20+ Best FREE Plugins for Final Cut Pro in 2023
In this article I will show you more than 20 FREE plugins for Final Cut Pro that you can plug and play immediately.
One of the easiest ways to improve your video editing process – using plugins. They are third-party apps that add new features to Final Cut Pro.
I’m a big fan of using plugins and without part of them my videos would be worse. Much worse.
How to install plugins? Here’s 2-minutes tutorial:
1. Quick In-Out Bouncer
Quickly bounce elements in-out without messing with keyframes, transitions and secondary storylines.
Good to know:
- For elements smaller than your project resolution you might need to first compound clip your element;
- Element must be at least 2,5 seconds long for both in and out bounces to work correctly in every situation;
- To make Quick In-Out Bouncer work for very short and quick elements duplicate it and disable Build Out in first one and Build In in second one.
2. Quick In-Out Revealer
One of the best free plugins for Final Cut Pro.
Quickly reveal/conceal selected area without messing with keyframes, masks or transitions. Great for revealing texts, logos etc. Sometimes it’s much easier to use this effect because it has good customization inside.
Good to know:
- Element must be at least 2 seconds long for both revealer and concealer to work correctly in every situation;
- For elements smaller than your project resolution you might need to first compound clip your element.
3. Multiline Text Background
Multiline text with autosizing background for each line. Quick and useful for titles, lower thirds and subtitles.
Good to know:
- Maximum number of lines is limited to 12 to make performance better;
- With some fonts background align to top of the font and not on the center. Use offset vertical adjustment to correct this.
4.Text Revealer
16 simple, clean and modern ways to reveal/conceal your text quickly and easily.
Good to know:
- Title must be at least 2 seconds long for both reveal and conceal to work correctly in every situation
5. Autosize Text Background
Text with background that autosizes itself based on text boundaries. Quick and useful for subtitles, titles and lower 3rds.
6. Quick In-Out Animator
Quickly animate elements in-out without messing with keyframes, transitions and secondary storylines.
Good to know:
- Element must be at least 2 seconds long for both in and out animations to work correctly in every situation
- For elements smaller than your project resolution you might need to first compound clip your element
7. Zoom Highlight
Highlight part of your picture by zooming it closer. Good to use for various tutorials with screen sharing where you need to show important details.
8. RT Blend Modes
RT Blend Mode is a free Final Cut Pro plugin that allows you to preview, then apply blend modes to your clips. Much faster than changing blend modes individually trying to find the best one.
9. RT Motion Blur
RT Motion Blur is a free Final Cut Pro X plugin that allows you to apply realistic motion blur to animated 2D titles, 3D titles, graphics and logos.
10. RT Type-On Cursor Plugin
RT Type-On is a free Final Cut Pro X plugin that simulates data entry on a computer keyboard.
11. RT DSLR
RT DSLR is a Final Cut Pro X Plugin that simulates looking through a DSLR viewfinder. Great to create some look of archive footage.
12. Glint
Add animated light trails to your titles to make it more cinematic.
13. mCamRig - Camera Animation Rig
mCamRig plug-in is a must for every editor who wants to add dynamic to your footage. Without hours of complicated keyframing, you can achieve rapid camera movement and present footage from different angles.
14. mVertical - Vertical Video Adjustment Plugin
mVertical is a simple-to-use plugin for Final Cut Pro that helps you deal with vertical videos in several ways. Add a background copy, mirror the source footage, use blurring and adjust brightness.
15. Instagram Tag Title
Simple title that you can use to show usernames of Instagram. With tracking feature inside FCP it’s easy to connect with a person on a screen.
16. FilmConvert (Free Trial)
FilmConvert Pro is a plug-in designed to emulate the look of a film shot, the so-called “Film Look”, by adjusting the color of a video recorded with a digital camera. Since the picture from digital cameras is different from the picture taken on film, FilmConvert Pro allows you to get closer to the digital cinematic.
17. Adjustment Layer
Adjustment Layer is a free Final Cut Pro X plugin that allows you to apply the same color correction, effect, or transformation to multiple clips in the Timeline. It’s also great for creating moveable markers.
18. SoundQ (Free Trial)
SoundQ is sound library software that integrates with your editor of choice. Your go-to sound source that sends directly from the cloud to your timeline.
19. Manifesto
It’s not a difficult task to create a text layer in Final Cut Pro, but sometimes it works weird. Manifesto has two types of animation – roll and crawl – designed for different purposes.
Bonus FREE FCp Plugins for spherical (360) videos:
20. RT 360 Transitions:
RT 360 Transitions are a set of 6 free Final Cut Pro transitions that were designed for spherical videos.
21. RT 360 Titles:
RT 360 Titles are a set of 6 free Final Cut Pro titles that were specifically designed for spherical videos.
But you need to understand that plugins are not all-in-one solution. This is only a part of the whole video editing process.
If you’re new in video editing world and/or want to improve your workflow, I have online course about Final Cut Pro.
This course contains:
- Main Part – full process from organising footage to exporting the final video. Test footage is also provided.
- Bonus Lessons – detailed look of different features that will boost your editing workflow. Bonus videos are independent so you can watch them in any order.
- Bonus Assets – stock footage, sound effects, music, etc. that I’ve created and found on the web during my content creation journey. You can download everything and use in your future projects.