Where Premiere comes from
Adobe Premiere came out in 1991. Its big idea was that you didn't need expensive editing hardware: it was software only and ran on an affordable computer. Adobe calls it the first non-linear editor available to anyone (Adobe blog).
- 2003: rewritten from scratch and relaunched as Adobe Premiere Pro, alongside Adobe Media Encoder.
- 2006: Dynamic Link arrives, to move clips between Premiere and After Effects without exporting.
- Later, Adobe stopped selling boxed software and moved to Creative Cloud, a subscription with continuous updates.
Today Adobe calls it simply Premiere on its official pages.
Where DaVinci Resolve comes from
DaVinci started with colour, not editing. According to Blackmagic Design, since 1984 DaVinci systems were the standard for grading films, TV, commercials and music videos (Blackmagic, 2009).
- 2009: Blackmagic Design buys DaVinci Systems. Resolve was then a colour correction system running on a cluster of computers with graphics cards.
- 2014: Resolve 11 adds over 70 editing features and starts becoming a real editor (Blackmagic, 2014).
- 2016–2017: Blackmagic buys Fairlight, a professional audio company (Blackmagic, 2016), and Resolve 14 builds it in: editing, colour and audio in one program (Blackmagic, 2017).
What each one costs
This is the biggest difference, and it comes from that history.
Premiere is subscription only: Adobe doesn't sell it outright. In Spain (Adobe plans, checked on 29/09/2026; prices vary by country):
- Premiere on its own: €26.43/month including VAT, annual plan paid monthly. It includes 100 GB of cloud storage and 25 generative AI credits a month.
- Creative Cloud Pro: Premiere plus 20+ apps (Photoshop, After Effects, Audition…). Normally €79.30/month, discounted the first year for new subscriptions.
- 7-day free trial.
DaVinci Resolve has a free version and a paid one, Studio, that you pay for once (Blackmagic, checked on 29/09/2026):
- Free: edit and deliver up to UHD (3840 × 2160) at 60 frames per second, with editing, colour, effects and audio.
- Studio: €255 before tax in Spain, one-off payment. Goes up to 32K at 120 fps, uses multiple GPUs and adds the AI engine (DaVinci Neural Engine) plus 100+ advanced features.
| Premiere | DaVinci Resolve | |
|---|---|---|
| Born in | 1991, for editing | 1984 (DaVinci), for grading |
| Free version | No (7-day trial) | Yes, up to UHD 60 fps |
| Price (Spain) | €26.43/month incl. VAT | Studio: €255 + tax, once |
| AI mask | Object Mask, included | Magic Mask, in Studio |
| Latest version (29/09/2026) | 26.5 | 21.1 |
Where to download each one
Always from the official site, never from third-party pages:
- Premiere: 7-day free trial on Adobe's site.
- DaVinci Resolve: free download on Blackmagic Design's site (the "Download" button on that page; Studio is sold there too).
What's new in Premiere: the smart mask and 26.5
In January 2026 Adobe introduced Object Mask: hover over the frame, the person or object underneath lights up, and one click masks it and tracks it through the clip. Use it to blur a background, grade just one person or put text behind someone. According to Adobe it runs entirely on your computer, and they don't use customer data to train their models. The classic shape masks (ellipse, rectangle, pen) now track up to 20x faster (Adobe blog).
Premiere 26.5 (10/09/2026) adds (Adobe announcement):
- A finer Object Mask: Sharp mode for clean edges, Smooth mode for hair and fabric, a sharpness slider and more detectable objects per shot.
- Generative Media Tool: create video and sound effects from a text prompt without leaving the timeline (Firefly and partner models).
- Paper Edit: build a rough cut by picking sentences in the transcript.
- Generative Extend with more formats (360p to 4K), better ProRes RAW, ARRICORE and Sony FX5 cameras.
What's new in DaVinci Resolve: 21 and 21.1
DaVinci Resolve 21 (April 2026) brings a new Photo page to grade stills with the same tools as video, plus new AI features such as IntelliSearch (find people and things inside clips) and CineFocus (change the focus point after shooting) (Blackmagic).
DaVinci Resolve 21.1 (08/09/2026) adds (Blackmagic):
- AI assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT Codex connected to the program: ask them in plain language to organise media, make a highlight edit from a long video or render.
- Easier multicam: create multicam clips split at timecode gaps, and shortcuts for up to 25 angles.
- More cameras supported on the Photo page and better media management.
Its smart mask, Magic Mask, isolates and tracks people or objects like Premiere's, but it's part of Studio (Blackmagic).
So which one should I pick?
- You're starting out and don't want to pay: DaVinci Resolve free. It's a full program, not a demo.
- You already use Photoshop or After Effects, or work with people on Premiere: Premiere fits that workflow better.
- Colour is your thing: Resolve was born there and it shows.
- You don't want monthly fees: Resolve Studio is paid once. Premiere is always a subscription.
Whichever you use, the first step is the same: getting every camera's footage onto the timeline, in order and in sync. Ingest Pro builds that edit for both, and in Premiere you can also do it without leaving the app with the plugin.