12 Best AI Tools For Animation Generation [Free & Paid]

Animation has become an integral part of various industries, from entertainment to marketing. With advancements in technology, AI-powered animation tools have emerged, revolutionizing the animation creation process. 

These tools offer efficiency, creativity, and flexibility, making them indispensable for animators and content creators. 

In this blog post, we'll explore the 12 best AI tools for animation generation, highlighting their key features and pricing options.

1. Blender

Blender stands as a versatile open-source 3D creation suite, empowering designers, developers, engineers, and artists worldwide to unleash their creativity. With a comprehensive set of tools for modeling, animation, rendering, and more, Blender is a powerhouse for creating stunning visuals and immersive experiences.

Key Features of Blender are:

Powerful Modeling Capabilities:

• Blender offers a comprehensive array of modeling tools, including N-Gon support, sculpting tools, multi-resolution editing, and dynamic subdivision, making it easy to create, transform, and edit models with precision.

Advanced Animation Tools:

• With Blender's advanced animation tools, including envelope and automatic skinning, B-spline bones, curve editors, and sound synchronization, animators can bring their creations to life with fluid movement and realistic expressions.

Flexible Rendering Options:

• Blender's Cycles render engine delivers stunning ultra-realistic rendering, featuring real-time viewport preview, CPU and GPU rendering, PBR shaders, HDR lighting support, and VR rendering capabilities.

Extensive Community Support:

• Blender thrives within a vibrant community of designers, developers, and artists, supported by major industry players such as AMD, Apple, Intel, and NVIDIA. Countless communities and businesses have flourished around Blender, contributing to its ever-expanding ecosystem.

Comprehensive Suite of Tools:

• From VFX and animation to story art and drawing, Blender offers a comprehensive suite of tools to meet the diverse needs of creatives. Its flexible Python-controlled interface allows for customization, while add-ons and plugins further enhance its capabilities.

Pricing:

• Blender is completely free, embodying the spirit of open-source software and accessibility to all aspiring creators.

2. Vyond

Vyond's cloud-based animation platform empowers businesses of all sizes to create professional animated videos that effectively communicate their messages and drive desired outcomes. With its intuitive interface, customizable features, and collaboration tools, Vyond is trusted by thousands of businesses worldwide for their video communication needs.

Key Features of Vyond are:

• Drag-and-Drop Interface: Vyond offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for users to create animated videos without extensive technical skills.
• Customizable Characters and Props: Users can customize characters and props to fit their specific needs and branding, adding a personalized touch to their videos.
• Pre-built Templates: Choose from a wide range of pre-built templates designed for different industries and purposes, allowing for quick and easy video creation.
• Collaboration Tools: Collaborate with team members seamlessly using Vyond's collaboration tools, enabling multiple users to work on projects simultaneously and share feedback in real-time.

Pricing & Plans:

• Essential: $25/month (billed annually) - Basic plan with the Vyond logo in videos.
• Premium: $54/month (billed annually) - Suitable for small businesses, includes high-quality exports and live chat support.
• Professional: $92/month per user (billed annually) - Scalable plan for team collaboration, offering advanced features like instant video translation, speech enhancement, and priority customer service.
• Vyond for Enterprise: Custom pricing available, contact for details tailored to enterprise needs.

3. Animaker

Animaker is a groundbreaking AI-powered platform designed to empower both non-designers and professionals to create stunning animation and live-action videos effortlessly. With a user-friendly interface and powerful AI tools, Animaker revolutionizes the video creation process for individuals and businesses alike, from early-stage startups to seasoned Fortune 500 companies.

Key Features of Animaker are:

• Effortless Creation Powered by Animaker AI: Utilize AI-powered tools to create studio-quality animated videos instantly, regardless of your design experience.
• Super Powerful Character Builder: Access billions of unique character combinations to customize characters that represent your brand effectively.
• World’s Largest Asset and Animation Library: Tap into a vast library of over 100 million stock media, 70,000+ icons, 30,000+ music tracks, and stickers to fuel your creativity.
• Thousands of Unique Video Templates: Choose from thousands of professionally designed templates to create captivating videos in under 5 minutes.
• Comprehensive Video Editing Tools & Features: Benefit from over 25 video editing tools and features, including trimming, cropping, video effects control, and green screen editing, to enhance your videos.

Pricing & Plans:

• Basic: $12.5/month billed annually
• Starter: $25/month billed annually
• Pro: $39/month billed annually
• Enterprise: Custom Pricing

(All plans offer various features such as video length, premium downloads, quality, custom characters, auto subtitles, premium asset credits, and more.)

4. RenderForest

Renderforest is easy-to-use, dynamic video animation templates. Whether you're a seasoned animator or a beginner, Renderforest offers thousands of high-quality animation templates to suit any theme or story, ensuring your video is uniquely yours. With unparalleled customization options, creating animations with Renderforest is seamless and effortless.

