A free PluralEyes alternative for Mac

What happened to PluralEyes

Maxon, which owns Red Giant, moved PluralEyes into limited maintenance mode on 31 January 2023. New features stopped, support for the last version ended in February 2024, and perpetual licences had already gone in November 2021. Maxon's reasoning was that Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Media Composer now sync by waveform themselves. Existing users can keep running it, but it isn't supported with newer editor versions.

When your editor's built-in sync is enough

For one or two cameras and a recorder, with clips that overlap cleanly, try your editor first: Premiere Pro's Synchronize by audio and audio-based multi-camera sequences, DaVinci Resolve's Auto Sync Audio by waveform, or Final Cut Pro's Synchronize Clips.

A dedicated sync tool earns its place when the built-in tools struggle:

• Whole cards of stop-and-start clips from several cameras, in one go.
• Long recordings where a field recorder's clock drifts away from the cameras.
• Clips that are quiet or silent, but come from a camera whose other clips matched.
• Markers you've already made, which should stay on the right moment.
• A record of what moved and by how much, so you can trust the result.

PluralEyes and ActionCheese Sync side by side

PluralEyes details from Maxon's maintenance-mode announcement and support pages, as of October 2026.

How ActionCheese Sync works

1. Add your material: one folder per camera or recorder, straight off the cards, or a Premiere timeline exported as Final Cut Pro XML, or both.
2. Press Sync. It listens to every clip, matches them in pairs, then solves the whole shoot at once, so one bad match can't drag a clip out of place.
3. Check the Timeline tab: footage as imported and as synced. Anything it couldn't match is on its own track in red, never dropped.
4. Import the XML into Premiere Pro (File › Import) or DaVinci Resolve (File › Import › Timeline).

Step by step with screenshots: how to sync cameras and a recorder by sound.

What ActionCheese Sync doesn't do (yet)

• Mac with Apple silicon only. No Windows and no Intel Macs.
• Final Cut Pro 7 XML in and out. That covers Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. It doesn't read or write Final Cut Pro (FCPXML) or Avid AAF.
• Every camera needs sound. Even a scratch mic. A silent camera can still be placed by its clock once one of its clips has matched.

Questions

Is PluralEyes discontinued?

Effectively, yes. Maxon put PluralEyes into limited maintenance mode on 31 January 2023: no new features, and bug-fix support ended in February 2024. Perpetual licences stopped being sold in November 2021, and installers for older versions are only available by asking Maxon support.

What is a free alternative to PluralEyes on Mac?

ActionCheese Sync is free and open source. Like PluralEyes it lines up cameras and audio recorders by their sound, without timecode, corrects recorder drift and gives you a synced timeline for Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve.

Can't Premiere Pro or Resolve sync by audio on their own?

Yes, and for a couple of cameras and one recorder that is often enough. A dedicated tool helps when you have whole cards of stop-and-start clips, long recordings that drift, clips with little sound, or markers you want to keep.

Does it work with Final Cut Pro?

Not directly: ActionCheese Sync reads and writes Final Cut Pro 7 XML, which Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve use. Final Cut Pro's own Synchronize Clips and audio-based multicam are the simplest option there.

Is it really free?

Yes. It's released under the GPL-3.0 licence with its source on GitHub. There are no clip or track limits and no account.