VectorCraft Online

EffectCraft Online – Free Motion Graphics & After Effects Alternative

Preparing EffectCraft…

First visit downloads the editor once (≈17 MB). After that it opens instantly from your browser cache. Nothing you draw is uploaded.

Free · Open source · In your browser

The open-source After Effects alternative, running right here. Compositions, keyframes, a graph editor, 306 effects, expressions, 3D cameras and Lottie export.

  • Official EffectCraft web build, unmodified
  • Runs locally with WebAssembly in your browser
  • Open source (MIT or Apache-2.0), made by ArtCraft team

About the app

What is EffectCraft?

EffectCraft is a free, open-source compositor for animated titles, motion graphics and compositing — the work people reach for After Effects to do. The panels, menus, shortcuts and keyframe behaviour follow After Effects. It is written in Rust by the ArtCraft team and runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and in the browser.

It is very young — its first commit was on 1 October 2026 — and its authors say it is not yet a replacement for After Effects on client work. After Effects .aep projects cannot be opened, plug-ins do not run, and behaviour still differs in places.

EffectCraft is one of the Crafting Apps, alongside VectorCraft, the free Illustrator alternative.

EffectCraft features

After Effects’ workflow, rebuilt from scratch in Rust

Compositions and layers in EffectCraft

Compositions and layers

Solids, shapes, text, footage, precomps, nulls, adjustment layers, track mattes and 38 blend modes.

Keyframes and graph editor in EffectCraft

Keyframes and graph editor

Bezier, hold and roving keys, Easy Ease and a graph editor with value and speed graphs.

306 effects in EffectCraft

306 effects

Effects and layer styles organised like After Effects’ Effects & Presets panel, stacked on any layer.

3D cameras and lights in EffectCraft

3D cameras and lights

Move layers in 3D space and frame them with cameras and lights.

Render queue and Lottie in EffectCraft

Render queue and Lottie

Render video with its own encoders — no FFmpeg — or export Lottie animations for the web and apps.

Screenshots: EffectCraft contributors, MIT OR Apache-2.0.

Get started

How to use EffectCraft online

  1. 1

    Let it load once

    The first visit downloads EffectCraft (about 17 MB). It opens with a sample composition you can play with.

  2. 2

    Build a composition

    Add solids, shapes, text and footage as layers, then animate their properties with keyframes.

  3. 3

    Add effects and render

    Stack effects, tune the motion in the graph editor, then render a video or export Lottie.

Compare

EffectCraft vs After Effects

FeatureEffectCraft OnlineAdobe After Effects
PriceFreeSubscription
Runs in the browser
No account needed
Open source
Expressions (JavaScript)
Lottie export built inWith a plug-in
Opens .aep projects
Third-party plug-ins
MaturityEarly (Oct 2026)Industry standard

EffectCraft projects are versioned JSON (.ecproj), so they diff cleanly in version control.

Desktop app · version 0.10.0 · released 2026-10-14

Download EffectCraft

Prefer a native app? Every link goes straight to the official GitHub release by ArtCraft team.

EffectCraft for Windows

How to install

  1. Download the .msi installer that matches your PC (x64 for almost all Intel and AMD computers).
  2. Double-click it and follow the setup steps; EffectCraft appears in the Start menu.
  3. Prefer not to install? Unzip the portable build anywhere and run EffectCraft from that folder.

EffectCraft for macOS

How to install

  1. Download the universal .dmg and open it.
  2. Drag EffectCraft into your Applications folder.
  3. Open it from Applications or Launchpad. The app is signed and notarized by Apple.

EffectCraft for Linux

How to install

  1. AppImage: make it executable (chmod +x effectcraft-*.AppImage) and run it.
  2. Flatpak: flatpak install --user effectcraft-*.flatpak
  3. Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install ./effectcraft-*.deb — Fedora: sudo dnf install ./effectcraft-*.rpm

EffectCraft for FreeBSD

How to install

  1. Unpack the tarball and run the effectcraft binary inside it.

Verify your download

Compare the file’s SHA-256 hash with SHA256SUMS.txt from the release. On macOS or Linux run shasum -a 256 <file>; on Windows run certutil -hashfile <file> SHA256. Older versions and release notes are on the GitHub releases page .

EffectCraft FAQ

Is EffectCraft free?

Yes. EffectCraft is free, open-source software (MIT or Apache-2.0), and this page lets you use its web version without paying, installing anything or creating an account.

Can EffectCraft open After Effects projects?

No. It cannot open .aep or .aepx files, and After Effects plug-ins do not run. Its own projects are readable, versioned JSON (.ecproj).

Does EffectCraft support expressions?

Yes — JavaScript expressions with the After Effects object model, such as wiggle, loopOut and thisComp.layer(), with an inline editor and the pick-whip.

Can I export Lottie animations?

Yes. Lottie import and export are built in, so animations can go straight to websites and apps without a plug-in.

Is this the official EffectCraft website?

No. EffectCraft is made by the ArtCraft team (getartcraft.com). This is an independent page that hosts the unmodified official web build.

Can I download EffectCraft as a desktop app?

Yes. Signed builds for Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD are linked in the download section below, straight from the official GitHub release.

EffectCraft guides

More free Crafting Apps

EffectCraft, the free After Effects alternative, is one of the ArtCraft team’s open-source Crafting Apps. See all apps