Best animation software on Reddit

193 reviews from r/animation, r/learnanimation, r/Animators and 14 more subreddits

193 reviews from

and

By Brand

By Product

Blender

4.7

(26)

"Blender is free and very powerful as well so it's worth mastering."

"Probably Blender."

"I’d choose Blender for a scenario like that."

"I would do it in Blender, but that’s because that’s what I’ve learned to use."

"Blender!"

"Blender"

"Blender is a great choice for beginners. It’s free, and there are tons of tutorials to help you get started."

"Blender"

"I use Blender for everything except editing."

"Blender is quite versatile for both 2D and 3D animation."

Krita

4.3

(18)

"Krita is designed for making animations and is free, making it less overwhelming for new users."

"Krita is great for beginners."

"Free and open source, available on PC, Linux, and Mac."

"Krita is an open source digital painting software with great animation capabilities."

"Very intuitive and easy to understand and lots of tutorials."

"Krita is prob your best option."

"It's free and pretty lookin, lol."

"Krita is great for 2D frame by frame animation."

"Krita for 2D animation works really well and is beginner friendly."

"Krita offers a lot of tools for creativity, making it a good choice for artists."

Opentoonz

4.4

(11)

"OpenToonz"

"OpenToonz is recommended for 2D animation."

"Opentoonz is fantastic."

"OpenToonz is the closest free software to professional animation tools, making it ideal for transitioning to studio environments."

"Opentoonz"

"OpenToonz is an excellent animation software that is user-friendly and powerful."

"Opentoonz is an industry-level tool."

"Opentoonz is more complex."

"At first it seemed like a giant mess of a program, but there are tutorials for Opentoonz that will help you sort out all the clutter from the stuff you actually need to get started."

"OpenToonz is a fantastic free program."

Rive

4.9

(8)

"Rive is an amazing tool for creating animations!"

"Rive is an excellent tool for creating animations and interactive content."

"Check out Rive. It's a great tool for design!"

"Rive is an amazing tool for creating animations!"

"Rive is an excellent tool for creating animations and interactive content."

"I think Rive is what you’re looking for."

"Definitely check out Rive."

"Rive is a powerful tool for creating interactive animations with a free Community edition."

FlipaClip

4.0

(8)

"I use Flipaclip for all my animating."

"If your on a tablet or phone flipaclip should be a nice and simple and easy animation app"

"Draw with flipaclip"

"The transition from Flipaclip to Adobe Animate was smooth."

"There's also Flipaclip, but that one might be android only."

"Flipaclip"

"FlipaClip is a good option for beginners, it's really intuitive and basic and helped me a lot!"

"Flipacl...good luck finding a free pc software."

Pencil2D

4.1

(7)

"Pencil2D is a free and user-friendly animation software."

"Try the following pencil 2d, Krita, and the morevna version of opentoons."

"Pencil2D is a straightforward 2D animation software designed specifically for hand-drawn animation."

"I want to use Pencil 2D."

"Pretty basic, which is great for starting out."

"Pencil2D is simple and effective for young animators."

"Pencil2D is much more basic."

Procreate

4.0

(6)

"Procreate on the iPad is preferred for 2D animations."

"Procreate is my go-to app for animation due to its user-friendly interface."

"I think down the line it’ll be one of the best if they update it."

"It has an animation assist that is really basic but many people create interesting animations with it."

"Procreate can make animations, but Callipeg is better."

"Procreate has animation options although it's rather barebones and doesn't support stuff like audio."

Adobe

4.0

(6)

"I use the latest version of pirated Animate CC. Works perfectly fine."

"Great software for animation!"

"Adobe Animate is straightforward with plenty of features and tutorials."

"Adobe Animate is surprisingly light, especially for those with lower-end PCs."

"Photoshop is a powerful tool for digital art and animation."

"Adobe Animation is not ideal for frame-by-frame animations."

Gumroad

4.0

(5)

"You can find a lot of free rigs online now."

#10

Callipeg

4.8

(4)

"I do all my animations on Ipad using Callipeg. Works great for me"

"Callipeg is better for animations on iPad."

"Callipeg has the best interface out there, imho."

"I would recommend Callipeg, but Rough Animator is also good."

#11

Clip Studio Paint

4.5

(4)

"Clip studio"

"Clip Studio Paint is a fantastic tool for digital artists."

