Here's our compiled a list of the best paid and free animation software out there to help you make the right decision for your animation needs!
Computer animation has come a long way since inception in the year 1960. The fundamentals of animation software or animation tool can be traced back to the time when William Fetter, a computer graphics designer made a diagram of a human body inside an airplane cockpit. Although the intention was to maximize the efficiency of Boeing’s cockpits, it paved the way towards more sophisticated process flows and thus, towards animation generated by computers. The credit for the first animation software, however, goes to Ivan Sutherland, an MIT graduate. His program Sketchpad (developed in 1963) drew lines that looked like recognizable figures. Little did he know that his idea would become a multibillion-dollar industry in the years to come.
Slowly and steadily, more progress was made in the field. The movie Tron which was released in the year 1982, was one of the first movies to use computer-generated graphics. Movies like the Terminator, Jurassic Park, Toy Story, the Matrix, and Avatar further refined the process, adding more details and sophistication to computer animation. The animation software industry grew to great heights within this period.
Fast forward to 2024, we have a plethora of examples to celebrate the genius of CGI or computer-generated imagery. There are a variety of animation software available in the market, widely used by professionals at animation studios. Depending on the medium you choose —hand-drawn or 2D, 3D, or stop-motion and the price range, there are plenty of options to get started. A well-built animation software provides intuitive controls and flexibility that can be easily understood by a beginner but also has vastly superior tools for an experienced user.
Browse through this list of quality animation software, and select the one that best suits your requirement. We hope it will help you hone your foundation skills, practice animation styles, and help you get professional results.
In our selection of the best animation software, we emphasize tools that balance ease of use with powerful capabilities, perfect for aspiring animators and seasoned professionals alike. These programs offer intuitive interfaces, extensive animation features, and flexibility across various styles, from traditional frame-by-frame animation to cutting-edge 3D modeling. Our list is continually updated to ensure you're equipped with the latest advancements in animation technology, enabling you to bring your creative visions to life with efficiency and flair.
Toon Boom by Harmony is a cartoon animation software for beginners as well as for professionals. The software allows the user the flexibility, fluidity, and the smoothness of traditional animation. The learning curve is moderate since the software is meant for newbies as well as for professionals. The software has been used by leading animation studios for more than 25 years.
GitHub illustrator and animator, Tony Jaramillo writes in his testimonial, “Harmony makes it possible to level up our animation productivity without sacrificing quality. we're big fans”.
Some of the most famous users of Toon Boom are Universal Studios, Fox Studios, Cartoon Network, Ubisoft, and Lucas Film.
To run Toon Boom Harmony, you'll need Windows 10 or macOS 10.13 or later, 8GB RAM, and a modern OpenGL graphics card.
New features that came with the latest update include a stabilizer for lines, stylus pressure responsiveness, and tilt and angle responsiveness. Standard features include a brush engine, traditional paperless animation, deformers, cut-out animation, 2D/3D integration, export to game engines, and pipeline integration. It is also easily integrable with software such as Adobe Illustrator, and extensions such as PSD, PSB, PDF, and Bitmaps.
Pricing options come in different packages that include this animation software. Harmony Essentials cost 25 USD per month, billed annually. Similarly, Harmony Advanced is 63 USD per month and the Harmony Premium is 115 USD per month. You can use the software for free for 21 days; a duration that is good enough to understand and explore this amazing animation software.
| PROS | CONS |
| It has plenty of drawing and animation tools | Cannot record or edit audio in the program |
| High Fidelity Auto-Meshing | Glitches occur if software is not updated. |
| Advanced lip-sync tools | High-cost barrier for independent animators |
| Collaborative workflow | The program is highly customizable |
Movavi Video Editor & Animation tool is great software for novice editors and enthusiastic video content creators. It features a simple UI with short tutorial hints to help you get started quickly. It also supports drag and drop, which is perfect for quickly blending multiple video clips into a comprehensive work. You can create everything from gaming videos for YouTube to video tutorials and slideshows.
