What is the best free color grading software?
DaVinci Resolve’s free version, for anyone willing to learn it and with a computer that can run it. It has the most complete set of grading tools available at no cost.
Free · runs in your browser
Free Color Grading Software Compared
An honest comparison from people who build a grading tool: the best free option is a desktop app we didn’t make, and when a lighter route makes more sense.
Drop a video or photo to colour gradeChoose a video or photo to grade
Opens in the studio: looks and Auto colour for a quick result, wheels, curves, masks and scopes when you want more.It opens in the studio on your phone. Nothing is uploaded.
MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, JPG, PNG, WebP
Free · no watermark · graded on your device, never uploaded
The best free color grading software for most people who are serious about it is DaVinci Resolve: its free version has the same Color page that professional colourists use, with nodes, scopes, qualifiers, tracking and colour management. Its cost is a steep learning curve and a capable computer. For quick grades on a phone or a laptop that can’t run Resolve, a mobile editor or a browser tool is the practical choice.
We make one of those browser tools, colorgrade.video, so read our verdict on it with that in mind; we have tried to be as fair to the others as to our own. Features and free tiers change, so check each app’s own pages before you rely on a specific feature. If you are new to grading, our colour grading tutorial explains the ideas that carry across every app below.
How to choose
Decide where you edit
If you already cut in an editor, grade in it or in software that exchanges files with it well. Moving between apps for colour only pays off on bigger projects.
Check your hardware
Resolve wants a recent GPU and plenty of memory, especially for 4K and noise reduction. On an older laptop, a tablet or a phone, a lighter app will be more pleasant.
Match the tool to the footage
Log footage from a mirrorless camera, drone or iPhone needs proper conversion to Rec.709. Phone clips shot in standard mode only need correction and a look.
Try two for an afternoon
Grade the same clip in two candidates. The right one is the one whose controls you can find without a tutorial open.
Quick comparison
- DaVinci Resolve (Windows, Mac, Linux): the most complete free grader, with node-based correction, scopes, qualifiers, power windows with tracking and colour space transforms. Steep learning curve; needs a strong computer.
- CapCut (desktop, web, phone): a quick, social-first editor with colour adjustment, HSL, curves and LUT import on desktop. Easy to learn; some features and assets need a subscription.
- Shotcut and Kdenlive (Windows, Mac, Linux): free, open-source editors with colour wheels, curves and LUT filters. Capable and private; the interfaces take some getting used to.
- iMovie and Google Photos (phones and Mac): built-in basics such as filters, exposure, warmth and saturation. Easy and free, but no scopes, curves or LUTs.
- colorgrade.video (any modern browser): grading only, not editing: looks, wheels, curves, qualifiers, scopes, log conversion and LUT import and export, all on your device. Nothing to install; no tracking of windows and no multi-clip timeline.
DaVinci Resolve (free version)
Resolve’s free version is the benchmark. The Color page offers primary wheels and bars, curves including hue and saturation curves, HSL qualifiers, power windows that can be tracked, a full set of scopes, and colour space transforms for camera log. It also edits, mixes sound and does visual effects, so it can be your whole workflow.
Blackmagic Design reserves some features for the paid Studio version, including (at the time of writing) temporal and spatial noise reduction and several AI tools, and the free version is limited to Ultra HD output. Check Blackmagic’s comparison page for the current list. Our DaVinci Resolve guide explains a simple node workflow for beginners.
CapCut
CapCut is the most approachable editor here and good for short social videos. On desktop, the Adjustment tab covers temperature, tint, saturation, HSL, a colour wheel, curves and LUT import. The phone app has simpler adjustments and filters. Some features carry a Pro badge and availability varies by version and region, so look for the diamond before you build a workflow around a tool. Details are in our CapCut guide.
Open-source editors: Shotcut and Kdenlive
Both are free with no paid tier, run on every desktop system and don’t need an account. Shotcut’s colour grading filter offers lift, gamma and gain wheels, and both editors can apply a .cube LUT as an effect. They are less polished for colour work than Resolve, with no node graph and fewer scopes, but they are light on hardware and suit people who want an editor that never asks for anything.
Phone apps
The built-in editors in iPhone Photos, iMovie and Google Photos are enough for a quick fix: brightness, warmth, saturation and filters. They don’t offer scopes, curves, masks or LUTs. Our guides to grading on iPhone and on Android show how far the built-in tools go and when it is worth reaching for more.
In the browser: colorgrade.video
Our tool is a grading studio rather than an editor. It opens a single clip or photo in the browser and gives you Looks, Adjust and Creative in Simple mode, then Wheels, Curves, Secondary qualifiers and windows, Layers, camera log in Footage, Match and scopes in Pro mode. You can import a LUT, or turn your grade into one with the LUT generator.
Where it fits
- When you can’t or don’t want to install anything: a work laptop, a Chromebook, a borrowed computer or a phone.
- When privacy matters: the video is decoded, graded and encoded on your device and never uploaded.
- For a quick, good-looking grade or a .cube to take into another editor.
Where it doesn’t
- It doesn’t cut, mix sound or handle a timeline of many clips: edit elsewhere.
- Windows aren’t tracked, so a mask stays where you draw it.
- Long 4K exports are slower than in a desktop app with hardware encoding.
Which to pick
- You want to learn grading properly and have a decent computer: DaVinci Resolve.
- You make short social videos and already edit in CapCut: grade in CapCut, and bring in a LUT for a consistent look.
- You want free, open-source and light: Shotcut or Kdenlive.
- You need a quick grade on a phone or a locked-down computer, or you don’t want footage uploaded anywhere: a browser grader such as ours.
Free grading software questions
Is DaVinci Resolve really free?
Yes, the standard version is free with no watermark. The paid Studio version adds features such as some noise reduction and AI tools and higher output resolutions; most grading work doesn’t need them.
What is the best free color grading app for phones?
For basics, the built-in Photos or Google Photos editor. For more control without installing an app, a browser grader works on the phone too and handles log footage from iPhones and drones.
Can I color grade without downloading software?
Yes. A browser tool such as colorgrade.video runs in a normal tab on desktop or phone, with looks, wheels, curves and LUT export, and doesn’t upload your video.
Is CapCut good for color grading?
It is good for quick social edits: on desktop it has HSL, curves, a colour wheel and LUT import. It doesn’t have Resolve’s node-based correction or documented colour management for log footage, so precise or log-heavy work is easier elsewhere.