Open Source Adobe After Effects Alternatives for Linux

Adobe After Effects is not available for Linux but there are some alternatives that runs on Linux with similar functionality. The best open source Linux alternative is Natron. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Adobe After Effects and ten of them are open source and available for Linux so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Linux alternatives to Adobe After Effects are Blender, OpenToonz, Friction and OpenCut.

filter to find the best alternatives

Adobe After Effects alternatives are mainly Motion Graphics Software, but if you're looking for VFX Software or Animation Makers you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, Free, Windows + Free, Windows, Android, Linux and Mac. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Adobe After Effects.

More about Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects alternatives page was last updated May 6, 2026

Natron
221 likes
Natron is an open source, cross platform nodal compositing application. It is built around industry standard open source tech such as OpenFX, OpenEXR, OpenColorIO and OpenImageIO. The feature set includes realtime playback/RAM cache, multi-threaded rendering, 2d tracking...
20 Natron alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-2.0)
Application types
VFX
Motion Graphics
Origin
France
EU
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
FreeBSD
Flathub
Is Natron a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?

|
9comments
Natron vs Adobe After Effects Comments

Top Positive Comment
Paul
Apr 9, 2020
4
Free and open-source node based alternative to After Effects. It's pretty similar to Nuke, but doesn't cost anything.
Top Negative Comment
Guest
Aug 21, 2017
10
Awful documentation (blank page); The versions change so much that the old tutorials don't help at all; Difficult to learn by just messing around; High learning curve.
Review by a new / low-activity user.
ahmed52
Positive commentJan 7, 2022
2
free ,open source a bit hard to use at first
3 of 9 comments
Natron is Free and Open SourceAdobe After Effects is Paid and Proprietary
Blender
1793 likes
A comprehensive open-source 3D software suite for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, and animating. It supports renderings, simulations including fluid and cloth dynamics, complex compositing, video editing, and Python scripting, running across all major operating systems.
143 Blender alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Application type
3D Modeler
Origin
Netherlands
EU
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
BSD
Snapcraft
Flathub
PortableApps.com
Haiku
Steam
Flatpak
+9
Is Blender a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?

|
30comments
Blender vs Adobe After Effects Comments

Top Positive Comment
sas_ja
Jun 14, 2020
5
Blender is has a bit different workflow, that doesn't make it worse than AE. People think that Blender is only a 3D program, but it fact it has greasepencil (2d animation tool), and it also includes node-based compositing, video editing and video tracking. With Blender you can combine 2d animations, 3d renderings and video footage without using any external program.
Top Negative Comment
danielmichel
Nov 7, 2017
49
AE's main purpose: Video effect editing. Blender has a whole range of possibilities, but it's hard to get into and it's not designed to be used solely for video effect editing.
Avoyt
Negative commentMay 6, 2026
0
Comparing Blender with After Effects is wild to me. I regularly use both for work, and I can't fathom using one for the other. Like, sure, you can do video editing in both, but neither excel at that.
3 of 30 comments
Blender is Free and Open SourceAdobe After Effects is Paid and Proprietary
Blender is Customizable, Lightweight and Privacy focusedAdobe After Effects is not according to our users
OpenToonz
134 likes
Open-source 2D animation software supporting raster and vector workflows, node-based compositing, plug-in extensions, anti-aliased painting, and support for major platforms, developed in collaboration with Studio Ghibli and suitable for commercial projects.
44 OpenToonz alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application types
Animation Maker
Digital Painting
Origin
Japan
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
+4
Is OpenToonz a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?

|
1comment
OpenToonz vs Adobe After Effects Comments

shay
Negative commentMay 3, 2023
3
while this has video creation functionality, it is intended for animation rather than video editing and compositing. an ae user would find it difficult to do their type of work in this program
OpenToonz is Free and Open SourceAdobe After Effects is Paid and Proprietary
OpenToonz is Privacy focusedAdobe After Effects is not according to our users
Friction
32 likes
Friction is a powerful and versatile motion graphics application that allows you to create vector and raster animations for web and video platforms with ease.
9 Friction alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Application types
Motion Graphics
Animation Maker
Origin
International
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
+4
Is Friction a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?
OpenCut
19 likes
The open source video editor that gets the job done. Simple, powerful, and works on any platform.
67 OpenCut alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Application type
Video Editor
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Docker
Online
Self-Hosted
Is OpenCut a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?
enve
40 likes
Enve is a free and open-source 2D animation app. It can create both vector and raster animations and even use sound and video files. It has been created with flexibility and expandability in mind.
57 enve alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Application type
Animation Maker
Origin
Poland
EU
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Windows
Linux
Is enve a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?

|
1comment
enve vs Adobe After Effects Comments

groundjet
Positive commentMay 10, 2022
0
Free and open source, much easier on the memory; still a lot of bugs and features missing but it is an absolutely amazing piece of software that will hopefully one day do to Adobe what Blender did to Autodesk.
enve is Free and Open SourceAdobe After Effects is Paid and Proprietary
ButtleOFX
16 likes
ButtleOFX is a simple, user-friendly and open source compositing software. It is based on TuttleOFX, an open source, modular and sustainable image processing architecture.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
VFX
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Linux
Is ButtleOFX a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?
Talos VFX
3 likes
Talos is an open source, node based particle effect editor that can be used in game development. It features a powerful but intuitive, drag-and-drop interface with the ability to import legacy LibGDX files for easy, visual editing.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (Apache-2.0)
Application type
VFX
Origin
Türkiye
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Java
Is Talos VFX a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?
Wav2Bar
2 likes
Wav2Bar is a FOSS desktop app that lets you make nice visuals for your audio source, to then share on the internet.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Application type
Motion Graphics
Origin
France
EU
Platforms
Windows
Linux
+5
Is Wav2Bar a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?
Rebaslight
1 like
Rebaslight is a program where you can add glow effects.
Cost / License
Freemium
Open Source
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Is Rebaslight a good alternative to Adobe After Effects?

10 of 10 Adobe After Effects alternatives

Open Source Adobe After Effects Alternatives for Linux

Alternatives list

Natron

Cost / License

Application types

Origin

Platforms

Natron vs Adobe After Effects Comments

Blender

Cost / License

Application type

Origin

Platforms

Blender vs Adobe After Effects Comments

OpenToonz

Cost / License

Application types

Origin

Platforms

OpenToonz vs Adobe After Effects Comments

Friction

Cost / License

Application types

Origin

Platforms

OpenCut

Cost / License

Application type

Platforms

enve

Cost / License

Application type

Origin

Alerts

Platforms

enve vs Adobe After Effects Comments

ButtleOFX

Cost / License

Application type

Alerts

Platforms

Talos VFX

Cost / License

Application type

Origin

Platforms

Wav2Bar

Cost / License

Application type

Origin

Platforms

Rebaslight

Cost / License

Origin

Platforms