Adobe After Effects vs. PowerDirector

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
PowerDirector
Score 5.0 out of 10
N/A
CyberLink in Taiwan offers PowerDirector as a consumer-grade video editing platform with a wide array of features and capability of publishing to social media sites.N/A
Pricing
Adobe After EffectsPowerDirector
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
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe After EffectsPowerDirector
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 EffectsPowerDirector
Best Alternatives
Adobe After EffectsPowerDirector
Small Businesses
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 8.7 out of 10
iMovie
iMovie
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Blender
Blender
Score 9.2 out of 10
iMovie
iMovie
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate
Score 8.1 out of 10
Vyond
Vyond
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe After EffectsPowerDirector
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(39 ratings)
8.0
(5 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(7 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe After EffectsPowerDirector
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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CyberLink Corp.
Definitely suited for a business that has a presence on the internet. It is a relatively easy program to use and will make your video quality look professional. It doesn't matter what business you are into, if video is something that will take your company to another level than this is a good program to get the job done.
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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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CyberLink Corp.
  • Quick and easy video and audio editing.
  • Great transition options.
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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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CyberLink Corp.
  • The advertisements to upgrade need to go. I understand you guys gotta make money but I already paid for the product I have and I don't need a popup every time I open the program telling me there is an upgrade available for $xx.99.
  • Better documentation on how to use certain plugins.
  • DirectorZone is pointless.
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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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CyberLink Corp.
No answers on this topic
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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CyberLink Corp.
No answers on this topic
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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CyberLink Corp.
Again, I haven't tried a whole lot of different video editing software over the years, but of the ones I tried, PowerDirector seemed to be the right fit for me and the team I worked with. It helped solve the need for tutorial videos and it allowed us to create a bunch of videos in a very small time frame. I recommend it especially for people without a lot of video editing experience
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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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CyberLink Corp.
I choose PD because it is user-friendly and easy to learn.
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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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CyberLink Corp.
  • Fast turn around on editing.
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ScreenShots