Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
The verdict on

CapCut

55
User verdict / 100 High confidence Divided

CapCut remains a popular and powerful video editing app, praised for its ease of use and advanced features, but recent updates have significantly increased the number of features locked behind a paywall, leading to widespread user frustration and a perceived decline in value for free users.

4.6★ lifetime (1,114,651) Free to download since 2020 by BYTEDANCE PTE. LTD. updated 0.1 mo ago recent negative 47% 120 reviews across 4 regions
Paywalls & Greed Performance & Bugs Inappropriate Content Ease of Use AI Features
5★273
4★101
3★101
2★92
1★333
recent reviews across 4 regions, vs the 4.6★ lifetime average

CapCut is a widely used video editing app, appreciated for its user-friendly interface and robust editing capabilities, including AI features and diverse effects. However, recent updates have introduced numerous paywalls, making many previously free or basic features exclusive to paid subscriptions, which has disappointed a large segment of its user base.

What users like

  • Easy to use and beginner-friendly, allowing quick content creation.R26R79R80R97
  • Offers advanced editing tools, effects, transitions, and AI features for professional-looking videos.R9R13R21R43
  • Supports various content formats and platforms, making it versatile for content creators.R32R43R79R97

What users complain about

  • Many previously free or basic editing features are now behind a paywall, frustrating long-time users.R2R17R18R25
  • Users experience significant lag and performance issues, especially with multiple layers or on mobile devices.R4R23R50R57
  • The app frequently reports 'too many users online' or 'not certified certificate' errors, preventing access to features like text-to-speech or templates.R3R64R179
  • Issues with exporting videos, often citing 'pro features' even when none were used, or failing to export entirely.R20R39R61R84
  • Concerns about inappropriate content, including pornography and abuse, being visible in community templates and videos.R12R37R47R53
  • Problems with core features like text-to-speech not appearing or working, brush masks changing unexpectedly, and background removal being unavailable.R11R15R19R71
  • The app requires a large amount of storage and can force users to delete files, even when not critically low on space.R1R24R88
  • Some users report issues with audio, specifically game audio being kept while microphone audio is lost.R7
  • Difficulty deleting projects, with items remaining in the trash for 7 days and the trash bin viewer not working correctly.R5R27R114
  • Templates are sometimes unavailable in certain countries, leading to frustration.R38R85
  • Concerns about CapCut's Terms of Service, which reportedly allow them to modify and monetize user's private videos.R72

Latest update · v18.5.0

What the developer says changed (the verdict above weighs this against what reviewers report):

- Fixed some known issues and improved the trimming experience. We thank you for supporting CapCut and look forward to creating beautiful moments together.

Recurring themes

Paywalls & Greed negative
A dominant theme, with numerous users expressing frustration that many previously free or basic features, including audio extraction, chroma key, effects, transitions, and even watermark removal, are now locked behind a 'Pro' subscription. This has led to accusations of the app becoming 'money hungry' and 'greedy', causing many long-time users to consider switching to other editing apps.R2R17R18R25
Performance & Bugs negative
Many users report significant lag, especially when working with multiple layers, and various bugs such as features not appearing (text-to-speech, background removal), brush masks changing, and export issues where the app claims 'pro features' are used even when they are not. The app also consumes considerable storage and can be unstable, sometimes deleting projects or failing to run edits. The developer's notes mention 'fixed some known issues and improved the trimming experience,' but recent reviews still report widespread bugs and performance problems, directly contradicting the claimed improvements.R1R4R7R11
Inappropriate Content negative
A significant concern for many users is the presence of inappropriate content, including pornography, abuse, and explicit material, within the app's community templates and videos. Reviewers express alarm, especially given the app's accessibility to minors, and criticize the moderation for failing to remove such content.R12R37R47R53
Ease of Use positive
Despite the issues, many users still praise CapCut for being easy to use, beginner-friendly, and intuitive for video editing. It's often cited as a go-to app for content creators due to its straightforward interface and ability to produce good results quickly.R26R29R32R35
AI Features mixed
AI features are a point of contention. Some users appreciate them for enhancing videos and saving time. However, others dislike the push for AI-generated content, viewing it as destroying creativity and making the app less about manual editing. There are also issues with AI features like auto-remover being unavailable or requiring re-downloads.R19R43R136

Who it's for

CapCut is for content creators, YouTubers, and TikTok users who need a powerful yet easy-to-use video editor and are willing to pay for a subscription to access its full suite of features R32R43R97. It's also suitable for beginners looking for an intuitive editing experience, provided they can work within the limitations of the free version or commit to a paid plan R80.

