Blender

Blender is a free and open source 3D creation suite that contains a video editor. Blender describes that editor as suitable for basic actions such as cuts and splicing and for more complex tasks such as video masking and colour grading.

The Blender video editor provides live preview, luma waveform, chroma vectorscope and histogram displays, audio mixing, syncing, scrubbing and waveform visualisation, and up to 32 slots for adding video, images, audio, scenes, masks and effects. Speed control, adjustment layers, transitions, keyframes and filters are included. The download page listed version 5.2.2 LTS, released on 15 September 2026, with two years of LTS updates.

Blender is maintained by Stichting Blender Foundation, established in 2002 and located at Buikslotermeerplein 161 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The foundation manages the blender.org facilities and the source code, while the Blender Institute in Amsterdam employs the developers, engineers and designers who do the core development. The Blender source code is licensed under the GNU GPL version 2 or later and the binaries under version 3 or later. Blender states that everything you create with the program, including movies and project files, is your sole property and can be used commercially.

Blender is free, and the project names Development Fund memberships and one-time donations as its main income. Downloads exist for Windows on x64 and ARM, for macOS on Apple Silicon and for Linux.

Blender ranks second rather than first because video editing is one workspace inside a large 3D program, and the 32-slot limit is a hard ceiling that Kdenlive does not have. Blender suits people who already work with 3D, motion graphics or masks and want their edit in the same file. Someone who only needs to trim clips and add titles will face more interface than the job requires.

What Blender does well

• Blender costs nothing, with source code under GPL version 2 or later
• Stichting Blender Foundation is a Dutch foundation in Amsterdam, established in 2002
• The Blender video editor includes luma waveform, chroma vectorscope and histogram displays
• Blender states that all output, including movies, is the sole property of the user and may be used commercially
• Blender offers LTS releases with two years of updates, for Windows, macOS and Linux

Where Blender falls short

• Blender is a 3D suite first; the video editor is one part of a much larger interface
• The Blender video editor is limited to 32 slots for video, images, audio, scenes, masks and effects
• The Blender download page lists macOS for Apple Silicon only
• Blender has no vendor support desk; the project is funded through memberships and donations

Standout feature. Blender is the one entry where the video timeline sits inside a complete 3D, masking and colour grading suite, all under the GPL and run by a foundation in Amsterdam.