16 best alternatives to Adobe After Effects CC as of 2018 - Slant

Animation Desk

Top Pro

Quick sketch

Great for light sketches, and some drafting for your animation. See More

Top Con

iOS free cloud version has no sound options

Top Pro

Free to use

Some features may require purchases but the app free as is, and works fine. See More

Top Con

Android version is not as extensive as the iOS version

Some of the options that are present in the iOS version of Animation Desk Cloud aren't integrated in the Android application. For example, features such frame labeling isn't available. See More

Top Pro

Works on different platforms

It supports almost every major platforms, so working on iOS, Android, and Windows devices is not a problem. See More

Top Con

Doesn't include any mobile prototyping specific features

Top Pro

Photoshop compatible

Supports PSD file import/export, can export your draft to Photoshop easily for further works. See More

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10 2

Adobe XD

Top Pro

Repeat grid is a timesaver

Creating a list of items is simple with "repeat grid." Just create one and use repeat grid to duplicate that item vertically or horizontally. Then drag and drop text or images to create unique entries for each repeated item. See More

Top Con

No tools for animation

It is possible to create transitions, but this feature is very limited. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use interface

It's easy to be productive immediately with XD but it also includes a demo so that you can learn about some of the more powerful features. See More

Top Con

Only good for mockups

XD is not a multi-purpose tool like Sketch. It is not a good tool for logos, icons, or other design assets. See More

Top Pro

Cross platform

It's available on both macOS and Windows. See More

Top Pro

UI Kits are available for iOS, Material Design, and more

Includes: iOS Google Material Design Windows UWP Wireframes See More

Top Pro

Share online and gather feedback

Allows mockups to be pushed to the web where collaborators can try the mockup and leave feedback. See More

Top Pro

Interactive mockups

XD allows you to wire any object to any destination page so that clicking a button asset will take you to a page that you specify. Mockups can also simulate a scrolling page or window. See More

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11 0

Origami

Top Con

Mac only

Since Origami is not an app in and on itself, but a plugin for Quartz Composer, which is built by Apple. Therefore, Origami is only available for Mac and for a developer to download and use it, they need to register as an Apple Developer. See More

Top Pro

Completely free

Origami is offered to the public completely free, no monthly plans, no upfront cost whatsoever. See More

Top Con

Mouse driven interactions

There's no way to directly test the tactile interface. See More

Top Pro

Powerful animations and interactions

Origami was actually built to help Facebook designers work on Paper, one of Facebook's latest apps. Every animation that is coded into Origami was first made for Paper. It uses powerful 3D effects and some of the most advanced features for scrolling, tapping and swiping to create a faithful and interactive prototype. See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve

Origami is a toolkit for Quartz Composer, and unfortunately the learning curve for it is quite steep. Especially for beginners. See More

Top Pro

No code required

Origami is built by designers for designers. As such, it allows for quick prototyping without writing a single line of code. See More

Top Pro

Open source

Origami is free and open source and it is hosted on GitHub. See More

Top Pro

Native testing

Developers can develop their prototypes with origami through their desktops, but the testing itself is done on the native devices. See More

Top Pro

Like only-Mac-integration! Great app! Thank you.

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8 0

ProtoPie

Top Pro

Smooth and gradual learning curve

As the interface is very clean and simple, it enables you to create interactions by combining objects, triggers and responses just like that. No need for wireframing or shitty mockups, just get to hi-fi prototyping right away. See More

Top Con

No Gradients, no Shadows, no Text properties

There is no possibility to add shadows, gradients or edit text properties. You even can't choose a font. See More

Top Pro

Runs on Mac and Windows

It offers the same features on both MacOS and Windows. Plus, you can switch machines as long as you are logged in to ProtoPie Studio. See More

Top Pro

IoT, Interactions across devices

Create prototypes e.g. chat platforms, payment apps etc. and deploy them on multiple devices and have them communicate with each other. See More

Top Pro

Native prototyping

Deploy prototypes on any device right away. What's the point of prototyping mobile apps if you cannot deploy it on your mobile devices easily? See More