To run Movavi Video Editor, you'll need Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.13.6 or later, 2 GB RAM and a 1.5 GHz dual-core Intel, AMD, or compatible processor.
The animation tool offers more than just basic video editing tools. Users can take advantage of advanced tools like panning and zooming, animating an object, creating stop motion, applying slow motion, and tracking moving objects. The program also provides plenty of creative transitions and animated titles, which can be used to create eye-catching videos.
Movavi Video Editor offers a 7-day free trial period, so you can try the software before deciding to commit to it. The paid version is priced at 54.95 USD per year or 79.95 USD for a one-time payment. The bestselling version often comes with a huge discount and includes the video editor plus effect packs including gradients, LUTs, and VHS effects.
| PROS | CONS |
| User-friendly interface | Limited selection of templates |
| Cool effects and transitions | Not suitable for professional animators |
| Plenty of video and audio editing tools |
The Moho Pro is the advanced version of its lighter version, the Moho Debut. The user base is more professional and advanced. The software is costlier but has more features that can be used to create better animations. This 2D animation software includes all the features of Moho Debut. The latest version Moho Pro 13 integrates the best animation technology with the most sophisticated tools.
To run Moho Pro 13.5, you'll need Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.13 or later, 4GB RAM, and a modern OpenGL graphics card.
Moho Pro offers a bone rigging system, physics engine, dynamic bones, and smart bones to control complex movements, frame by frame capabilities, vector tools with Bezier handles, accurate SVG, AI, and EPS import, 4K video export, vector export, motion blur, and multilayer and multi-channel control. The newest update adds bitmap frame by frame capabilities, bitmap freehand drawing tools, custom bitmap brush creation, 3D objects light manipulation, 3D objects material properties support.
This animation software is priced at 399.9 USD with a free trial that lasts for 30 days. You can also purchase add-ons to improve the experience. The 100 Brush Pack, for example, is priced at 39 USD. Other add-ons include the Retro Space Pack, School Days Pack, Content Pack, and the Puppets Pack.
| PROS | CONS |
| Easy to make custom presets. | FBX file support is limited |
| Workspace is highly customizable | Lacks tutorials and resources for beginners |
| Enhanced Freehand Drawing Tools | Require a strong system |
Flipsnack is a web based flipbook animation software that allows users to create and share publications with a realistic page flip effect. With this tool, you can transform your static documents into all sorts of animated publications such as magazines, catalogs, presentations, portfolios, brochures, you name it, without any effort whatsoever.
This software comes equipped with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor and a plethora of fully customizable templates, therefore it is suitable for every type of user, whether you’re tech-savvy or not.
Flipsnack is constantly updating and developing new assets but when it comes to interactivity, some of its key features at the moment are the following: photo slide-shows; GIFs; audio and video elements; map embedding, and social media buttons integration.
If you want to share your animated content, there are various ways in which you can do it, be it publicly, unlisted, or private, with Flipsnack you can select and manage your audience according to your needs.
Moreover, if you want to track the performance of your animated flipbooks, you can do that using Flipsnack’s integrated option, which offers insights about every impression, view, share, and average reading duration for each publication. However, for a deeper understanding of your audience and content performance, you can also connect your account to Google Analytics.
In terms of pricing options, Flipsnack offers a free trial that allows you to create up to 3 catalogs of 30 pages each, a Starter plan for 14$/month; a Professional 35$/month; a Business plan for 79$/month, a Business plan for 207$/month and an Enterprise plan for 355$/month.
| PROS | CONS |
| Multi-platform compatibility | Don't function well with shared links |
| Easy to share and add to an email | The text box formatting has a bug |
| Collaboration and sharing | 3D flip-page effect |
Animaker is a browser-based animation software that can be used by beginners, professionals, and animation enthusiasts. It is a great tool for making handcraft videos, whiteboard videos, short marketing bits, animated infographic videos, and educational videos. Used by huge brands such as Amazon, Nokia, Siemens, and Dell, Animaker’s buffed-up client base speaks for itself. With Animaker, you can make 2D and 2.5D videos via a variety of tools and features. You can choose from different plans based on your needs.
