So, you’re interested in Filmora and need to see an honest review?

Well, you’re in luck!

Here I’ll review Filmora’s latest release – Filmora 11 – where I’ll share what to expect from the software and my personal likes and dislikes about it. Hopefully you find it useful.

Let’s begin.

What is Filmora 11?

Filmora 11, produced by Wondershare, is the latest version (released Feb 2022) of their best-selling video editing software that can be used on Windows and Mac systems.

Unlike more advanced video editing software, such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Wondershare’s Filmora Pro, Filmora 11 is aimed at those who have little to no editing experience.

So, if want to produce slick videos with cool video transitions without the steep learning curve, then Filmora 11 may be for you.

Filmora 11 pricing

There are two different Filmora 11 price plans:

• Perpetual Plan: $79.99 (one-time fee)
• Annual Plan: $49.99 (yearly fee)

When a new version of Filmora is released (such as Filmora 12, or whatever it will be called), those on the Annual Plan will receive the upgrade for free.

However, those on the Perpetual Plan only have access to that version of Filmora, so you will need to purchase another Perpetual Plan should you want the next version of Filmora.

Obviously, if you plan on using Filmora for more than one year and want the latest software updates, then it will be better to purchase the Annual Plan to save some money.

Effects and plug-ins – the optional extras

Alongside Filmora 11, Wondershare have also introduced some add-ons that you can add to your purchase.

These are monthly subscriptions that give you unlimited access to the following effects and plug-ins:

• Filmstock Standard
• NewBlue FX
• Boris FX
• AI Portrait

The cost to access all of these effects will vary depending on the Filmora 11 plan you decide to purchase, but expect to pay $18.99 (if you have the Annual Plan) or $36.96 (if you have the Perpetual Plan) per month.

Is there a free trial of Filmora 11?

The good news is that there is a completely free trial of Filmora 11.

The trial is actually very generous. It does not have a time restriction, unlike other video editing software, and the only downside is that a watermark is placed on exported videos. All premium features are there for you to try out!

So, if you’re still thinking of purchasing Filmora 11 (after reading this review of course), then definitely take advantage of their free trial!

Filmora 11 features

Now you know how much Filmora 11 will cost you, now I will go onto the meat of this review – the features.

You get a lot of features for your money with Filmora 11. Without covering all of them, I will now go over the main attractions:

• Motion tracking
• Keyframing
• Green screen
• Screen recorder
• ~4,000 title presets
• >800 transitions
• >4,000 elements
• >2,000 visual effects
• Split screen
• >1,00 audio tracks and sound effects
• Audio effects
• Various render options

Motion tracking

Motion tracking is the ability to add an element, such as an image or a piece of text, and have it follow (track) a moving part in a video.

In Filmora 11, you simply select the clip and enable motion tracking. Then, you move the selection box around the part of the video you want to track and Filmora will do the rest.

With motion tracking, you can really spice up your videos without putting in that much effort.

In the example below, I downloaded a clip of a dog running from Pixabay and added a piece of text that would follow the dog running. By using the motion tracking feature, this whole process took me just a minute to do!

If you want to learn more about motion tracking in Filmora, then check out their video tutorial.

Keyframing

Keyframing gives you more control over the animations added to your videos.

With keyframes, you can specify the position, size and opacity of elements at certain frames and Filmora 11 will automatically create the sequence between frames.

A simple example of keyframing is to move a picture from one end of the screen to the other. But, with a bit of creativity, you can create some slick looking animated elements just with keyframing.

Green screen

The green screen trick has been used in the film industry for decades. Simply, you can remove something in the video that is a certain color, such as bright green.

With Filmora 11, you can import video clips containing a green screen and remove them from the shot. Doing this was super easy, it’s just a case of selecting the clip and picking the color you want to remove.

If you want to learn more about creating green screen effects in Filmora, then check out their short tutorial.

Screen recorder

As well as being a video editor, Filmora 11 also has a screen recorder function built in so you can create screencasts. This means you don’t have to use a separate screen recorder software to capture your desktop, instead everything can be done directly with Filmora 11.

When the screen recorder function is launched, you simply specify the recording area (full screen, custom or a target window), and choose to record audio from the device and/or from a microphone. You can also record multiple screens at the same time.

Additional settings that can be changed include the recording frame frate (12-60 FPS), quality (good, better, best), showing mouse clicks, playing mouse click sounds, and applying a recording timer.

If you have a webcam that you want to record at the same time, it is also possible to enable this.

All screen recordings are saved as MP4 files and are automatically added to your Filmora 11 project once you stop the recording.

