After Effects vs FlipaClip
After Effects and FlipaClip side by side, as of September 2026: what each one costs, what it's made for, and when smooth.video, a free animation tool that runs in your browser with no account, does the job instead.
After Effects vs FlipaClip at a glance
| After Effects | FlipaClip | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | From US$22.99 a month on an annual plan, 7-day free trial | Free with ads, FlipaClip Plus to remove them | Free, no paid plan |
| Account | Adobe account required | Not needed | Not needed |
| How you animate | Keyframes, graph editor, effects and expressions across compositions | Frame by frame: draw every frame, with onion skin | Presets and keyframes on one timeline |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of After Effects and FlipaClip before you decide.
After Effects
- Install
- Desktop app
- Transparent video
- Yes
- 3D, visual effects, tracking
- Yes
- Plugins and scripting
- Yes
When After Effects fits better
You need 3D, particles, motion tracking, rotoscoping, compositing over footage, expressions or plugins, or you hand project files to a studio that works in After Effects. smooth.video does none of that.
After Effects vs smooth.videoFlipaClip
- Watermark
- On the free version
- Platform
- iPhone, iPad, Android, Chromebook and Apple silicon Macs
- Drawing
- Brushes, layers and stylus support
- Export size
- Up to 1920×1920 with Plus
- Transparent export
- GIF and PNG sequence
When FlipaClip fits better
You want to draw: a character that walks, a flipbook, a rotoscoped clip, frame after frame with a stylus and onion skin. smooth.video has no frame-by-frame drawing.
FlipaClip vs smooth.videoWhen smooth.video fits better
You need a title, a lower third, a logo sting or an animated stat for this week's video, you don't open After Effects every day, and a monthly subscription for a few seconds of animation doesn't add up.
You're on a computer, and your animation is things that move rather than drawings that change: a title, a logo, a sticker, a photo, a character cut into pieces that slide and turn.
Open the editorStart from a template
See all 172 templatesQuestions
- Can I open After Effects or Premiere Pro projects?
- No. smooth.video opens its own .smooth projects, and imports images, video, audio and layered PSD files.
- Can I use the exports in Premiere Pro or After Effects?
- Yes, as regular video files. MP4 imports everywhere; for transparency, export a WebM and check that your version reads it.
- Is it really free?
- Yes. It runs in your browser with no server doing the work, so there's no subscription and no watermark.
- Is there a FlipaClip for PC?
- FlipaClip is made for phones, tablets, Chromebooks and Apple silicon Macs, with no official web or Windows version. smooth.video runs in a recent browser, on Windows too.
- Can I draw in smooth.video?
- Yes, with a simple brush: the drawing becomes an image you can move, scale, rotate and fade. You can't draw a different picture on every frame.
- Is there a watermark?
- No, and there are no ads.