Are you looking for the right animation tool for you? That could take a while. Trying to find animation software that fits your needs, skill level, and budget is like searching for a needle in a haystack. But you can stop wearing yourself out because we've already done the research.
Whether you're in pursuit of free animation software for beginners or you would rather pay for top animation software for professionals, this list will help you make the best pick.
The best free and easy animation software for students.
Blender is the best free 3D modeling software for grasping animation concepts and expanding your skill set. It is accessible across operating systems with zero hidden fees.
The best animation software for content creators.
Filmora is the best animation program with free assets and video editing tools. It allows you to create simple animation or add animated objects to videos.
The best animation software for visual data presentation.
Visme is top animation software for businesses and marketers who create a lot of animated forms, infographics, and social media graphs.
The best animation software for professional 3D animation.
Maya is the best professional animation software used by first-class moviemakers and game developers.
The best 2D animation software for beginners and Adobe users.
Adobe Animate is beginner-friendly software for 2D animation, best used for short cartoons, games, website banners, and marketing materials.
The best animation software for VFX artists.
Houdini Animation is an exceptional animation software for creating faithful-to-life special effects.
The best beginner-friendly 2D animation software for cartoons.
Cartoon Animator 5 is a 2D animation software with easy-to-use tools for character animation.
The best 2D animation program for digital puppeteering.
Adobe Character Animator is a powerful animation software that brings 2D characters to life by capturing users' facial expressions, movements, and voice through their computer's webcam and microphone.
Blender
The best free animation software for students, beginners, and budget-savvy freelancers. |
Specifications
Platform: Windows, MacOS, Linux
Animation Types: Character animation, Non-Linear Animation, Forward/inverse kinematics
Pricing: Free
Free Version: Freeware
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Blender is a 3D modeling package and free animation software with a long tradition and a loyal user base. It's made for beginners and students but used and loved by professionals from many fields of visual arts, from TV to architecture. Blender provides a complete package of tools for 3D modeling, sculpting, and animation, as well as a powerful renderer.
Forget for a second that Blender is a free and open-source software, and you could complain about its confusing interface or lack of sophisticated animation tools. In reality, Blender's once-messy UX has come a long way since ‘95, but the workflow still requires heavy customization. It offers little to no help to newbies; luckily, there are plenty of resources online.
Why do we love it? Blender's character pose library is outstanding. In patient hands, its grease pencil, hair tools, and brushes can be absolute perfection. Blender is behind several award-winning short films, including Spring and Next-Gen. It remains the last animation software with free access and professional-grade tools, ideal for students and freelancers.
Filmora
The best animation program with free creative assets, animation presets, and effects. |
Specifications
Platform: Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS
Animation Types: Stock animation, image animation, text animation, keyframe animation, AI animation
Pricing: From $9.99 per user/month
Free Version: 3-day free trial for new users
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Wondershare Filmora is a premium-class video editing software that helps amateurs and experienced artists create stunning multimedia content. It's perfectly suited for beginner and intermediate-level content creators, YouTubers, and marketing teams who need to make lots of polished material fast - including top-notch infographics and other simple animations.
Filmora's greatest strength is its absolutely huge library of creative assets that is neatly organized and accessible from within the software. Whether you want stickers, text, effects, or other animated elements for your videos, you can add them using a drag-and-drop action and extensively customize them to blend seamlessly with their surroundings.
If you want to be more creative with Filmora's ready-made animated assets and animation presets, you can use keyframes to build movement and animate scenes. Filmora can't make animated movies from scratch, but it is a fantastic choice if you want to create short animated videos or presentations with zero experience. It's an easy process for gorgeous results.
Additionally, users can create animated videos using Filmora's AI Image, AI Music, AI sound effects generator, and AI text-to-video features. These advanced tools use artificial intelligence to improve your creative process and make the production of high-quality animations easier. With Filmora's AI-powered features, you can effortlessly create captivating visuals, immersive audio, and engaging stories that connect with your audience, even if you're new to animation and video editing.
- Quickly generate animated videos with AI Image, AI Music, and AI Text-to-Video.
- Create smooth animations with ease using customizable keyframes on your timeline.
- Achieve precise control over movement, scale, and rotation for professional-quality animations.
- Access a wide range of pre-built effects to quickly bring your ideas to life.
Visme
The best animation software for visual data presentation in business and marketing. |
Specifications
Platform: Windows and MacOS
Animation Types: Forms animation, image animation, text animation, AI animation
Pricing: From $12.25 per user/month
Free Version: Freemium with limitations
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Visme is an AI-powered design software with a host of useful tools for marketing teams, business professionals, educators, and other content creators who make a lot of infographics, presentations, data visualizations, social media graphics, wireframes, and mockups.
When it comes to animation, Visme's star feature is the Form Builder, which allows you to create interactive forms with animated characters that can act in any way you want. They are incredibly simple to make and very effective.
Aside from that, Visme allows you to animate videos and add animated objects and effects in a few clicks, although it could be complicated to customize and edit them. Unlike most video editors, this one sports a vertical timeline that feels confusing and counterintuitive.
