There is an important caveat to those prices, however - if you need the ability to import or export Avid DNxHD encoded material then you will need to purchase the DNxHD license for $65, this cannot be purchased on a monthly or yearly basis. If you are an editor that needs to use Lightworks but doesn’t want to commit to a $279.99 investment, you can rent it for pretty cheap and drop it when you are done.

I kind of like the pricing model options of being able to buy or “rent” a product.

There is also a free version which is packed full of useful features especially if you only need to output a QuickTime at 720p. Lightworks Pro has been aggressively priced as a monthly subscription for $7.99, yearly subscription for $79.99 and outright for $279.99. As of this review, it is also available in beta versions 12.0.i for Windows as well as Linux. Recently, Lightworks ( been doing a free public beta test for its forthcoming version 12.0.i on the Mac (smart idea to let its users do the R&D for them and it seems more and more companies are going this route as well).

Lightworks has been around and in use by some for approximately 25 years! For me it’s been that elusive NLE that I’ve occasionally heard about but have never used and have never seen any other editors use (although it’s the tool of choice for Martin Scorsese’s editor Thelma Schoonmaker), so when asked to review it my interest was piqued.

Remember that one? It has (quietly) been around for as long as Media Composer, and thanks to Editshare it has been given a new life. There are more NLE choices for editors these days than ever before: Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, Autodesk Smoke, Blackmagic Resolve 11, Sony Vegas… and Lightworks.

Lightworks pro discount