Final Cut Pro
Apple's pro video editor, still sold as a one-time purchase
Perpetual
Apple's own page says "access to some of the premium content is available only to Apple Creator Studio subscribers", so the one-time licence no longer covers literally everything in the app. For standalone buyers, Motion and Compressor are separate one-time purchases; they are bundled only with the subscription. There is also no standalone trial any more: Apple retired the 90-day Final Cut Pro trial when Apple Creator Studio launched in January 2026, leaving only a 30-day trial of the subscription. And nothing in writing promises a future major version stays free, though Apple has not charged existing owners since 2011.
Cost over five years
$300 once = 13 months of Adobe Premiere Pro. Over five years that is $1,380 rented against $299.99 owned — $1,080 kept, and you still have the app.
Adobe Premiere Pro priced at $276 a year — Adobe's single-app annual plan, billed monthly. Checked 2026-09-22.
Final Cut Pro is the strangest entry on a site like this: a genuinely professional editor, from the largest company in the world, that you can still buy outright. Pay $299.99 once and it is yours, with no licence server to phone home to and no renewal date that turns your timelines into read-only files.
The editing model is the thing you either love or leave. The magnetic timeline refuses to let clips collide or gaps appear, which feels restrictive for a week and then very fast after that. Where it is unambiguously strong is performance: on Apple silicon it scrubs multicam ProRes without proxies in situations where other editors need a coffee break.
The licence boundary has moved slightly. Apple now sells a subscription bundle alongside the app, and some premium extras — content, and the Motion and Compressor companions — sit outside the one-time purchase. It has not been turned into a rental, but it is no longer quite the complete package it was.
Do not buy it for occasional edits. If you cut a holiday video twice a year, iMovie is on your Mac already and shares the same format. And if you collaborate with Premiere editors daily, project interchange will cost you more time than the licence ever saves.
What it looks like
What it does
- Magnetic timeline, multicam editing and 360/VR support
- Built for Apple silicon, with heavy use of ProRes and hardware encoders
- Object tracking, scene-removal mask and voice isolation built in
- Free updates across the current major version line
- One Mac App Store purchase covers the Macs on your Apple Account
Cancel instead
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Bitwig Studio
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€99The facts
- Price
- $299.99
- Licence
- Buy once, own forever
- What you get
- One payment. Updates included, indefinitely.
- Details
- $299.99 one-time on the Mac App Store; Apple's page states "Final Cut Pro is also available as a one-time purchase for $299.99." Apple additionally rents it inside the Apple Creator Studio bundle at $12.99 per month or $129 per year ($2.99 per month or $29.99 per year for students and educators), which also includes Logic Pro, Motion, Compressor, MainStage and Pixelmator Pro. The standalone purchase is the only way to own it outright.
- Free trial
- No
- On Setapp
- No
- Minimum macOS
- not stated
- Developer
- Apple
- Price checked
- 2026-09-22
Check it yourself - Price band
- $120 and up