Title presets

At the time of writing this Filmora 11 review, there are 3,970 title presets to choose from. Many of these are free and come pre-downloaded, whereas some require a FilmStock membership for access.

The title presents span 26 different categories, including:

• Gaming
• Titles
• Lower 3rds
• Subtitles
• End credits
• Callouts

Simply drag a preset onto the timeline and you can tweak it to your liking.

Using presets like this gives your video a high-production value, without putting in much effort. You can even open up the advanced settings to change anything about the presets, such as the type of animation or the colors used.

Transitions

A transition is the effect added between two video clips that are next to one another on the timeline. The simplest transition I can give as an example is a fade, where one clip fades away while another fades into the shot.

In Filmora 11, there are 869 different transitions to choose from in 18 different categories; these include:

• Basic (e.g. fade)
• 3D
• Social media
• Speed blur
• Warp

When applying transitions, it is possible to adjust the length of the effect, the style of transition (overlap, prefix or postfix) and the ability to include trimmed frames.

Elements

Elements are a collection of shapes and icons that you can add on top of videos. Say you wanted to point something out in the video, well you could include an arrow element.

I counted 4,401 different elements that are available, either freely or via FilmStock in Filmora 11. Each element is placed into 30 separate categories, which included:

• Shapes
• How to
• Gaming
• Arrow
• Background

Some elements are just static images, while others include animations and effects. For example, the Flame Wipe 2 element looks like a burst of flames that comes up from the bottom and then fades away.

Visual effects

If you like playing around with elements and tweaking settings to make some cool visual tricks, then you’ll be pleased to see what Filmora 11 can do in terms of effects.

There are 2,173 different effects that are ready to be dropped on to the timeline. This includes many freely available options, and the recently added Boris FX and NewBlue FX options.

The types of effects that can be used include:

• Filters
• Overlays
• Utilities
• LookUp Tables (LUTS)

Most of the effects that are readily available are filters. There is even a dedicated Instagram-like filter section if you are into those effects.

Split screen

A cool feature of Filmora 11 is the ability to apply a split screen when showing multiple video clips at the same time.

There are 30 different split screen templates to choose from that can show up to 6 clips at the same time.

After dragging the template onto the timeline and selecting the desired video clips, it is also possible to dip into advanced mode. Here you can fine-tune the animations of the split screen.

Audio tracks

As well as bucket loads of visual effects, Filmora 11 also includes hundreds of royalty-free audio tracks – 260 audio tracks and 1,105 sound effects to be precise!

These are useful if you want to add some subtle background music to your videos without worrying about copyright complaints.

Audio track genres include:

• Rock
• Electronic
• Tender and sentimental
• Folk

Some of them are quite impressive. I’m no audio producer, but one track felt like it was straight out of a James Bond trailer!

Audio effects

Once a piece of audio is placed on the timeline, you can apply certain audio effects by double-clicking on the track.

You can easily apply a fade at the start or end of the audio clip.

If you want to adjust how the audio sounds, there are also options to tweak the pitch and apply an equalizer.

More advanced audio features include audio ducking, which automatically lowers the volume of some background music when a voiceover is played.

Speaking of voiceovers, if you use these a lot then you will be happy to see a denoise effect. Applying this means you can remove some of those pesky background noises.

Finally, there’s an auto normalization option if you prefer your volume to be similar throughout.

Render or share videos

Once you’ve finished editing videos, it’s time to render them to your computer, share them or even burn them to a DVD.

Filmora 11 can render projects in the following 13 formats:

• MP4
• WMV
• HEVC
• AVI
• MOV
• F4V
• MKV
• TS
• 3GP
• MPEG-2
• WEBM
• GIF
• MP3

It’s also possible to change the resolution (up to 4K!), bit rate and frame rate (up to 60 FPS!) of the videos.

If you plan on creating videos to be displayed on different devices, such as a mobile or games console, then you can choose from a range of render pre-sets. Doing this will adjust the export settings so that they will be viewed correctly on those devices.

Instead of rendering directly to your computer, you have the option to share videos directly to a connected YouTube or Vimeo account.

If you’re still into burning DVDs (I’m not sure how many people actually do this these days) then you’ll be happy to see a dedicated option to do this in the export wizard.

Wondershare Filmstock

It’s worth mentioning that alongside Filmora, Wondershare also have a library of over 10 million royalty-free effects, videos, audio and images – this is known as Filmstock.

So, if the free assets that come with Filmora 11 are not enough to satisy your needs, you can always browse the Filmstock library to find something else.

What’s nice about Filmstock is that they give you some assets for free. All you need to do is to make a Wondershare account.

