The best After Effects alternatives, free and paid

Is After Effects free, and does it have a free trial?

After Effects is not free. Adobe sells it only as part of a Creative Cloud membership. On 3 November 2026 the US product page showed the single app at US$22.99/mo on the Annual, billed monthly plan. The India plans page showed ₹733.96/mo incl. GST, also annual and billed monthly.

• After Effects for teams: US$37.99/mo per license, annual, billed monthly.
• Creative Cloud Pro (includes After Effects): US$34.99/mo for the first 3 months, then US$69.99/mo. New subscribers only.
• What the single-app plan includes: Adobe Express Premium, Frame.io for Creative Cloud with 100GB of cloud storage, and 25 monthly generative credits.

The free trial

The trial runs on Windows, macOS and iPadOS, but not on phones. Adobe says you are not charged until the trial ends. To cancel during the trial:

1. Within 7 days of starting, go to your Adobe account page.
2. Find your plan name and click Manage plans.
3. Click Cancel plan, give a reason, click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.

After the trial ends, you still have 14 days to cancel for a full refund. The trial text we read does not say whether you can start without a card. The FAQ below lists free tools that don't ask for one.

Students

The Adobe pages we checked show a student discount, not free access. Creative Cloud Pro, which includes After Effects, is offered to qualified students and teachers at a lower price. On the India plans page that was ₹199.00/mo incl. GST for the first year only, then ₹699.01/mo, in an offer ending Nov 13. A US student price was not on the pages we checked.

Why do editors look for an After Effects alternative?

Usually cost or fit. After Effects is a motion design and visual effects app. It animates text, graphics and illustrations, and composites effects for film, TV, video and the web. It renders through its Render Queue or through Adobe Media Encoder. Not every job needs all of that.

• No subscription. After Effects has no purchase outside Creative Cloud. Resolve's free version, Blender and Cavalry cost nothing. Motion is also sold as a one-time Mac App Store purchase.
• One timeline. If you already edit in Resolve, its Fusion page puts effects in the same project.
• Linux. Resolve, Blender and Natron all list Linux builds.
• Motion that runs inside software. Rive's own comparison points out that After Effects exports pre-rendered video, while Rive plays live in apps. Jitter and Cavalry both export Lottie.
• Lighter jobs. A short UI promo or social clip may not need a full compositor.

How do the After Effects alternatives compare?

We make mouzeclick and have left it out of this table. Prices and platforms are copied from each maker's page, checked on 3 November 2026. We picked desktop and browser tools that make motion graphics or composites, and left out phone-only apps. "Not published" means the page we read did not say.

Is DaVinci Resolve's Fusion page a free After Effects alternative?

Yes, and editors should try it first. Fusion is built into DaVinci Resolve, which is a free download for Mac, Windows and Linux. You edit on the cut and edit pages and build effects and motion graphics on the Fusion page, so there is no round trip to another app.

• Free version: virtually all 8-bit formats at up to 60fps, at up to Ultra HD 3840 x 2160. It includes multi-user collaboration and HDR grading.
• DaVinci Resolve Studio 21: $236, down from $295 (20% off), on 3 November 2026. The page does not say whether that is a one-time price or a subscription.
• What Studio adds: 10-bit video up to 120fps, resolutions beyond 4K, magic mask, film grain, more Resolve FX and the DaVinci Neural Engine.

Fusion works in a node view, and Fusion 21 added node view bookmarks. If you come from layer stacks, expect to relearn some habits.

Best for: editors who want motion graphics on their editing timeline at no cost. For more detail, see After Effects vs DaVinci Resolve and Resolve free vs Studio.

Do you need Fusion Studio, or is Resolve enough?

Most people don't need it. Fusion Studio 21 is sold separately from Resolve, and you activate it with a DaVinci Resolve licence. It has hundreds of 2D and 3D tools, 3D particles, 3D camera tracking, rotoscoping and keying. Fusion supports Lua and Python scripting.

