Remotion vs Brush Ninja
Remotion and Brush Ninja 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.
Remotion vs Brush Ninja at a glance
| Remotion | Brush Ninja | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free for individuals and companies of up to 3 people, then a company license | Free with ads, membership at US$7 a month or US$48 a year | Free for everyone |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of Remotion and Brush Ninja before you decide.
Remotion
- How you make a video
- React code
- What you need
- Node.js, a code editor and some React
- Rendering
- On your machine, a server or AWS Lambda
- Transparent video
- WebM or ProRes 4444
- Videos generated from data, at scale
- Yes
- AI assistants
- Agent skills and a Claude Code plugin
When Remotion fits better
You generate videos from data, personalize them for each user, render them on servers, embed a player in your app, or build your own video product. smooth.video has no API and no server rendering.
Remotion vs smooth.videoBrush Ninja
- Account
- Only for membership
- How you animate
- Frame-by-frame drawing, with onion skin
- Layers
- None
- Video with sound
- WebM, for members
- Formats
- GIF, image sequence, and WebM for members
- Lesson plans for teachers
- Yes
When Brush Ninja fits better
You want to draw every frame, like a flipbook, in a tool made for children and classrooms, with stickers, sound effects and lesson plans ready to go.
Brush Ninja vs smooth.videoWhen smooth.video fits better
You want one video, not ten thousand: you'd rather see it and drag things into place than write components, or the person making it doesn't code.
The animation is made of things that move: a title, a photo, a logo, a sticker, a chart. You want sound in the video, more than one layer, and no ads, without a membership.
Open the editorStart from a template
See all 172 templatesQuestions
- Can I generate many videos from a spreadsheet?
- Not automatically. A script or an AI assistant can write one .smooth file per row, but each one is opened and exported by hand in the editor.
- Can an AI assistant make the video?
- Yes. The whole format is published at smooth.video/llms.txt: point ChatGPT, Claude or another assistant at it, describe the animation, and open the file it gives you.
- Do I need to install anything?
- No. The editor and the export both run in your browser.
- Can I draw in smooth.video?
- Yes, with a simple brush: the drawing becomes an image you can move, scale, rotate and fade on the timeline. It isn't made for drawing each frame.
- Can I add sound?
- Yes. Add an audio file and it's included in the MP4 or WebM. A GIF can't carry sound.
- Are there ads?
- No, and there's nothing to join.