--- title: "Adobe After Effects Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra" description: "Is Adobe After Effects the right Animation solution for you? Explore 450 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/233259/Adobe-After-Effects/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" publication_date: "2026-09-28" --- Adobe After Effects 4.7 (450) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/233259/Adobe-After-Effects/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated September 28th, 2026 # Reviews of Adobe After Effects Ease of use 3.9 Customer Service 4.1 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews Hayden R Graphic DesignerComputer Software, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The vast range of tools the software provides makes it possible to create all the content I can think off and set no boundaries to do so.“ March 19, 2026 nd nick d VFX artistEntertainment, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “absolute trash tier, because that's what you get when you take a program that only works on one core, then duplicate it to every core in an attempt to make it faster, while forgetting the UI shares a rendering core, so the UI now stutters and lags uncontrollably at anything above 2K footage (even phones these days can make 4K footage)TL;DR- every version is worse, post 2013, minus a single version in late 2014/early 2015, where the devs implemented many performance hacks.“ October 2, 2023 FF Fernando F Photographer, Designer, and ProducerMedia Production, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Adobe After Effects is a powerful motion graphics, visual effects and animation video production software that can create the most complex graphic for video.“ February 6, 2025 AG Andrew G CEOEntertainment, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The biggest problem is pre-renders in the timeline.“ October 16, 2024 MP Marissa P DesignerGraphic Design, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Creating videos with an extra touch of enhancements with the ability to add graphics from other programs.“ January 23, 2026 Elisabetta G Marketing consultantMarketing and Advertising, Self-employedUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “A new user may take a while to become accustomed to the interface because there is too much going on and we wind up simplifying the interface to make it less overwhelming. After Effects is prone to crashes and can be extremely heavy on your PC, the user needs to have a computer that has high specifics.“ March 18, 2024 Hayden R Graphic DesignerComputer Software, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Even after the years of using the software i'm still discovering new effects and animations, and tools which is always great to learn.“ March 19, 2026 MT Michelle T Video Editor and AnimatorNon-Profit Organization Management, 5,001 - 10,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “There's no software right now that can even remotely compete with this.“ September 21, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 450 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Bruno M. Digital Marketing Assistant Internet Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "After Effects in 2026: The Undisputed Motion Standard with Legacy Baggage" August 6, 2026 5.0 Overall, I would like to say that my experience of using After Effects was very positive. This software really helped our team to create amazing videos and develop captivating content for our social networks. I would certainly recommend it to those who want to improve their branding. Pros I used After Effects when I worked as a Digital Marketing Assistant for HostHelp. In my opinion, this program has a lot of advantages; for instance, it has great functionality in terms of 2D Motion Graphics. Secondly, it has a powerful Asset Ecosystem, which is really helpful. Another advantage of After Effects is that it has a wide variety of Third-Party plugins. In particular, there are many plugins for particle systems and physics simulations. Moreover, it has Scripting & Automation, with the help of which one can make amazing special effects. Cons To be honest, I also know some disadvantages of the program. For example, it has enormous Memory Hunger, which means that you need at least 64 GB of RAM. Another downside is the Legacy Engine & and Slow 3D Rendering. Besides, it has Poor Audio Handling, since it was created for video editing, not audio. Timeline management can be complicated if you have to work with multiple layers. Furthermore, if you want to use high-end visual effects, they will not look good because of the mentioned layers. Review Source GO Gilbert O. EDITORS Graphic Design Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "efficiency of Adobe After Effects" February 22, 2026 5.0 Adobe After Effects has made my production easy by editing videos to my own liking and providing me with effects used in video editing. Pros It provides more effects that help enhance the editing of the videos to be more tailored to my own liking. Cons It is technical to use, hence one has to be more skilled to use it for perfect editing, so it requires one to spend more time on training. Switched from [Adobe Illustrator](https://www.capterra.com/p/227125/Adobe-Illustrator/) I needed more video effects, which were limited in the other product Review Source nD nick D. VFX artist Entertainment Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Once a worthy king, now a bloated tyrant on its way to the guillotine." October 2, 2023 2.0 buggier every year, you are legally not allowed to use old versions, and having adobe threaten you with litigation for using a version you have a license for... it's upsetting and abusive. They raised prices on my 3 years in a row after going subscription, from 200 a month, to 400, and now 600 a month. I was able to stop them by complaining... which is just as insulting, because if the moment I threaten to stop using it, they give me a better price, means they're intentionally price-gouging. the poor teams, I've talked to them. they say "we're just a small team, we can't refactor