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Adobe After Effects vs Lightworks

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Adobe After Effects vs Lightworks: Which is best for you?

Updated February 9, 2026
4.2 (34)
Starting Price
$19.99

per month

$49.99

per month

Free Trial
Free Version
Screenshots
and Demo
Product Screenshot
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Product Screenshot
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Top Rated
  Features
Animations & Transitions
4.75
Media Import
4.60
Text Overlay
4.56
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Media Library
3.57
Video Editing
3.57
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Integrations
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
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Pros / Cons
  • The possibilities are endless and the amount of adds-on and plugins are very vast and enable you create stunning VFX and motion graphics.
  • Complex projects can slow down my computer and render times can be long, especially without high-end hardware.
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  • The rest of the program works rather well, the effects are easy to use, but the fact that video editing is timeline intensive means that I am always running into problems with this software.
  • limited as I said, this video editor offers a great opportunity for people interested in joining the world of video editing to do it in a simple and attractive way, but for the average user it can be complicated to recreate some functions of other video editors in this software because its learning curve can be very unusual, Lightworks is managed and feels different from other video editors.
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Ease-of-Use
Highest performing feature
in the comparison
3.9/ 5
3.6/ 5
Value for Money
4.2/ 5
Highest performing feature
in the comparison
4.4/ 5
Customer Support
Highest performing feature
in the comparison
4.1/ 5
3.8/ 5
Functionality
Highest performing feature
in the comparison
4.7/ 5
3.9/ 5
Support Options
Email/Help Desk
FAQs/Forum
Knowledge Base
Phone Support
24/7 (Live Rep)
Chat
Email/Help Desk
FAQs/Forum
Knowledge Base
Phone Support
24/7 (Live Rep)
Chat
Training Options
In Person
Live Online
Webinars
Documentation
Videos
In Person
Live Online
Webinars
Documentation
Videos
FrontRunners
N/A
N/A
Advisor
  Recommendations
N/A
N/A
Ideal Customer Size
Small
Medium
Large
Small
Medium
Large
Deployment Options
Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
Desktop - Mac
Desktop - Windows
Desktop - Linux
Desktop - Chromebook
On-Premise - Windows
On-Premise - Linux
Mobile - Android
Mobile - iPhone
Mobile - iPad
Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
Desktop - Mac
Desktop - Windows
Desktop - Linux
Desktop - Chromebook
On-Premise - Windows
On-Premise - Linux
Mobile - Android
Mobile - iPhone
Mobile - iPad