20 Free Plugins for Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro (FCP) is a powerful editing tool, but its capabilities can be significantly enhanced with plugins. While premium plugins often provide the highest quality effects and features, there are loads of free options available that can elevate your editing without costing a dime. In this article, we’ll explore the 20 best free plugins for Final Cut Pro, detailing their features and how they can improve your projects.

1. mCamRig

mCamRig is a versatile plugin that allows for dynamic camera movements within your clips. You can animate zooms, rotations, and even add depth of field effects, which are great for tutorials or any video where you want to focus on specific details.

By dragging this title effect onto your clips, you can control various parameters, including the focus and animation settings, providing a professional touch to your videos. This plugin is essential for creating engaging tutorial content that requires viewer attention on particular areas of the screen.

2. Saber

Saber from Final Cut Bro is a powerful plugin that allows you to create dynamic text titles with ease. Simply create a basic title, add your text, and then apply the Saber plugin. With a wide range of parameters to adjust, you can customize the look of your title to fit your unique style. From smoothing to color options, you have full control over the final result. Whether you're creating a professional title or a high-energy animation, Saber is a must-have plugin for any Final Cut Pro user.

3. Super Starter Kit

The Super Starter Kit by LenoFX is a comprehensive title package that includes eight customizable title presets and two bonus transitions. With options like auto-resizing glitch titles, smart titles, dynamic logo reveals, and basic lower thirds, this kit is perfect for those looking to add a fresh and unique look to their videos. If you're tired of the built-in titles in Final Cut Pro, the Super Starter Kit is a great alternative.

4. Red Halation Effect

Created by me, the Red Halation Effect brings the visually pleasing characteristic of actual film to your footage. With this plugin, you can easily add a red halo or distortion around the edges of the highlights, giving your footage a subtle film-like quality. Adjust the intensity of the effect, sharpen the footage, control the grain, and more to achieve the perfect look. The Red Halation Effect is a great tool for adding a touch of nostalgia to your videos.

5. Logo Revealer

If you're in need of professional-looking logo animations, look no further than the Logo Revealer pack by IFMotion. With 10 different logo revealers across five categories, you'll have plenty of options to choose from. Whether you're working on a corporate client video or a high-energy project, this pack has you covered. Each logo revealer is fully customizable, allowing you to add your own personal touch to every animation.

6. mLUT

mLUT by MotionVFX is a custom LUT plugin that offers more control and flexibility than the built-in custom LUT effect in Final Cut Pro. With mLUT, you can load up custom LUTs or choose from the included preset library. Adjust highlights, shadows, contrast, hue, saturation, and more, all within the plugin. mLUT also allows you to add customizable grain for that extra touch of realism. If you're looking for a powerful LUT tool, mLUT is the perfect choice.

7. Automatitles

Automatitles by FXFactory is a collection of four lower thirds and four titles that automatically resize according to the text. This makes it incredibly easy to create clean and professional-looking titles. With on-screen controls for resizing and repositioning, you have full control over the final look of your titles. While simple, these titles are made with great attention to detail, ensuring a polished result.

8. Truly Handheld 2.0

Truly Handheld 2.0 is another great plugin from the Final Cut Bro. This plugin is perfect for adding a subtle handheld movement to static shots. With six different presets to choose from, you can easily find the right amount of movement for your footage. Adjust the smoothing amount and on-screen offset control to fine-tune the effect. If you want to add a bit of dynamic motion to your videos, Truly Handheld 2.0 is a must-have plugin.

9. Power Tools Lite

Power Tools Lite by BretFX is a powerful plugin that offers a variety of useful features. With the punch-in zoom option, you can easily create dramatic zoom effects in your footage. The plugin also includes movable guides, useful titles, and animations. While the light version comes with a trial of the paid pro version, it still offers a ton of useful tools for free.

10. RT Type on Cursor

Rounding up our list is the RT Type on Cursor plugin from Ripple Training. This plugin offers two variations of typewriter-style typing effects: an 80s type on effect and a modern one. With adjustable parameters like delay typing and typing speed, you have full control over the final result. Pair this effect with sound effects, and you'll have a professional-looking typing animation in no time.

While these are our top 10 free plugins for Final Cut Pro, there are many more available for you to explore. Check out our website for an even longer list of free plugins to enhance your video editing experience.

