Adobe After Effects vs. Figma

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe After Effects
Score 8.9 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
Figma
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Figma, headquartered in San Francisco, offers their collaborative design and prototyping application to support digital product and UI development.
$15
per month per editor
Pricing
Adobe After EffectsFigma
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
Professional
$144
per year
Organization
$540
per year
Starter
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe After EffectsFigma
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe After EffectsFigma
Considered Both Products
Adobe After Effects
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 …
Figma
Chose Figma
Figma is by far the best prototyping tool out there. I am such a fan of this tool.
Chose Figma
Figma is the most efficient tool for teams and sharing with clients. It's also easier to learn than other Adobe products. When sharing designs with clients, Figma looks more professional than Canva.
Chose Figma
Figma is truly a Swiss army knife in the retrospect that it does everything...but better that you'd expect it to be where you think...hmmm maybe I don't need this prototyping tool, or this design library framework app, or this simpler solution, because I can just use Figma for …
Chose Figma
In theory it can do the all the things these other apps offer. And it does to a certain extend. if your prototypes are not too complex it can completely remove the need for other prototyping software. Through Figjam presentation and collaboration, alternatives provide no extra …
Chose Figma
Figma is easier to use and has more intuitive UI. It is easier to share and it is free to use.
Chose Figma
Figma let's you do almost everything the others let you do together, so instead of using 4 different softwares, you just use figma.
Chose Figma
Figma and Adobe PhotoShop serve different purposes in the design workflow, catering to distinct design needs.
Figma excels in collaborative design work with its real-time editing and commenting features, allowing multiple users to work simultaneously on the same file, fostering …
Best Alternatives
Adobe After EffectsFigma
Small Businesses
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 8.4 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Blender
Blender
Score 9.4 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate
Score 8.3 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe After EffectsFigma
Likelihood to Recommend
7.9
(34 ratings)
9.1
(202 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(2 ratings)
10.0
(7 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(3 ratings)
8.5
(34 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
5.5
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(7 ratings)
5.0
(17 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe After EffectsFigma
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Adobe After Effects is well suited for creating short video projects that require intricate animation, like 5 minute or 1-minute countdowns, credit roll-ins, outros, and video bumpers. It is also useful for creating animated elements that can be incorporated into video projects, like animated key titles. For longer videos, I would recommend using Adobe Premiere Pro instead.
Read full review
Figma
Figma is a solid design tool to craft the UX design concepts/solutions for digital products. For printed marketing materials such as brochures, marketing flyers, press releases, etc, other design tools such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign might make more sense to use for those use case scenarios.
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Pros
Adobe
  • After Effects is great for creating motion content once and easily exporting it to various formats such as web, broadcast, GIF, etc.
  • After Effects is the industry standard for motion graphics. While I’m an Apple user and have used Motion in the past it is not as feature rich and most clients will expect you to use After Effects.
  • After Effects is great for complex UI animation. Tools like principle and Flinto are great but are quite cumbersome for complex UI animations.
Read full review
Figma
  • Detailed enough to create pixel perfect designs with total control over the outcome
  • Creating and implementing design systems to improve consistency and speed up design work
  • Robust prototyping tools to create simple animations or to connect various pages
  • I love autolayout, which improves design spacing and responsiveness
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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.
Read full review
Figma
  • Prototyping in Figma is pretty much nothing more than a glorified slide show. Sure, variables, etc are available but it takes way to long to set them up and even more time when there are revisions needed.
  • It would be helpful if there were a contextual help system for various functionality. For example, advanced autolayout (like space between) can become very tricky to implement sometimes. I often wish there were an AI assistant to ask for help. I often use ChatGTP to help me through these times.
  • Searching layers needs to be much easier and more intuitive.
  • I would like to be able to make groups like the layers palette in Photoshop. That would help with organization and speed a lot.
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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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Figma
Figma is a pretty cool tool in many areas. My team almost uses it on daily basis, such as, brainstorming on product/design topics, discussing prototypes created by designers. We even use it for retrospectives, which is super convenient and naturally keeps records of what the team discusses every month. Furthermore, I do see the potential of the product - currently we mainly use it for design topics, but it seems it is also a good fit for tech diagrams, which we probably will explore further in the future.
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Usability
Adobe
If you have a good computer setup then the program gives you no issues whatsoever. Only if you decide to run multiple tasks on a lower end unit will you then get bottlenecking which really isn't Adobe's fault to begin with. I used to have problems in the past but with newer technology, it has since been a smooth ride.
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Figma
It's easy to use for designers who are familiar with design terms and functions from Photoshop and Illustrator. However, non-tech and non-designer collaborators have a hard time figuring out how to leave comments and apply changes, compared to other online design tools like Canva and Squarespace. Even simple drag-and-drops and rearrangement of certain blocks become too complicated due to uncommon functions like Hug and Lock.
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Figma
The only regret I have is, its not available when there is no internet
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Performance
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Figma
I think its great, As there are many other software or systems which can be integrated with it as plugins or API's
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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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Figma
I haven't used their support lately but in the past, they had a chat that I used often. They often responded in a few hours and were able to give a satisfactory solution. I would imagine it's less personal now but the community has expanded drastically so there are more resources out there to self serve with a bit of Google magic.
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In-Person Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Figma
In-person training has its own benefits - 1. It helps in resolving queries then and there during the training. 2. I find classroom or in-person training more interactive. 3. Classroom or in-person training could be more practical in nature where participants can have an hands on experience with tools and clarify their doubts with the trainer.
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Online Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Figma
Online training has its own merits and demerits - 1. Sometimes we may face issues with connectivity or the training content 2. The way training is being delivered becomes very important because not everyone is comfortable taking online training and learning by themselves. 3. With the advancement of technology online training has become popular but there is a segment of people who still prefer class-room training over online one.
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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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Figma
Figma compared to other tools has user friendly UI which is very easy for all levels of designers. Compared to Adobe XD and Sketch Figma is stable, while in other tools I have faced software crashing in the middle of the work which resulted in loss of data/design. Compared to other tools it's fast and shows less lag. Collaboration in Figma is very easy as it is cloud based but in XD it's not that smooth working with other designers.
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Scalability
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Figma
I think this is great and as I mentioned at ADP we use Figma extensively whether by designers, researchers or content writers
Read full review
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
Read full review
Figma
  • Allows us to get funding for further phases of the project (which is uncountable)
  • Well, it lets us show off when needed due to well suited UI-oriented character
  • Easily approachable by anyone (browser use)
  • User friendly interface
  • More advanced cooperation requires some of the users to have a license
Read full review
ScreenShots