Adobe After Effects vs. Adobe Express

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 Express
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is a task-based, web and mobile product used to create and share rich multimedia content – from social media posts and stories to invitations to marketing materials like logos, flyers and banners.
$0
Pricing
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Express
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
Free
$0.00
Premium
$9.99 / $99.99
per month
Teams
$9.99
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Express
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsContact Adobe directly for Enterprise pricing plan details.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Express
Considered Both Products
Adobe After Effects

No answer on this topic

Adobe Express
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express is similar in functionality with Canva, what makes it better is having an ecosystem with it's other products that sync the assets as they are built so you don't have to export and upload everything everytime which makes it faster compared to Canva
Chose Adobe Express
Adobe Express had the tools I needed to brainstorm and publish quickly.
Chose Adobe Express
I think Express is a great tool for quick edits or creation. As someone who works in the more robust platforms, I do not always enjoy going into Express because of the more limited features.
Chose Adobe Express
It is like a lite version of them all together
Chose Adobe Express
Our team was avid Canva users for 2 years prior to switching over to Adobe Express. I found Adobe Express to be much more user friendly and less complicated visually. I also LOVE the CC libraries integration. That was a game changer for our creative department. It made making …
Chose Adobe Express
I have used Canva. I like Adobe Express better because it works with the other Adobe products I use. it is also a little more intuitive because I use adobe products more in general
Chose Adobe Express
I consider it much more useful than Canva but less capable than the full suite of creative cloud products (as it should be)
Chose Adobe Express
Express needs to continue with their AI improvements such as for professional profiles in photo editing.
Best Alternatives
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Express
Small Businesses
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 8.7 out of 10
Pexels
Pexels
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Blender
Blender
Score 9.2 out of 10
Pexels
Pexels
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate
Score 8.1 out of 10
Pexels
Pexels
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Express
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(39 ratings)
8.8
(234 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(2 ratings)
8.8
(6 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(8 ratings)
8.5
(19 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(7 ratings)
8.2
(11 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(6 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe After EffectsAdobe Express
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
I would definitely recommend Adobe Express to students in my university as they have the free access to it as our university provides the free Creative Cloud Suit in which they have all the premium Adobe product access for free
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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
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Adobe
  • Brand Kit: provides quick access to approved fonts, logos, colors, and other assets
  • Libraries: syncs will with other Adobe Tools
  • Animation: provides a decent collection of modifiable motions for objects in the design
  • Social Media-ready Layouts: being able to design graphics of multiple sizes/Layouts within the same document is a GOD-SEND
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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
  • It could have a search bar which searches through other Adobe products (esp for Stock images, videos, audio) from within Adobe Express.
  • It could make it so switching between Adobe products from within Adobe Express almost like a tab function is smooth.
  • It could partner with other companies to allow for company specific events in exchange for valuable products or programs.
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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
I give it a 10 because Adobe Express has become an essential part of our daily workflow. It allows us to design faster, stay on brand, and produce high-quality content without needing multiple tools. The AI features, templates, and easy collaboration make it a platform we rely on for client work, training, and internal operations.
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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
The overall usability of the software was strong. The application, especially relative to other Adobe services like Photoshop that can demand a lot of knowledge and skill, was highly easy to use. At the same time, that also speaks to the somewhat limited amount of customization opportunities that allow content designers to truly create content that is dynamic, engaging, and different than the standard stuff that floods our vision every day.
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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
Because adobe is so widespread the community support is amazing. I have never actually used adobe support short of their website, but I go to youtube a lot to get my questions answered. You can google any problem you have and not have any issues finding an answer. In my opinion, community support is much more meaningful and helpful than support directly from the company
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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
I think Express is a great tool for quick edits or creation. As someone who works in the more robust platforms, I do not always enjoy going into Express because of the more limited features.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Adobe Creative Cloud Express is included with an Adobe Creative Cloud account. Our company has a corporate team membership so it is nice to have a professional and powerful tool that anyone on our team can use for free. The pricing structure of giving the tool away for free will be fundamental to users utilizing the tool. Similar tools, such as Canva, cost significantly more but do not offer the same features
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Professional Services
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
The professional services for Adobe Creative Cloud Express is top notch and should be highly commended. I am thoroughly impressed with how far Adobe has come. In the past, I had several issues with how something were handled, but in the past few years things have been better than ever and they get no complaints from me
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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
  • Positive: Time and working for a nonprofit with minimal staff this is essential.
  • Negative: There are certain features that I need to find in other Adobe products like layer masking.
  • Positive: It makes content creation less intimidating for our newer staff.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Express Screenshots

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