11. mMatrix

Transform your video projects with the Matrix-Inspired plugin pack, featuring stunning visual effects, transitions, typography, and LUT presets that evoke the iconic sci-fi aesthetic of the Matrix. With easy-to-use templates, you can create cinematic experiences that captivate your audience. Whether you want to simulate digital glitches or craft a unique atmosphere, this pack is perfect for enhancing your editing workflow.

12. Motion Blur Plugin

Adding natural-looking motion blur can significantly enhance the quality of your footage, especially in fast-paced scenes. My own motion blur plugin allows you to do just that. It can be applied to transitions, time-lapses, or hyperlapses to create a smoother visual flow.

Once installed, you can choose from various motion blur options. Simply drag and drop the desired motion blur effect onto your clips and adjust the timing to fit your edits. The result is a more polished and natural-looking blur.

13. XEffects Video Conference

In today’s world of virtual meetings, the XEffects Video Conference plugin is a game-changer. This plugin allows you to create a grid layout that mimics popular video conferencing tools like Zoom, making it easier to compile multiple clips into one cohesive frame.

With this plugin, you can easily position and scale clips within the grid, enhancing your storytelling capabilities. This is particularly useful for projects that require a collaborative feel, showcasing multiple speakers or participants.

14. Alex4D's Wide Angle Fix

If you’ve ever shot footage with a GoPro or any wide-angle lens, you may have encountered distortion issues. Alex4D's Wide Angle Fix plugin is designed to correct this distortion, ensuring that your footage looks clean and professional.

After applying the plugin, you can choose from several presets or manually adjust the distortion correction. This is especially handy for stabilizing horizons in your shots, making them visually pleasing and ready for presentation.

15. BCC +Looks

There are a ton of different looks presets that you can choose from that can instantly be applied to your footage, making color grading super easy. You can also customise each of the different looks by adjusting the colours, exposure, diffusion and even with color gradients, gels and film grain. If this is all that this plugin could do, it would still be an incredible plugin, especially considering that it is totally free.

But, BCC +Looks also gives us Mocha Tracking in Final Cut Pro, for free. Mocha tracking is the world’s leading tracking software and this is where the real incredible power of this plugin comes in.

16. Better Border

Final Cut Pro includes a built-in border plugin, but it has its limitations. Better Border from BretFX enhances this functionality by allowing you to crop clips without losing the border, maintaining a polished look throughout your project.

This plugin is simple yet effective, ensuring that your borders follow your cropping adjustments seamlessly. It’s particularly useful for maintaining aesthetics in multi-clip projects where consistency is key.

17. Adjustment Layer

Adjustment layers are a powerful feature in video editing, allowing you to apply effects to multiple clips simultaneously. My Adjustment Layer plugin streamlines this process, making it easy to create a uniform look across your edits.

By placing an adjustment layer over your clips, you can apply color grading and effects, that affect all the underlying clips. This is particularly useful for achieving a consistent style or mood throughout your project, saving you time and effort.

18. mVertical

As vertical video content becomes increasingly popular, mVertical from MotionVFX simplifies the integration of vertical footage into your projects. This plugin allows you to fill the frame with your vertical clips while applying a blurred background, eliminating those distracting black bars.

With customizable options for scaling, positioning, and background effects, mVertical is essential for anyone looking to incorporate vertical footage seamlessly into their edits.

19. Color Fill Effect

The Color Fill Effect is perfect for changing the color of logos or icons in Final Cut Pro. You might be surprised to find out that there is no native "fill" or "color fill" effect. I've created this plugin so that you can change the color of anything with a transparent background. You also have the option to fill the object with a gradient. You can adjust the start and end points of the gradient using on-screen controls. See the plugin in action in this video.

20. Fast Titles

Fast Titles from LenoFX is a standout title generator that offers a variety of customizable presets. Unlike many free title plugins, Fast Titles provides quality options that can enhance your video’s visual impact.

You can easily adjust the animation, text properties, and even use your footage as the title background. This flexibility allows for creative title designs that can elevate the overall production value of your projects.

Conclusion

These 20 free plugins for Final Cut Pro are excellent tools to enhance your editing workflow and improve the quality of your projects. While paid plugins often provide extensive features, these free options are more than sufficient for many editing needs.

Experiment with these plugins to find the ones that best suit your style and projects. By incorporating them into your workflow, you can create more engaging, polished, and professional-looking videos without breaking the bank.

Another Way to Improve your Videos

Another very important way to level up your videos in Final Cut Pro is to get better at Color Grading and I can show you how to do that in less than 90 minutes.