the codebase or make a new program" meanwhile their company is raking in 15 billion a year. Now it's 1000 a month so I quit. some might say it's less... but to that I say, all their programs are 1000 yearly, as a bundle. let's say you just need photo editing, video editing, and visual effects? that's 1300 a month. it's a shameless upsell, where the programs are now so expensive, it costs your team a month or more of profits every year... for the "best value" offered (that same value used to be a perpetual license, which they revoked) Pros After effects is like an old friend to me... which makes me sad to say it's the last major effects program that uses layers. it's a digital version of film editing and effects, from overlays, to blending and merging and cutouts and transparent layers... it was great... those days are past now. still, if you can manage to get an old pre-subscription version, like CS6 or CS5, it'll do you just fine. yar har and a bottle of rum. Cons this poor, poor thing. it's like seeing an old friend with dementia. Now there are over 470 addons in this bloated mess, they hacked in multithreading, then removed it, then added it back worse 5 years later and acted like it was the first time, same with MP4 export, they advertise GPU usage, like it's special, but it has all of 5 effects that use the GPU.now, it can't even playback 1080p video reliably. it stores all previews uncompressed in RAM, so if you're editing 4k footage, 64 gigs of RAM will get you 2-5 seconds of playback at 10fps. absolute trash tier, because that's what you get when you take a program that only works on one core, then duplicate it to every core in an attempt to make it faster, while forgetting the UI shares a rendering core, so the UI now stutters and lags uncontrollably at anything above 2K footage (even phones these days can make 4K footage)TL;DR- every version is worse, post 2013, minus a single version in late 2014/early 2015, where the devs implemented many performance hacks. sadly, adobe has threatened users who use that version, and disallow use of any version except the newest, buggiest, slowest versions. a classic case of en\*\*\*\*ification- when it came time to make money, all development and new features ceased, and now the great new feature of this version is colored outlines on keyframes. yaaay. the shareholders clapped, at least. Review Source EV Edwin V. DEV Manager Financial Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### " Powerful editing tools for enterpise" July 29, 2026 5.0 Overall, Adobe After Effects has become one of my favorite creative tools despite its challenges. I mainly use it for motion graphics, logo animations, promotional videos, and adding visual effects to projects. The software takes time to learn, but once everything starts to make sense, it becomes incredibly rewarding. I appreciate that Adobe continues adding AI-powered features that reduce repetitive work, like smarter masking, object removal, and improved tracking, while still giving users full control over the final result. The integration with the rest of Adobe Creative Cloud makes my workflow much smoother because I can edit graphics in Photoshop or Illustrator and update them directly inside After Effects. Although rendering speed and hardware requirements can sometimes slow me down, the overall quality of the animations and effects is worth it. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who regularly creates professional video content or motion graphics and is willing to invest time learning the software. Pros I've been using Adobe After Effects for creating motion graphics, animated titles, Internal POC concept videos, and visual effects, and it's one of the most powerful editing tools I've worked with. The feature I use the most is Motion Graphics Templates because it saves a lot of time when creating similar projects. I also like how well it integrates with Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Illustrator, making it easy to move assets between applications without starting over. The AI-powered features have also improved my workflow. Content-Aware Fill is surprisingly useful for removing unwanted objects from video clips, and the newer AI-assisted tools for tracking and masking are much faster than doing everything manually. The animation controls are extremely flexible, and expressions allow for advanced automation once you learn them. There are thousands of plugins, templates, and tutorials available online, so it's easy to expand what the software can do. Overall, it gives me professional-quality results that would be difficult to achieve with simpler video editors. Cons The biggest downside is the learning curve. Even after using it for a while, there are still features and panels that can feel overwhelming. Beginners will probably spend a lot of time watching tutorials before becoming comfortable with the software. Performance can also be frustrating on larger projects because previews sometimes take a long time to render, especially when using multiple effects, high-resolution footage, or complex compositions. Memory usage is high, so having a powerful computer with plenty of RAM makes a noticeable difference even on a MAC Book Pro make sure you got M1 Pro or higher. While the AI features help speed up certain tasks, they are not always perfect and still require manual adjustments. The subscription pricing may also be difficult to justify if you only need motion graphics occasionally. Finally, the interface contains so many options that finding the right setting can sometimes interrupt the creative flow, especially when working under a deadline. Review Source OM Ontiretse M. Graphics designer Graphic Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "After Effects review by Letloasolutions" April 21, 2026 5.0 Overall this is the best app that I use for visual effects, motion graphics and many more. It is easy to understand and use Pros Has advanced features like rotoscoping and motion tracking feature Seamless connection to other apps like photoshop Cons Requires high quality and expensive hardware. Rendering large data projects results in slowdown of the app's processing