Here are five free tools for making clips: Vizard, DaVinci Resolve, Edits, YouTube Studio and Twitch Clips. Each card says what the tool’s own page offered on 12 November 2026. Two of them are built into the sites where the videos already live. Nothing here is a ranking, and we earn nothing from any of these tools.
1. Five free tools for making clips
Here is what each tool’s own page says you get for free.
Our page on free tools for cutting clips covers Shotcut, Kdenlive, OpenShot, Clipchamp, CapCut, OpusClip and Kapwing. These five are not on that page, and we list them in no order of preference.
Vizard
Vizard is an online tool that uses AI to turn long videos into short clips.
Its pricing page lists a free plan at $0 with 60 credits a month. The free plan’s features include AI-generated clips, 720p exports, animated subtitles, the full video editor and 3-day storage. Free uploads can be up to 60 minutes long and 1GB in size, and exports up to 10 minutes. The page lists “no watermark” among the features of its paid Creator plan. Vizard’s help centre says that on the free plan, exported videos carry a Vizard.ai watermark and each project expires after 3 days.
Its terms, last updated 31 October 2022, have users confirm they are “legally allowed” to upload what they provide. They also say the service may use machine learning to “improve algorithms” while processing what users provide.
Try this: Run one long video you made yourself through the free plan, and check the export before you rely on it.
DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve is a full video editor with a free version.
Blackmagic Design’s page says there is a free version of DaVinci Resolve, for Mac, Windows and Linux. It says the free version works with virtually all 8-bit video formats at up to 60fps, in resolutions up to Ultra HD 3840 x 2160. The paid Studio version adds the DaVinci Neural Engine, its set of AI tools.
It is an editor, so you choose and cut each clip yourself.
Try this: Cut one short clip from your own footage and export it, to learn the steps before you need them.
Edits by Instagram
Edits is Instagram’s video editing app, for phones and for Mac.
Its site calls Edits “the new video creation app by Instagram”. It lists high-quality exports with no watermark and a timeline with clip-level precision. You log in with an existing Instagram account, and the site says the Mac app is a free download. Its App Store listing calls Edits “a free video editor” and shows in-app purchases.
Try this: Edit one clip of your own on your phone, then check how it looks on the platform you post to.
YouTube Studio clips and Shorts
YouTube Studio has a free tool for cutting clips and Shorts out of your own long videos.
YouTube’s help page says creators can use its video clips and Shorts tool to cut segments from their long-form videos on YouTube and publish them as separate video clips or Shorts. You choose the part yourself from the transcript or the timeline, or pick from AI-powered suggestions where they are available. It says those suggestions are available to creators in select countries and languages. YouTube Studio itself is free: its App Store listing shows the app as free.
It works on your own uploads, and each clip becomes a new video or Short on your channel.
Try this: Cut one Short from a long video of your own, then watch it as a viewer would.
Twitch Clips
Twitch Clips cuts a moment of up to 60 seconds from a stream, in landscape and portrait.
Twitch’s help page says you can clip up to 60 seconds of a live stream or past broadcast. Twitch makes a portrait version next to the landscape one, with a suggested crop that tries to keep the camera and gameplay in frame, which you can accept, adjust or dismiss. You can download landscape or portrait versions of clips you created. Its App Store listing shows the Twitch app as free, with in-app purchases.
You need to be logged in to make a clip, and the streamer must have turned clips on. Streamers decide who can clip their channel, and they can limit it to followers or subscribers. You can post someone else’s clips straight to your own YouTube account only if the streamer has turned that setting on.
Try this: Check a streamer’s clip settings before you plan clips of their channel.
2. How the five differ
The main differences are who picks the moment, which videos you can work on, and how the clip leaves the tool.
| Tool | Who picks the moment | Which videos | How the clip leaves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vizard | AI picks clips for you | Footage you bring | An exported video file |
| DaVinci Resolve | You cut it yourself | Footage you bring | An exported video file |
| Edits | You cut it yourself | Footage you bring | An exported video file |
| YouTube Studio | You choose, with AI suggestions in some countries | Your own YouTube uploads | A new video or Short on your channel |
| Twitch Clips | You choose the moment, up to 60 seconds | Streams and past broadcasts on Twitch | A download, a link or a direct post to social apps |
So a good question to start with is where your video already lives: on your own device, in your YouTube uploads, or on Twitch.
3. Putting it to use
A free tool can cut a clip, but it cannot give you permission to post it.
Vizard’s terms put that question on the user, and Twitch leaves sharing to each streamer’s settings. Our pages on which clips earn and on fair use go through what the platforms and official sources say about reusing other people’s videos.
If a campaign pays for your clips, our pages on how clipping pays, on Content Rewards and on clipping marketplaces compared go through how those campaigns work and the terms you agree to. Before a paid clip goes up, read our pages on labelling a paid clip and on clipping scams.
Free plans change. Before you rely on one, open the tool’s own page again.
Quick answers
Is DaVinci Resolve free?
Blackmagic Design's page says there is a free version of DaVinci Resolve, for Mac, Windows and Linux. The paid Studio version adds the DaVinci Neural Engine.
Does Vizard have a free plan?
Its pricing page lists a free plan at $0 with 60 credits a month, with 720p exports and 3-day storage. Its help centre says free-plan exports carry a Vizard.ai watermark.
Can you still make YouTube clips?
Creators can cut clips and Shorts from their own long-form videos in YouTube Studio. For viewers, YouTube announced in April 2026 that Share at Timestamp would replace its older Clips feature, and that existing Clips stay viewable.
Can you download Twitch clips?
Twitch's help page says you can download landscape or portrait versions of clips you created.
Use this
Our suggestion: how to pick a free clipping tool.
Free plans change, so the tool's own page is the place to check again.
Quick quiz
Nothing is scored or saved. Recalling it once now is what makes it last.
1. According to YouTube's help page, which videos can its Studio clips and Shorts tool cut from?
Answer: Your own long-form videos.Read it again ↑
2. Which of these five tools uses AI to pick clips for you?
Answer: Vizard, the online tool.Read it again ↑
3. On Twitch, when can you post someone else's clips straight to your own YouTube account?
Answer: Only if the streamer has turned that setting on.Read it again ↑
How we checked this · Last checked November 2026
- We re-read every tool page on 12 November 2026, and read the Twitch help page and the YouTube community announcement in a browser because they need JavaScript.
- We left a tool out when its free plan could not be read, or when downloading a clip needed a paid plan.
- We list the five in no order of preference, and we earn nothing from any of them.