Top Pro

Utilizes sensors very easily

Easily control the sensors of smart devices in your prototype, such as tilt, sound, compass, proximity sensor, vibration motor and 3D Touch sensors. See More

Top Pro

Code Free

No coding needed to do interactions for your prototypes. You just choose the objects and link them with the triggers and responses you want to based on your preferred interactions. See More

Top Pro

Fast and easy sharing

Sharing is very easy via the cloud. Open the prototype in desktop or mobile browser, or deploy the prototype on the ProtoPie Player app. All is possible. See More

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25 1

UXPin

Top Con

Expensive subscription model

$29 per user/mo ($350 pa) will soon rack up compared to a standalone product like Axure PRO ($450) which has a license that lasts years (they have given out free updates for the last 2 versions). See More

Top Pro

Import from PhotoShop and Sketch

A pro UXPin account will allow you to import existing projects from PhotoShop or Sketch. See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve

UXPin is one of the more complex prototyping tools. Combined with a lack of documentation, it can be discouraging for first time users. See More

Top Pro

Extensive library of elements and patterns

UXPin offers elements from a wide range libraries. This includes responsive frameworks such as Bootstrap and Foundation, and libraries specific to mobile prototyping. See More

Top Pro

Actively developed

UXPin is constantly being updated with new features. See More

3 0

HitFilm 2

Top Pro

It has a free express version

Top Con

No OMFI support

Open Media Framework Interchange (OMFI) is a platform-independent file format intended for transfer of digital media between different software applications. See More

Top Pro

Import 3D models

You can import .obj, .lwo or .3ds models right into your composites, then texture and animate them. No 3rd party plug-in required. See More

Top Pro

Powerful particle simulator

Physics based 3D particle simulator that can interact with surfaces and forces. You can have custom particles, size randomness, bounce, different emitters, etc. It can even be set to animate based on audio waveforms. See More

Top Pro

2D & 3D motion tracking

A 2D track is built in HitFilm and the "Camera Solve" part of Mocha comes integrated with the software. See More

Top Pro

Powerful presets & visual effects

Color grading, motion blur, lights, flares, 3D muzzle flashes, procedural fire, etc. They both work out of the box and can be heavily customized. More than 150 visual effects and more are added constantly. See More

Top Pro

Beginner friendly

Amazing all-in-one starter software thanks to a lot of powerful presets and a simplified workflow. There are tips, guides, explanations and easy access to community support. The interface is intuitive and easy to overview. See More

Top Pro

Mac & PC support

Works on both Mac OS X and Windows. See More

Top Pro

3D camera data support

Top Pro

Splash screen

Gives access to community. See More

Top Pro

Real 3D

Particles, models, lights, camera tracking, effects, etc are all in true 3D space. You don't have to manage object or effect depth or angles by obfuscation. See More

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3 0

Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Top Pro

Advanced tracking feature

Moving objects can be tracked using Premiere. Once an object is identified, certain effects (like face blurring) can be applied. See More

Top Con

Slow and choppy performance working with 4K or higher resolution

Working with REDcode 4K or higher brings the performance and stability of Premiere down. See More

Top Pro

Works well with other Adobe programs

This program is made to interact very well with the other Adobe production apps like After Effects, SpeedGrade, Soundbooth, Photoshop and others. Adobe programs can dynamically link with each other, so when an update occurs in Premiere it will update in other software accordingly. See More

Top Pro

Widely used

Easy to find tutorials, documentation and support. See More

Top Pro

Multicamera editing

Multi-camera sequences can be created based on in or out points, timecode or even audio, allowing users to to edit multi-camera setup in real-time via keyboard or mouse. Additionally, Premiere can display camera angles as track or clip names. See More

Top Pro

GPU accelerated rendering on Mac

Top Pro

PC and Mac support

Works on both Windows and OS X See More

Top Pro

Native ProRes & DNxHD support

Top Pro

Subscription / cloud-based model

Ensures that the latest version of the software is always installed. Allows saving preferences (such as workspace layout and keyboard shortcuts) in the cloud, so the preferences can be loaded on a different machine. Users can even download personal settings from each other. See More

