FilmCraft vs DaVinci Resolve: Free Video Editors Compared

Openness and licensing

FilmCraft is dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0 - you can read, fork and self-host the web build. DaVinci Resolve is free to start with but is closed-source commercial software.

Colour, audio and finishing

FilmCraft offers Lumetri-style grading with scopes and a mixer with automation. Resolve is the established colour and finishing application; its depth here is far beyond what a weeks-old project provides.

Stability and ecosystem

• Resolve: battle-tested, widely used in professional pipelines.
• FilmCraft: alpha, fast-moving, scriptable through a CLI, JSON channel and MCP server - a different appeal for automation.

Which to pick

For paid client work this month, Resolve. To follow an open-source editor that a Premiere user can pick up immediately, or to script editing with agents, FilmCraft is worth installing next to it.