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FAQ
Free edition

Is DaVinci Resolve free? What is free and what a plan pays for

The name carries a reputation for being free, and the truth depends on which version you mean: the installed application has a famous free edition, while this browser studio is free to explore, with plans that pay for rendering and team features.

View pricing
  • Sign in with Google and look around before any plan
  • The desktop free edition and this studio are different things
  • Plans add rendering credits, resolution and team features
Warm golden light pouring through a tall window onto an empty matte desk in a dark room
Two questions

The free question people actually mean

One question is about the installed DaVinci Resolve: yes, it ships in a free edition that covers most cutting, colour and audio work, with a one-time licence for the Studio extras. The other question is about this site, and the answer has the same shape: the studio itself is open, and the plans pay for throughput.

  • Desktop app: a free edition, with a paid licence for the extra features
  • This studio: open in the browser, free to explore with a Google sign in
  • Neither route charges by the export; both ask for the right machine
Before paying

What you can do here with no plan at all

A new account can open the studio, load a clip, walk the timeline and read every guide on this site. It is a real look at the workflow rather than a screenshot tour, so you can judge the feel of cutting in a browser before any decision.

  • Open the studio in Chrome or Edge with a Google sign in
  • Load footage, scrub the timeline and try the pages
  • The training path, glossary and every how-to guide are open resources
What plans add

Saving, rendering and the credit budget

A plan is what turns a look around into a working account: projects saved to it, renders and proxy generation paid for in monthly credits, and the finishing tools that match the tier. Starter leans on the Cut, Edit and Colour pages; Pro and Studio open the full pipeline.

  • Starter $9 a month: 300 credits, 1080p and 4K timelines, Cut, Edit and Colour
  • Pro $29: 1,500 credits, 8K and 32-bit float, Fusion and Fairlight finishing
  • Studio $99: 5,000 credits, shared pools, team seats and broadcast delivery
  • Yearly billing trims each tier to $7.50, $24.17 and $82.50
Why free is shaped this way

Free software still costs something somewhere

Every free editor asks for payment in some currency: the desktop free edition asks for a capable machine and the install discipline that goes with it, cloud editors meter rendering, and this studio meters credits. Knowing which currency you would rather spend is most of the decision.

  • Desktop free edition: costs hardware and setup time, not money
  • Credit metered studios: costs per render, not per seat
  • Classrooms and teams: the Studio plan avoids per machine installs entirely
Help

Frequently asked questions

Free edition questions that come up before a first render.

Is this browser studio free to use?

You can sign in with Google and look around the studio at no cost. Saving projects and rendering are part of a plan: Starter is $9 a month, or $7.50 billed yearly, and includes 300 credits.

Is the desktop free edition a full editor?

It covers the great majority of editing, colour and audio work, and it is genuinely used on paid jobs. The paid licence adds a specific set of finishing and speed features on top, and the app itself asks more of the machine than the browser route does.

Do credits roll over?

No. Credits refresh at the start of each billing period and unused credits do not carry over, which keeps the monthly price flat instead of metering surprise invoices.

How do schools and teams use this?

A Studio plan covers shared media pools and team seats, so a tutor can share a pool with a class and students open the studio on their own laptops with nothing installed.

Keep reading

Where this fits in the workflow

The studio is one project with several pages. These are the pages that usually come before and after this one.

Studio plansDaVinci Resolve Studio in the browser: what each plan unlocks

Every plan opens the same studio: the media pool, Cut, Edit, Colour, Fusion, Fairlight and Deliver pages are always there. What changes is how far a timeline can be pushed, how fast it renders and how many people can work on it with you.

Read the page Download and installDaVinci Resolve download: nothing to install for the browser studio

People arrive here looking for a download and find something better: a studio that opens in the browser with the media pool, timeline, colour, Fusion and audio pages already in place. Nothing to install, nothing to license per machine, nothing to update.

Read the page AlternativesDaVinci Resolve alternatives, and when staying put is the better move

Most people search for an alternative because of a constraint: no install rights, an older machine, an aversion to subscriptions, or a workflow that starts on a phone. Match the constraint to the tool before comparing feature lists.

Read the page BeginnersA beginner path into DaVinci Resolve that starts in the browser

Every editing application looks like a cockpit the first time. The way through is not to learn the whole cockpit; it is to import one clip, cut it and export it, then add one new skill on every job after that.

Read the page
Ready when you are

Look around before you decide

Sign in, open one clip and click through the pages; the free look is there precisely to make the plan decision easy.

See what each plan unlocks
  • No install, no licence server
  • Google sign in, projects in the cloud
  • Cancel anytime
Is DaVinci Resolve Free? | Browser Studio Plans Explained