Evidence note: The evidence for paywalls and general user frustration is overwhelmingly strong and consistent across many reviews. The claims about inappropriate content are also frequent and detailed. Performance issues and bugs are widely reported. The positive aspects, while present, are less detailed and often overshadowed by the negative experiences with recent changes.

Frequently asked

Is CapCut still free to use?
CapCut is free to download, but many previously free or basic editing features, including audio extraction, chroma key, effects, and transitions, are now locked behind a paid 'Pro' subscription R2R18R33R40.
Why am I experiencing lag and bugs in CapCut?
Many users report significant lag, especially with multiple layers or on mobile devices, and frequent bugs such as features not appearing, brush masks changing, and export issues, despite recent developer claims of fixes R4R11R15R23.
Does CapCut have inappropriate content?
Yes, multiple users report finding inappropriate content, including pornography and abuse, within the app's community templates and videos, raising concerns about moderation and safety, especially for younger users R12R37R47R55.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R26] 5/5 · US Love Capcut!!!!: Easy to use, so many options
  2. [R79] 5/5 · US Soooo gooood: Cap cut is super easy to use, and it makes the best videos. You can make lots of vidoetypes on it as well. I made a movie with my friends as well. I love cap cut and will use it almost everyday.
  3. [R80] 5/5 · US It’s very good but sometimes hard to navigate.: I have my own YouTube channel and this is my primary editing software. It’s overall easy to use and beginner friendly but some of the ui can SOMETIMES be hard to use.
  4. [R97] 5/5 · US I use it for all my videos: Brother, I’m a YouTuber and y’all this is literally the best editing app that I have. It’s so easy to use. It only just took me one day to learn how to edit on it like You’re so easy. It’s like it’s just like a little editing app in a box like every single other editing app is making me so hard and it’s so hard to even work but this bro I use template but I like edit so
  5. [R9] 5/5 · US Overlay Maker Review: Detailed overlay creation guidance teaches proper blending and placement to enhance rather than distract from content.
  6. [R13] 5/5 · US Smart Edit Studio: Erased fence from garden photos. Everything feels polished and thoughtfully designed.
  7. [R21] 5/5 · US Great Overlay Suite: Added a light ray overlay that moves across the screen. Makes my reveal transitions feel magical. Very easy to apply.
  8. [R43] 5/5 · US The Best Video Editing App for Content Creators!: I’ve tried a lot of video editing apps, and CapCut is by far my favorite. It’s powerful enough to create professional-looking videos but simple enough for beginners to learn quickly. I love the AI features, automatic captions, effects, transitions, and how easy it is to create content for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. It saves me so muc
  9. [R32] 5/5 · US Good for YouTube: This app is incredible for my YouTube channel (Chills_Skoots) and now, I’ve even become a CapCut creator because of how easy the editing is to use. Name: 🔥CHILLZ_EDITZ🔥
  10. [R2] 3/5 · US Pay walls: This is not my kind of cake. Pay walls just to do simple things? In my opinion, it’s a little greedy, but it’s probably my fault that I don’t have enough money for this, it’s not a bad product if you got the money.
  11. [R17] 1/5 · US It used to be my favorite: So this is now an app of full pay good luck with that
  12. [R18] 3/5 · US STOP MAKING EVERYTHING PAY-TO-USE!!!!!: This is a good editing app but recently, everything has to be paid for now. I can’t even extract any audios or music now. And you guys barely have any of the real phonk songs under Sounds, Its always a fake version of the original phonk song or nothing like it. Get it together, I’m starting to see why so many editors are starting to leave CapCut. STOP BEING
  13. [R25] 3/5 · US !!!: I love the app but I don’t know why it cost money to import audios now
  14. [R4] 2/5 · US Little bit disgusting because so lag and so many ads: so many ads on this app please fix it
  15. [R23] 4/5 · US Lag: When trying to edit I experience lag with good internet and it’s not just me I know lots of editors/mixers like me and they experience it too PLEASE fix it but other than that it’s good
