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10 Best After Effects Alternatives on Mac, Windows, and Linux (Free & Paid)

Liza Brown
Liza Brown Originally published Aug 08, 23, updated Jan 17, 24

As a user of Mac or Linux, it gets confusing to find Adobe Premiere Alternative. As it features a series of useful features, allowing you to make stunning edits, create animations, and more.

So if you’re wondering why people would ditch an industry-grade editing tool and look for an alternative, continue reading the post. You won’t only get the answer to this question, but you’ll find the best alternatives with tips for choosing the best option.

Disclaimer

This article has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. Opinions or points of view expressed in this post represent the view of the author. Nothing in this content constitutes legal advice. The sole purpose of providing the information below is to educate users about different editing software.

In this article
  1. Why We Look for Alternatives to Industry-standard Adobe Premiere Pro
    1. Wax
    2. Hitfilm
    3. Blender
    4. Natron
    5. Wondershare Filmora
    6. Apple Motion
    7. Eyeon Fusion
    8. NUKE
    9. Autodesk Smoke
    10. Flame
  2. Tips for Choosing an Alternative to After Effects
  3. FAQs about After Effects Alternative

Part 1: Why We Look for Alternatives to Industry-standard Adobe Premiere Pro

Whether you’re a newbie or a professional editor, using Adobe Premiere Pro for video editing can be a one-of-its-kind experience. However, most editors often look for other options due to the following factors:

Creates Performance Issue

Users don’t always find Adobe’s performance up to the mark on specific devices. Sometimes, a few of its programs ask for different keyboard shortcuts even when you want to accomplish the same command. And while running it, you need to ensure your pc has the highest speed due to its video resolution requirement.

Complex to Use

If you’re just starting out in the video editing domain, using Adobe might not be the best idea. Since some of its features and functionality are complex, you may end up reaching the help page more often.

Slow Customer Support

Talking about help, know that the software’s customer support service isn’t impressive. As a user, you may have to wait longer than expected to hear back from them.

High-end Editing Tool

Although it does the job with stunning perfection, it’s expensive. If you’re a beginner or freelancer, you might be unable to use it in the long run due to its cost. The reasons are undoubtedly enough to look for an alternative to Adobe.

If you think it’s a challenge, you’re mistaken. Because we’ve got a list of options, take a look and choose the one that aligns with your requirements.

  • Wax - a free video editing tool with various useful features.
  • Hitfilm - it features editing and composing core technologies.
  • Blender is an awesome editor that easily tackles basic and complex editing tasks.
  • Natron - a robust digital compositor, perfect for 2D/2.5D requirements.
  • Wondershare Filmora - best for beginners (Editor’s Pick).
  • Apple Motion - it performs fluid transitions, creates 2D and 3D titles, and more in real-time.
  • Eyeon Fusion - a powerful and professional software to fulfill your editing needs.
  • NUKE - a user-friendly, customizable, and versatile editing tool.
  • Autodesk Smoke - it brings editing and effects together.
  • Flame - is a perfect choice for editing, versioning, and heavy VFX work.

Editor’s Top 3 Picks

1. Wondershare Filmora - Best Overall

wondershare filmora

With a plethora of filters, features, and transitions, Wondershare Filmora can become your go-to video editing software. It comes with import and export options, making the entire editing process super easy for beginners.

Recommendation Star Rating:  4.9 out of 5 stars

Price: Starting from $49.99/Year.

2. Blender - Best For Open Source 3D Creation Suite

blender

An open-source 3D suite, it supports animation, modeling, video editing, rendering, simulation, compositing, and more. Give it a go if you’re up to exploring versatile editing features.

Download on Windows

Recommendation Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Price: Free under the GNU General Public License

3. NUKE - Best For 3D Effects Artists

nuke

Perfect for node-based compositing, review, and editorial, the tool ensures flexibility and collaborative workflows, allowing you to achieve the best result.

Download on Windows

Recommendation Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Price $5,518 (purchase price) , $1,919/qtr (rent price)

Part 2: The Best Adobe Premiere Pro Alternatives in 2022

Do you think finding Adobe Premiere Pro Alternative is nearly impossible? If so, let’s take a look at the following options with important information, so you can make an informed decision.