To run Animaker, you'll need a modern web browser with WebGL support, 512 MB of RAM and Windows 7 or higher OS.
Animaker supports full HD and both horizontal and vertical layouts. Animaker provides great features for animation such as record, curve, camera in/out, multimove, transition effects, and enter/exit effects. Along with these, the animation software also has a deck feature that allows users to use animations as videos or presentations. The software also has some amazing audio features such as text-to-speech, preloaded background tracks, sound effects, voice recording, etc. You can also use libraries for pre-defined templates.
With the free package, you can download your animations with a watermark. The free package also lets you work with HD support. The basic pack is priced at 10 USD per month supports creation of 5 custom characters & HD quality videos. The starter pack is priced at 19 USD per month and is intended for individuals and startups. Supports full HD and you can download 10 premium animations without the watermarks. The business pack is priced at 49 USD per month and has all the features that this great animation software has to offer.
| PROS | CONS |
| User interface is newbie friendly | Supports Full HD and 4k resolution |
| Several templates to get started | High system requirements |
| Character customization options | Need more sound track options |
Another browser animation software that is free to use, Powtoon is intended for beginners but can also be used by more advanced animators. It can be used to make dynamic video presentations. Used by brands such as Microsoft, IBM, Google, Adobe, Coca Cola, eBay, Cisco, and Starbucks, Powtoon is a trusted software that can be used to develop engaging infographic videos and marketing bits.
The official website describes Powtoon as a platform for visual communication. Hopping on the visual communication description, the animation software is a great means to talent acquisition, change management, internal communications, and marketing. Schools and universities can also use Powtoon to make infographic videos and educational tutorials to teach their students. In fact, during times such as these when the world is fighting against COVID-19, such a tool can come in handy to reach out to colleagues and team members.
With Powtoon’s free version, you can export YouTube videos, Facebook videos, Vimeo videos, and PDFs, and Powerpoints. The version also offers customs styles and you can change the aspect ratio as well as sizes. You can implement image files and animate and make GIFs. Once you get past the beginner level, you can choose from the various packages based on your requirements. Powtoon is one of the best animation software that you can use to learn about animation. You can import themes from Microsoft Powerpoint as well in case you don’t want to start working from scratch.
The three paid packages that come with this animation software are Lite, Pro, and Business. At 15 USD per month, you can buy the Lite package which gives you access to free content and 5 premium exports per month. The Pro is priced at 40 USD per month and gives you access to all PRO templates and Unlimited premium exports. With Business, the cream package, you get all the features of Powtoon with 3rd-party reseller rights at 125 USD per month.
| PROS | CONS |
| Offers a wide variety of preset | Only one timeline to edit from |
| Intuitive process for editing | Animations can only be set to ½ seconds. |
| Supports multiple layer editing |
Terragen is a free animation software for Windows. You can use it to make CG animation. It is meant for moderate level users but can be used by beginners who are interested in learning animation. The learning curve is moderate and it requires some time to get the hang of it. The newest feature, the ray-traced preview is great for animation. It can be installed on all Windows devices and is an amazing animation software for 3D animation. Developed by Planetside Software, Terragen 4.4, the latest update is feature-rich.
To run Terragen, you'll need Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.12 or later, 4GB RAM and a 2Ghz Dual Core CPU.
Besides ray-traced preview, some of the other features include photo-real clouds, ozone simulation, faster rendering (almost double), lens effects, and new shaders and enhancements, etc. Terragen Pro comes with FBX, render layers and AOVs, spherical cameras, full 3D motion blur, and stereo cameras. The drawback of this animation software is that its interface looks very complicated. However, with use and understanding, you can work on it effortlessly.
