Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe After Effects
Score 9.1 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 8.4 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
Adobe Illustrator
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Illustrator CC is a vector-based graphic design software.
$20.99
per month
Pricing
Adobe After EffectsAdobe AnimateAdobe Illustrator CC
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
Yearly - Billed Monthly
$20.99
per month
Monthly
$31.49
per month
Yearly - Billed Upfront
$239.88
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe After EffectsAdobe AnimateAdobe Illustrator
Free Trial
NoYesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe After EffectsAdobe AnimateAdobe Illustrator CC
Considered Multiple Products
Adobe After Effects
Chose Adobe After Effects
Adobe Illustrator is used for creating templates, logos, cartoons but you can animate the beautiful logo or cartoon with the help of a camera and 3D space, it worth the experience no matter what...
Chose Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects and Final Cut Pro are quite similar in the sense of their functionalities as far as I'm aware and the interfaces are more or less similar. But Adobe After Effects is preferred over Final Cut Pro mostly because of the fact that it is part of the Adobe …
Chose Adobe After Effects
Don't know about any other tools in the market which can replace Adobe After Effects
Chose Adobe After Effects
Because they are part of the Creative Cloud platform, all Adobe software. They are well integrated into each other. If I create a vector in Illustrator and save it, load it up in After Effects, and notice that I need to adjust it? Well I don't have to fully close out of After …
Chose Adobe After Effects
[Adobe After Effects] is a beast and VEGAS Pro is just a baby when compared to Adobe. It doesn't match [Adobe After Effects] when it comes to the feature and performance it offers.
Chose Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects is a great bridge from still graphics and vector, to motion graphics. The integration with Premiere makes things work seamlessly and the way it can ustilise native PSDs and ai files makes working in Adobe After Effects ideal for most clients.
Chose Adobe After Effects
In Adobe After we can do Motion Graphics, 2d Animation, Text Animation, 3d Animation, Video Editing, Chroma Key Cutting, Visual Effects, Color grading, Motion Tracking all this can be done in After Effects only, and I have been using this software quite a while so it's a …
Chose Adobe After Effects
Because of our use of other Adobe products, and how they all play well together, we never really looked at using any other product.
Chose Adobe After Effects
After Effects is more versatile for animations than Premiere for sure. And now, with the .mogrt templates, it can be great for keeping consistent animations and branding guides when sharing work with other animators
and editors. I also like their 3d plugins and advanced …
Chose Adobe After Effects
The family apps advantage puts Adobe After Effects at a higher preference for me, but I have heard that Final Cut Pro is also great if you deal with footage and animation.
Chose Adobe After Effects
After Effects is on par with most of these other non-Adobe software. It is able to edit, create, render, illustrate, stabilize video content; and so much more.
Chose Adobe After Effects
We have taken After Effects because Adobe Animate is completely focused on animation rather than other things which After Effects can handle very easily, like we needed a program which can handle the professional animation, speed up our workflow, and can do various things like …
Adobe Animate
Chose Adobe Animate
Adobe Illustrator has a lot more drawing capabilities and features than Flash, but for most tasks, I prefer to use Flash.

For cross-platform development, Xamarin offers a true full, native development environment, but Flash is good for prototyping. The big diadvantage here is …
Chose Adobe Animate
We initially used after effects for many of our animations because it was part of our creative cloud subscription and some teammates had experience. We discovered some of the all-in-on features of Animate and decided to migrate a large percentage of our training video …
Chose Adobe Animate
I find After Effects more difficult to learn. Both are in the same Adobe CC subscription and both have a great interface. But the possibilities in features make After Effects more difficult. Therefore I like to use Animate when the assignment does not need to much complexity, …
Chose Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate works best for advanced animation and cuts and works well with the entire Adobe suite. There is nothing that compares when it comes to working within the same product.
