For most of its history, Final Cut Pro and the other creative apps were a single purchase that lasted for the length of a version. You bought FCP7, and you got several years of use.

After extensive testing, I put the two top video editing apps head-to-head—covering effects, media support, rendering speed, value, and more—to see which one truly comes out on top.

Final Cut Pro 12 is one of the central planks in Apple's new Creator Studio subscription offering, but its major version status seems more about integration with that than any radical new features.

UPDATE: The new versions of Final Cut Pro for iPad and Mac — and the new Final Cut Camera app — launched Thursday on the App Store. Apple updated its video editing application Final Cut Pro with live ...