Kapwing vs Adobe Animate
Kapwing and Adobe Animate 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.
Kapwing vs Adobe Animate at a glance
| Kapwing | Adobe Animate | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan, then Pro from US$16 a month billed yearly | US$22.99 a month on an annual plan, 7-day free trial | Free, no paid plan |
| Account | Required to save a project | Adobe account required | Not needed |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of Kapwing and Adobe Animate before you decide.
Kapwing
- Watermark
- On free plan exports
- 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.videoAdobe Animate
- Install
- Desktop app for Windows and macOS
- Development
- Maintenance mode: fixes, no new features
- How you animate
- Frame-by-frame drawing, tweens, bone rigging
- Interactive output
- HTML5 Canvas, WebGL, SVG, sprite sheets
- Photoshop files
- PSD and Illustrator layers imported
When Adobe Animate fits better
You draw frame by frame, rig characters with bones, or deliver interactive HTML5 Canvas content, games or sprite sheets. smooth.video does none of that.
Adobe Animate vs smooth.videoWhen smooth.video fits better
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.
You used Animate for banners, animated logos or social posts, you'd rather not pay for a tool that no longer gets new features, and your animation is made of text, images and shapes that move rather than drawings.
Open the editorStart from a template
See all 172 templatesQuestions
- 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.
- Is Adobe Animate discontinued?
- No. Adobe announced its end in February 2026 and reversed the decision the next day: Animate stays available, with security and bug fixes but no new features.
- Can I open .fla files?
- No. Export your artwork from Animate as PNG images, then animate them in smooth.video.
- Can I make HTML5 banner ads?
- Not as HTML5: smooth.video exports video, GIF and images. Where an ad slot takes a GIF or an MP4, a banner made here works.