Autodesk Maya
The best animation software for professional, industry-standard 3D animation. |
Specifications
Platform: Windows, MacOS, Linux
Animation Types: Character animation, motion capture, nonlinear animation, path animation, keyframe animation
Pricing: From $235 per user/month
Free Version: 30 Day Free Trial
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Autodesk Maya is an industry-standard 3D modeling package and professional animation software used by top movie studios and game developers. Maya is responsible for large-scale projects like *The Lord of the Rings*, *Game of Thrones*, and *The Avengers*.
Maya has a notoriously steep learning curve and high cost, making it more suitable for professionals and advanced users. Its comprehensive tools for crafting expansive worlds and lifelike characters make it the best animation software available for professional use.
Adobe Animate
The best animation software for 2D animation and Adobe users. |
Specifications
Platform: Windows, MacOS
Animation Types: 2D animation, Motion tweens, classic tweens, inverse kinematic poses, shape tweens, frame-by-frame animation, keyframe animation
Pricing: From $22.9 per user/month
Free Version: 7 Day Free Trial
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Adobe Animate is an excellent software for adding movement to static 2D objects, primarily targeting beginners and hobbyists already using Adobe Creative Cloud. Its Asset Warp and keyframing capabilities make animation easy to use and deliver professional results.
While it lacks 3D animation features, its focus on 2D animation, vector drawing tools, and bone rigging make it ideal for social media and web animations.
Houdini Animation
The best animation software for VFX artists. |
Specifications
Platform: Windows, MacOS, Linux
Animation Types: Pose-to-pose animation, Straight-ahead animation, keyframe animation
Pricing: From $175 per month
Free Version: Freemium with a watermark
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Houdini is a 3D animation and rendering software that excels in creating VFX. Known for its procedural modeling and dynamic simulations, it's used in high-end productions for special effects, such as explosions and fluid simulations.
While powerful, Houdini's complexity and cost make it suitable only for professionals or students with a strong background in 3D animation and VFX creation.
Cartoon Animator 5
The best beginner-friendly 2D animation software for cartoons and simple animations. |
Specifications
Platform: Windows
Animation Types: 2D animation, character animation, puppet animation, facial animation, 3D motion capture
Pricing: From $99 for perpetual license
Free Version: 30 Day Free Trial
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Cartoon Animator 5 is an intuitive 2D animation software with tools to transform 2D characters into 3D models and perform facial animation. It's user-friendly for beginners but still powerful enough for advanced users to create detailed cartoon animations.
The 3D Head Creator feature is especially beneficial, allowing for dynamic animations, which makes this software suitable for creators of all levels looking to produce animated content.
Adobe Character Animator
The best 2D animation program for digital puppeteering in the Adobe ecosystem. |
Specifications
Platform: Windows and MacOS
Animation Types: Character animation, 2D animation, live animation, motion capture
Pricing: From $54.99 per user/month
Free Version: 7 Day Free Trial + Freemium with limitations
Pros & Cons
Why We Picked It
Adobe Character Animator is animation software focused on digital puppeteering, allowing users to bring 2D characters to life with motion capture. It's part of the Adobe ecosystem and is aimed at those who need intuitive and customizable puppetry tools.
Perfect for quick animations, Adobe Character Animator is popular among Creative Cloud users who want to create unique animated content without requiring extensive experience or additional software purchases.
How We Picked the Best Animation Software
Having researched dozens of animation software, we've decided to narrow down our picks based on simple criteria: 1) function, 2) skill level, and 3) performance. Our main concern was: What can we do with this tool? How difficult is it to do that? and How well can we do it?
As you have probably noticed, we have chosen many different types of tools for animation, including video editing software like Filmora. This is because we believe quality animation should be accessible to everyone, even those who are not interested in becoming animators.
Things to Consider When Choosing Animation Software
In case you're still wondering what is the best computer animation software for you, you might want to revisit your needs and consider factors like functionality, ease of use, and price. If you need easy and free animation software, opt for Blender or use Filmora's freemium.
Should you use free animation software in the first place? We often get asked about this, and the answer is - it depends on your proficiency and expectations. If you are a capable animator or at least an experienced visual artist, you shouldn't let limitations curb your creativity.
For those interested in purchasing the best animation software, choose according to the animation type you need to achieve. For 2D character animation, try Adobe Character Animator or Cartoon Animator 5. Houdini is the best for VFX, and Visme for data visualization.
FAQs
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What is the best free basic animation software?
Blender has been repeatedly named the best free basic animation software. This is a perfect tool for users who want to get started with professional animation concepts, as well as freelancers who want to start monetizing their skills. -
Do I need professional animation software to animate videos?
Simple video animations can be achieved without professional modeling and animation software like Autodesk Maya or Blender. These tools can be very challenging to master if you don't have any prior experience with animation. If you want a beginner-friendly tool that can help you create animated ads for social media, add moving objects to YouTube videos, etc, you can use a video editing software like Filmora. -
What is the best 2D animation software?
Adobe Animate is widely considered one of the best 2D animation software. This tool can be used by beginners and professionals to create simple but quality animated content, such as cartoons, short games, and marketing materials. Other popular choices include Adobe Character Animator and Cartoon Animator 5. -
Is Blender the easiest free animation software?
By popular opinion, Blender is the best free basic animation software that provides essential tools for modeling, sculpting, and rendering.
