Microsoft increases free plan for video editor Clipchamp to include 1080p exports

By Sean Endicott
last updated

Clipchamp has caught up with some of its competition now that it supports free FHD exports.

Clipchamp Lede
Clipchamp Lede (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • The free plan for Microsoft's Clipchamp now supports exporting videos with a resolution of 1080p.
  • Previously, Clipchamp users had to pay $19 per month to be able to export 1080p videos.
  • Many were critical of Clipchamp's previous pricing model.

Microsoft purchased the video editor Clipchamp back in September 2021. Since then, the company has made Clipchamp the video editor on Windows 11's recent Insider builds. Microsoft may have big plans for its web-based video editor, but many have been unable to look past Clipchamp's pricing.

When Microsoft purchased Clipchamp, and even when the video editor was built into Windows 11's video editing app, the maximum resolution of free exports was 480p. That drew quite a bit of criticism, including harsh words from our senior editor Jez Corden:

Clipchamp thinks that 1080p exports are "business-grade" at $19 per month, which is absolutely laughable — I'd go as far to call it offensive. A clown businessman thought that $9 per month is good value for 720p exports. Remember 720p TVs? Me neither. Clipchamp sure does though, and Microsoft thinks you're dumb enough to pay for these features which were, previously, free as part of the Windows 10 and 11 Photos app. For free, with Clipchamp, you get badass "unlimited" 480p exports. Gee, how generous. I'll just fire up TikTok on my cathode-ray tube monitor and have a blast.

Microsoft has since made a significant change, increasing the resolution of exports through the free basic plan to 1080p. This brings Clipchamp in line with some other free video editors and should quiet critics.

Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)

The pricing page for Clipchamp now lists 1080p (full HD) exports under the free basic plan. Upgrading to the creator plan gets users access to cloud storage and stock audio. The business and business platinum plans provide other benefits, such as support for a brand kit and access to stock images.

It's unclear if Microsoft's change of plans was made in direct response to criticism of Clipchamp. It's worth noting that the increased resolution of the free plan occurred within weeks of some of the harshest criticism of the web-based video editor.

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Clipchamp

Clipchamp is a video editor that integrates with popular cloud storage providers like OneDrive and Dropbox. Now, it supports 1080p exports as part of its free basic plan.

Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com (opens in new tab).

10 Comments
  • Still no output greater than FHD for the premium plans huh? At least this is an improvement from the pricing side. I'd bet that the 4K output is a technical limitation not accounted for in the software, and adding 4K would require some updates.
  • Better late than never. Should have been the first thing Microsoft did - fixing the pricing model. Anyway, remains to be seen if this goes the way of Mixer.
  • Agreed, though I give them credit for quickly making it right. I'm actually surprised they jumped right to 1080p on the free plan, instead of moving to 720p first.
  • My guess 1080p is considered the minimum acceptable resolution. It's everywhere from Bluray, Phones, Laptops. I would ignore an app that couldn't output 1080p before even trying it.
  • Microsoft got burned and felt the heat :D.
  • I'm left wondering how they can't see things like this coming from a mile away instead of having to react to backlash.
  • I suspect MS was thinking about the advantages they have having a huge platform (Windows) on which to sell to a very broad audience (including many small businesses). I suspect 1080 is just a number to many small business users, and most of their customers won't notice a 720 video anyway (most people would be watching on a phone), so MS was thinking, why not save some server power and collect some user fees? Don't get me wrong, it's ridiculous to not have 1080 for free when so many other video editors give it out for free. I'm just saying there may have been a business case. Lol obviously not a great one though.
  • This should have been a thing from day one. Otherwise nobody would use it. I thought MS would know better.
  • That pricing model is still laughable tbh.
    The most expensive plan doesn't even have 8K, and none of the paid plans don't even have 4K.... Also, doesn't this contradict their Microsoft 365 plans, which give you access to their stock images/videos/premium content? It seems like Clipchamp is still operating separately. It would be nice to see them simplify and just integrate with Microsoft 365, while still offering a standalone plan. So free tier (1080p + integration with free OneDrive), M365 Home/Personal (4K + stock content + integration with OneDrive), M366 Business plans (8K + stock content + integration with OneDrive/SharePoint/Stream). Standalone plan (everything).
  • the family microsoft 365 plan has stock images?