I tried a number of "Free", low cost, and subscription video editors over the last 10-15 years, but about 5 years ago I decided that I needed to pick a system that I'd never outgrow.
My research led me to DaVinci Resolve, so I gave the free version a try and have never looked back. After about a year, I bought their "Speed Editor" for $300 and that included a full copy of the paid Studio version at no charge...or did I buy the Studio version and get a free Speed Editor?
No subscription and while they might make a major upgrade at some point and charge a fee, I've seen 3 major upgrades, and multiple minor ones, and no upgrade cost. They make their money off their hardware sales and my gut feeling is that I don't expect to see an upgrade fee anytime soon.
Much is said about the hardware requirements for Resolve and they can be steep if you're going to be shooting 8K, RAW or Log and need to do NR and stabilization in post or move into more sophisticated VFX. Most recent vintage Mac's can run Resolve and edit 4K just fine and the same for most modern Windows machines that many use for image editing, most will work fine, PROVIDED you have a mid-range or better GPU from nVidia or AMD with 8GB or more of VRAM. 32GB of system memory is advised, though basics will work fine with 16GB. With the advent of AI features in the most popular photo editing apps, the requirements photo and video are coming closer to each other.
My point is this...if you have even the slightest intention to delve deeper into video and want to deliver in UHD or above, including HDR modes, learn something you won't outgrow. There are a LOT of training aids, videos, etc. out there to get you over the humps, especially if you're a Sony or Canon shooter. I shoot Nikon, GoPro and DJI, so with Nikon being newer to the serious video market, it was a little harder to find solid info about color grading with N-Raw and nLog, but it's easier now and essentially almost automatic if you let Resolve Color Management do the heavy lifting.
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