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.

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After Effects vs Lottielab at a glance

After EffectsLottielabsmooth.video
PriceFrom US$22.99 a month on an annual plan, 7-day free trialFree plan, then Pro at US$12 per editor a month billed yearly, or US$18 monthlyFree, no paid plan
AccountAdobe account requiredRequiredNot 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.video

Lottielab

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.video

When 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.

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Questions

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.