After Effects vs Lottielab
After Effects and Lottielab 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 Lottielab at a glance
| After Effects | Lottielab | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | From US$22.99 a month on an annual plan, 7-day free trial | Free plan, then Pro at US$12 per editor a month billed yearly, or US$18 monthly | Free, no paid plan |
| Account | Adobe account required | Required | Not needed |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of After Effects and Lottielab before you decide.
After Effects
- Install
- Desktop app
- How you animate
- Keyframes, graph editor, effects and expressions across compositions
- 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.videoLottielab
- HD and 4K video
- Pro plan
- Lottie export
- Pro plan
- Imports
- Lottie, SVG, and Figma through a plugin
- Interactive state machines
- Yes
- Team library and comments
- Yes
When Lottielab fits better
The animation ships inside an app or a website as a small vector file, starts from Figma frames, reacts to people, or is shared across a product team. smooth.video does none of that.
Lottielab 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.
The animation ends up as a video: a social post, a product teaser, a clip for a presentation or a README, maybe with photos, footage or music, and you want it in full HD or 4K without a plan.
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.
- Can I import Figma designs?
- Not directly. Export the pieces you want to move as PNG and drop them in, or bring a layered PSD to get each layer as its own element.
- Can smooth.video export Lottie?
- No. It exports MP4, WebM, GIF, PNG, JPG and WebP.
- Is HD export free?
- Yes. Every resolution is free, 4K included.