Home / Video & Motion / EffectCraft
EffectCraft: free alternative to Adobe After Effects — online / desktop
Positioned against After Effects. Maturity: in development. Our hands-on: the web build enters the full compositing workspace with zero install (layers + timeline + effect presets + render queue) — the form is complete; but the wasm is 60 MiB and the UI is in English, so for real use we recommend the desktop build.
| Replaces | Adobe After Effects |
|---|---|
| License | Apache-2.0 (commercial use OK) |
| Runs on | online / desktop |
| Chinese UI | no (English UI) |
| Where files go | On your device (not uploaded) |
| Cost | All features free; no subscription, no account (open source) |
| Hands-on test | 2026-10-21 · v0.13.0 |
Hands-on test (2026-10-21, v0.13.0)
- No-install entry to the full compositing workspace: center preview window (the hands-on test shows the EffectCraft logo animation), Projects and Effects & presets panels on the left, layer list + timeline (with keyframe tracks and ruler) at the bottom
- Top menu verified: File / Edit / Composition / Layer / Effect / Animation / View / Window / Help; Render queue panel at the bottom right
- wasm measured at 60 MiB (~24 MiB gzipped) — the largest in this batch, and it exceeds the 25 MiB limit of Cloudflare Pages
- 0 JS errors on launch; the preview area rendered normally
Bottom line: the form is a complete AE-style workbench (layers + timeline + effect presets + render queue are all there), but the 60 MiB wasm is a hard threshold — this is no longer 'click-to-try' scale, it's 'dedicated download-and-install' scale. If you really want to use it, install the desktop build.
Best for
- People making intros/moving subtitles/compositing effects, who can accept an English UI and have patience for the first load; students who want to try an AE-style workflow at zero cost.
Not for
- Long-form editing, multi-track audio, professional color grading; poor network conditions; interchanging with AE project files.
Similar alternatives
How to get started
- Click "Use online" above — it runs in your browser, no signup required.
- Run the full workflow (open → edit → export) on a throwaway file first, to confirm format compatibility.
- Once you accept its limits, migrate your daily workflow; keep the original software as a fallback for critical deliverables.