Key Features of Renderforest are:

• Ready-made Templates: Choose from thousands of animation templates across ten different categories, catering to various purposes and themes.
• Intuitive Video Editor: No technical skills or experience required to create professional animated videos for business or personal use.
• Customizable Presets: Make video creation faster and easier with editable presets. Load a ready project and customize elements as needed.
• Promotional Toolkits: Access a large collection of promo templates and typography toolkits to create impactful promotional videos and commercials.
• Industry-specific Templates: Choose from thematic video packs tailored for specific industries like real estate, restaurants, fashion brands, or mobile apps.
• Use Your Own Media: Showcase your products by uploading your images and footage to video and photo holders, making editing raw footage easy.

Pricing & Plans:

Free Plan:

• Price: ₹0.00/month (free forever)
• Features: 500 MB storage, create 360p videos, access to thousands of templates, scenes, and presets, limited stock footage and images, create logos in PNG.

Lite Plan:

• Price: ₹899/month
• Features: 10 GB storage, create unlimited HD720 videos, 1 premium website on your domain, full access to 1M+ premium templates, mockups, scenes, and presets, access to 100K+ stock footage, music, and photos, vector SVG and PNG logos.

Pro Plan:

• Price: ₹1359.2/month (originally ₹1699/month)
• Features: All Lite features, 30 GB storage, create unlimited HD1080 videos, full catalog of 5M+ stock footage, music, and photos, branding guidelines for logos, advanced website control and editing tools.

Business Plan:

• Price: ₹1999.2/month (originally ₹2499/month)
• Features: Advanced level solution for teams and businesses, deliver high-end results for campaigns, includes all Pro features.

5. Adobe Animate

Adobe Animate is a powerful software for creating animations, cartoons, games, and interactive web content. With easy-to-use tools and features like frame-by-frame animation and character design, users can bring their creative ideas to life. Animate allows you to publish your creations across multiple platforms, making it accessible to viewers on desktop, mobile, and TV. 

Key Features of Adobe Animate are:

• Versatile Animation Design: Design interactive animations for games, TV shows, web banners, and more. Bring cartoons, banner ads, doodles, avatars, eLearning content, and infographics to life with ease.
• Interactive Web and Mobile Content: Create immersive web and mobile content for games and ads using powerful illustration and animation tools. Build game environments, design start screens, and integrate audio seamlessly.
• Expressive Character Creation: Sketch and draw expressive characters with Adobe Fresco live brushes. Make characters blink, talk, and walk with frame-by-frame animation. Create interactive web banners that respond to user interactions.
• Publish to Multiple Platforms: Export your animations to multiple platforms including HTML5 Canvas, WebGL, Flash/Adobe AIR, and custom platforms like SVG. Reach your audience on desktop, mobile, and TV effortlessly.
• Continuous Updates: Animate is continuously improving with new features rolling out regularly. As a Creative Cloud member, you receive updates as soon as they are released.

Adobe Creative Cloud Plan:

• Adobe Animate Single App: US$22.99/month
• Creative Cloud All Apps: US$59.99/month (includes 20+ Creative Cloud apps)
• Students and Teachers: US$19.99/month (save over 60% on 20+ Creative Cloud apps)
• Business: US$37.99/month per license (includes Animate and exclusive business features)

6. Boords

Boords is an online AI storyboard generator that helps video professionals create visual storyboards effortlessly. Its AI-powered tools quickly turn scripts into vibrant scenes and characters without requiring any drawing skills. With features like text-to-image conversion and automatic animatic creation, Boords streamlines the storyboarding process, enabling users to visualize their ideas efficiently. 

Key Features of Boords are:

• Drag-and-Drop Builder: Build storyboards by dragging and dropping images and elements.
• Collaboration Tools: Work together with others in real-time to create storyboards.
• Frame-by-Frame Preview: See how your animation will flow with a frame-by-frame animation preview.

Pricing:

• Individual: $25/month for freelancers with features like custom text fields and version management.
• Group: $39/month for small teams with features like team editing and real-time updates.
• Agency: $99/month for video agencies with project-based access and team invite links.
• Powerhouse: $127/month for production companies with unlimited storyboards and premium support.

7. Synfig Studio

Synfig Studio is a robust, open-source 2D animation software available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. It empowers users to create professional-quality animations using both vector and bitmap artwork, eliminating the need for laborious frame-by-frame animation. With Synfig, animators can produce high-quality 2D animations efficiently, requiring fewer resources and personnel.

