Boris FX unveiled Sapphire 2027 on November 12, 2026, the new version of its effects plug-ins for After Effects, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer and other programs. New are the Halation and MultiTone effects, a Bubbles mode for TextureCells and ten lens flares. According to Boris FX, selected effects render up to 77 percent faster.
The 77 percent come from a Boris FX benchmark dated November 11, 2026 and measure a shorter render time. If the render time drops by 76.6 percent, rendering runs a good four times as fast. Premiere Pro on an M2 Mac Studio reaches the peak value, while in After Effects the gains remain at 6.7 to 10.2 percent.
What's new in Sapphire 2027?
Halation recreates the warm red-orange fringe that film casts around very bright areas. You adjust strength, width and threshold and can use Mocha masking. MultiTone extends QuadTone: You assign separate colors to shadows, midtones and highlights and switch each color on or off individually.
The Boris FX product page also lists three additional color controls for 13 existing effects and new parameters for the edges of S_WarpPolar. In the Effect Builder, you switch parameters on or off across all nodes at the same time.
How much faster does Sapphire 2027 really render?
Boris FX rendered the same shots on the same machine with Sapphire 2026.5 and with Sapphire 2027, 341 render runs with 48 or 49 selected effects per setup. The total duration was measured, including the time for loading and saving the frames, according to the methodology of the benchmark.
Less render time with Sapphire 2027
Measurement by Boris FX: how much shorter rendering takes compared with Sapphire 2026.5
- Premiere Pro, M2 Mac Studio76,6 %
- Premiere Pro, Windows, A500054,7 %
- Resolve, Windows, A500018,9 %
- Resolve, M2 Ultra Mac Studio13,3 %
- After Effects, Windows, A500010,2 %
- After Effects, MacBook Pro M4 Pro6,7 %
Premiere Pro ran without GPU Suite with 2026.5 and with GPU Suite with 2027. Resolve with two graphics cards (29.0 percent) is covered in the text.
Source: Boris FX
In Premiere Pro, the render time on Windows with an NVIDIA A5000 dropped from 1 hour 48 minutes to 49 minutes (54.7 percent), and on the M2 Mac Studio from 1 hour 55 minutes to 27 minutes (76.6 percent). In DaVinci Resolve, the gains were 18.9 percent with the A5000, 29.0 percent with the A5000 and A6000 together and 13.3 percent on an M2 Ultra Mac Studio. After Effects reached 10.2 percent on Windows and 6.7 percent on a MacBook Pro with M4 Pro.
One caveat is stated in the benchmark itself: In Premiere Pro, Sapphire 2027 supports Adobe's GPU Suite. Boris FX tested Sapphire 2026.5 with the GPU Suite switched off and Sapphire 2027 with the GPU Suite switched on. The Premiere values therefore show the new version and the GPU Suite together.
What does Sapphire 2027 cost, and who gets the update for free?
The update is free for users with an active Sapphire subscription or Upgrade-and-Support plan and is included in the Boris FX Suite subscriptions. The Upgrade-and-Support plan is Boris FX's maintenance contract with updates and support. According to the product page, every perpetual license includes twelve months of updates and support.
If you are buying new, you can choose between a monthly subscription, an annual subscription and a perpetual license, each for Adobe programs and OFX programs such as DaVinci Resolve, for Avid, or as a multi-host license for all programs. Boris FX lists the prices on the product page only in dollars; there is no euro price there. Check the final price in the store before you commit.
What this means for you
First check whether your subscription or your Upgrade-and-Support plan is still running; then you get Sapphire 2027 at no extra charge. It is best to install the update on a project copy first, not shortly before a delivery deadline.
If you work with many Sapphire effects in Premiere Pro, it is worth doing your own timing comparison: Measure the render time of a typical project before and after the update. Your gain may turn out smaller or larger than at Boris FX, where 48 selected effects ran on an A5000 and an M2 Mac Studio.
In After Effects and Resolve, it is mainly the new effects that speak in favor of the update, because the time savings there are 6.7 to 29.0 percent.
Boris FX introduced Sapphire 2027 on November 12, 2026.
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