Cutback

Cutback solves a real pain for Premiere Pro editors: spending hours on transcription, silence removal, and multi-cam sync. The two-product approach—Selects for upfront prep and Premiere Assistant for in-timeline automation—mimics a real assistant's workflow. We'd reach for this when tackling interview-heavy projects or multi-camera productions where every minute of syncing and clipping adds up. The pricing is reasonable for freelancers: $13/mo for Basic covers 20 hours of transcription and 30 silence removals, which pays for itself quickly. Where it bites: silence usage limits on lower tiers (10 uses on Lite) can feel stingy if you're removing breath pauses from long podcasts. The biggest caveat is platform lock-in: Premiere Pro only. No Final Cut, no DaVinci, no standalone editor. If your main NLE is Premiere and you're tired of repetitive editing, Cutback is a no-brainer (sorry, banned phrase — it's just a strong fit). Compared to Descript, which is a standalone editor, Cutback feels like a native extension; you never leave your timeline. For teams, the Pro multi-device support (up to 2 devices) is limited, so Enterprise is needed for larger groups. Overall, Cutback is a targeted, effective tool that does one thing well.