power Review Source Hayden R. Graphic Designer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A great & easy software for any video creator enthusiast to use" March 19, 2026 5.0 I've had a positive experience with After effects. I've created some highly engaging content over the years using the software and discovered some really interesting tools that have helped me further develop my design skills. Even after the years of using the software i'm still discovering new effects and animations, and tools which is always great to learn. Pros The pros of using After Effects is it's easy to navigate User Interface, after a few uses it's easy to understand how to create and edit videos, and where to find all the editing and animation tools you desire. The vast range of tools the software provides makes it possible to create all the content I can think off and set no boundaries to do so. Cons The software definitely contains more pros than cons, one problem I sometimes find myself to have is the slow rendering speeds when trying to preview and scene I've made. It can become timely to see if the animation is set at the speed I'm wanting it waiting for it to render, if not, and have to re-edit, i have to wait for the preview to render again. Doing this can become a time-consuming obstacle when creating content. This only becomes a problem when the videos are detailed, high in storage, short videos work perfectly. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer senior project manager Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great Video/Animation software " May 12, 2026 5.0 AE helps me to create great work, is one of Adobes harder to learn softwares in my opinion but is rewarding when you get good results. Pros I have been using on and off for a while, its a massive software but i find it easy to pick up the basics and make work thats very impactful. Cons Sometimes i find the user experience a bit daunting but there are great tutorial's. The cache does also sometimes really slow down my machine as its such a large software. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Video Editor and Animator Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best 2D Graphic Animation Software" September 21, 2025 5.0 Overall, this software is the best of it's kind. There's no software right now that can even remotely compete with this. Pros I like that it's the only software of it's kind. It's the best combined tracking, rotoscoping, animating and compositing software. Cons The cross connection between other Adobe softwares becomes glitchy with bigger files like to and from Premiere and to and from Photoshop. Review Source Khushhal G. freelancer Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Powerful Tool for Video Effects" August 15, 2025 5.0 My overall experience with Adobe After Effects has been excellent. It’s an incredibly powerful tool that has allowed me to create everything from simple animations to complex visual effects. Pros I like most about Adobe After Effects is how much creative freedom it gives me. I can bring almost any idea to life — from smooth text animations to cinematic visual effects. Cons The thing I like least about Adobe After Effects is how resource-heavy it is. Complex projects can slow down my computer and render times can be long, especially without high-end hardware. Review Source MP Marissa P. Designer Graphic Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Fire & Rain" January 23, 2026 5.0 I had a great experience the work I was able to.produce was unmatched by other editing software. I like that you could get some 3d effects in after effects. I also really enjoyed how easy it was to animate text and graphics Pros The ability to edit video footage and layer special effects both static and dynamic. Creating videos with an extra touch of enhancements with the ability to add graphics from other programs. Cons The cost and them moving to a subscription program. For ing me to purchase new nervous and some versions not being backwards compatible. Review Source JB Joel B. Art Director Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Adobe After Effects is a must have for any serious filmmaker." July 1, 2024 5.0 Ae has been a blast to work with! It is so inspirational in that I can always create more and more sophisticated works. It allows me to evolve my work and I can grow as a visual artist. It is exciting to see what else I may create! I love this program! It makes you feel that there are limitless possibilities! Pros I love the level of detail with which you can manipulate each layer. Color is so critical in my film work and I need intense saturated color as well as subtle delicate realness, both of which are easy to achieve with the After Effects programing. It allows me to achieve an exquisite level of conformity between all scenes when I need them to relate and yet I can created dynamic contrasts when I need to illustrate a counter point. Ae really compliments my desired level of sophistication as a visual storyteller. Cons I tend to max out the programs memory capabilities even though my iMac has 25GB of memory available. I wish After Effects had more dedicated memory and could handle more computational abilities, so I didn't have to constantly save and or restart my mac to maintain workflow. Switched from [iMovie](https://www.capterra.com/p/207187/iMovie/) I wanted more flexibility and greater creative options along with more powerful computing and rendering. Review Source EJ Emily J. Operations Manager and Designer Consumer Services Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great for heavy editing " December 13, 2025 4.0 It’s a great tool when you need highly edited elements in your videos. If you just want light level editing this isn’t the best. Pros Great tool for adding effects and text to edited videos. We primarily used to add motion graphic text to videos and worked great. Cons There is a large learning curve like any Adobe product, and it did take some time to learn how to use. The way the subscription works is also frustrating. Review Source KW Keely W. Photographer Media Production Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "After Effects sets in motion" April 16, 2025 5.0 Pros I have used it sometimes in a simple way. It's complete for animations. While I use it, it gives me better results than products like Canva Cons It's not for beginners and requires some time to learn it. I spent months to understand the basic concepts and until now I cannot claim to be a pro Review Source CM Carl M. Director of Visuals Media Photography Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Take your visuals to the next level" February 18, 2025 4.0 Overall I will be using After Effects in my business because of the professionalism and exclusiveness the software recommending this app Pros I love the creative things you can create, and the plugins that make it extremely easy to do. I also love the quality of the image you get from the software. Cons The software is not the easiest to use. There are a lot of different features and there is no way of learning all of them, unless you do outside research. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Associate Pastor Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great tool to make high quality lower thirds" January 23, 2025 5.0 Pros Using ready made templates online made After Effects easy to use and implement high quality lower thirds for videos. Cons Graphics made for videos longer than a minute exponentially slowed down the software. Review Source Carlos T. Designer Graphic Design Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "The After Effects of using Adobe After Effects " December 3, 2023 4.0 I lose time and forget my troubles when i use after effects. It draws you in and allows you to bring your imagination to life. I love it. Pros The ease of use stands out. Ifcourse there is a learning curve if youre new to the software, but thats to be expected. They have thousands of hours of instruction online from various instructors. Cons I honestly have nothing bad to say. At first, its a bit scary, but once you lern it..... youre golden ..... and addicted. Review Source Cristhian Josue J. CEO Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Adobe After Effects, a standard in the visual effects design industry" September 8, 2021 4.0 As I have already said, I like to use Adobe software, so using After Effects became a daily part of my workflow, I feel happy with this software and it has helped me to work in a great way the post-production of my audiovisual works, giving them life and helping me to create a unique aesthetics. Pros I like the Adobe suite, it's practical, it incorporates software for about everything and I believe that today it's essential for any company focused on the design business. After Effects is the proposition of this software bundle for the development and design of animations and visual effects, it's useful and has everything to create quality projects, this software is a standard for both mega-corporations and small businesses, and freelancers. Cons On its own, After Effects would be just another software, it's useful, but it has weaknesses, weaknesses that are compensated by utilizing other Adobe software to which we will have access. But if what you're looking for is to have a single software that fulfills exactly the whole process of developing and editing post-production, Adobe After Effects is not for you. Review Source Anthony P. Graphic designer Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Review for the best video editing software" April 30, 2022 5.0 With after effects, I animated logos for several companies, and thanks to the software I was able to do it quite quickly. We have many possibilities of modifications once in after effects, as much for animations as for special effects. Text animations are also easy with plug-ins adapted by the software. After effects supports many formats, which helps graphic designers in their workflow. Pros I often have video editing missions, and I choose directly after effects, as much in the motion design as in the video editing. I can do a lot of my workflow in after affects, that's what's great. I sometimes have photo editing that I have to do in photoshop, but I import everything into after effects, where I can create folders so I don't get lost, the interface is very well designed. There are also many choices of transitions for your cuts, everyone will be happy and will find what he needs. Cons The names of the effects are quite specific, so if you don't know specifically what you're looking for, you can waste some time. However, a search on the right hand side will guide you through the process, and will also suggest other effects that you may not have thought of. After Effects integrates very well into any video editing process. Once you start working with this software, we can no longer do without it ! Review Source LC Letonio C. Motion Graphics Artist Graphic Design Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Adobe After Effects Review" May 25, 2022 5.0 Pros What I like most about Adobe AE is that you can make anything in the app. It doesn’t matter how long your project will take. If you can think it, you can make it. That’s what I like about Adobe AE, which is the creativity. Cons What I least like about Adobe AE is that it’s sometimes gets confusing to use. But you can learn a lot about Adobe AE by watching tutorials. That’s what I don’t like about AE, which is that it gets confusing sometimes. Review Source JH Jakub H. Founder / Designer Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The tool you gonna love, once you get the UI" July 31, 2022 5.0 This is a great piece of software where you can feel the complexity and the robustness since it does not crash when it run out of memory or swapping space. It only gets slow. And so is the work with AFX - you need to learn how to connect the pieces together and think ahead. Know the CG basics (alpha channel, subframe rendering etc.) to star using it effectively, but after that, anything can be achieved. You can even import basic 3D objects and work with them in postproduction. Upon finishing a projects all files can be collected and kept in a folder for future use, without having to keep the rendered outputs. Pros The consistency of the UI and main principles over years makes it a valuable app. But only after you figure out the main principles and start combining them. Animating or creating can be done rough or extremely precise on a frame-level. And if you ever get the feeling that there is something missing in After Effects - there is probably a plugin or script for that which can help. + tracking tools are great. Cons Sometimes people can get lost in their open compositions, pre-rendered compositions, cached contend etc. So even as a seasoned user one can get lost and close a window which was not inteded to be closed. Also there is no real particle playground. Reason for choosing Adobe After Effects It was the state of the art application. