EZGIF vs Kapwing
EZGIF and Kapwing 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.
EZGIF vs Kapwing at a glance
| EZGIF | Kapwing | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, with ads | Free plan, then Pro from US$16 a month billed yearly | Free |
| Account | Not needed | Required to save a project | Not needed |
| Watermark | Never | On free plan exports | Never |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of EZGIF and Kapwing before you decide.
EZGIF
- Makes a GIF from
- An uploaded video or a set of images
- Moving text
- Text shown on a range of frames, without motion
- Where your files go
- Uploaded to its servers, kept up to an hour after last use
- Compression and optimization
- Yes: lossy, fewer colours, fewer frames, target file size
- Format conversion
- GIF, WebP, APNG, AVIF, MP4, WebM and more
When EZGIF fits better
You already have the GIF or the clip and need to do something to it: cut it, change its speed, reverse it, shrink it under a size limit, or convert it to WebP, APNG or AVIF. smooth.video does none of that.
EZGIF vs smooth.videoKapwing
- Export resolution
- 720p on the free plan, 1080p and 4K on Pro
- Projects
- Deleted after 3 days on the free plan
- Where your files live
- In Kapwing's cloud
- AI subtitles, translation, dubbing
- Yes
- Real-time collaboration
- Yes
When Kapwing fits better
You edit talking videos and need subtitles, translations or dubbing in many languages, or several people edit and comment in the same project. smooth.video has no subtitle generator and no shared workspace.
Kapwing vs smooth.videoWhen smooth.video fits better
The GIF doesn't exist yet: an animated headline for an email, a badge for a website, a demo for a README. You want to build it from text and images, make things move, and keep your files on your computer.
You're making the animated pieces of a video, like titles, lower thirds, logo stings or animated stats, want them at full quality without a watermark, and don't need a team workspace.
Open the editorStart from a template
See all 172 templatesQuestions
- Can I compress a GIF in smooth.video?
- No. A short GIF with a modest size and few colours stays light; to shrink it further, run the exported file through a GIF optimizer such as EZGIF's.
- Can I turn a video into a GIF?
- Yes. Add the video to the scene, put text or stickers on top if you like, and export the whole thing as a GIF.
- Are my files uploaded?
- No. Everything, the GIF export included, runs in your browser, so your images and videos never leave your computer.
- Does smooth.video generate subtitles?
- No. You can type captions as text elements and time them on the timeline, but nothing is transcribed automatically.
- How long are my projects kept?
- They stay in your browser until you clear its data. Save any of them as a .smooth file to keep a copy or open it on another computer.
- Is there a watermark?
- No, never.