LottieFiles vs Cavalry

LottieFiles and Cavalry 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.

Open the editorFree, no signup, nothing to install

LottieFiles vs Cavalry at a glance

LottieFilesCavalrysmooth.video
PriceFree plan, then paid plans billed yearlyFree for individualsFree, no paid plan

As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of LottieFiles and Cavalry before you decide.

LottieFiles

Output
Lottie and dotLottie, plus MP4, WebM, MOV and GIF
Where your files live
In your LottieFiles workspace
Video and audio in the scene
No
Interactive state machines
Yes
Lottie players for apps and websites
Yes
After Effects and Figma plugins
Yes

When LottieFiles fits better

The animation ships inside an app or a website and should stay tiny, sharp at any size, recolourable with themes, or interactive. That's what Lottie is for, and smooth.video doesn't export it.

LottieFiles vs smooth.video

Cavalry

Install
Desktop app for Mac and Windows
Account
Canva account required
How you animate
Keyframes plus procedural tools: duplicators, falloffs, behaviours
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.video

When smooth.video fits better

The animation goes in a video, a social post, an email or a presentation rather than in an app: a logo reveal, a Reel, an animated banner, a lower third. You want a video file, maybe with photos or footage in it.

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.

Open the editor

Start from a template

See all 172 templates

Questions

Can smooth.video open or export Lottie files?
Neither. It imports images, video, audio and layered PSD files, and exports video, GIF and images.
Can I use photos and video in my animation?
Yes. Add images, video clips and audio to the scene next to your text and shapes.
Do I need an account?
No. Your projects stay in your browser, and you can save any of them as a .smooth file.
Can I animate a chart from a spreadsheet?
No, you type the values in. smooth.video 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.