Creators are split on whether to keep using TikTok’s editing app CapCut post-shutdown

“I was looking for something similar, and people on Twitter were recommending several other ones. One was Filmora, which was a good piece of editing software,” said MinniePortable, who asked to keep her real name private. “But then, when I tried to export it, it said ‘export with watermark or pay the annual $50 a year to export it.’ I’m not doing the $50 a year with no watermark, so I just stopped trying to edit, and was hoping for CapCut to come back.”

Indeed, although other free editing apps such as Filmora and DaVinci Resolve are available, creators told Digiday that CapCut offers some features that otherwise only exist on paid, premium video software, such as powerful background noise reduction tools and a lack of watermarks. Thanks in part to these features, CapCut is one of the most popular video editing apps on the market. The app has been downloaded over a billion times on the Google Play store alone, according to data from the mobile market data platform AndroidRank. For the creators who are investing in CapCut post-outage, the app’s strengths outweigh the potential risks of it going away.

“Using a touch screen, it works very well, and I’m practiced in it,” said YouTube creator Seth “Seth the Nerfer” Beavers, who said he exclusively uses CapCut to edit his videos. “So, now I have to learn a new editing program. I’ve tried other editing software, and you have to pay to get rid of watermarks, or they don’t have as many features, like iMovie.”

Agencies heard the same from creators, many of whom they said rely on CapCut for editing videos versus using social platforms’ built-in editing tools.

“CapCut also took longer to come back than TikTok, so even when creators were able to post again to TikTok, they were without their go-to editing app,” said Ali Grant, co-CEO of influencer agency The Digital Department.

Not all creators are equally concerned over the potential end of CapCut. Video creator Gianna Christine told Digiday that, although she sometimes uses CapCut for more simple edits, she works with a wide range of software and prefers to use other options for more in-depth videos, whether for TikTok or other platforms.

“I use Final Cut for more intense editing, so I use a mix of everything,” she said. “I was still able to edit my content without CapCut, but it was nice to see that come back as well.”

One alternative video editing app on the horizon is Meta’s Edits app, the homegrown CapCut competitor announced by the company on Jan. 19. The app, which is scheduled to come out on March 13, is already available for free pre-order on the Apple App Store. It promises to offer many of the same standard video editing tools as CapCut, as well as features such as a higher-quality video camera and data insights for videos published on Instagram. For creators burned by the CapCut outage, however, Meta’s offering could simply represent another tool that might someday be turned off due to its owners’ whims, as was the case with Meta’s Spark augmented reality platform, which the company shut down on Jan. 14.

In spite of Meta’s push to offer a CapCut alternative, some observers are skeptical that CapCut’s temporary outage means that creators will embrace Meta’s editing capabilities.

“We don’t anticipate many to flock to Meta’s newly-rolled out Edits,” said Amy Cotteleer, partner and chief experience officer at creative agency Duncan Channon.