  16. [R50] 2/5 · US Mobile issues: As someone who doesn’t own a pc, it’s hard to edit specially when it lags at lot, it’s not capcut fault that it lags because I’m running a lot of programs in the background to find sounds and pictures; But the program has a tendency to make soundtracks/ sound effects shift a lot. When opening up a project again after taking a break from editing I came to realize the sound effects we
  17. [R57] 3/5 · US cool and easy but..: THERES SO MUCH LAG THAT I CAN BEARLY USE IT? like srrsly i cant even move an overlay bc of lage when i put like only 5 layers 🫩
  18. [R3] 1/5 · US Terrible service: The app kept telling me that there where too many users online. And then I received a “not certified certificate” pop-up. Definitely disappointed as the templates look very good
  19. [R64] 1/5 · US Too many people are using this feature right now: I tried the text to audio feature and always gives me a hard time. it shouldn’t be this difficult to use an app so unfortunately, I may have to switch to eleven labs
  20. [R179] 3/5 · US Voice thing: So I'm trying to make a rant but I can't find the voice I like the fox girl one so I use a different one but then it's like too many people are useing this it's like saying to many people are breathing so you can't pls fix this
  21. [R20] 1/5 · US Couldn’t Run: could not run the edit I made in its very own app.
  22. [R39] 1/5 · US Still trash: I spent five or six hours making a video, I didn't use anything, and in the end it said I was using some "pro feature." It made me laugh. It wants money, but I'm a pauper and have none, so I can't export. Hahaha. Even if you say this needs to be paid for, when the page pops up, can you let me click on the thing that needs to be paid for, I don't know if it's called "hell," that can transport me to when I used this thing? I've searched everywhere and can't find it. Isn't that ridiculous? Are you happy about this? Also, I open an effect, open a transition, try to search for it, but I can't find it and it keeps lagging. I checked the network, I restarted the network, I restarted my phone, I used someone else's phone, their phone works but mine doesn't display. Is it my phone's performance issue, or yours? If you don't fix it, just wait to die. · translated
  23. [R61] 4/5 · US It’s cool but..: I am making a video for my friends and when I try to export it says I’m using a standard feature so I did removed some audio and replaced it in the app so when I finish everything it still says I’m exporting an audio which I did check again and i didn’t find any exported audios, I do not know if it’s me or the app but I do appreciate it if it’s some sort of problem that can be fix
  24. [R84] 1/5 · US Exporting is more of a challenge than editing.: The whole app seems like it’s run by ai, with a lack of customer support contact anywhere. I had to search it up separately and even then was hard to find. It always tells me my videos use a pro or premium feature when they DO NOT. I double checked and it still won’t let me export without paying. Whole thing seems like a scam and it wasted my hours s
  25. [R12] 1/5 · US CapCut is weird: Dont look at the templates as they are extremely inappropriate
  26. [R37] 1/5 · US INAPPROPRIATE APP‼️⚠️‼️‼️‼️⚠️⚠️: It’s a great editing app, but there is a feature where you can see what other people have made, and LOTS of people have made many unclean things. Things from abuse to pornography!!! Don’t let a kid or yourself get this app for those reasons!!‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
  27. [R47] 1/5 · US Gross people: People are posting inappropriate things that can possibly trigger hypers on an editing app! Disgusting! Yet it’s still available for viewing. “Minors shouldn’t be on CapCut” well?? 🌽 shouldn’t either
  28. [R53] 5/5 · US CapCut please let me pick my dang name: This is a good editing app but it has toooooo much inappropriate content and also CAPCUT YOU GIVE ME MY ACCOUNT BACK ALSO WHY IS MY NAME BLANK LIKE LET ME CHOOSE MY DANG NAME
  29. [R11] 3/5 · US Brush Error: Every single version always has this error that when I close any project and re open it, every single brush mask turns into a star, and can’t change it back unless I re do it.
  30. [R15] 4/5 · US TTS don’t work: Text to speech doesn’t ever show up on the app. When I’m editing something and need text to speech, it doesn’t pop up for my texts.
  31. [R19] 3/5 · US Auto remove: ITS good the edits I do are viral but always I have to dealte then re download JUST to get back auto remover like bro I searched on google it says because the ai dosent know what ur gonna use like just let me have everything