The creative edition starts from $15 per month & professional edition for $38 per month. The complete price list of Terragen can be found here.
| PROS | CONS |
| Realistic terrain generation | Steep learning curve |
| Versatile rendering options | Limited animation capabilities |
| Ray-traced preview | High price tag |
| Large user community | Doesnt work on lower-end machines |
This is a great free animation software for people who are into traditional hand-drawn animation. The software allows you to work with both raster as well as with vector graphics. The minimal design of the interface makes it easy and smooth to work with. The clutter-free UI/UX experience is one of the selling points of this free software.
Pencil2D is a cross-platform software that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The software is open-source which has allowed a great and helpful community to develop around this product.
To run Pencil 2D, you'll need Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.12 or later, and ICore-5 (3rd Generation or Above) or comparable CPU. 4GB of RAM
The software has a variety of handy animation tools and options. You can also upload your Pencil 2D project to aid in the development of the software; one of the plus points of being open-source. You can import GIFs and export them as well. The latest version, v0.6.6 released on year 2021 with several new tweaks and adjustments. Bug fixes and patches were also part of the update.
The biggest disadvantage of using Pencil2D is that the software requires you to fill in your preferences every time you open it.
| PROS | CONS |
| User Interface is very easy and simple. | Need to animate frame by frame |
| Open Source & free 2D animation software | Limited options compared to competitors |
| Supports both Raster and vector assets | Not much used by professional studios |
Another open-source 2D animation software that comes free of cost. If you are not comfortable with a frame by frame animation software, this is the perfect tool for you. You can run this free animation software on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Since the software is open-source, you can make changes to the source code and submit enhancements and upgrades.
To run Synfig Studio, you'll need Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.13 or later, or a Linux system with a modern OpenGL graphics card.
One of the main features of Synfig Studio is vector tweening; you can convert any vector graphic into another form easily. The software offers powerful tools to help you achieve that. Synfig also provides more than 50 layers to make artworks and animations. Some of the layer types are geometric, transformations, gradients, filters, distortions, fractals, etc. The bone system is also full of options and is a powerful tool on its own. The software also provides an additional skeleton distortion layer. Finally, you can connect different layers via mathematical expressions. With the help of this, you can make characters, puppets, and complex dynamic structures. The software has a steeper learning curve for beginners.
| PROS | CONS |
| The animation tools are powerful | Program crashes frequently |
| Lot of plugins available | Slow rendering |
| Smoother transition features | Advanced features takes time to learn |
Probably the best free animation software on this list and one of the most recommended software for animation by professionals, Blender is an open-source software that runs on different platforms with ease. It is one of the few 3D modeling and animation software that is free of cost, yet it does not lack any power or robustness of its paid counterparts. In fact, it might just have a slight edge over them. This animation software is suitable for beginners as well as for professionals. With the help of Blender, you can develop animations, games, animated models, animated movies, renders, and other types of 3D prints. It is available on macOS, Linux, and Windows.
To run Blender, you'll need Windows 8 or later, macOS 10.13 or later, or a Linux distribution, with 8GB RAM and a graphics card that supports OpenGL 4.3 or higher.
Blender is a pretty good animation software when it comes to the features it offers. Blender provides real-time viewport review as well as CPU and GPU rendering. With Blender, you have PBR shaders and HDR lighting support. Other features include VR rendering support, advanced modeling, sculpting, and UV tools, advanced rigging and animation tools, powerful visual effects, auto-tracking, manual tracking, camera reconstruction, drawing in 2D mode оnto the 3D viewport, onion skinning, etc.
Blender is one of the best free animation software that you can use at all levels. Blender has some amazing open projects where you can contribute. Ever since the year 2005, the Blender Foundation has tried to invite developers and animators to contribute to open projects to promote creativity and innovation in Blender. The first such project was called ‘Elephants Dream’, which won the best short film award. Here is the official link to all open projects started by the Blender Foundation. If you are an advanced animator, make sure to check these out.