1)   Wax

Best free video editing tool.

wax

If you’re hunting for a video compositing tool and special effects software, your search is over. As a high-performance and flexible tool, Wax can easily perform those tasks. It allows you to create 2D and 3D special effects effortlessly. More importantly, this tool is helpful for beginners.

Supported OS: Windows

Key Features

Wax provides you with unlimited video and audio tracks with explosive effects and model loaders. Meanwhile, you can also generate particles and add 3D text to your video. Then comes the filters for file input and output and plug-in adapter technologies.

Price

It’s free.

Pros
  • It supports various media formats, such as JPG, AVI, AVS, PIX, PSP, etc
  • It creates special effects for videos with stunning perfection
  • This tool features graphics acceleration to create awesome effects in real-time or near-real time
Cons
  • It doesn’t run on all operating systems
  • It feels a bit outdated if compared with other editing tools

G2 Ratings: 3.8 out of 5 stars

User Review

The processing speed is fast; it separates the audio and video of a clip into two elements without influencing the original file. However, the tool only imports and exports .avi files which may lead to inconvenience in some cases. - Giang N.

Recommendation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

2)   Hitfilm

Perform VFX compositing and editing in a single software

hitfilm

An all-rounder editing tool, Hitfilm is a 3D and VFX software that artists, independent filmmakers, or even beginners in VFX and editing can use without any hindrance. It allows you to edit, incorporate effects, composite, and export the final product to whichever format you want.

Supported OS: Mac, Windows

Key Features

You get basic editing features with VFX compositing. Moreover, there are various effects, presets, filters, and color correction features. All this in an intuitive interface.

Price

$349 one-time

Pros
  • It has a wide variety of useful features
  • The software is easy-to-use
  • The pricing type is beneficial for users
  • It offers satisfactory community support
Cons
  • It doesn’t come with enough audio capabilities
  • It doesn’t offer a lot of export options
  • It doesn’t offer any support for Alembic

Tom’s Guide Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

User Review

It’s easy to use and perfect for beginners. - Greg F.

Recommendation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

3)   Blender

An open-source 3D creation suite.

blender

If you’re looking for a 3D creation suite, look no further than Blender. As an open-source 3D creation suite, it supports modeling, pipeline, animation, rendering, simulation, rigging, compositing, motion tracking, and rendering. What’s more exciting is that the software support game creation, too. With the features it offers, using Blender sounds like a smart choice.

Supported OS: Windows, Mac, Linux

Key Features

Its key features include sculpting, topology, visual effects, and a template library. On top of that, Blender is compatible with OBJ and also contains integrated 3D modeling features.

Price

Free under GNU GPL 3.0 license

Pros
  • It offers an incredible development cycle
  • It comes with a full modeling toolkit
  • It enables sculpting
Cons
  • Its node editing is complex
  • The software gets slow with low-spec hardware
  • It can be buggy at times

G2 Ratings: 4.5 out of 5 stars

User Review

A great open-source editing tool for beginners and animators. You can’t ignore its interactive and excellent game features, such as re-enchantment, collision, and detection. - Vaibhav S.

Recommendation Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars

4)   Natron

An open-source option for commercial node-based compositors.

natron

A robust digital compositor, Natron is perfect to fulfill your 2D/2.5D requirements. It’s one of the most flexible tools - thanks to its OIIO file formats and OpenX architecture. Whether you’re running it on Linux or Windows, this software offers unmatched performance across all operating systems.

Supported OS: Windows, Linux, Mac

Key Features

Natron is a video editor that contains a flexible rotoscoping technique, tracker, and keying tools. You also have multiple community plugins with curve and dope-sheet editors. Lastly, it’s also compatible with OFX.

Price

It’s totally Free

Pros
  • It’s an open-source node-based compositing software
  • It’s a full-fledged compositor exceeding industry standards
  • It uses shortcuts similar to the software Nuke
Cons
  • It doesn’t perform like Nuke
  • Working with colors isn’t stable
  • It could get unstable while you’re working with a heavy network

G2 Ratings: 3.5 out of 5 stars

User Review

The best is that Natron is full-blown compositing software that users can use free of cost. - Heten D.

