Why is Bytedance’s video editor CapCut so popular, and what are rivals doing about it?

Social video is currently a massive trend, driven in large part by TikTok and imitated by sites from Instagram to Snapchat, X and even LinkedIn. As a result, creative software that can make short, vertical videos look more professional and polished is in huge demand.

Enter CapCut: a video-editing app owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance. Originally known as ViaMaker, it was launched in April 2020 as the overseas equivalent of a Chinese editing app called Jianying, and rebranded to CapCut shortly after.

By May 2021, CapCut had already risen to become the number 1 free app in the US App Store, as reported by TechCrunch, and the platform passed 200 million MAUs (Monthly Active Users) in January 2023, according to DianDian Data (Chinese-language source).

CapCut’s power, accessibility, and compatibility with already-popular platforms like TikTok have made it a force to be reckoned with in the ‘prosumer’ software niche, and threaten to draw users away from Canva and Adobe.

What has made CapCut so appealing to the millions of creators now using it for video production and editing – and what does that mean for rivals trying to keep pace?

Why is CapCut so popular?

CapCut has seen success as a tool designed for mobile and, critically, for vertical video, in a world that is now dominated by it. The app comes pre-loaded with templates, sticker overlays, transitions, filters, a library of music and more – appealing to beginner editors who might not be sure where to begin to start improving their videos, but also to professionals who want a quick and easy set of tools.

CapCut is both a mobile app and a web program, meaning that on desktop devices, it can be run in a browser with files stored in the cloud. This generally means less strain placed on the device used (no need to run a resource-intensive program or store large files), making it easier to edit with an older or lower-powered machine and removing the need for high-powered equipment. It also improves cross-device compatibility.

Most compelling of all, CapCut’s main version is free and allows access to the vast majority of its features (a Pro subscription is available that unlocks more professional-grade editing effects and features, and CapCut also has offerings for enterprises). A watermark is appended to the end of free videos by default, but it can easily be removed.

CapCut has some built-in restrictions that apply to both its free and Pro versions: the upper limit for video editing is 15 minutes, making it most suitable for short videos and not for long projects. It also only permits one video and one audio track to be edited at a time. These restrictions frustrate some newcomers to the platform, but CapCut’s fans appear happy to work around them.

CapCut’s secret marketing sauce: TikTok

All of these factors have undoubtedly contributed to CapCut capturing a huge swathe of the amateur and prosumer video software niche, but it hasn’t hurt that CapCut is also owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, who are free to use TikTok to promote their product.

Given that TikTok has upwards of a billion MAUs, this ensures that CapCut is advertised to a huge audience – and one that is squarely in the target market for CapCut.

Plus, having creators publish CapCut videos to TikTok kicks off a virtuous promotional circle where the more CapCut videos appear on TikTok, the more likely it is that other TikTok users will want to try out the tool and enjoy the same features. In its profile of CapCut, Bloomberg interviewed Jalen, a lifestyle content creator, who “said he was drawn to CapCut because of its simple interface and popularity with other TikTokers.”

Naturally, CapCut also makes it seamless to publish a video to TikTok, with templates that “let users quickly match video formats and export finished content directly to TikTok”. CapCut’s watermark, if kept in, also helps to further promote the video’s origin.

But CapCut is also no slouch in the content marketing and SEO department. Notably, its website plays host to a wide range of how-to guides and resources that rank well for queries such as ‘CapCut Pro features’ or ‘What can CapCut do’. There’s no shortage of user-created guides and introductions – especially on YouTube – but it’s clear that CapCut has invested significant time and resources into its content and search ranking.

In a sly move, CapCut has also published guides to using its competitors, with titles such as, ‘Final Cut Pro Stabilizer: The Ultimate Fix for Your Shaky Videos’ – a guide that walks the reader through using Final Cut Pro to stabilise videos but also happens to promote ‘3^rd party alternatives’ including, of course, CapCut. Searching terms like ‘Canva CapCut’ or ‘Adobe Premiere CapCut’ will typically return CapCut’s own comparison guides within the top results.

