Vimeo vs. Adobe Express: Which online video editing software should you choose?

Video editing software used to be complex and pricey. To edit videos, you needed professional software like AVID, Adobe Premiere, or Final Cut Pro, expensive computer equipment, and a lot of training.

Years later, video editing became more accessible with the release of software like iMovie and Movie Maker. However, like the original pro apps, they all required computer installation and used significant disk space, processing power, and memory.

Fortunately, today, all you need to edit videos is a web browser.

Online video editors have made video editing accessible to everyone. Two of the most popular and free online video editors are from Vimeo and Adobe. Vimeo’s video editor is built into its video platform, while Adobe’s is a standalone app named Express.

This article examines and compares each online video editor to help you decide which is best for your video editing needs.

What is the difference between Vimeo and Adobe Express?

Vimeo is an AI-powered, all-in-one video experience platform that offers everything you need to make, manage, and share brilliant videos for marketing, send engaging employee communications, and host stunning virtual events. Adobe provides numerous single-purpose apps used for publishing, illustration, image editing, and video production. Adobe’s products are sold individually or as a bundle known as Creative Cloud. Since Vimeo is a single platform, customers can effortlessly upgrade as their needs grow. In contrast, Adobe requires AI credits and subscribing to Creative Cloud to get the most out of its online video editor.

Vimeo vs. Adobe Express: A side-by-side comparison of online video editing software

Vimeo and Adobe Express both have their advantages and disadvantages. For example, Adobe Express has generative AI features powered by Firefly and its fair share of templates. However, Adobe Express doesn’t have screen recording, text-based video editing, video hosting, a customizable online video player, or an analytics dashboard.

Features	Vimeo	Adobe Express
Cost	Freemium, $0-$65/mo	Freemium, $0-$13/mo
Video quality	Up to 8K HDR, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision	Up to 4K (Paid only)
Bandwidth	Up to 2TB/month Up to unlimited for Enterprise	No hosting
Video storage	Up to 500 videos Up to unlimited for Enterprise	5GB-100GB Up to 1TB for Teams and Enterprise
Video recording length	Unlimited	Up to 30 minutes (Free) Up to 2 hours (Paid)
Video templates	Yes	No
Video AI	Yes (Generated video details, highlight reels, and text-based video editing)	Yes (Generative still images that require credits)
Screen recording	Yes	No
Analytics dashboard	Yes	No
Video library and teams folder	Yes	Yes (Brand libraries Paid only)
Video collaboration	Yes	Yes
Player	Yes	No
Video hosting	Yes	No

Video editing software comparison: Vimeo vs. Adobe Express

Choosing an online video editor that can support the features you need to create impactful and engaging videos is essential. Here’s how Vimeo and Adobe Express video editing features compare.

Vimeo video editing overview

Vimeo’s video editor is among the most advanced yet user-friendly online video editors. It includes a suite of AI-driven tools that empower professional-level video recording, editing, and branding that can be used for video marketing.

AI-powered recording. Vimeo AI features available on our Paid plans can help with a script generator and online teleprompter that produces audio captions, subtitles, and downloadable transcripts.
Multiple timelines. Vimeo’s video editor supports multiple video timelines, providing advanced online video editing usually only found in more professional apps.
Advanced video editing. Vimeo’s timeline editor helps you create polished content with a drag-and-drop interface, advanced audio controls, and custom titles and graphics.
Templates for the win. Drive team efficiency with hundreds of professionally designed video templates that transform your video content into branded visuals.
Integrated branding. Vimeo helps your messaging stay on point with custom colors, fonts, graphics, and logos integrated straight from the brand kit in Standard+ plans.

Explore Vimeo’s video editing tools →

Adobe Express video editing overview

Adobe Express is a capable and more simplified video editor than Vimeo’s. It excels with its generous offering of video templates and third-party add-ons.

Single timeline. Adobe Express is limited to one video timeline, which limits its editing capabilities.
Generated images. Express differentiates itself in the market with its ability to generate still images using Firefly. However, it can’t create videos and requires Generative Credits to use it.
Numerous templates. Express has many templates for just about any video type. Users can create videos quickly for social media or any occasion.
Video add-ons. Adobe has leveraged its developer community to create add-ons for Express. There are numerous editor extensions available, but many of them must be purchased separately.

Video AI tools comparison: Vimeo vs. Adobe Express

Vimeo and Adobe take a different approach to AI. Vimeo uses AI to make video creation more efficient, while Adobe uses AI to perform tasks like generating images, creating text effects, and providing text to template features.

Vimeo AI video tools overview

Vimeo’s approach to AI integration is to help creators and businesses make videos faster, more impactful, and more accessible. Vimeo Central leverages an AI-powered video hub designed for businesses to enhance employee engagement, collaboration, and productivity.

Integrated teleprompter. Vimeo’s video teleprompter scrolls your script at the bottom of the monitor, so you’ll never lose your spot while recording.
AI script generator. Vimeo’s AI takes your talking points, sprinkles them with some guidance about tone, and transforms notes into a polished video script.
Auto-generated subtitles. Depending on your plan, Vimeo can auto-caption live streams and recordings, which makes for better access and engagement for your audience.
AI video editing. Pop into your script and tweak like a pro because Vimeo’s in-text editing assistance helps you make changes efficiently.