  32. [R71] 5/5 · US Amazing app: It is a very good app and I’ve been using it for a while but my only problem right now is that whenever I close the app and reopen it text to speech is gone and to get it back I have to delete and redownload it overall it is s very good app
  33. [R1] 5/5 · US Rất hay: Đang cắt ghép giật giật thì tự nhiên Cài đặt báo hết dung lượng, mong nhà làm Ứng dụng khắc phục 😂
  34. [R24] 2/5 · US not very good: Good for editing. When it works, see a lot of time when I use this app it forces me to delete photos and videos and files off of my phone if I am am even CLOSE to being out of storage. Now I know, technically that is my fault for being out of storage, but even when I’m not it still says “You need storage. Try it now.” I only gave it two stars because it is just an OK editing app.
  35. [R88] 3/5 · US Love it. One BIG problem tho: CapCut is great for editing. It’s one of the best editing apps around, actually. However, WHY DOES IT NEED 800MB? Genuinely, I shouldn’t have to wipe out half of the things on my phone just to edit. I get that you aren’t able to change this, but it’s still frustrating.
  36. [R7] 2/5 · US Capcut keeps my in game audio but not my mic: So, I have used capcut for years to edit my videos, never had a problem until now. Any time I record myself playing a game, and I pit the video into capcut to edit it will have the audio from the game but not my voice from the microphone, even though it’s in the original video.
  37. [R5] 5/5 · US Small typo: There's a small typo in Projects > Trash. It currently says: "Items moved to Trash will appear here and be deleted after 7 day." It should say "days." and not "day."
  38. [R27] 1/5 · US Can't delete a project: No button for delete
  39. [R114] 3/5 · US Delete and View In Trash: I finally figured out how to completely delete projects in the trash bin because it takes 7 days for it to be permanently be removed from my phone storage. The trash bin viewer in the app doesn’t work. I have to delete the whole app and download again to refresh the trash bin to empty.
  40. [R38] 1/5 · US No available in your country: Everytime I see a template in tiktok and tried to used it, wasn’t available in my country! I just deleted it. Got tired.
  41. [R85] 1/5 · US It stops working: After one or two months I went on CapCut and I couldn’t use templates I’ve tried everything and I still can use them
  42. [R72] 1/5 · US Insane Terms of Service: This was recommended to me by other influencers to edit my content. I’ve used it for about a week before I learned that they can do things like modify even my private videos and monetize it?!!! And this is irrevocable?!!! ABSOLUTELY not, get out of here, deleting the app right now. So glad I didn’t give it full access to my camera roll
  43. [R29] 5/5 · US Simple Edit Tools: Creating humorous short videos has become my new favorite creative outlet.
  44. [R35] 5/5 · US CapCut: AMAZING!! I make all my videos on it. it is so helpful and easy to use unlike other apps. Check out Lizzie belle on YouTube
  45. [R136] 3/5 · US Was a good app but..: Honestly I love CapCut, I’ve been using it since 2020 to make content for my YouTube channels & TikTok accounts since then! But all these ai generated features are ticking me off. Ai destroys creativity instead of helps it. It’s like breaking your legs & becoming a crutch you rely on. Disgusting. Plus everything is a paid feature now & the app is becoming unusable. Wish they’
  46. [R33] 1/5 · US STOP BEING GREEDY!!: Look. I understand you have to make money. BUT DO NOT MAKE EVERY SINGLE FEATURE PRO!!! I was editing a video i wanted to post today last night but i got tired and went to bed. i woke up to find the TWO MOST USED FEATURES PRO. your telling me that if i extract an audio or use the chroma key.. i have to pay now?? even after using you since 2022 i have never been this disappointe
  47. [R40] 1/5 · US Ugh: It used to be such a good app for editing and creating videos, but now all features are paid. The watermark that could be removed before, now you have to pay to do it. Want good quality? Pay. It's horrible. A complete disappointment, they just ruined the app. I think many people will just leave after this. · translated
  48. [R55] 2/5 · US NOT SAFE: SO MUCH PORN SO MUCH EPSTEIN VIDS POLITICS AND DUMB ASF PEOPLE

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store