Canva vs After Effects
Canva and After Effects 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.
Canva vs After Effects at a glance
| Canva | After Effects | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan, with many templates and features in Canva Pro | From US$22.99 a month on an annual plan, 7-day free trial | Free, no paid plan |
| Account | Required | Adobe account required | Not needed |
| Transparent video | Not available | Yes | Free, as WebM |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of Canva and After Effects before you decide.
Canva
- Built for
- Every kind of design: social posts, slides, print, documents, video
- Motion
- Animation presets and timing per element
- Where your files live
- In your Canva account
- Library
- A huge library of templates, photos and graphics
When Canva fits better
You need a flyer, a presentation and a social post that all match, drawn from a huge library of templates, photos and brand assets, with animation as a finishing touch.
Canva vs smooth.videoAfter Effects
- Install
- Desktop app
- How you animate
- Keyframes, graph editor, effects and expressions across compositions
- 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.videoWhen smooth.video fits better
The animation is the deliverable: a YouTube intro, a lower third, an animated stat, a Reel. You want exact control over timing, a transparent export to put over video, and no account.
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.
Open the editorStart from a template
See all 172 templatesQuestions
- Can I bring my Canva designs in?
- Yes, as images: download your design or its parts from Canva, add them to a smooth.video scene and animate them there.
- Does smooth.video have templates?
- Yes, a gallery of ready-made animations, from YouTube intros to sale banners. Each one opens in the editor with every element editable.
- Is there a watermark?
- No. Every export is free and clean, transparent WebM included.
- 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.