Edit Square vs After Effects. Which motion graphics tool should you choose?

TL;DR

Edit Square is the faster choice for branded 2D motion graphics. You design in real time in your browser, turn any project into a template your whole team can fill in, and render videos at scale through our API.

After Effects gives you a deeper toolset for 3D, visual effects and compositing, where a specialist is crafting one piece at a time.

Overview

What is each tool built for?

Edit Square is a motion graphics editor that runs in your browser. You design and animate on a GPU-powered canvas where everything plays back live. When you’re happy, you turn the project into a template and let your team, or your own systems, make every version after that. It’s one platform to create, template and automate animated video.

After Effects is a desktop application for motion graphics and visual effects. It’s been an industry standard for thirty years and it’s built for trained specialists working on one project at a time.

Side by side

Edit Square vs After Effects: feature comparison

Let’s put the two side by side and pick a winner for each row.

Feature	Edit Square	After Effects	Winner
Where it runs	Chrome, Edge or Firefox on Mac, Windows or Linux	Installed app on Mac or Windows	Edit Square
Getting started	Open a link. No sign-up, no payment card required	Adobe account, install and subscription	Edit Square
Learning curve	Start with one-click presets, go deeper with keyframes and expressions	Steep. Months to get productive	Edit Square
Playback	Real time, every frame drawn on the GPU	Cached previews that rebuild when you change a value	Edit Square
Motion presets	Animate any layer in one click, then stack and tune	Preset library, mostly for text	Edit Square
2D animation	Keyframes, easing, vector shapes, text animation, 2D camera	Keyframes, shape layers, puppet tools and more	Depends on workflow
Expressions	Yes. Loops, wiggles, maths and linked properties	Yes, with a larger language	After Effects
Effects	A focused set of GPU effects that update instantly	Hundreds built in, plus third-party plugins	After Effects
3D, tracking and rotoscoping	Not available	Yes	After Effects
Templates for your team	Any project can become a form with a live preview	Motion Graphics Templates, edited inside Premiere Pro	Edit Square
Render API	Built in, with webhooks	Not available. Needs third-party tools	Edit Square
Cloud rendering	Included on Premium	Not available. You run your own machines	Edit Square
Exports	Free and unlimited from the editor, up to 4K on paid plans	Unlimited, rendered on your machine	Tie
Projects	Saved in the cloud, opened from a link	Project files with linked media	Edit Square
Free tier	Free forever, watermarked 720p exports	Seven-day trial	Edit Square
Starting price	$25 a month	$22.99 a month	Tie

Create

How does the editing experience compare?

Edit Square is built on the GPU, so everything happens in real time. You scrub, play and edit with instant feedback. There are no previews to render and no waiting when you change a value.

Animations live on the timeline as chips you can move and trim, so you can build a title in seconds by stacking a few motion presets. When you want finer control, keyframes are one click away, and expressions let you drive properties with a line of code.

• Real-time canvas. Every effect runs on the GPU, so it updates the moment you change a value.
• Motion presets. Animate any layer in one click, then tune each preset until the motion feels like yours.
• Text animations. Full control over characters, words and lines, powered by a real text engine.
• 2D camera. Pan, zoom and glide across your whole scene without moving a single layer.

After Effects gives you a deeper toolset and more manual control. The trade-off is time. Previews need to cache before you can play them back, and it takes most people months to get comfortable with it.

Template

Which tool handles templates better?

Edit Square wins this category outright. You can turn any project into a template in three steps.

1. Create your variables. Link one or more properties to a variable. One colour can drive two layers, one text field can drive the headline.
2. Build your form. Choose which variables become fields. The form is all your team ever needs to see.
3. Anyone can render. Your team picks a template, fills in the form and watches the preview update as they type.

Forms open in a browser and work on a phone too, so you can send one to somebody who’s never opened a video editor.

After Effects has Motion Graphics Templates, but they’re designed to be opened inside Premiere Pro. That means everyone who makes a version needs their own Premiere licence and needs to know their way around a video editor.

Automate

Does Edit Square have an API? How does After Effects compare?

Edit Square has a render API built in. You send the fields, we send back an MP4. It’s one request from your app, CRM or workflow tool, and our cloud servers handle the rendering.

Let’s say you need a welcome video for every new customer. Here’s what that looks like in each tool.

Next we’ll take a look at the data you’d send to our API. You name the template and pass through the values that change.

{
  "name": "Welcome - John Smith",
  "project_id": "proj_jd71dcg41pjy7rax1v2h4pvcmd7gtar9",
  "template_id": "tpl_8f2c1d4e6a7b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f",
  "values": { "customer_name": "John Smith" }
}

And that’s it! To track when your render is completed, you can set up a webhook and we’ll notify you of any changes. Take a look at our API docs for the full details.

After Effects doesn’t have a render API. You can automate it, but you’ll need third-party software and your own render machines to do it.

Teams

Does Edit Square work for teams?

Edit Square is built for teams from the start. Your projects are saved in the cloud and open from a link, so there’s no file to pass around and no media to relink. On Premium you get unlimited workspaces, private sharing and extra seats whenever you need them.

Best of all, your designers aren’t the bottleneck. Once a template is set up, anyone on your team can make a new render by filling in a form.

After Effects projects are files on a computer. You can sync them and share libraries through Creative Cloud, but each person still needs the software installed and the skills to use it.

Pricing

What are the pricing differences?

Edit Square is free to use for as long as you like. You get the full editor in your browser with no sign-up, and you only pay when you want clean exports, cloud storage or automation.

	Edit Square	After Effects
Free	Full editor, free forever. 720p exports with a watermark	Seven-day trial
One person	$25 a month, or $240 a year. Exports up to 4K with 5 GB of cloud storage	$22.99 a month for After Effects, or $69.99 a month for all Creative Cloud apps
Teams and automation	$60 a seat each month, or $600 a year. Template forms, the render API and 12.5 minutes of cloud rendering a month	About $35 a licence each month, plus an automation tool, plus render machines

If you’re one designer making one video, the two cost about the same. The gap opens up when you need templates and automation, because with Edit Square they’re included in the plan. Take a look at our pricing for the full details.

Note: exporting from the editor is free and unlimited on every plan. You only use cloud render credits for renders that run on our servers.

Beyond 2D

What about 3D and visual effects?

Edit Square is focused on 2D motion graphics, and that focus is what keeps it fast and easy to pick up. If your project needs 3D scenes, camera tracking, rotoscoping or third-party plugins, After Effects is the tool for that job.

Plenty of teams use both. You can keep After Effects for your hero pieces and use Edit Square for everything you make on repeat.

Decide

Which tool is right for you?

Switching

Looking for an After Effects alternative?

If you’ve been using After Effects and find yourself waiting on previews, remaking the same video by hand, or being the only person who can open the file, Edit Square solves all three.

• Waiting on previews? Everything plays back in real time.
• Remaking the same video? Turn it into a template and fill in a form.
• Only you can open the file? Your projects live in the cloud and open from a link.

Note: we don’t import After Effects project files. You can bring in your video, images, audio and fonts, then rebuild the animation with our presets.

Our verdict

Edit Square is the more practical choice for most teams

For marketing teams, agencies and developers who need to publish branded video consistently, Edit Square is the more practical choice. You’ll design faster, your team can make their own versions and your systems can render videos without anybody lifting a finger.

After Effects is still the right tool for 3D and visual effects work. If that’s most of what you do, stay where you are.

If you’re on the fence, open the editor and put your most common video through it. It’s free, there’s no sign-up and you’ll know within the first project whether it fits how you work.