How are rivals working to compete?

The meteoric rise of CapCut is undoubtedly a concern for competitors like Adobe, Apple and Canva who are all competing for the interest and wallet share of would-be video editors.

While they have the advantage of being established incumbents with wide name recognition, CapCut’s mobile- and social-video compatibility, particularly with TikTok, together with its accessibility to editing newcomers, have helped it to steal a march on its larger rivals with this particular audience.

Adobe: emphasising accessible creation with Express

Bloomberg reported that Adobe is in the process of developing “a slimmed-down version of Premiere aimed at casual users that would run in a web browser” to match CapCut’s offering, although Adobe has declined to comment on this officially. Adobe does already have a web-based creative tool in the form of Adobe Express, which supports video clips as well as art, animations, and audio, and is aimed at non-designers.

Not unlike CapCut, Adobe Express has a freemium model that offers access to ‘basic editing tools’ and more limited assets, storage, and content scheduling on social media. Its Premium version expands these capabilities. In April, Adobe also launched a new mobile app for Express focused on AI content creation and advertised its ability to “Make standout content for TikTok, YouTube, Instagram Reels or Stories right from your mobile device” – clearly a move to square up to CapCut and offerings like it.

Canva: generative AI to speed up production

Meanwhile, Canva, which is already a web-based design app that positions itself as an accessible entry point into visual content creation, has leaned more heavily into generative AI. In 2023, the company launched Magic Studio, a suite of generative AI-powered tools, and partnered with AI tech company Runway to bring their AI video generation technology to the app.

Just last month, Canva also acquired Leonardo, a generative AI platform, whose technology and foundational model, ‘Phoenix’, will be integrated into Magic Studio (Leonardo will also continue to operate as a separate design platform). In a July interview with The Verge, Canva CEO Melanie Perkins said that the company thinks of AI tools as, “helping to cut down that time between A and B of getting the idea into an actual product. … All of those AI features are really based on trying to help create shortcuts in that [ideation to design] process.”

CapCut also offers a range of generative AI tools and capabilities for creating videos, scripts and art, as well as tools for translation and even realistic AI-generated presenters; these capabilities will no doubt be on the minds of competitors looking to rival its offering.

Apple & Microsoft

At Apple’s iPad-centric event, ‘Let Loose’, the company recently announced some significant updates to Final Cut Pro, including the release of Final Cut Pro for the iPad 2. However, although Final Cut Pro is designed to operate on mobile devices like iPads and iPhones, it seems clear that Apple is more interested in catering to professionals producing high-end video rather than amateur and light users of video editing software.

It’s also worth giving a nod to Clipchamp, which is Microsoft’s entry to the web and mobile video editing space following their acquisition of the video startup of the same name in 2021. Clipchamp is available as a default app on Windows 11, on iOS (but at the time of writing, not Android) and as a browser tool. It also operates on a freemium model and offers preset templates and filters along with a generative AI video generator.

However, Microsoft appears to restrict more of Clipchamp’s features behind a paywall than the likes of Canva or CapCut, which may limit its adoption when compelling alternatives are available free of charge.

Will a TikTok ban make all of this null and void? Not necessarily

Many have pointed out that the recent bill to ban TikTok in the US, which was signed into law in April, could also apply to CapCut and other apps that ByteDance has launched such as Lemon8, Hypic, and Lark, although TikTok is its main target.

However, given that TikTok and, separately, at least one group of TikTok creators have filed lawsuits aiming to block the forced divestment or ban of TikTok, it’s expected that ByteDance’s subsidiaries will be able to continue operating in the US while these legal battles are waged. As such, CapCut is not necessarily in any imminent danger.

Even if it were, CapCut could continue to exist and enjoy popularity in markets outside the US, although the loss of the US market would undeniably be a blow.

This means that CapCut’s rivals will need to continue their efforts to win over audiences looking for an accessible but featureful app for creating polished short videos if they want to stay competitive.