"Has both a one-time license and a subscription model."

"A good paid one Clip Studio Paint. It's for a reasonable price."

#12

Animation Paper

4.3

(4)

"It's currently available for free."

"It’s looking very promising and will only be around £80 when released."

"I've been using Animation Paper for 2D Animation. If you want frame by frame animation, I recommend watching the tutorials first."

"Meant to emulate traditional 2D animation workflow in a simple, straightforward way without an excess of bells, whistles, and bloat."

#13

Rough Animator

4.0

(4)

"Rough Animator."

"Rough Animator is recommended for IPad."

"Good little basic iPad app, cheap, no subscription."

"It's very easy to use, super basic, and fun."

#14

ToonSquid

4.0

(3)

"I hear nothing but good things about ToonSquid."

"Check out toonsquid!"

"It's a solid app with a lot of tools and regularly updated."

#15

Toon Boom

3.0

(4)

"Ask them their price or Toon boom harmony."

"Toon Boom is excellent for rigged 2D animation."

"Toon Boom Harmony is decent but can be expensive."

"The super expensive industry standard option."

#16

Sketchbook Pro

5.0

(2)

"I recommend using sketchbook pro. in my opinion its very easy to use"

"Sketchbook Pro has a simple flip book animation tool. It’s free and simple to use."

#17

Sai

4.5

(2)

"I've been using Sai for a while and was also looking to get into animation, thank you so much for this!"

"Hey, thank you so much for this program. i've been looking everywhere for a simple + easy-to-use animation app."

#18

Toonboom

4.5

(2)

"Toonboom Harmony is the industry standard."

"I would encourage you to give Toonboom Harmony another shot."

#19

Aseprite

4.5

(2)

"Lovin dat aseprite for pixel art"

"Aseprite is excellent for pixel animations."

#20

Firealpaca

4.5

(2)

"It's more of a drawing program but it also works for animation. Also there are a lot of tutorials online for it."

"Thank you for this amazing program, it seems that it works not only with SAI but also with any similar program that can save in .psd."

#21

Paint Tool SAI

4.5

(2)

"I've been scrambling for ages to find an animation software for sai, you're a life-saver!"

"This is a huge timesaver. I'll give animation another shot with this."

#22

Esoteric Software

4.5

(2)

"That's easy."

"Spine is great for rigging and puppet animations."

#23

Apple

4.0

(2)

"Procreate is popular if you have an iPad."

"Using the iPad with the Sidecar feature is a great way to utilize the Apple Pencil for drawing."

#24

Synfig Studio

4.0

(2)

"Synfig is packaged as an AppImage, and it worked for me."

"It's a good introduction to animation with a user-friendly interface."

#25

Celsys

4.0

(2)

"I would highly recommend Clip Studio Paint for traditional animation."

"Clip Studio Paint EX is a good one-time purchase for animation."

#26

TV Paint

3.0

(2)

"It is a French software and it is only one $500 payment and you completely own it."

"The super expensive industry standard option."

#27

Savage Interactive

5.0

(1)

"Procreate is an excellent app for digital art, especially at a low price."

#28

Clip Studio

5.0

(1)

"Clip Studio Paint is a very good app for animation and drawing."

#29

After Effects

5.0

(1)

"After Effects excels in motion graphics."

#30

Macromedia

5.0

(1)

"It's free and is literally just like Adobe Animate, just less feature-rich."

#31

MMM/MMD

5.0

(1)

"MMM/MMD is excellent for animating models and importing to Unity."

#32

XRAnimator

5.0

(1)

"It's free and allows you to import Mixamo motions as well as pose from pictures combining with your mocap."

#33

Premiere Pro

5.0

(1)

"For editing, I use Premiere Pro."

#34

Procreate Dreams

5.0

(1)

"Supposed to be incredibly beginner friendly."

#35

Animation Desk

5.0

(1)

"Animation Desk is great for beginners."

#36

Easytoon

5.0

(1)

"I put a lot of hours into it."

#37

DaVinci

5.0

(1)

"DaVinci is great for motion design."

#38

USB Light Pad

5.0

(1)

"A USB light pad is perfect for tracing and traditional animation."

#39

Pencils

5.0

(1)

"Pencils are essential for any drawing or animation project."

#40

Storyboard Pro

5.0

(1)

"Very intuitive and affordable with a student login."

