Adobe After Effects vs. Adobe PhotoShop

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 PhotoShop
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Photoshop is the best known graphics product on the market.
$20
per month
Pricing
Adobe After EffectsAdobe PhotoShop
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
Single App
$20.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe After EffectsAdobe PhotoShop
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe After EffectsAdobe PhotoShop
Considered Both Products
Adobe After Effects
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
The other tools we use are part of the Adobe CC Family and they complement each other very well. We chose Adobe After Effects because it is far superior in terms of functionality and output to any other application in the market and it met our design needs perfectly well.
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
Before switching to Adobe After Effects we were using Camtasia Studio to edit videos and it's a great video editing software but it couldn't provide us with the complex video effects that we needed to implement for our videos so we switched it to After Effects for that purpose.
Chose Adobe After Effects
Photoshop is good for simple video editing, but it doesn't have animation or audio help and it takes a while to get your video put together in a way that looks good. iMovie is also just for simpler video editing and lacks the extras that After Effects have that really turn your …
Chose Adobe After Effects
We use these tools in conjunction with After Effects not as a replacement. Apple Motion does many of the same things as After Effects and in some ways is more intuitive. However, After Effects is bundled with software we absolutely must use and is the industry standard. New …
Chose Adobe After Effects
It is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud that I sign monthly and is full of possibilities. Most of them I've not yet explored. Adobe has a large library of tutorials and we can find a huge number of tutorials on YouTube for free to teach how to use it better or find some plugins …
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
I haven’t used any direct competitors. I’ve used plenty of other paid and free photo and video editing programs, but none as full featured and powerful as After Effects, which makes it a pretty simple choice to use and buy if you need something that can perform like it can!
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
After Effects is the halfway point between simple editing software like Premiere Pro and complex 3D suites like Cinema 4D. It offers a balance of speed and functionality for mid-level production.

I also prefer it over Apple Motion and Black Magic Fusion, mostly due to being in …
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
Obviously I use Premiere to edit and After Effects to post-produce. In the past I used 4D Cinema to create objects to insert in the videos, but now with a few external plugins all the objects you want are inserted.
Adobe PhotoShop
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I selected Adobe PhotoShop over other as it is more useful and convenient then other platform,It helps in giving a pro touch in every images and it helps to adjust each and every single element in a photo as we can manually adjust that how much exposure is needed our how much …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe Photoshop is really best if we compare this software with other graphic designing software. There are several reasons, but the most important reason is the difference in tools and features because Adobe Photoshop offers a number of incredibly professional tools that allow …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
illustrious program. In this program, your imagination's capabilities are the only limitations on what you can create, alter, modify, and do. Since its initial release, it has added to its restrictions with each new update, raising them to impossible levels. In other words, …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe PhotoShop has existed for so long. So it has most experience and kept optimising it over decades. And that’s the nices about the Cloud. You keep getting the newest software and tools. Other apps have specialised in Tablet performance but if you work on your computer Adobe …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
GIMP is one of the free alternatives for Photoshop. Although it has got many features that photoshop offers, it still has a lot of catching up to do. Also GIMP's UI is quite clunky and not as polished as Photoshop's UI making it a bit harder to navigate. Canva on the other hand …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
GIMP is a great freeware program when you just don’t have access to a PhotoShop license. It is not quite as robust of a platform and the creative cloud story is not as good, but it is a great alternative to have temporarily in a pinch. As the saying goes, though, you can either …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
All perform different tasks and integrate with Photoshop. Use them all in one way or another with Photoshop.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Before using Photoshop, I was a long-time GIMP user. As much as people may try to tell you otherwise, for modern digital media creation, there really is no comparison. The open-source community behind GIMP simply cannot keep up with the rapid development of new and powerful …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
We have always used PhotoShop and have not really tried any other similar products. Adobe PhotoShop has always been more than capable of handling any tasks we've needed to do and we know that its capabilities are far beyond what we have needed so far, so we are confident that …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I started using this software 15 years ago. I've tried others, but nobody makes me work as well as Adobe does. By now I have my consolidated workflow.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
We heard that GIMP was another powerful and popular image manipulation and graphic design software, and more importantly, it was provided free for everyone and for all platforms, but one thing that it didn't come with and the reason we chose Photoshop was the number of users …
Best Alternatives
Adobe After EffectsAdobe PhotoShop
Small Businesses
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 8.7 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Blender
Blender
Score 9.2 out of 10
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate
Score 8.1 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe After EffectsAdobe PhotoShop
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(39 ratings)
8.9
(194 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(2 ratings)
9.0
(31 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(8 ratings)
7.7
(19 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(7 ratings)
10.0
(54 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(6 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe After EffectsAdobe PhotoShop
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
Tradeshows. It has streamlined it for us immensely. Especially because we are a global team all over the world with the same task and mission. It allows us to work on one platform to bring our vision to life. The simplicity is what has been a game-changer for us.
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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
  • The fact is that you may quickly pick things up on your own by spending time without using any other resources.
  • It is the program that brings the phrase "to make PhotoShop" to almost all languages. It's not just a photo editing program.
  • Practical and beautiful results are filtered by filtering the desired work without drowning in details.
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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
  • The effect applying time could be faster.
  • There could be a smarter way to make mockups using smart objects, maybe by directly selecting an area, and generative AI can automate a few steps.
  • If Photoshop can suggest the right stock imagery in case the generative AI doesn't get the right answer.
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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
We get a lot of use out of this software. It's vital for work with production in our industry and has a lot of cross-functionality - creating social media images, retouching photos, editing photos, creating gradients, and more. It's pretty fuss-free in that we haven't had to reach out to support and the program hasn't crashed on us. We are trained on the software (so again, this isn't for beginners), but for detail-oriented designers and creatives like ourselves - it's a no-brainer.
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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
I've used it for a long time and would consider myself a Pro user at this point. I know where everything I need is, have custom actions set up to make common actions faster, and have my workflows automated so much that everything is easy. Occasionally, a new version of Photoshop will change a common usability feature which will slow things down for a short time before I'm able to adjust, but generally I really like my setup. However, if you're new to Photoshop, it is likely going to take you a while to figure out how you can best use the features.
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Adobe Photoshop is very reliable, but is never 100%. There have been times when Adobe Photoshop has had trouble opening, but nothing a little computer restart couldn't fix. I use Adobe Photoshop on a Mac for both work and at home on a daily basis, and I would be lost without it.
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Performance
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Speed can be an issue when you are dealing with large files for large format printing or billboards. When working on web images, speed is not an issue.
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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
While I never contacted Adobe directly, there is so much content out there in the form of YouTube videos, Lynda/LinkedIn learning that almost any issue, including bugs, can be worked around (and this method is generally faster as there's no turnaround time involved).
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In-Person Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
So, I received the training at the HQ and it was train the trainer training. A good time, I spent a week at their campus
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Implementation Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
I took a course so it really helped. I didn’t take the course until much later after beginning to use it, so I wish work would have sent me right off the bat. It would have alleviated a lot of frustratinon
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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] Photoshop offers the best photo editing as well as content creation. The layer-by-layer approach of [Adobe] Photoshop helps to work between two apps or even two PCs of entirely different Creative Cloud apps seamlessly. The stability and the speed of the tools in photoshop make it even better to make a canvas of creativity.
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Scalability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
It seems expensive compared to the free/cheap programs now available
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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
  • Adobe PhotoShop in general is a great time saver.
  • It does take a long time for the program to start up, however
  • The most difficult task is onboarding new employees into Adobe PhotoShop who don't have experience with it. It's an investment for their future so we see value in it.
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