If you want more access, then you can pick up a discounted premium subscription to Filmstock as an add-on when purchasing Filmora 11, or buy a separate plan from their plan.

Filmora 11 support

Now let’s move this Filmora 11 review to talking about the support you will receive if you decide to purchase it.

Support comes in different forms, and includes:

• Support Center
• Support ticket
• Live chat
• YouTube channel

Support Center

As with most digital products, Filmora 11 has a dedicated Support Center should you have any questions.

Here you can browse aricles that answer FAQs, so there is a good chance you will find the solution in there.

But if you need tailored help, then you can always raise a ticket or go on their live chat.

Support ticket

Support tickets are just like filing out an online form. Simply enter your Filmora 11 order number and a few contact details, then you can write out your question.

Someone from the Wondershare team will then get back to you via email.

Live chat

Another useful approach customers have access to is the live chat on the Wondershare website.

It starts off with a chatbot that can point you in the direction of articles on the Support Center.

However, there is always the option to speak to a real person if you need more of a human contact.

Chatbots are great and all, but they don’t always know the answer!

Filmora YouTube channel

The guys at Wondershare have produced an awesome YouTube channel where they frequently post useful Filmora tips and tutorials.

In under 5 minutes, you can learn how to remove objects from videos and add motion tracking to multiple objects in Filmora 11.

3 things I like about Filmora 11

So now you have a better idea about what Filmora 11 is and what it can do for you. Let me now focus on my personal likes and dislikes about the software.

The low cost

In all honesty, I cannot believe how cheap Filmora 11 is considering the amount of features you get for your money.

It feels like a premium video editor, such as Adobe’s Premiere Pro, just without the steep learning curve and it comes without the hefty price tag!

Built-in screen recorder

As someone who creates a lot of screencasts and video tutorials, I always need to record my screen.

So, I was pleasantly surprised to see a screen recorder inside of Filmora 11. This means I could capture my content and edit the video in a single piece of software.

Generous free preset assets

For someone who is not very creative – I’d love to say I’m a pro at Adobe After Effect, but I’m not – I was more than happy to see how many presets come with Filmora 1.

There are thousands of title presets, effects, elements, transitions and more that come with Filmora 11, coupled with their Filmstock library, it gives me more than enough to increase my video production without breaking the bank.

3 things I don’t like about Filmora 11

Is it all sunshines and rainbows with Filmora 11?

Well, yes, but I do have some slight niggles.

Slightly pushy with Filmstock

I understand Wondershare have created this amazing library of assets that people can purchase as add-ons to Filmora 11, but sometimes it does seem like they are trying to force it on you, which can be slightly annoying.

Zoom and panning is not straight forward

Coming from Camtasia, I am used to being able to quickly add a zoom or pan effect to my videos.

In Filmora 11, you can zoom and pan but the process can be quite laborious and is not as easy as I would have liked.

Maybe it’s just me being lazy?

Performance slowed as my project grew

It makes sense to me that when working with larger projects, the performance of the video editor will slow slightly, which I found to be the case for Filmora 11.

Obviously, this can relate to my laptop not being up to the task, but just something to keep in mind.

Always read their system requirements before purchasing!

Filmora 11 alternatives

I’ve recently put together a list of the best Filmora alternatives that are available, including some free options! So, be sure to check out the list if you think Filmora isn’t quite what you’re looking for.

Filmora 11 FAQs

1. Is Filmora video editor really free?

Filmora isn’t free. You have to purchase a licence to be able to fully use Filmora without any restrictions.

However, there is a completely free Filmora trial. There will be a watermark on exported videos when using the trial.

2. Is Filmora worth buying?

I purchased a Perpetual Plan ($79.99) of Filmora 11 and I completely recommend it. At this price, there simply isn’t another video editor that compares to it!

3. Is Filmora any good?

If you’re a beginner/intermediate video editor, then it is amazing.

If you’re at a more advanced level, then Filmora 11 may not be as good as you think.

Filmora 11 review: Final thoughts

So, there you have my rather long, but hopefully helpful, detailed Filmora 11 review.

I was pleasantly surprised with Filmora 11. It’s packed with so many features and capabilities that I still cannot believe it can be picked up for under $100.

In fact, I found it that good that I am seriously considering swapping from Camtasia to Filmora 11 to create tutorial videos for my YouTube channel.

Honestly, just download the free trial and see for yourself.

Have you tried Filmora? If so, let me know in the comments below what you thought.

Further reading on SideHustleTeach.com

If you like the look of Filmora 11, but are put off by the price, then have a look at my ultimate list of best Filmora alternatives.