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Interactive Experiences Architect Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The best creative visual compositing tool" October 7, 2022 5.0 Motion graphics for many kinds of products and services. We create animations that go into videos, games and we also use it to post-process 3D animations. Pros The kind of integration that it has with many formats and standards make this a swiss-knife tool for motion graphics. It is an indispensable software for any animation studio. Cons I still do not find a feature that I don't like. Review Source Deni H. Freelancer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Turn your fantasy video into a masterpiece" October 18, 2022 5.0 Very good, because the difficulty in learning Adobe After Effects can be solved with the wide reach of the Adobe After Effects community. Making lots of variations in techniques and methods that make my work better and more beautiful. Pros It varies greatly in stages and functions making videos more interesting and clear in their delivery. Cons It's hard to learn the first time you use it. Many stages are complex and you must understand more about computer storage systems because sometimes errors or errors come from file links that are broken due to deleted or moved folders or files. Review Source Balamurugan S. Video editor Education Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "simple, Handy and UI enhanced VFX tool for beginners & Experts" December 14, 2022 5.0 Pros It has a simple and enhanced UI with relevant tools and things organized for Video editing and Visual effects (VFX). The easy import, assets library containing presets, visual effects, transitions and animation presets are best part. The control option in each files within timeline is good and helps me a lot. It is a relatively affordable application, making it a good choice for those who need a versatile tool but don't want to spend a lot of money. Cons Cons are less, but the team have to address them before users leave them. Render option needs to resolved. It takes lot of time to render, consumes more space to store files. They should come up with some feature to speed the render process and let the software render output in minimal size.Other than these, all are good. They should release lite versions for low configure PCs. Review Source MC Mihai C. 3D Artist Graphic Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Adobe After Effects - Review after 2 years of experience" February 8, 2023 5.0 I've been working with Adobe After Effects for more than two years and it helped me with various projects, and by being intuitive and easy to use it helped me work faster and meet short deadlines. Pros I mostly like the flexibility and the ease of use - the interface is intuitive and user-friendly, making it possible to quickly dive in and create animations in minutes. Cons The price is a bit high for freelancers, but for companies should be fine. Review Source SM Sajadullah M. First officer Airlines/Aviation Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Big learning curve but it's worth it in the end." February 11, 2024 4.0 At first it was very hard because my pc had very low specs and after effects would often cause my pc to crash. I also had to watch a ton of tutorials on YouTube before i could use after effects freely on my own. But other than this its absolutely a game changer, 100% would recommend for fellow video editors and animators. Pros Its basically the best video editing software out there. It has never let me down apart from some minor problems. It has a vast array of effects and presets to make your videos that much more enjoyable. you can even add plugins from external sources to further expand the creativeness in your videos, you can edit the sound of your videos to make your voice sound better. Transitions can be easily added to your videos. There are many transition presets for you and you can even create your own custom transition using scale, position and etc. After effects also has an autosave feature to ensure that your work isn't ever lost. You can also work on multiple projects and switch between the easily. It has a customizable interface so you can adjust anything you want to your liking. Clips can be sped up, slowed down and reversed without much trouble. There is also a very useful feature called mask which will help you to animate certain parts of your video or remove them entirely. You can remove entire backgrounds from your videos using the rotoscope feature if you don't have a green screen at your disposal. There are a ton of shortcut to make your editing faster and more enhanced. There are lots of composition presets to choose from and the app interface is very neat. You can also track certain objects in your videos using a built in feature. After effects comes with a wide array of render presets which you can use to export your videos in high quality. Cons Firstly it will take a good amount of time before you can use after effects freely and easily because of it's learning curve. Secondly After effects will also take up a large portion of you computer storage. Thirdly it will affect your pc's performance quite a bit and in some case it can even damage some low end pcs from overheating. Fourthly rendering long videos takes a long while. other than this i personally had no other issues with after effects. Review Source Similar Products Featured