Compared with Fusion in Resolve Studio 21, Fusion Studio adds:

• unlimited distributed network rendering and free render nodes
• a Studio Player
• a bin server for multi-user collaboration
• the Primatte 5 keyer
• images over 32K x 32K (Fusion in Resolve is limited to 16K x 16K)

Price: on 3 November 2026 the product page showed $236 and the compare page $295. Blackmagic does not explain the difference.

Platforms: not listed for Fusion Studio itself. Fusion Connect, which sends clips from Resolve or Avid Media Composer to Fusion, is offered for Mac OS X and Windows.

Best for: VFX artists who render across several machines or need Primatte.

Is Cavalry really free?

Yes, for individuals. Cavalry describes itself as professional, real-time animation software that you can use as much as you want, with no restrictions or payment. It runs natively on macOS and Windows, on Apple silicon and Intel. The condition is an account: Cavalry now comes from Canva, and you need a Canva account to use it.

• Listed features: Rig control, Rubber Hose, Connect shapes, Color Palettes, Magic Easing, Text Animation, Duplicator, Data Import, Lottie Export, Falloffs and Quad Tree. You can also connect a spreadsheet, and rendering is real time.
• Students and schools: free through Canva Education.
• Enterprise: through Canva, price not published.
• Old licences: Pro and Teams licences keep working until they expire, or you can swap them for the free version.

Best for: procedural 2D motion, data-driven graphics and Lottie export.

Is Apple Motion the best After Effects alternative for Mac?

For Final Cut Pro users, yes. Motion runs on the Mac only, not on iPad. It designs 2D, 3D and 360° titles, transitions and effects in real time. You can publish titles, transitions, generators and filters to Final Cut Pro, then jump back to Motion to change them.

• Price: included in Apple Creator Studio at $12.99 per month or $129 per year for new subscribers, after a 30-day free trial.
• Students and educators: $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year.
• One-time purchase: Motion is also sold on the Mac App Store. Apple's page does not give its one-time price.
• Requirements: macOS 15.6 or later, 8GB of memory (16GB recommended) and 5.2GB of disk space. Intel Macs also need a Metal-capable graphics card.
• Content: more than 1,900 royalty-free graphics, including 60 USDZ 3D models, and over 200 filters and effects.
• Animation tools: keyframe editing, behaviours such as Gravity, Throw and Vortex, and face and object tracking.

Best for: Mac editors who finish in Final Cut Pro. For other Mac apps, see our best video editing software for Mac.

Can Blender replace After Effects?

For 3D work, compositing and tracking, Blender covers a lot at no cost. Its pages don't list 2D motion-graphics tools, so test your usual title work before you switch.

Blender is free and open source under the GNU GPL. It is a 3D suite for modelling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking. It also has a Video Editor, which Blender describes as a set of basic but efficient tools. You may use it commercially, and anything you make with it is yours.

• Platforms: Windows, macOS and Linux.
• Windows minimum: Windows 8.1 (64-bit), 4 cores with SSE4.2, 8 GB RAM and 2 GB VRAM.
• Mac: Blender 5.0 and later need Apple Silicon on macOS 13 or later. Blender 4.5 LTS is the last release for Intel Macs.

Best for: 3D motion, product shots, and anyone who needs a free tool on Linux.

Is Jitter good enough for UI and social motion?

Often it is. Jitter needs no download or install. It animates text by line, word or letter with one-click presets. A Figma plugin imports your designs, and Jitter has a free library of 400+ templates and 1,500+ free fonts.

• Free plan: unlimited drafts, 3 workspace files, and video, GIF and Lottie export. Exports are capped at 720p 30fps and carry a watermark.
• Pro: 1080p 60fps, ProRes and WebM.
• Max: transparent export and 4K 120fps.
• Prices: not published. The pricing page shows them as "--", though it says annual billing saves 15%.
• Students and educators: Pro is free.

Jitter's own comparison page sends you back to After Effects for complex compositing, tracking, rotoscoping, 3D or an established After Effects pipeline.

