Free, open-source alternatives to Adobe After Effects

After Effects is used for motion graphics and visual effects: animated titles and graphics built from keyframed layers, and composites that combine footage, masks and effects into finished shots. The open-source apps below each cover one side of that job on the Mac.

Friction focuses on motion graphics, animating vector shapes and text on timelines with effects and expressions, and exports to video or animated SVG. Natron covers compositing and visual effects with a node graph rather than a layer stack, an approach its project compares with Nuke and Fusion as well as After Effects. Neither covers every After Effects feature, so pick the one that fits the kind of work you do.