Chose Adobe Animate
We haven't used any other animation software to compare. We only use Adobe Animate because it was included with our software suite. We do sometimes use Canva to create animated collateral and graphics, but they are already designed templates for the most part, so it's not a …
Chose Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate is extremely coordinated across different stages and programs, versus its rivals. Like Adobe Animate, HTML5 incorporates playing highlights for sound inside sites. It additionally has versatile help. In any case, I don't believe it's very there yet and is by all …
Chose Adobe Animate
Unfortunately, it doesn't! While there are some disadvantages to HTML5, it's overall just cleaner. Since it's cleaner, browsers prefer it. And again, Flash animations will no longer be supported in a couple years, so users really don't have a choice but to part ways with the …
Adobe Illustrator
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Adobe Illustrator gives you much more control over every aspect of the design process. Canva has several limitations like being unable to customize gradients or creating clipping masks. Inkscape only works in RGB space and has a less intuitive user interface. They benefit from …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
The integration with Creative Cloud Libraries and Adobe Fonts, combined with the powerful array of tools offered in Adobe Illustrator makes up for the high price compared with other tools that are often free. You even get an outstanding 3D renderer built in with excellent …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
There are so many things you can create in Adobe Illustrator CC. It's easy to use and the options for saving and exporting are fantastic. Fortunately, this is the only software of its kind that I have used. I know other people that have used lesser quality products and turned …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Adode Illustrator is better for the design work in the company, sice it works with vectors and easy shortcuts, the other adobe software is not so useful because we do not work with video editing or rendering. Adobe Illustrator CC meets all our needs and expectations and that is …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Adobe Illustrator CC has so much more options and tools to create the perfect vector graphics when compared to other programs. Illustrator is often the program that I use to create graphics, and then insert those files directly into the other programs listed. The other programs …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Adobe Illustrator is generally preferred to use over the use of InDesign and Photoshop mostly due to the nature of our work. It's usually the most efficient in getting what needs to be done, done. It's easier to use than Photoshop for a lot of things. InDesign also has a pen …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
I like to use Illustrator concurrently with PhotoShop and InDesign. Illustrator is better for working with vectors, whereas PhotoShop is better for using pixels, editing and creating raster-based art. When it comes to Illustrator in comparison to InDesign, the latter is better …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Macromedia Fireworks
Fireworks probably isn't available anymore as the parent company was bought out by Adobe, it's main selling point was it's seamless integration into FLASH animations which browsers no longer support. It wasn't a bad program but it's extremely dated at this …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
When compared to other vector-based artwork programs, Adobe Illustrator CC is far more robust, feature-rich, and user-friendly. Other programs fail to deliver adequate exports of varied file types. With Adobe Illustrator CC, there are many workflow options, user tools, and …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Like most people, I came from using Adobe PhotoShop and learned Adobe Illustrator CC later (in my case, in college as a required class for my digital media degree). I didn't realize the power of vector illustration until I took that class, and ever since I've been using Adobe …
Chose Adobe Illustrator CC
Adobe Illustrator CC only has one major competitor in the industry and it is a free software tool. The difference is that Adobe Illustrator provides a wider range of tools and functions. Being able to take Adobe Illustrator objects or designs and move them into Adobe InDesign …
Best Alternatives
Adobe After EffectsAdobe AnimateAdobe Illustrator CC
Small Businesses
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 8.7 out of 10
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 8.7 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Blender
Blender
Score 9.2 out of 10
Blender
Blender
Score 9.2 out of 10
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate
Score 8.4 out of 10
Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects
Score 9.1 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe After EffectsAdobe AnimateAdobe Illustrator CC
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(39 ratings)
8.0
(28 ratings)
9.4
(109 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(8 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
9.0
(6 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(25 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe After EffectsAdobe AnimateAdobe Illustrator CC
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
I would recommend Adobe After Effects to a colleague above all other comparable software that I have used, however, with the caveat that it can be time-consuming to learn to use and can be frustrating if you are not familiar with the software. Difficulty aside, once you begin to understand how to use Adobe After Effects, it is the only software for the job.
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Adobe
Scenarios where Adobe Animate is well suited:2D animation for web, mobile, and video games: Adobe Animate is well suited for creating 2D animations for web, mobile, and video games. With its vector-based drawing tools, bone rigging, and inverse kinematics features, it's easy to create smooth, scalable graphics and realistic movement.Scenarios where Adobe Animate is less appropriate:Complex 3D animation: Adobe Animate is primarily a 2D animation software, and while it does have some basic 3D features, it is not as robust as specialized 3D animation software like Autodesk Maya or Blender.
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Adobe
It is the only tool that I use to create logos. It gives me the flexibility to create sharp text and marks and they can then be resized at will, color changes in a second and perfect way to export. I know that some people use Illustrator for document layout, it is not ideal. While I can easily create documents here, it really is InDesign that is the perfect tool.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Adobe After Effects allows you to exercise a great level of control over how to animate just about every aspect of an object. You can control animation speed of entry and exit, the direction of rotation, scale, position, and so many more attributes.
