CapCut
ByteDance's video editor for phones, the international version of Jianying
First principle
People have always wanted to make something worth showing. CapCut put a full editing suite and this week's trending templates on the phone, so a clip is ready to post in minutes.
The needs it meets
- Being seenCore
- Making things and showing yourself; being seen and approved of.
- Getting things done
- Getting a task done with less time and effort.
Why it wins
- Auto captions, background removal and text to speech, jobs that once took desktop software and skill, take a few taps on the phone.
- Filters and effects are updated weekly with the trends, and a template gives a clip the look that is popular right now.
- Beginners start in seconds, and experienced editors still get keyframes, multiple tracks and chroma key, so one app covers both.
- It comes from the company behind TikTok and exports straight to TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, one step from where the videos are posted.
What keeps it ahead
- Easy start
- Anyone can use it at once, with a reward within seconds.
- Better product
- Clearly better at the core thing.
- Ecosystem
- Preinstalled, or tied to an account or a bigger platform.
How it makes money
Subscriptions
Basic editing is free; a Pro subscription unlocks more effects and AI tools, and a number of features that were free on trial have moved into Pro.
What a small team can take from it
Most people don't want to learn editing; they want this week's popular look. A small team can make templates for one trade, such as house tours or restaurant menus, and refresh them with the trends every week.
This week
- World: top grossing apps, number 5, in 9 of 10 countriesIndonesia App Store 3 · Brazil App Store 5 · Mexico App Store 5 · Indonesia Google Play 5 · Brazil Google Play 6 · Germany App Store 10
- World: top free apps, number 4, in 8 of 10 countriesMexico App Store 3 · Germany Google Play 9 · US App Store 11 · UK Google Play 11 · Mexico Google Play 11 · France Google Play 12
updated 29 October 2026
- Developer
- Bytedance Pte. Ltd
- Category
- App · Photo & Video
- Stores
- App Store, Google Play
- First in a list
- 29 October 2026
Sources
This is our analysis and judgement, drafted by an AI agent from the store pages and public sources and read by a person before it went up. Every figure has a source; where there is none, we give no figure. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].