Get to know Vimeo AI →

Adobe Express AI video tools overview

Compared to Vimeo, Adobe Express has minimal AI capabilities.

Generate or expand images and create templates. Adobe Express’s AI capabilities include image generation via Firefly. This generative AI web application also allows for filling out or expanding images, generating a template from a prompt as well as creating text effects. However, using Firefly features require purchasing more Generative Credits when initial credits run out.

Video collaboration comparison: Vimeo vs. Adobe Express

Creating and editing videos is often a collaborative process that involves getting feedback from team members. Vimeo and Express provide excellent collaboration tools, and the software you decide to use depends on the videos you make.

Vimeo video collaboration tools

Vimeo’s team collaboration tools are ideal for enterprise companies, SMBs, video professionals, and agencies that create videos for marketing or for effective employee comms. Team members can securely share videos and leave feedback with time-stamped comments.

A searchable, embeddable video hub. A hub of random video content can get cluttered fast. Vimeo supports AI-generated descriptions and searchable content, as well as folders, so you can find what you need when you need it.
Personalized workplace communications. Whether you’re live streaming on Vimeo or doing a screen recording, a video-first approach can personalize employee communication.
Engaging live event features. Get the most out of your next town hall and fuel employee participation with audience engagement tools, third-party widgets, and breakout rooms.
Interactive video. Drive even deeper engagement and interaction on videos, like onboarding and training webinars, video hotspots, branching, polls, CTAs, and other interactive video tools.
Controlled video access. Sharing a prerecorded video in a meeting or sending out a link to a tutorial for onboarding? Vimeo’s video privacy settings mean you can manage access to your video library with confidence.
Video analytics. Vimeo’s analytics dashboard helps glean insight into how (and when) employees are interacting with video content to keep stakeholders informed and to quantify a return on investment for your video communication strategy.
Consolidated feedback. Too many cooks in the video production kitchen? Foster a more efficient review process with Vimeo’s team collaboration tools that consolidate feedback and offer time-stamped comments.
Embeddable showcases. Easily embed a showcase of multiple videos to integrate with and share on platforms where your employees are already working.

Explore video collaboration on Vimeo →

Adobe Express and Frame.io video collaboration tools

Adobe Express has a unique feature that allows multiple people to edit the same video at the same time. Users can also share links to videos for people to leave comments.

Co-editing videos. Adobe Express users can invite other people to edit videos in real time. When two or more people are editing a video, it displays the name and cursor of each collaborator and shows changes immediately after they’re made.
Commenting. Collaborators can leave real-time comments and tag other people with access to the video.
Link sharing. The video can be shared with other collaborators for commenting and editing, but Express doesn’t come with video hosting like Vimeo.
Other Adobe tools. In 2021, Adobe acquired Frame.io, which is billed as a video collaboration platform that also allows users to share media and track feedback. Frame.io can be combined with Adobe Express and Adobe Firefly Services to enable content production at scale, whereas Vimeo is already an all-in-one video platform on its own.

Video hosting comparison: Vimeo vs. Adobe Express

Vimeo has world-class online video hosting, which means videos stream with the highest quality. Its player is fully customizable, and it can be embedded and viewed from virtually anywhere on the internet. Adobe Express, on the other hand, doesn’t provide video hosting for its online video editor. Videos must be downloaded and then hosted from a service like Vimeo.

Vimeo video hosting overview

Vimeo allows content creators and businesses to stream and host high-quality videos on a reliable platform to an engaged audience of professionals and creatives.

Superior video quality. A fast-loading HTML5 video player guarantees reliable performance and hosts videos in 4K, 8K, HDR, and Dolby Vision.
Advanced sound quality. No other video hosting platform offers the kind of sound quality available on Vimeo, with a constant bitrate of 320 kbps that delivers truly fantastic and dynamic audio.
Ad free. Vimeo’s commitment to no ads hasn’t wavered. You won’t see ads before, during, or after videos whether you have a free trial, an advanced plan, or an enterprise account.
Fully customizable video player. With a Vimeo Paid plan, you get to choose the look and feel of your video player. Customize your brand colors, logos, and video controls — all of which are carried over wherever you embed videos to deliver a seamlessly consistent content experience.
Video security features. Vimeo’s video platform privacy features include custom permissions, password protection, and private videos to ensure you control access to your video content.
Videomaker integrations. Whether you film videos on Android, iPhone, Mac, or even Windows, Vimeo integrates with iMovie, Google Drive, and Dropbox for a hassle-free uploading experience.
View from anywhere. Do you have the app on your mobile or want to go browser-based on your desktop? Vimeo video hosting services have you covered.

See how free video hosting on Vimeo works →

Adobe Express video hosting

Adobe Express allows access to video projects for collaboration, but doesn’t support hosting videos.

Collaboration only. Adobe Express users can share videos for feedback purposes, but a video hosting service like Vimeo or YouTube must be used to publish videos for public viewing.

Which online video editing software is best for you: Vimeo or Adobe Express?

Adobe Express is a good choice if you want a basic single-timeline video editor to create simple videos for social media posts. However, if you want to get the most out of an online video editor, like screen recording, better video editing options, auto-captions and transcripts, advanced video sharing, team collaboration, and video hosting, Vimeo is your best choice.