Powtoon vs Cavalry
Powtoon 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.
Powtoon vs Cavalry at a glance
| Powtoon | Cavalry | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan, then Lite from US$15 a month billed yearly | Free for individuals | Free, no paid plan |
| Account | Required | Canva account required | Not needed |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of Powtoon and Cavalry before you decide.
Powtoon
- Watermark
- On free plan videos, and on all but 5 exports a month on Lite
- MP4 download
- Paid plans only
- Export resolution
- 720p on the free plan, 1080p on paid plans
- Animated characters and props
- Thousands, with a character builder
- PowerPoint import
- Yes
- Team review and brand locking
- Yes
When Powtoon fits better
You're making an explainer with characters and scenes, turning a PowerPoint deck into a video, or working with a team that reviews videos and locks the brand. smooth.video has no characters, no PowerPoint import and no shared workspace.
Powtoon vs smooth.videoCavalry
- Install
- Desktop app for Mac and Windows
- 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.videoWhen smooth.video fits better
You need a short animated piece, like a title card, a stat, a product demo with a cursor or a social post, and a file you can download right away, with no watermark and no plan.
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 editorStart from a template
See all 172 templatesQuestions
- Can I import my PowerPoint?
- No. Export your slides as images, add them to a scene and animate them there.
- Can I put a smooth.video animation in a presentation?
- Yes. Export an MP4 or a GIF and insert it into PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides.
- Is there a watermark?
- No, and the download is free too.
- 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.