Managing Clipchamp

Written by John Gruber Published Jul 9, 2026 Updated Jul 9, 2026

Clipchamp is Microsoft's low-cost video editing solution. When I started my YouTube channel, I started with Clipchamp. I quickly outgrew it, though. Clipchamp falls short when measured against alternative open-source platforms, which consistently deliver a more comprehensive set of free editing features.

Personally, I don't recommend using Clipchamp.

What licenses do I need to use Clipchamp?

There are three versions of Clipchamp currently offered by Microsoft: Free, Standard, and Premium.

Clipchamp Free is the free version that anyone can sign up for.

Clipchamp Standard comes with one of the following Microsoft 365 business licenses:

Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5
Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5
Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Office 365 Business Standard,
Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Office 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 A3, Microsoft 365 A5

Clipchamp Premium is Clipchamp Standard + additional stock videos you can use.

What Features are included in it?

Microsoft Clipchamp enables editing and creation of videos. You can save the files on your local computer, OneDrive, or SharePoint. It includes some basic features like trim, join, transitions, filters, text overlay, audio controls, and screen/camera recording. You can see a full feature comparison of the Standard vs Premium on Microsoft's site.

How To Check If Users Are Using Clipchamp?

In short, you can't. I've checked the Microsoft 365 reports. I've checked the sign-in logs and the audit logs. The only evidence I can find that a user is using, or at least has used ClipChamp, is by checking their OneDrive folder for "Videos\Clipchamp"

The best way to verify if a user is using Clipchamp is to check if they have a Clipchamp Editor Premium license. If the user has a Premium license, they may want to keep their Clipchamp access.

Without having a Clipchamp Premium license, you'll either need to talk to the user and ask them, or simply shut off their access to Clipchamp and wait for a complaint.

Are There Any Compliance Or Regulatory Reasons I May Need Clipchamp?

None. As a matter of fact, you can't really even manage Clipchamp as a Microsoft 365 global admin. There are no configurations to deploy, no special admin centers or anything.

Clipchamp’s primary integration with Microsoft 365 is its storage model: by default, it automatically saves all video editing projects directly to the user's OneDrive.

Clipchamp Vs Alternatives

There are a ton of feature-packed video editing solutions available, 100% free.

DaVinci Resolve Free is my preferred editor. Although it is significantly more powerful than Clipchamp, that advanced functionality introduces a learning curve, though mastering basic elements like transitions requires very little time.

Shotcut and Openshot are also open-source, 100% free alternatives.

The best thing about all three of these solutions is that they don't have a cloud backup service bundled with their free versions. So you don't have to worry about your corporate data being stored in some other unsupported cloud.

By telling your users to save their project files in OneDrive, you have the same compliance, backup, and security as you do with Clipchamp.