Key Features of Synfig Studio are:

• Vector Tweening: Easily transform vector shapes into various forms with precise control over key positions, thanks to Synfig's powerful tools for vector artwork manipulation.
• Layers and Filters: Access over 50 layers to create complex artwork and animations. Choose from a variety of layer types including geometric, gradients, filters, distortions, transformations, and fractals.
• Bones: Synfig offers a full-featured bone system, enabling users to create cutout animations using bitmap images or control vector artwork. Additional Skeleton Distortion layers allow for complex deformations of bitmap artwork.
• Advanced Controls: Link parameters of different layers directly or through mathematical expressions, enabling the creation of dynamic structures and advanced character puppets.

System Requirements:

• Windows: Microsoft Windows 7 or above, Dual-Core CPU at 2 GHz or better, 2GB RAM or more.
• OS X: OS X 10.8 or above, Dual-Core CPU at 2 GHz or better, 2GB RAM or more.
• Linux: Linux distro released in 2012 or later, Dual-Core CPU at 2 GHz or better, 2GB RAM or more.

Synfig Studio is licensed under GNU GPL v3 and offers both stable and development versions for users to choose from based on their preferences and project requirements.

• Pricing: Free

8. Krikey AI

Create stunning animations effortlessly with Krikey AI's free animated video maker. Bring your imagination to life with 3D characters, customizable features, and lip-synced dialogue, all in one easy-to-use editing tool. Whether for work, school projects, or fun social media posts, unleash your creativity with Krikey AI's innovative animation maker.

Key Features of Krikey AI are:

• Customizable 3D Characters: Design and personalize your own 3D avatar cartoon characters to suit your vision.
• Animation Options: Easily animate your characters with hand gestures, facial expressions, and lip-synced dialogue in 16 languages.
• Simple Editing: Create, edit, and share your animated videos seamlessly using Krikey AI's intuitive animation editor.
• Versatile Animation: Explore various animation options, including text animation, background effects, and cinematic transitions for professional-looking videos.
• Wide Range of Applications: Use the animated video maker for work presentations, school projects, special events, or social media content creation.
• Pricing: Free to use.

9. Toon Boom

Toon Boom Harmony stands as a premier software for 2D animation, favored by both studios and professionals. It facilitates character rigging, special effects, and seamless animation creation, empowering users to bring their creative visions to life effortlessly.

Key Features of Toon Boom are:

• Advanced Rigging Tools: Easily rig characters for fluid movement and expressive animation.
• Cut-out Animation: Streamline the animation process with cut-out techniques for efficient production.
• Frame-by-Frame Animation: Enjoy the flexibility of traditional frame-by-frame animation techniques.
• Industry-Standard Workflows: Harmonize your workflow with industry-standard practices for seamless collaboration and production efficiency.

10. Powtoon

Powtoon is a user-friendly animation platform hosted in the cloud, enabling the creation of dynamic animated videos and presentations. Ideal for business, education, and marketing purposes, Powtoon provides a seamless experience for users of all skill levels.

Key Features of  Powtoon are:

• Drag-and-Drop Interface: Easily create visually engaging content with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
• Pre-designed Templates: Access a vast library of pre-designed templates to jumpstart your projects.
• Voiceover Recording: Enhance your videos with custom voiceovers to add a personal touch.
• Analytics: Track the performance of your videos with built-in analytics tools for valuable insights.

11. Cascadeur

Cascadeur is a standalone 3D software tailored for creating and editing realistic character animation. Utilizing AI-assisted and physics tools, it streamlines the animation process for high-quality results. Compatible with .FBX, .DAE, and .USD files, it seamlessly integrates into any animation workflow.

Key Features of Cascadeur are:

• Physics Simulation: Achieve lifelike motion with built-in physics simulation capabilities.
• Motion Editing Tools: Edit and refine animations with precision using advanced motion editing tools.
• Keyframe Animation: Create keyframe animations effortlessly to animate characters and objects.
• Real-time Feedback: Receive instant feedback on animation adjustments for seamless workflow.
• Pricing: Free trial available for exploration and evaluation.

12. Appypie Animation Maker

Appypie Animation Maker is an intuitive online tool for creating animated videos and GIFs without the need for coding or design expertise. Perfect for businesses of all sizes, it simplifies the animation process for users.

Key Features of Appypie Animation Maker are:

• Template Library: Access a wide range of pre-designed templates to kickstart your animations.
• Drag-and-Drop Interface: Easily customize animations with a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
• Customizable Animations: Tailor animations to suit your brand and message with customizable options.
• Multi-Platform Publishing: Seamlessly publish your animated content across various platforms for maximum reach.

Pricing:

• Start your free trial: Begin with a 7-day free trial to explore the features.
• $8 per Month: Enjoy affordable monthly pricing for continued access to the Animation Maker.

Conclusion

AI-powered animation tools have transformed the way animations are created, offering efficiency, creativity, and flexibility to animators and content creators. 

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned professional, these 12 AI tools for animation generation provide the necessary features and capabilities to bring your ideas to life. 

From 2D to 3D animation, there's a tool for every animation need, empowering users to unleash their creativity and produce stunning animated content.