Is Adobe Premiere Elements 2019 good enough for professionals?

How powerful is Premiere Elements?

Premiere Elements is a very capable video editing suite that can handle even some more demanding projects. It's no Premiere Pro, though, and as such it doesn't offer some of the more advanced features you would get in the premium package. But you're not technically missing out on anything if you only need to cut and paste some video files together.

It's easy to spot the differences in performance by the required Windows 10 specifications alone. Premiere Elements 2019 can get by with an older dual-core processor and just 4GB of RAM. Premiere Pro requires at least 8GB of RAM (16GB is recommended for smoother performance) and a multi-core processor.

There's also the fact of file support, which can affect what you can import and export into Elements. Premiere Pro supports pretty much everything you could use with the software, so if you rely on more professional hardware for capturing footage, you may need to avoid Elements.

Comparing Adobe Premiere Elements 2019 against Premiere Pro, you'll be missing out on some major formats — depending on your equipment and established process — including 3GP, 3G2, AAC, AIFF, AIF, Apple ProRes, ASF, ASND, AVC-Intra, BWF, CRM, HEVC, M2T, M2TS, M2V, M4A, MV4, MXF, OMF, OpenEXR, R3D, Rush, VOB, and WAV.

When is Premiere Pro too much?

Adobe's more pricey video editing suite has everything you'll likely need from such a software package. Whether you're throwing together an amateur short film, some clips from a recent holiday, creating a future-length movie, or some version of all of these things, it's all possible with the tools available in Premiere Pro.

Advanced features included with Premiere Pro that may be a little too much for the average user include the ability to have simultaneous projects open and share them, VR editing, advanced effects and transitions, closed captions, libraries, direct publishing, lumetri color adjustments, and Microsoft Teams integration to name but a few.

Of course, you'll have to pay for a monthly or annual subscription. This is where Premiere Elements is a better option if you feel as though you won't use the Pro version enough to justify the price. For professionals, however, it's absolutely worth the upgrade price if you need the extra features, and pros who invest in the high-end suite won't likely regret the decision. Pros who try to get by with the cheaper version might regret that choice over time, though.