Top Pro

Window-based layout, allows for a more flexible workspace

Top Pro

Smart Rendering

An option called "Smart Rendering" will not re-render a file that is of a certain format that it also exports to, it will just tack it on, reducing render time and artifacts. See More

Top Pro

VST plug-in support

Top Pro

GPU accelerated rendering on Windows

Nvidia and ATI cards are supported. See More

Top Pro

Works with basically any resolution

Technically up to 10240x8192px, but QUHD probably won't be a standard for a while. See More

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10 1

Proto

Top Pro

Has one of the largest gestural support libraries in the market

Proto supports one of the (if not the) largest gestural support libraries out of all the prototyping tools. With gestures such as: Pinchin/out Swipes Double tap Tap Hold Release and more... See More

Top Con

Only a free trial

Other prototyping tools offer free plans to trial as long as one wants, but Proto only offers a trial that while has full functionality has a 15 day time limit. See More

Top Pro

Native prototype testing

Developers can build prototypes through the browser with Proto, but the testing itself is done on the devices. Proto has released native apps for both iOS and Android that developers to test their designs right on the native device itself. See More

Top Con

Prototyping can be relatively slow

Proto's animations and interactions are very detailed. As far as prototyping goes Proto is probably the best tool to get as close to the actual app as possible. But this brings the downside that prototyping with Proto becomes quite slow and can take several hours to finish to get everything to work perfectly. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use with it's intuitive drag-and-drop interface

Proto is very easy to use even for beginners, or programmers who are not well-versed in Photoshop or Sketch or any other drawing application. With it's easy drag-and-drop interface and with a wide library of commonly used UI elements for Android and iOS, prototyping with Proto is very simple. See More

Top Pro

Design and prototype all in one tool

Better UX to not switch between multiple tools. See More

Top Pro

Preview prototypes on the device (e.g. iPhone, Android phone)

Top Pro

User testing / screen recording capabilities

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9 1

HotGloo

Top Pro

Seamless

HotGloo's interface is designed to be intuitive. You won't have to invest a lot of time in trying to figure out how it works. You can jump straight into work and rely on the abundance of tutorials, webinars, and documentation in case you get stuck. See More

Top Con

Expensive subscription model

$27 a month soon racks up to a lot of money, a standalone product will be much cheaper in the long run. See More

Top Pro

Interactive

HotGloo makes collaboration and interaction easy. You can add others to your account and send projects for review and feedback rounds. See More

2 0

FluidUI

Top Pro

Tools for team collaboration

Work with your team on a design. Connect on live video calls and chat or add comments. See More

Top Pro

Supports realistic gestures & transitions

You can simulate all the typical iOS gestures such as tap, double tap, swipe & long hold. These gestures then can trigger animated transitions such as sliding, fading, pop in, & flip. This enables you to create very realistic interactable demos of your app. Checkout the demo page for some examples. See More

Top Pro

Awesome version control

Every action you or your team takes automatically creates a revision you can easily revert to. See More

Top Pro

Provides UI assets from all the versions of iOS

The UI library is huge and very high quality. All the UI required to design iO7 apps is included as well as iOS 6 and basic wireframing elements. For example in iOS7 it provides: Backgrounds Navigation & status bars Layouts (list pickers, maps, keyboards, scroll etc) Controls Typography Icons See More

Top Pro

Fast

Using the app is feels very snappy. See More

Top Pro

Free forever for a single project & 10 screens

They have a very reasonable free tier with the paid versions starting at $12/month. See More

Top Pro

Lets you test on an iPhone as well as in the browser

You can preview your designs live in the browser as well as send them to a mobile device to better simulate the UX. See More

Top Pro

Makes it easy to plan out the app workflow

Fluid isn't just about wireframing static screens. You can plan out all the user flows and then define the transitions between them. This is really handy for planning out the entire user workflow. See More

