Motion graphics software, chosen by what you are making

The right motion graphics software depends on what you are making: titles for a video edit, a 2D explainer, a 3D scene, animation that runs inside an app, or ads for an app. Price comes second, because several of the strongest tools are free.

In short

• Titles and effects inside a video edit: Apple Motion (US$49.99 once, Mac only) or DaVinci Resolve's Fusion page (free).
• 2D motion design and explainers: After Effects (US$22.99 a month), Cavalry (free for individuals), Maxon Autograph (free) or Adobe Animate (US$22.99 a month).
• 3D: Blender (free and open source) or Cinema 4D (a 14-day trial, plans on its page).
• Animation that ships inside an app or a site: Rive, LottieFiles or Jitter, each with a free plan.
• Ads for an app: 10xvid draws them from the app's link; HeyGen's motion graphics tool animates a script you write.

How do you choose motion graphics software?

Ask three questions. What comes out: a video file, an animation file that runs inside a product, or an ad in three shapes? Where is it edited: a timeline of layers, a graph of nodes, a browser canvas, or a blueprint? And what do you already have: an edit in Final Cut Pro, a design in Figma, or an app with a website?

The answers put you in one of five rows. Every fact in the table is from the maker's own page, read on 19 October 2026.

Which software makes titles and effects for a video edit?

If the motion graphics live inside a film you are cutting, start with the tool beside your editor.

Apple Motion costs US$49.99 once on the Mac App Store and needs macOS 26.6 or later for the current version. Apple describes it as a tool for 2D and 3D titles, transitions and effects, built so that what you make publishes to Final Cut Pro and can be reopened in Motion for changes. It is also part of Apple Creator Studio, at US$12.99 a month or US$129 a year.¹

DaVinci Resolve is free, and its Fusion page handles visual effects and motion graphics with a node based workflow, which its maker argues is easier for complex effects than layers. The free version works "with virtually all 8-bit video formats at up to 60fps" and up to Ultra HD, on Mac, Windows and Linux. DaVinci Resolve Studio is US$295.²

Which software is for 2D motion design and explainers?

This is the row After Effects owns, and the row with the most free choices.

After Effects is Adobe's "motion design and visual effects software app", at "US$22.99/mo for the Annual, billed monthly plan", with a seven-day free trial.³

Cavalry calls itself "Professional, real-time animation software. For free." It is 2D animation with procedural rigs, free for individuals, on Mac and Windows, with an enterprise plan through sales.⁴

Maxon Autograph is "free for everyone", covers motion graphics, visual effects and compositing with 2D and 3D assets on one timeline, and runs on Windows and macOS. Its plugins, Universe and the Red Giant OFX tools, need a licence.⁵

Adobe Animate is for "cartoons, banners, games, and the web", at US$22.99 a month on the annual plan. It is the choice when the thing you draw is a character or a frame-by-frame animation rather than designed type and shapes.⁶

Which software is for 3D motion graphics?

Blender is "The Free and Open Source 3D Creation Suite", under the GPL, free for commercial work, for Windows, macOS and Linux. The current release is 5.2.2 LTS.⁷

Cinema 4D is Maxon's "professional 3D animation and modeling software for motion designers, 3D generalists, and creative studios". Its MoGraph toolset, cloners, effectors and fields, is what Maxon calls "The industry standard for procedural motion design". It runs on Windows and macOS, comes with a 14-day trial through the Maxon App, and its prices are on Maxon's plans page.⁸ Autograph takes 3D elements pasted from it.⁵

Which software makes animation that runs inside an app?

Here the output is not a video but a file your product plays.