Best for: product designers and social teams who start from Figma.

When is Rive the better choice than After Effects?

Pick Rive when the animation has to run inside software instead of playing as a video. After Effects bakes its output into video files or image sequences. Rive files (.riv) play natively in apps, websites and games. Its open-source runtimes draw every frame in real time, so the motion can change at any moment without a new render.

• Prices on 3 November 2026:
  • Free: $0 per seat per month. Exports play a Rive splash screen, and you get 3 collaborative files.
  • Cadet: $9 per seat per month, 3 seats maximum, no splash screen.
  • Voyager: $32 per seat per month, 25 seats maximum.
  The page does not say which billing period these prices are for.
• Runtimes: web, iOS, macOS, Android, Flutter, React, React Native, Unity, Unreal, Defold and C++. They are MIT licensed with no royalties.
• Video export: MP4, GIF, PNG sequence and WebM are also listed.
• Editor platforms: not published.

Best for: app, web and game teams that build interactive, state-driven graphics.

Is Nuke an After Effects alternative?

Only at the high end. Nuke is Foundry's compositor, and the current version is 17.1. Its free 30-day trial gives unrestricted access to Nuke, NukeX, Nuke Studio and Hiero.

Foundry's Trial & Buy page lists two prices, both subject to applicable taxes:

• a "feature-packed compositing toolset that delivers film-grade results" at $3,839/yr
• "Nuke plus an additional toolkit for more complex compositing tasks" at $5,219/yr

The page text does not put product names next to those prices, so check the listing before you budget. The Nuke menu also lists a Non-commercial edition, with no details. Platforms are not published on the pages we read.

Best for: compositors who need film-grade results.

Is Cinema 4D a replacement or a partner for After Effects?

Mostly a partner. Cinema 4D is a 3D app for Windows (including Windows on Arm) and macOS. It integrates natively with After Effects through Cineware, so you can model and render in Cinema 4D and finish in After Effects.

• Every subscription includes: Redshift GPU rendering, 5 Team Render nodes and Cineversity training.
• Trial: 14 days through the Maxon App, with the full Maxon One suite.
• Price: not published. Maxon's buy page loads its prices on the fly, so the amount is not in the page text. The page says annual billing saves 30% or more.

Best for: 3D motion designers who still composite in After Effects.

What about Linearity Move and Natron?

Both are niche picks, for different reasons.

Linearity Move runs on Mac and iPad only, because Linearity's native apps are Apple only.

• It needs macOS Big Sur or iPadOS 14 and later.
• It is free to download. The free plan has usage limits and needs no credit card.
• Studio starts from $30 per month, or $25 per month billed annually.

It suits designers who already work in Linearity Curve.

Natron is open-source, node-based compositing.

• It runs on Windows 8.1 or later, Linux, and macOS on Intel.
• Apple Silicon Macs run the stable release through Rosetta 2. There is also an alpha build that runs natively.
• The latest version listed is 2.5.0, released on 25 November 2022.

The site does not say whether development continues. Keep that in mind before you build a workflow on it.

What is the best motion graphics software for each kind of job?

The best motion graphics software depends on where the finished motion goes. Match the tool to the output:

• Video with heavy compositing, tracking and roto: After Effects. Even Jitter's own page sends this work there. Resolve's Fusion page is the free option.
• Procedural or data-driven 2D: Cavalry.
• Titles and effects for Final Cut Pro: Apple Motion.
• 3D: Blender for free, or Cinema 4D if you hand off to After Effects.
• UI promos and social clips from Figma: Jitter.
• Animation that runs live in an app or game: Rive.
• Film compositing: Nuke.

New to the field? Start with our After Effects motion graphics guide for beginners. For free editors that also handle motion, see the best free video editing software.

Where is After Effects still the better pick?

After Effects is still the better pick when a project needs everything in one layer-based app, or when other people send you After Effects files.