Some of the drawbacks are that the learning curve is very steep and it would take beginners a lot of time to learn to use this software. It is also not easy to make image animations since the software aims more at 3D animation.
| PROS | CONS |
| Very fast poly modeling tools | Slow viewport performance |
| A lot of features & it's free | Unintuitive layers system. |
| Incredibly customizable input. | Lack of proper motion capture support. |
| Has multiple save file options | Hard to understand the interface |
OpenToonz is a free animation software that you can use to make cartoon animations. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. OpenToonz was customized by Studio Ghibli and is in use by the same for many years. It was first used in the making of the famous film, ‘Princess Mononoke’ by Studio Ghibli. Since it is open-source, you can contribute to its source code as well.
To run OpenToonz, you'll need Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.14 or later, and a 64-bit CPU with at least 4GB RAM.
OpenToonz has all the features required to make a great animated film. Its unique features have been specifically customised to meet those requirements of the production staff. The scanning tool or 'GTS’ for instance, that specializes in animation. OpenToonz also comes with an effects development kit developed by Dwango. The SDK is a plug-in effect for image processing. Other features include digital drawing tools such as vector and bitmap drawing tools, indexed color palettes, animated special effects, and composite scene, scripting, motion tracking, frame-by-frame animation, motion tweening, bones character animation, particle systems for dust, rain, and similar effects, etc.
It can be used free of charge for both commercial and non-commercial videos. In case you face any issues, you can post your query in the developers’ forum or any community blog. The plug-in effects of this animation software are, however, very limited.
| PROS | CONS |
| Open-source and free | Unaesthetic and antique interface |
| Customizable Templates | Steep learning curve |
| Import using image scanning | Outdated interface |
Here’s a treat for Mac users; a free animation software with amazing features and lots of content. The software was developed by animators who wanted to allow people to make and edit videos without having to pay for them. The learning curve of this software is moderate and you can create quality 2D videos once you get the hang of it. You can contribute to the Tupi source code as well and tweak it in case you require specific customizations or would like to help the community.
To run TupiTube, you'll need Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.9 or later, or Ubuntu 18.04, and OpenGL 2.0 compatible graphics.
Features of TupiTube include support for vector illustrations, adding shapes, filling areas, import raster images, export all your finished images into different file formats, support for tweeting positions, etc. You can also make lip-sync animations using TupiTube. The software also supports vector illustrations and different file formats. The official website contains lots of resources for animators of all levels. It features an extensive resource base of examples and tutorials. One of the drawbacks of Tupi is that it cannot be used to make 3D videos.
| PROS | CONS |
| Aimed for complete novices | Not as polished as other animation software |
| Provides basic tools for vector illustration | No iOS version |
| Simplistic design and UI | Limited export options |
| Cross-platform compatibility | Lack of documentation |
Although the list of animation software is exhaustive, we have tried to put together the best intuitive software programs, and we hope it'll give you a good start.
You might want to check out our list of the best graphic design software. For Tech-savvy creatives read our review on the best drawing and art apps.
As you get creative with your animation portfolios, do remember to create your portfolio website to showcase your work. Your design portfolio represents a window for the world to view your work and judge your talent, skills, and experience.
So, if you haven’t built a website to showcase your design portfolio, start today with Pixpa. Here are some great examples of graphic design portfolios created on Pixpa for your inspiration. Explore all features that make Pixpa the perfect choice for creative professionals. Get ready to express yourself in stunning new ways and create awesome animation clips with ease and efficiency!
You can use open source or free to use software like Pencil 2D, Synfig Studio, Blender or OpenToonz to animate for free. Of these Blender is a highly recommended free to use software while OpenToonz is an open source program developed by Studio Ghibli.
Adobe Character Animator is an example of a popular animation software used to create computer based animations.