Recommendation Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

5)   Wondershare Filmora

Your go-to editing software with a wide range of useful features.

wondershare filmora

With a variety of effects, templates, and transitions, Wondershare Filmora is here to change the entire editing game. Whether you’re a newbie or professional, its features will sure to impress you.

Support OS: Windows, Mac, iPad

Key Features

The unique feature of this amazing video editor is that even 4K resolution videos can be edited without any hassle. Moreover, you get noise removal, color tuning, GIF support, an audio equalizer, and an audio mixer with Filmora. Advanced text editing is also supported on top of other features.

Price

Starting from $49.99/year in the individual plan to $155.88/year in the Team plan.

Pros
  • It comes with templates for videos and animation
  • It has a simple yet intuitive interface
  • It renders videos super fast
  • This software supports several file formats
  • You can record the screen with Filmora
  • It offers decent user support
Cons
  • Its free version puts watermarks on projects
  • Pricing plans aren’t impressive

G2 Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars

User Review

It’s user-friendly and super easy to use. From videos to animations, it has templates to meet your requirements. - Arsh G.

Recommendation Rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars

6)   Apple Motion

A fast software with a better interface to make editing hassle-free.

apple motion

As a Mac editor, Apple Motion needs to be in your toolkit for its versatility. Be it effects or generators; this tool enables you to do all with absolute perfection.

Supported OS: Mac

Key Features

Apple Motion contains 360 VR motion graphics that provide real-time visualization for a VR headset. Multiple effects are also available with video tilting features. On top of that, you can add 2D and 3D text to your video.

Price

$49.99 one-time

Pros
  • A real-time app that supports keyframes and behaviors
  • It offers unlimited resolution
  • You can make the most of 3D text, 360 support, and USDZ objects
  • It’s faster and easier to learn
Cons
  • Integrating it with Adobe files is challenging
  • This tool is expensive

G2 Ratings: 4 out of 5 stars

User Review

Creating titles and motion graphics is a breeze with Apple Motion. It has a powerful yet easy-to-use interface. Integrating it with Final Cut Pro assures a one-of-its-kind experience. - Matt C.

Recommendation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

7)   Eyeon Fusion

An advanced visual effects compositing tool.

eyeon fusion

With basic to intermediate features, Eyeon Fusion is perfect for individuals or smaller design studios. It’s intuitive, so expect an easy editing process.

Supported OS: Windows, Mac

Key Features

The features include visual effects, customizable templates & vector shapes, and automatic retime animations. Along with these features, audio animation syncing is also possible with Eyeon Fusion.

Price

DaVinci Resolve 18: Free

Fusion Studio 18: 295$

Pros
  • It’s an intuitive tool
  • Nodes come with several options
  • A go-to software for compositing
  • The stabilizer and BMD Fusion’s Camera are fast
Cons
  • Working with 32Bit multichannel can be challenging for beginners
  • Less features and do not align with industry standards

G2 Ratings: 4.2 out of stars

User Review

It performs professional-grade VFX and Film compositing work on any file, which is great! - Paul S.

Recommendation Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars

8)   NUKE

A cutting-edge toolkit that brings the highest-quality results.

nuke

For editorial, review, and node-based compositing, Try Nuke’s awesome toolkit. The Nuke ecosystem consists of Nuke, Nuke studio, and NukeX. It can become your go-to software for flexible and collaborative workflows.

Supported OS: Windows, Mac

Price

$569 one-time

Key Features

Nuke allows you a deep image compositing, rotoscoping, and keying in the video. You also get a nodal toolset, machine learning toolset, 2Dtracker, dope sheet, and wrap effects with this software. Lastly, the stereoscopic workflow also makes your video editing easy and simple.

Pros
  • Its advanced toolkit enables complete technical and creative control
  • It aligns with the modern production scenario
  • It supports industry-standard formats for files
  • It has remarkable speed
  • It allows customization
Cons
  • Its advanced-level operations might be troubling for beginners
  • Buffering takes quite a lot of time

G2 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

User Review

As a node-based compositing system, it allows you to reach the beginning and the end of your project quickly. It makes the entire editing process hassle-free and convenient. - Alonzo V.