  • Adobe After Effects is so popular that you can find so many paid and free third-party plug-ins and scripts to incorporate into your project.
  • There is such a breadth and depth of features available in Adobe After Effects, you will never get tired of exploring the program and using its many features to take your projects to new heights
  • Adobe After Effects works well with other products in the Adobe Creative Suites including, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Media Encoder
  • Adobe After Effects allows you to customize the setup of your workspace and panels
Read full review
Adobe
  • The adaptability of what Adobe Animate can do makes it so helpful. You can accomplish something basic like make a ball bob on-screen over certain letters prior to showing your logo, or something more mind-boggling like building up a vivified short to show.
  • Utilizing Adobe Animate recordings on sites is typical, so individuals are accustomed to seeing it and have the essential modules introduced as of now.
  • The records are little, and the pressure is extremely smooth. This aids in the event that you are attempting to send substance to cell phones or essentially keep your site impression little to guarantee quick stacking times.
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Adobe
  • Vector graphics for scaling to large sizes
  • Filling an object with a texture
  • Easily adjusting and expanding an artboard to fit the size of the content (especially for infographics)
  • Compatibility with other Adobe CC programs, but also exporting for PPT graphics
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Cons
Adobe
  • 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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Adobe
  • There are too many updates and they are constantly popping up - especially during the middle of a projects, which causes me to shut down the application and restart the program. Wastes time.
  • There is no mobile browser or device support. Limits a lot of projects - especially apps.
  • Flash player can require a lot of RAM and battery
Read full review
Adobe
  • It's tough to master. If you haven't used Adobe products like Photoshop or Illustrator before, there is a lot to take in.
  • It would be great to have some better options to preview the final product if you're creating a multiple page document.
  • Better integration and pricing points with Adobe Stock for the useful stock images to complete your projects.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
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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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
While Adobe Illustrator CC is one of the only true design software out there, it really stands heads above the other products. It's clean UI and menu structure is easy to navigate.
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Usability
Adobe
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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Adobe
Adobe Animate is difficult to learn because its totally different from the other animation tools but one thing for sure if you want to build a quality on industry standards then Adobe Animate is your knight in shining armour. so using Adobe Animate is easy but you have to spend a lot of time learning it and practicing it. their ui is more like a design software with added keyframes. but if you know your way to work it will be a legend to work with.
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Adobe
There's a bit of a learning curve to this software vs other similar tools that can take some time to learn and get familiar with but the amount of functionality that Adobe Illustrator CC offers is quite large compared to simpler tools.
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Support Rating
Adobe
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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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
I normally already know how to do whatever I'm trying out, but the documentation (as well as a simple Google search) makes any question quick to resolve. The Adobe boards themselves are a fantastic resource, especially for resolving questions between new programs and iterative releases.
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Implementation Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
It was very easy to purchase and download.
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I find Adobe After Effects to be superior to iMovie and Final Cut Pro in that I am able to do much more with the software. It isn't as limiting as the other two. I also like that it isn't an Apple product. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Apple. There is a bigger learning curve with After Effects, but once you get the hang of it, there's really no comparison.
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Adobe
Adobe Animate was always the preferred software as the support was much better than the competition. And the ease of rendering was also a deciding factor. Results with character animations are much more crisp with Adobe Animate than in any other 2d based animation software.
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Adobe
I chose Rhinoceros 3D because it is accurate to make drawings in it and it is better to make drawings in Rhinoceros 3D and then put them in Adobe Illustrator. But while printing or scaling it is much easier to put it in Adobe Illustrator. This makes the whole printing aspect of it much easier.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • 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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Adobe
  • Negative, anyone who spent time learning the program now feels sad that it's going away.
  • Animation that was done on Flash but can now be made with Toon Boom or even Adobe After Effects.
  • On the plus side, since it's an Adobe product, you can rent it instead of buying the full license. That means potentially people could use it for a little longer without having to shell out as much money.
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Adobe
  • Helps us quickly and easily create and manage numerous logos
  • Cloud libraries allow us to access commonly used colors, fonts, logos and other design elements quickly
  • We are able to provide high-quality, scalable college logos for print and digital which give us a more professional, credible look.
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ScreenShots