Rive is built to "Build interactive UI, motion, and games that run natively on mobile, desktop, web, consoles, TVs, and vehicles", with runtimes for JavaScript, Flutter, iOS, Android, React, React Native, C++, Unity and Unreal. Free at US$0 a seat; Cadet at US$9 and Voyager at US$32 a seat a month.⁹

LottieFiles is the home of Lottie, the .json animation format its maker calls "the industry standard for motion design". Lottie Creator makes "ultra-lightweight, highly customizable and interactive animations for web, apps and social", there are plugins for Figma and After Effects, and dotLottie players for JavaScript, React, Vue, Svelte, iOS and Android. It is free to start; the paid plans are not priced on its home page.¹⁰

Jitter runs in the browser. Its free plan exports at 720p and 30 frames a second with a watermark, holds three workspace files, imports from Figma and exports video, GIF and Lottie. The paid plans remove the watermark and are priced per editor.¹¹

Which software makes ads for an app?

An ad for an app is a short film in three shapes, built from the app's own screens and words. Two kinds of tool are made for that.

10xvid, motion graphics ads for apps, works from a link. Paste your App Store page or website, and Motion V1 reads the words, the pictures, the logo, the colours and the type, writes a blueprint of the ad you can change, and draws every frame from your real screens. It does not generate pixels, so the words stay sharp. Every film comes in 9:16, 1:1 and 16:9 from one run, 5 to 30 seconds long, in one of a hundred styles or your site's own look, and is judged at 8 of 10 before you see it. Motion V1 Flash makes a flat motion graphics film in about five minutes.¹²

HeyGen's motion graphics tool animates a script instead: "Drop in your copy. HeyGen splits it into scenes and times motion to every line automatically." You pick a motion style, aspect ratio and layout, upload your own images and logos, and adjust colours, fonts and pacing in its editor. There is a free plan, and paid plans start at US$24 a month.¹³

The first 10xvid ad is free, with no card: make your first ad.

Which motion graphics software is free?

By their makers' pages: Maxon Autograph, the free version of DaVinci Resolve, Blender, and Cavalry for individuals. Jitter, Rive, LottieFiles and HeyGen each have a free plan with limits, and 10xvid's first ad is free.^{2457910111213}

Questions about motion graphics software

Which motion graphics software should you start with?

The one whose output matches the job. Inside a video edit, Apple Motion or Resolve. For a 2D explainer, Cavalry or Autograph cost nothing to try before After Effects. For 3D, Blender. For animation inside your app, Rive or Lottie. For ads for your app, a tool that starts from the app itself.

Can I make motion graphics without After Effects?

Yes. Autograph and Resolve's Fusion page cover motion graphics and compositing for free, Cavalry covers 2D animation for free, and Apple Motion costs US$49.99 once on a Mac.¹²⁴⁵

What is the difference between motion graphics software and a video editor?

A video editor cuts and arranges footage. Motion graphics software makes the moving type, shapes and effects that go into it. DaVinci Resolve does both: editing on one page, motion graphics on its Fusion page.²

Which motion graphics software runs on Windows, Mac and Linux?

Blender and DaVinci Resolve run on all three. Autograph, Cavalry and Cinema 4D run on Windows and macOS. Apple Motion is Mac only. Jitter, Rive's editor, LottieFiles, HeyGen and 10xvid run in the browser.¹²⁴⁵⁷⁸

1. Apple, "Motion" on the Mac App Store, and apple.com/final-cut-pro/motion, read on 19 October 2026. ↩
2. Blackmagic Design, "DaVinci Resolve" (blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
3. Adobe, "After Effects" (adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
4. Cavalry (cavalry.studio), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
5. Maxon, "Autograph" (maxon.net/en/autograph), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
6. Adobe, "Animate" (adobe.com/products/animate.html), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
7. Blender, "About" and "Download" (blender.org), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
8. Maxon, "Cinema 4D" (maxon.net/en/cinema-4d), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
9. Rive, pricing page (rive.app/pricing), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
10. LottieFiles (lottiefiles.com), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
11. Jitter, pricing page (jitter.video/pricing), read on 19 October 2026. ↩
12. 10xvid.com/engine and 10xvid.com/pricing, read on 19 October 2026. ↩
13. HeyGen, "AI motion graphics" tool page (heygen.com/tool/ai-motion-graphics), read on 19 October 2026. ↩