Powtoon vs EZGIF
Powtoon and EZGIF 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 EZGIF at a glance
| Powtoon | EZGIF | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan, then Lite from US$15 a month billed yearly | Free, with ads | Free, no paid plan |
| Account | Required | Not needed | Not needed |
| Watermark | On free plan videos, and on all but 5 exports a month on Lite | Never | Never |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of Powtoon and EZGIF before you decide.
Powtoon
- 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.videoEZGIF
- 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.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.
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.
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 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.