EZGIF vs Rive
EZGIF and Rive 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 Rive at a glance
| EZGIF | Rive | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, with ads | Free plan, then Cadet at US$9 per seat a month billed yearly | Free |
| Account | Not needed | Required | Not needed |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of EZGIF and Rive before you decide.
EZGIF
- Watermark
- Never
- 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.videoRive
- Exports on the free plan
- None
- Output
- .riv files for runtimes, plus video and images
- Interactivity and state machines
- Yes
- Runtimes for apps, websites and games
- Yes
- Rigging, meshes, real-time collaboration
- Yes
When Rive fits better
The animation lives in a product and reacts to people: a button that responds to hover, a character that follows the cursor, a loading state driven by your app's data. That takes a runtime, and smooth.video doesn't have one.
Rive 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.
The animation ends up in a video, a post, an email or a slide, and plays the same way every time: a logo reveal, a product teaser, an animated stat, a GIF.
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.
- Can smooth.video export Lottie or .riv files?
- No. It exports video (MP4 and WebM), GIF and images.
- Can I put a smooth.video animation on a website?
- Yes, as a video or a GIF. It plays the same way for everyone, without reacting to the cursor or to clicks.
- Is there a watermark?
- No, on any format.