DesignCraft
Page layout & publishing · Adobe InDesign alternative
Spreads, parent pages, threaded text and IDML, in a free page layout app.
Motion graphics & VFX · v0.9.2 · Alpha
EffectCraft: a free, open-source After Effects alternative
EffectCraft is the motion graphics and compositing app of the Crafting Apps: an open-source, clean-room take on Adobe After Effects. It has the same panels and keyframe behavior, shape layers, masks, text animators, JavaScript expressions, puppet pins, classic 3D, a big effects library and Lottie import and export.
The online version is the official web build from the v0.9.2 release (2026-10-12). It runs locally in your browser; a desktop browser with WebGPU or WebGL2 works best.
What EffectCraft can do
After Effects muscle memory
Project, Composition, Timeline, Effect Controls and Effects & Presets panels, with the same twirl-down shortcuts (P, S, R, T, U, UU…).
Layers and keyframes
Solids, shapes, text, footage, precomps, nulls, cameras and lights; linear, Bezier, hold and roving keyframes; time remapping.
Expressions
JavaScript expressions with the After Effects object model: wiggle, loopOut, valueAtTime and friends.
Effects and simulation
Color, distort, generate (Fractal Noise, Write-on), keying, CC Particle World, Shatter, Caustics, audio effects and more.
Lottie both ways
Export compositions to Lottie JSON or .lottie for the web and apps, and import Lottie files back in.
No FFmpeg
Encoding and decoding are pure Rust, shared with FilmCraft, plus EffectCraft's own VP9, AV1, HEVC and Opus.
EffectCraft vs Adobe After Effects
- Price
- EffectCraft: free, open source. After Effects: paid Adobe product.
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD and the browser.
- Files
- .ecproj (versioned JSON). Export H.264, ProRes 4444 with alpha, HEVC, AV1, WebM (VP9/AV1), PNG/JPEG/TIFF/EXR sequences, GIF, WAV/AIFF. Lottie JSON/.lottie in and out
- Maturity
- Alpha. Upstream says about 91% of After Effects' features exist in some form, and keeps a public list of known gaps (docs/gaps.md).
- Account & privacy
- No sign-in, no telemetry, works offline.
How to download and install EffectCraft
- Open the official EffectCraft GitHub releases or getartcraft.com/apps/effectcraft.
- Windows: run
effectcraft-0.9.2-windows-x64.msi(or the portable zip; ARM64 and x86 builds exist). - macOS: open
effectcraft-0.9.2-macos-universal.dmg, which is signed and notarized for Apple Silicon and Intel. - Linux: use the AppImage, or the
.deb,.rpmor Flatpak for your distro. - Optionally verify the file against
SHA256SUMS.txtin the same release.
EffectCraft FAQ
Can EffectCraft export Lottie animations?
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Yes. File ▸ Export ▸ Lottie JSON writes a composition as .json or .lottie and lists anything Lottie can't represent.
Does EffectCraft support expressions?
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Yes. It supports JavaScript expressions using the After Effects object model, including wiggle and loopOut.
Is EffectCraft free?
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Yes. EffectCraft is free and open source under MIT OR Apache-2.0. There is no subscription, no account and no telemetry.
Can I use EffectCraft online?
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Yes. EffectCraft compiles to WebAssembly, and this site hosts the official v0.9.2 web build at artcraftsuite.org/app/effectcraft/. It runs entirely in your browser, and files you open are not uploaded.
Where can I download EffectCraft safely?
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Only from getartcraft.com/apps/effectcraft or the Releases page of github.com/storytold/effectcraft. Avoid look-alike GitHub repos that offer a "local zip" or password-protected archive: they are not the official project.
Does EffectCraft run on Windows, Mac and Linux?
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Yes. Releases include Windows installers and portable zips (x64, x86, ARM64), a universal macOS DMG, Linux AppImage, deb, rpm and Flatpak (x86_64 and aarch64), FreeBSD builds and the web version.
Who makes EffectCraft?
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EffectCraft is one of the ArtCraft Crafting Apps, developed in the open at github.com/storytold/effectcraft. It is a clean-room project and is not affiliated with Adobe.