#41

Flip-a-Clip

5.0

(1)

"It's accessible because it's available on mobile."

#42

Wick Editor

5.0

(1)

"Wick Editor is a fantastic tool for creating animations and interactive content."

#43

CapCut

5.0

(1)

"Super user friendly, pretty much all the tools you would need, as well as prebuilt animations you can use."

#44

Kidz Fun Art

5.0

(1)

"It has a simple to use but pretty powerful animation feature, along with many more features like making comics and generating coloring pages with AI."

#45

OpenToonz

4.0

(1)

"OpenToonz is a solid choice for 2D animation."

#46

Toonsquid

4.0

(1)

"It's pretty robust and has symbols, and keyframing, and you can draw in it. It's the most beginner friendly program I've found on mobile."

#47

LottieLab

4.0

(1)

"LottieLab allows you to create lightweight, vector-based animations that can be easily embedded."

#48

Pencil 2D

4.0

(1)

"Pencil 2D is recommended for IPhone."

#49

IArtbook

4.0

(1)

"IArtbook is recommended for IPhone."

#50

Lost Marble

4.0

(1)

"Moho is quite intuitive after an initial learning curve and you can make very professional animations."

#51

Autodesk

4.0

(1)

"Autodesk Maya is a solid choice for something more professional, though it comes with a cost."

#52

Amazon

4.0

(1)

"For around 60 bucks, you can get a lightbox, punched paper, and a pegbar."

#53

Mixamo

4.0

(1)

"Mixamo offers a variety of free motions that are useful for animation."

#54

vTuber Technician

4.0

(1)

"Dan Sing Sing and Dance Mixer is great for stringing motions together."

#55

Warudo/Vnyan

4.0

(1)

"Warudo and Vnyan offer a high level of customization for animations."

#56

Skillshare

4.0

(1)

"Kurzgesagt was made in After Effects. It's not that complicated."

#57

Unreal Engine

4.0

(1)

"You can animate directly in engine with control rig and sequencer. It's not a bad setup."

#58

Stop Motion Studio

4.0

(1)

"You can shoot it all with your Smartphone and the app."

#59

RoughAnimator

4.0

(1)

"RoughAnimator is a free 2D animation software that works well with drawing tablets."

#60

Trangram

4.0

(1)

"Trangram is a free, online 2D animation software with a user-friendly interface."

#61

Tahoma 2D

4.0

(1)

"Tahoma 2D can work for more advanced beginners."

#62

Adobe Animate

4.0

(1)

"Adobe Animate is a great industry-level tool."

#63

Adobe Fresco

4.0

(1)

"It has better animation capabilities than Procreate and offers vector brushes."

#64

Animate CC

4.0

(1)

"Animate CC is a solid choice for animation with a user-friendly interface."

#65

Tahoma2D

4.0

(1)

"Tahoma2D is a great free option for animation."

#66

ClipStudio

4.0

(1)

"ClipStudio is much more advanced but also an option."

#67

Synfig

4.0

(1)

"I love Synfig but it does not seem to be that popular."

#68

Flip A Clip

4.0

(1)

"Flip A Clip is great for simple animations on the iPad."

#69

KeyShot

4.0

(1)

"I would do this in something like keyshot or blender."

#70

Anishare

4.0

(1)

"Hey, I'm working on a free collaborative animation platform called Anishare, where users can create simple 2D animations in the browser together in real time."

#71

Luppet

3.0

(1)

"Luppet is also paid and may not be worth the investment for everyone."

#72

Pivot Animator

3.0

(1)

"Pivot Animator is old, but you can find some pretty impressive stuff made with it."

#73

Animation Software

3.0

(1)

"Me I am doing my own animation software : https://animation-software.com/."

#74

Webcammotioncapture

2.0

(1)

"Webcammotioncapture has limited features and is a paid software."

#75

Reallusion

2.0

(1)

"I really can’t recommend it at all. I’ve tried it a few times but have always been left disappointed."

#76

Cascadeur

2.0

(1)

"Cascadeur is a different style of tool though, if you want something like that it's not directly in unreal."

#77

enve

2.0

(1)

"The AppImage does not work OOTB. There is a patch, but I have not taken the time to mess with it."

#78

Daz3D

2.0

(1)

"Daz3D is great for creating humans, but you won’t get far unless you pay a lot for addons."

#79

Flipaclip

1.0

(1)

"That app is so bad."

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