Top Pro

User friendly

The learning curve is relatively low compared to other software that supports animations/transitions. Both building the wireframes and designing the interactions is all drop and drag. See More

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23 4

Prototyping on Paper

Top Pro

Multiple device support

Prototyping on Paper supports both Android and iOS. See More

Top Con

Not well suited for complex prototypes

PoP is built to be a tool for quick prototyping, especially in participatory design sessions. For complex prototypes with a lot of screens it would require a large number of images to be used and this can make any project hard to maintain. See More

Top Pro

Based on sketched wireframes

Prototypes made on PoP are based on sketches made on paper or a whiteboard, which are later photographed or scanned and uploaded into the app. Once that's done, hotspots can then be added, which register tapping or several gestures. See More

1 0

Framer Studio

Top Pro

CoffeeScript integration to define animations

Framer uses coffeescript for defining animations. CoffeeScript has a low learning curve and as such it can be learned easily even by non-programmers. See More

Top Con

Coding required

Framer Studio uses CoffeeScript for prototyping the UI of an app. This can be a problem for designers who don't know CoffeeScript since they would be forced to learn a new programming language in order to use Framer. See More

Top Pro

Multiple device support

Framer supports animation and interaction prototyping for multiple devices, ranging from desktop apps to web apps and mobile platforms. There are already 8 pre-installed devices to choose from, or developers can create their own setup quickly. See More

Top Con

Mac only

Framer Studio is only supported for Mac. There is no version for Windows or Linux. See More

Top Pro

Photoshop & Sketch integration

Framer is integrated with Framer Generator, which allows developers to import layers directly from Adobe Photoshop and/or Sketch. See More

Top Pro

Instant visual feedback

Framer Studio offers and instant preview of the animation that is currently being made. See More

25 7

Invision

Top Pro

Free plan

Invision offers a free plan to anyone that is limited to one project. While the free plan is a bit limited it does allow the user to trial the software for as long as they like to decide on its merits and whether it is worth paying for the more robust options. See More

Top Con

Expensive for just a hosting platform

Invision is a tool for building click through prototypes and getting feedback on them, you need to design everything in another app and upload them, it isn't a design tool. See More

Top Pro

Presents designs in a way that mimics an actual web browsing experience

Once uploaded on Invision, the screen will be presented in a way that will behave as an actual web page. This is especially easy for showing the work to clients, more so if compared to just showing them a .PDF, which may make it look like the page is "too crowded". See More

Top Con

While Invision acts as an all-in-one environment for design, it may become a nuisance

These times, teams are not using just a single app or tool for everything. It's not unheard of for teams to be using up to a dozen different tools for their work. Invision works as an all-in-one environment for product design and unfortunately it does not integrate with other tools. This may be a nuisance for teams that want to integrate different tools in their workflow. See More

Top Pro

Supports gestures, transitions & animations for web, iOS & Android

Hotspot links can be created for every page, and once it's done, for each one of them gestures and transitions can be registered. Invision supports various gesture types: swiping, double tapping, sliding, etc... See More

Top Pro

Real-time collaboration and VOIP chat

Live Share allows you to collaborate in real-time using an in-browser screen share. Each collaborator gets their own mouse, so you can easily point and see what someone is talking about. You can also sketch, and chat right inside the Live Share interface. Invision's Live Share gives team members the ability to collaborate in real-time through a screen share inside their browser. Each collaborator has their cursor which they can use and edit or add notes in real-time. On top of that, Invision also has a VOIP chat which works inside the browser. See More

Top Pro

Design files are automatically synced and their version history tracked

Invision uses Invision Sync or Dropbox to automatically save design files on the cloud. Furthermore, it has version control built in. This is especially helpful if a team is going through different versions for a specific design and they want to return again and again to previous designs. See More

Top Pro

Great built-in feedback features

Invision allows clients, stakeholders or any team members to leave comments and feedback inside the design which will be displayed as a point on the page itself. These paints can be discussed or even be turned into tasks. This makes it easy for designers to go through what they need to work on, and once it's done, the task can be checked off. See More

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14 5

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