Adobe After Effects vs. Adobe Animate

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe After Effects
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Adobe After Effects allows users to create cinematic movie titles, intros, and transitions, remove an object from a clip, start a fire or make it rain, or animate a logo or character. The vendor states that with After Effects, users can apply motion-graphics and animation to any digital object.
$20.99
Per User Per Month
Adobe Animate
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Animate (or Animate CC) supports but replaces the former Adobe Flash, and allows users to design interactive animations for games, TV shows, and the web. With it, the vendor states users can bring cartoons and banner ads to life, create animated doodles and avatars, and add action to eLearning content and infographics. With Animate, users can publish to multiple platforms in many formats, and reach viewers on any screen.
$20.99
per month
Pricing
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Animate
Editions & Modules
Annual Plan (Paid Monthly)
$20.99
Per User Per Month
Monthly Plan
$31.49
Per User Per Month
Annual Plan (Prepaid)
$239.88
Per User Per Year
Annual Plan, Paid Monthly
$20.99
per month
Monthly Plan
$31.49
per month
Annual Plan, Prepaid
$239.88
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Animate
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Animate
Best Alternatives
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Animate
Small Businesses
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 9.2 out of 10
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Blender
Blender
Score 9.3 out of 10
Blender
Blender
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate
Score 8.2 out of 10
Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Animate
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Animate
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe After Effects is well suited for creating short video projects that require intricate animation, like 5 minute or 1-minute countdowns, credit roll-ins, outros, and video bumpers. It is also useful for creating animated elements that can be incorporated into video projects, like animated key titles. For longer videos, I would recommend using Adobe Premiere Pro instead.
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Adobe flash is best to use for developing applications specifically for desktop and laptop PC websites. We use it a lot with clients who send us content from other countries to stream and/or view video, audio and multimedia. Since there is no mobile browser or device support, it can not be used for any app related projects.
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Pros
  • After Effects is great for creating motion content once and easily exporting it to various formats such as web, broadcast, GIF, etc.
  • After Effects is the industry standard for motion graphics. While I’m an Apple user and have used Motion in the past it is not as feature rich and most clients will expect you to use After Effects.
  • After Effects is great for complex UI animation. Tools like principle and Flinto are great but are quite cumbersome for complex UI animations.
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  • it makes 2d animation a lot better than any other programs.
  • it is loaded with a lots of features enabling the creative freedom for animators.
  • rigging is very seamless process while doing in Adobe Animate
  • it brings the feel of classic handrawn 2d animations that we all love.
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Cons
  • I would like the Re-Link file structure to mimic Premiere.
  • I would like to see native .obj importing and manipulation.
  • I would like to see better audio editing available within Adobe After Effects. if it could be given a separate layer/panel.
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  • It's being replaced in 2020 so it most likely is not worth learning for anyone who hasn't used it before. Apple devices don't play nice with Flash videos either, and that's a large user base.
  • Its battery consumption for mobile devices is poor, and probably won't be addressed due to HTML5 replacing it in a year
  • One of our original reasons for using Flash was for animation, but Toon Boom (a competitor) is really better set up for that task. With built-in mouth synch capabilities, it does a lot of the busywork for you, that Flash made you do yourself.
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Likelihood to Renew
I will renew my use of After Effects since it's affordable and always has been reliable. They also always continue to update new features and add new things to compete with other software out there. I also like all the 3rd party plugins out there that keep my interest for the future and new toolsets and creative solutions.
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No answers on this topic
Usability
There's a lot of features and functionality that Adobe After Effects offers that can be hard to navigate at times. Depending on the depth you plan to use the software for, that can take some time to learn. The built-in templates and tutorials really help soften that learning curve. Once you get past some of the basics, it's fairly simple to use.
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Flash is usable but definitely has a learning curve that a novice user may need to Google a few tutorials prior. The seamless integration with other Adobe software products is nice for loading content from the cloud. Plus it's great for storing and saving work on the go.
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Support Rating
Adobe customer support is wonderful. They genuinely care about their product and the end user experience. The products they create have always been innovative and continue to improve. They have a huge chunk of the user market in their field and still strive to improve. This is such a big deal for me and other small business/organizations that need their products and don't have a large voice on our own.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
I've created videos with Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe PhotoShop (with the GIF function), as well as Canva and other online products. Adobe Premiere Pro does not have the same capabilities for creating vector-based content, meaning if that is necessary, Adobe After Effects is superior. The video format functionality of Adobe PhotoShop is more basic and works similarly to Adobe After Effects, so I would choose to use Adobe After Effects over Photoshop for video-making needs because of the increased capability.
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Adobe Animate is a powerful and versatile animation software that offers a wide range of tools and features. When compared to other animation software, it stacks up well in terms of its capabilities and functionality. Here are a few reasons why one might select Adobe Animate over other animation software: Support for a wide range of platforms and devices: Adobe Animate allows you to create animations and interactive content for a wide range of platforms and devices, such as web, mobile, and TV. This makes it a versatile option for creating animations for different platforms. Advanced 2D animation features: Adobe Animate's bone rigging and inverse kinematics features make it easy to create advanced 2D character animations. This makes it a great option for creating animated shorts, explainer videos, and interactive games. Interactive features: Adobe Animate's support for HTML5 Canvas and WebGL allows for the creation of interactive animations and games that can be played on web browsers without the need for any plugins.
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Return on Investment
  • Adobe After Effects has a great impact on business as maximum work can be done in one software
  • To run this software you need to have good configuration system
  • Motion Graphics, 2d Animation and video editing can be done in one software
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  • Negative, any individual who invested energy learning the program presently feels miserable that it's disappearing.
  • Activity that was done on Adobe Animate yet would now be able to be made with Toon Boom or even Adobe After Effects.
  • In addition to the side, since it's an Adobe item, you can lease it as opposed to purchasing the full permit. That implies conceivably individuals could utilize it somewhat more without dishing out as much cash.
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