Recommendation Ratings: 4.5 out of 5 stars

9)   Autodesk Smoke

A leading software in 3D design, entertainment, and engineering domain.

autodesk smoke

Autodesk Smoke is a great blend of editing workflows and a node-based compositing tool available in timeline-centric editing software.

Supported OS: Mac

Key Features

Autodesk Smoke has an instant effect playback feature for previewing your edited video before it’s completed. Moreover you get SonyRaw & ArriRaw formats with different resolution and bit depth options. Then comes the transition effects and image syncing features.

Price

$215 monthly

Pros
  • Its easy-to-use timeline increases productivity
  • It brings editing and effects together
  • It has been upgraded according to Mac hardware
  • It works with Autodesk Flame 3D VFX
Cons
  • This tool takes up a lot of space on the computer
  • It only runs on Mac

G2 Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars

User Review

It’s not only good for editing, but it gives you enough room to express yourself. It comes with 3D and color correction options which is great. - Allie K.

Recommendation Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars

10)   Flame

An excellent VFX, color grading, and 3D compositing tool.

flame

Flame is one of the unique high-end VFX software that you can use to streamline the post production process. Be it color correction or compositing; this tool is sure to handle any task with ease.

Supported OS: Mac

Key Features

The key features of Flame video editor include timeline editing tools, 3D compositing toolset, explorer grade bin, camera tracking, and master grade color tools. The task-base environment allows you to isolate and modify objects without any trouble.

Price

$580 one-time

Pros
  • Its toolkit is more than enough for professionals
  • It makes working with audio smooth and hassle-free
  • It allows relinking footage with ease
Cons
  • This tool crashes often
  • Node-based compositing isn’t as intuitive as it should be

G2 Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars

User Review

Comes with a plethora of options and tools; you need to get out of your comfort zone to learn and work with this. Overall, Flame offers a powerful package. - Krishna K.

Recommendation Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Part 3: Tips for Choosing an Alternative to After Effects

Whether you don’t want to use After Effects or simply looking for alternatives to experiment with new options, the above options for software will sure to help you.

However, to make an informed decision, it’s best to be clear about what you’re looking for in terms of features and functionality. To help you with this step, here’re a few tips:

What do you want to achieve?

First things first, what is it that you want to achieve with the editing tool? Is it 3D editing? Or is it rot scoping? Knowing your purpose will help you choose the right gear.

UI Design

Another important tip is to look for an easy UI design, especially if you’re just starting out. Because with an intuitive interface or layout, you can carry out a task without struggling even when you’re using it for the first time.

Performance

You should also compare the performances of different editing software. Read reviews online, and look for the toolkit experienced editors use. This way, you’ll get a better understanding of how these editing tools perform.

Compatibility

Be clear on whether or not the software you choose is compatible with other options. For example, Autodesk Smoke is compatible with Autodesk Flame 3D VFX, which ultimately makes the editing seamless.

Pricing

Last but not least, learning about the software cost is essential. You must know how much you’ll be paying monthly or yearly. Or if the estimated amount includes upgrades or not. This way, you’ll find decent software without breaking the bank.

Part 4: FAQs about After Effects Alternative

After exploring the tips about finding After Effects alternatives, let’s look at the answers to some of the frequently asked questions.

1. Is there a free alternative to After Effects?

Yes, as free software, Blender can do the best job. It comes with advanced motion graphics tools to make the entire process hassle-free.

2. Can Blender replace After Effects?

There’s no definite answer, but being an open-source 3D animation tool, it equally benefits beginners and professionals. Plus, it’s evolved to be used as an alternative to 3D platforms, such as Maya, which has made it quite popular among editors.

Final Words

Finding an alternative to After Effect might be a problem before. Today, with a lot of open source and paid options, it’s not a big deal anymore. Currently, the software or tools available for editing and other postproduction tasks offer a wide range of unique features. With these features, you’re sure to create visually interesting footage.

To ease the process further, you can refer to the list of alternatives with essential information and some tips. With the help of this information, you can find your next editing tool with ease.

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Liza Brown
Liza Brown Jan 17, 24
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