monitor to get it work.
Con Dose not work well in Windows
They do not support windows well like other distribution. You will face a lot of problems.
Con No hardware acceleration
If you don't have a CPU that's good for video encoding, the render time can be quite bad.
Con Does not have good distribution channel
You have to go to their website to get newest version, does not auto update via package manager.
Con Doesn't support multi frame-rate video editing
When you choose the mixed frame rate option, your video with 60 fps will be broken (slow down and trimmed).
(This con might be just misunderstanding of how to do video editing and production from the user who typed in).
Con Free version lacks some of the major selling points of the software
Express lacks physics-driven particle simulation, the ability to import and animate 3D models, some of the more powerful plugins (such as professional denoiser and chroma key), OpenEXR export, 64-bit and GPU acceleration and OpenFX plugin support.
Con Download requires social media sharing
When you choose download, they need you to share to facebook, twitter, or google+.
Con Requires an account to download and use
You need to register an account to use the software.