Remotion vs Rive
Remotion and Rive 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.
- Free
- No signup
- No watermark
Remotion vs Rive at a glance
| Remotion | Rive | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free for individuals and companies of up to 3 people, then a company license | Free plan, then Cadet at US$9 per seat a month billed yearly | Free for everyone |
- Price
- RemotionFree for individuals and companies of up to 3 people, then a company license
- RiveFree plan, then Cadet at US$9 per seat a month billed yearly
- smooth.videoFree for everyone
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of Remotion and Rive 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.videoRive
- Exports on the free plan
- None
- Account
- Required
- Output
- .riv files for runtimes, plus video and images
- Interactivity and state machines
- Yes
- Runtimes for apps, websites and games
- Yes
- Rigging, meshes, real-time collaboration
- Yes
When Rive fits better
The animation lives in a product and reacts to people: a button that responds to hover, a character that follows the cursor, a loading state driven by your app's data. That takes a runtime, and smooth.video doesn't have one.
Rive 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 ends up in a video, a post, an email or a slide, and plays the same way every time: a logo reveal, a product teaser, an animated stat, a GIF.
Open the editor- Free, full stop
- No plan, no trial, no credits, no export limit.
- No account
- Open the page and the editor is already there.
- Nothing is uploaded
- Your files are read and rendered by your own browser.
- No watermark
- Every export is clean, at any size, 4K included.
Start from a template
See all 203 templatesOpen one, change the words, export. Every element stays editable.
Questions
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 smooth.video export Lottie or .riv files?
No. It exports video (MP4 and WebM), GIF and images.
Can I put a smooth.video animation on a website?
Yes, as a video or a GIF. It plays the same way for everyone, without reacting to the cursor or to clicks.
Is there a watermark?
No, on any format.
Or skip the decision.
smooth.video is free, opens in a tab and exports without a watermark. Try it while you compare.
Open the editor- Free
- No signup
- No watermark