Adobe Premiere Elements 2025 review

Adobe Premiere Elements 2025 looks amazing on the surface, but under the hood it’s distinctly dated and confusing

Adobe Premiere Elements 2025
(Image: © Rod Lawton)

Digital Camera World Verdict

Adobe Premiere Elements 2025 covers a lot of ground. It aims to blend user-friendly video editing with advanced AI scene and subject recognition, with ideas, inspiration and effects coming at you from all angles. But even though I’m used to video editors (Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut, iMovie), this one kept tripping me up with things that didn’t work as expected. I spent more time Googling than editing. It’s complex software pretending to be simple, compared to something like Apple iMovie which actually is simple. Premiere Elements 2025 delivers a lot of bang for your buck, but it’s not as easy as Adobe makes it sound.

Pros

  • +

    Quick, Guided and Advanced modes

  • +

    Plenty of templates, stickers, transitions and more

  • +

    Support for common log profiles

  • +

    Decent range of effects

  • +

    Not expensive

Cons

  • -

    Things can quickly get complicated

  • -

    Highlight Reel feature slow and may not work

  • -

    Advanced mode not all that advanced

  • -

    Maximum 4K UHD 30p project size

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If you think photo editing is complicated enough, then video editing can feel ten times worse. It’s not just the extra complication of moving images, timing and timelines, but the further complication of sound. 

Thank goodness, then, for programs like Adobe Premiere Pro 2025, which aims to make video editing accessible to beginners. And not just accessible in terms of jargon and editing steps, but with accessible pricing too. Unlike Adobe Premiere Pro, which is available only on subscription, Premiere Elements 2025 is sold for a one-off license fee.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
FeaturesPremiere Elements is a moderately powerful mid-range editor with a lot of effects and some useful new AI capabilities★★★★☆
InterfaceIn trying to be user-friendly, Premiere Elements just comes at things from too many different angles★★★☆☆
PerformanceIf the AI was a little more foolproof, Premiere Elements would be a little more convincing. As it is, it’s an adequate, middle of the road performer★★★☆☆
ValuePremiere Elements is not expensive, but it’s not cheap either. It’s not all that powerful compared to professional programs, but it does a decent basic job★★★☆☆
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BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve is a flat-out professional video editor with a stiff learning curve but with tools and skills that could take you all the way to the top. The free version has as much power as most users can handle, while the Studio version is built for film studios and professional crews.

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If all you want to do is push out a quick video for social with some nice, modern graphics, try Adobe Express instead. There’s a perfectly usable free plan and a subscription version with a huge range of ready-to-use assets. It’s all done in your web browser too, so there are no big, fat desktop apps to download.

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Rod Lawton
Contributor

Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com