PSA: Davinci Resolve is on sale, letting you unlock the powerful tool for less

BlackMagic’s DaVinci Resolve, the popular creative suite for editing video, audio and, as of recently, photos, is currently on sale for a hefty 20% off. This makes one of the most powerful editing tools a little more attainable. That’s even more true considering that the sale is available from retailers worldwide, rather than being limited to just a few countries.

To some, the idea of Resolve being on sale may seem a little strange; one of its biggest selling points is that it’s available for free, and provides a ton of functionality without asking you to pay. The standard free version contains a fully functional video editor, color grading suite, audio editing workstation and compositing tool for VFX.

There is, however, a paid version, which unlocks even more features, including some of the more popular AI-powered ones. With the standard version of Resolve, you’re limited to editing on an up to 4K/60 timeline. While that’ll be enough for most people, if you want to go beyond that, you’ll have to upgrade to Studio. The paid version also has broader support for higher-end video codecs, as well as more advanced tools for delivering in HDR.

Being able to use a second monitor as a full-screen preview of your timeline is also a Studio feature.BlackMagic

While those and many of the other upgrades available in Studio are squarely aimed at video professionals, it has a lot to offer more casual editors, too. It has an AI-powered noise reduction tool that can help clean up grainy footage, and a voice isolation tool to help remove unwanted noises from a dialog track. It also includes several additional visual effects tools for adding aesthetic elements like lens flare, simulated analog effects and more.

One of the biggest reasons people go with Resolve over competing software from Adobe is the fact that it doesn’t require a subscription. That’s obviously true for the free version, but the paid version has, historically, come with free updates; you don’t have to shell out extra to get the latest version and features.

If you’re looking to purchase Studio, it’s worth noting that BlackMagic’s CEO recently said that the company may need to someday start charging for upgrades, but for now, that isn’t the case. Even if that does come to pass, there’s a difference between one-time-purchase software that you can keep using, even if it’s no longer the latest and greatest, and subscription software that you lose access to the moment you stop paying.

The company has put its controllers, which range from keyboards and the “Micro Color Panel” seen above to Hollywood-grade desk-sized panels, on sale, too. BlackMagic

You can get Davinci Resolve Studio now for $236, down from its normal price of $295. The company says the sale, spurred on by the launch of chips with a lot of AI processing power like the Apple M6 and Nvidia RTX Spark, will run to Friday, November 20. You can also get a variety of the company’s controllers, custom-built for Resolve, for a discount too.