Rive vs Brush Ninja
Rive 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.
Rive vs Brush Ninja at a glance
| Rive | Brush Ninja | smooth.video | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan, then Cadet at US$9 per seat a month billed yearly | Free with ads, membership at US$7 a month or US$48 a year | Free, no paid plan |
| Account | Required | Only for membership | Not needed |
As of September 2026. Plans change, so check those of Rive and Brush Ninja before you decide.
Rive
- Exports on the free plan
- None
- 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.videoBrush Ninja
- 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
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.
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 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.
- 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.