• Complex shots. You need compositing, tracking, rotoscoping and 3D in one place. Jitter's own comparison says to choose After Effects for this.
• Existing projects. Clients or a studio hand you After Effects projects. Jitter's page also names an established After Effects pipeline as a reason to stay.
• Cinema 4D. You model in Cinema 4D, and Cineware links it to After Effects.
• Adobe apps. You already pay for Creative Cloud Pro, which includes After Effects along with Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere. See our After Effects vs Premiere Pro guide for which job goes where.
• Rendering. You preview and render with Multi-Frame Rendering, or hand renders to Adobe Media Encoder.
• Extensions. You rely on third-party scripts and extensions. Our best After Effects extensions roundup covers 11 workflow tools.

Where mouzeclick fits (we make it)

mouzeclick does not replace After Effects or any other app on this page. It is a mouse app plus tools inside Premiere Pro and After Effects. If you switch editors, the mouse app comes with you.

• Mouse app (Windows and Mac): shortcuts, macros, gestures, the Options wheel and the Orbit switch on any mouse, set per app, in any app. There is no driver.
• Tool wheel: the third wheel works only in Premiere Pro and After Effects.
• Ready-made wheels: for Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop and CapCut.
• Shortcut library: 309 built-in shortcuts on Windows, for Premiere, CapCut, Resolve, After Effects and Photoshop. You can also record any shortcut yourself as a hotkey or macro, on Windows or Mac.
• Resolve and Final Cut: there is no DaVinci Resolve panel and no Final Cut panel. The mouse app works there as in any other app.

If you stay in After Effects, here is what you get:

• The After Effects Tool wheel: 114 tools in 13 groups, on Windows and Mac.
• 15 After Effects extensions, on Windows and Mac.
• The After Effects workspace: 800+ tools, presets and templates, on Windows only. The Mac app does not include the workspaces.

The price is $25 a month, $249 a year, or $499 once for one of the first 100 lifetime keys. There is a 3-day trial with no card. See pricing, and the four Mac install steps if you're on macOS.

How do I choose an After Effects alternative?

Start from where the output goes. Then check your platform and budget, and test two tools on the same shot.

1. Name the output. Is it a video file, a Final Cut Pro timeline, a website or app, or a 3D render? That narrows the list to two or three tools.
2. Check your system. On Linux, the tools here that list Linux builds are Resolve, Blender and Natron. Windows users can't run Motion or Move. On Apple Silicon, Natron's stable release needs Rosetta 2.
3. Decide how you want to pay.
   • Free to download and use: Resolve (free version), Cavalry, Blender.
   • Free with export limits: Jitter, Rive.
   • Subscription: After Effects, Creator Studio, Cinema 4D, Linearity, Nuke. Motion is also sold as a one-time purchase.
   • Price shown, purchase type not stated: Resolve Studio and Fusion Studio.
4. Build the same 10-second shot in two tools. Use the trials: Motion and Nuke give 30 days, Cinema 4D gives 14.
5. Move your shortcuts. Resolve's edit page has fully customisable keyboard shortcuts. Start from our DaVinci Resolve shortcuts list and the tips on editing faster in Resolve.

Questions people ask

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03. Prices and features change: each link goes to the maker's own page.

1. Adobe After Effects product page and prices (US)
2. Adobe After Effects free trial FAQ
3. Adobe Creative Cloud plans (India prices, student offer)
4. Adobe: What's new in After Effects (Multi-Frame Rendering)
5. Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve
6. Blackmagic Design: Fusion
7. Blackmagic Design: Fusion compare
8. Cavalry
9. Apple Final Cut Pro and Motion
10. Blender
11. Blender FAQ
12. Blender features
13. Blender requirements
14. Jitter
15. Jitter pricing
16. Jitter product
17. Jitter vs After Effects
18. Rive pricing
19. Rive vs After Effects
20. Foundry Trial and Buy
21. Foundry Nuke free trial
22. Foundry Nuke family
23. Maxon Cinema 4D
24. Maxon buy page
25. Linearity download
26. Linearity Move
27. Linearity pricing
28. Natron
29. Natron system requirements

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