Cavalry vs Brush Ninja
Cavalry and Brush Ninja 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.
- Free
- No signup
- No watermark
Cavalry vs Brush Ninja at a glance
| Cavalry | Brush Ninja | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free for individuals | Free with ads, membership at US$7 a month or US$48 a year | Free |
| Account | Canva account required | Only for membership | Not needed |
| How you animate | Keyframes plus procedural tools: duplicators, falloffs, behaviors | Frame-by-frame drawing, with onion skin | Presets and keyframes on one timeline |
- Price
- CavalryFree for individuals
- Brush NinjaFree with ads, membership at US$7 a month or US$48 a year
- smooth.videoFree
- Account
- CavalryCanva account required
- Brush NinjaOnly for membership
- smooth.videoNot needed
- How you animate
- CavalryKeyframes plus procedural tools: duplicators, falloffs, behaviors
- Brush NinjaFrame-by-frame drawing, with onion skin
- smooth.videoPresets and keyframes on one timeline
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of Cavalry and Brush Ninja before you decide.
Cavalry
- Install
- Desktop app for Mac and Windows
- Transparent video
- WebM, ProRes 4444, plus APNG, GIF and WebP
- Animation driven by spreadsheets
- Yes
- Rigging, dynamics, scripting
- Yes
- Lottie and SVG export
- Yes
When Cavalry fits better
You build complex motion design: hundreds of shapes driven by one rig, charts animated from a spreadsheet, dynamics, scripts, or Lottie and ProRes deliverables. smooth.video has none of that.
Cavalry vs smooth.videoBrush Ninja
- Layers
- None
- Video with sound
- WebM, for members
- Formats
- GIF, image sequence, and WebM for members
- Lesson plans for teachers
- Yes
When Brush Ninja fits better
You want to draw every frame, like a flipbook, in a tool made for children and classrooms, with stickers, sound effects and lesson plans ready to go.
Brush Ninja vs smooth.videoWhen smooth.video fits better
You need an animated title, a logo reveal or a social post today, on any computer, including one where you can't install software, and you don't need procedural systems to get there.
The animation is made of things that move: a title, a photo, a logo, a sticker, a chart. You want sound in the video, more than one layer, and no ads, without a membership.
Open the editor- Free, full stop
- No plan, no trial, no credits, no export limit.
- No account
- Open the page and the editor is already there.
- Nothing is uploaded
- Your files are read and rendered by your own browser.
- No watermark
- Every export is clean, at any size, 4K included.
Start from a template
See all 203 templatesOpen one, change the words, export. Every element stays editable.
Questions
Can I animate a chart from a spreadsheet?
No. In smooth.video a chart is built from shapes, and its numbers are texts you type, which can count up as they appear. That suits a handful of figures; for charts built from real data, Cavalry is the better fit.
Can I open Cavalry projects?
No. smooth.video opens its own .smooth files and imports images, video, audio and layered PSD files.
Do I need to install anything?
No. The editor and every export run in your browser.
Can I draw in smooth.video?
Yes, with a simple brush: the drawing becomes an image you can move, scale, rotate and fade on the timeline. It isn't made for drawing each frame.
Can I add sound?
Yes. Add an audio file and it's included in the MP4 or WebM. A GIF can't carry sound.
Are there ads?
No, and there's nothing to join.
Or skip the decision.
smooth.video is free, opens in a tab and exports without a watermark. Try it while you compare.
Open the editor- Free
- No signup
- No watermark