All rights reserved © 2025
All rights reserved © 2025
When we talk about products for working with graphics and design, the first thing that comes to mind is Adobe products, and when we talk about software for motion graphics and visual effects, of course we think of Adobe After Effects. But there is a spoonful of tar in every barrel, in the first place it costs dengue, in the second it is difficult to learn is not suitable for beginners, thus forcing many creators to look for an alternative to After Effects. So how much does Adobe After Effects cost, as much as any other Adobe product – a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud costs $22.99 a month for After Effects alone or $59.99 a month for the whole package. That cost may deter some, especially freelancers and small studios that need professional video editing software.
So to save your wallets and time, I’ve put together a list of several Adobe After Effects alternatives, including both premium and free After Effects alternatives. Tremble a motion graphic designer, VFX artist or 2D animation creator, I will save you from spending and searching, get comfortable, let’s go!
Once an advanced color correction tool, DaVinci Resolve has evolved into a comprehensive post-production package. While primarily known as a video editing tool, its Fusion page offers powerful compositing and stunning visual effects capabilities similar to After Effects. It even includes audio editing features, making it a complete post-production solution.
Key Features:
DaVinci Resolve is a great alternative to After Effects, it combines multiple post-production tools in one application and has a free version with incredible features, with the Studio version costing $295 for a one-time purchase – which is definitely less than a year’s subscription to After Effects.
If, however, you’re looking for open source compositing software that mimics the node-based workflow of professional tools like Nuke, then you should consider Natron. It’s a free alternative to After Effects that doesn’t compromise on features, making it a valuable VFX tool for independent artists.
Key Features:
As a completely free alternative to After Effects, Natron is especially valuable for independent artists and students learning the basics of compositing. Its interface may seem complicated to beginners, but it follows standard compositing logic.
For many users, Blender is known primarily as a 3D modeling and animation application, but it also includes a powerful video sequence editor and compositor that can replace many After Effects features.
Key Features:
Some would say that Blender is not about “that” at all, and others that it is the most convenient free alternative to after effects for those, if of course you are willing to master its unique interface. Open source code and an active developer community ensures that Blender always gets fresh updates and improvements.
Blackmagic Design offers Blackmagic Fusion as a standalone application (Fusion Studio 20) or integrated into DaVinci Resolve. The standalone version provides a focused compositing environment for creating professional visual effects.
Key Features:
As a free after effects alternative, Fusion delivers professional-grade compositing capabilities. The learning curve is steeper than some alternatives, but the skills transfer well to high-end production environments.
Speaking about After Effect alternatives that were released not so long ago, we can pay attention to such software as Cavalry – a motion design application that is just beginning to gain popularity in the field of motion graphics.
Key Features:
Cavalry offers a free version with a good range of features, as well as a £16 a month subscription for the full feature set, making it an affordable alternative to after effects for motion designers looking for something fresh.
When selecting an alternative to After Effects, consider these factors:
I want to reiterate why I wrote all of this. If you don’t want to pay for a subscription to After Effects, or if you don’t need all the features it offers, or if you just want to learn something new, you can look at the software described above to try an alternative to Adobe After Effects. From professional tools like DaVinci Resolve to completely free After Effects alternatives like Blender and Natron, all have their own unique or common functionality, as well as flexible pricing to help you decide on your final choice.
The market is full of a vast array of graphics tools, which means you can mix and match them, rather than being tied to the Adobe ecosystem alone. By choosing the strengths of different software, you can create a post-production toolkit that perfectly suits your creative needs, and perhaps even save money.
Remember, the best software is the one that helps you work most efficiently. Where can I find such software? That’s right, on our website in the software section. And so that you do not have any questions about how to use it and how this or that function works, we have a separate section of guides, there are collected the most complete guides to work with a variety of software.
