Animation Desk vs Pencil2D
Animation Desk
kdan.com
Pencil2D
pencil2d.orgSide by side
| Figure | Animation Desk | Pencil2D |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $2.49/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 6 | 2 |
| Spec score · Cartoon Maker Software | 9.3 (#1) | 8.4 (#12) |
| Spec score · 2D Character Animation Software | 9.3 (#2) | 8.4 (#10) |
| Spec score · Animation Software | 9.1 (#10) | 8.8 (#16) |
| Documentation | KDAN provides tutorials for frame control, colors, selection tools, live-action video, layers, onion skin and export, plus a support knowledge base. | Official documentation includes a user guide, tutorials, FAQ, user manual and a reference manual described as an initial work in progress. |
| Export formats | Supported exports listed by the maker include video, images, GIF, Photoshop PSD, PDF and ad.package. | MP4,WEBM,AVI,GIF,APNG,PNG image sequence |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | GetApp records iMovie as a user-mentioned integration, rated 5.0 from one integration review. | GetApp reports that no integrations were found for Pencil2D. |
| Purpose | Animation Desk is software for creating animations, cartoons, and animatics. | Pencil2D is an intuitive tool for making 2D hand-drawn animations. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.6 out of 5 from 11 reviews | 4.1 out of 5 from 16 reviews |
| Rating on GetApp | 4.5 out of 5 from 4 reviews | 4.2 out of 5 from 13 reviews |
| What it does | Animation Desk is 2D software for frame-by-frame animation, cartoons and animatics. | Pencil2D is a lightweight tool for creating traditional hand-drawn 2D animations. |
Plans
Animation Desk
- Animation Desk Pro iOS$2.49 a month
- Creativity 365 for Individuals$4.99 a month
- Animation Desk iOS BasicFree
- Animation Desk iOS - Basic PlanFree
- Animation Desk Pro iOS$2.49 a month
- Creativity 365 for Individuals$4.99 a month
In their own words
Animation Desk
Animation Desk is software for creating animations, cartoons, and animatics on Android, iOS, and Windows. Its tools include paint brushes, layers, onion skinning, sound effects, and frame-rate settings. Work can begin with video clips, photos, or pre-built animation templates, with stock collections, batch frame pasting, and effects for video and images available for editing; some features depend on app version. The product is aimed at beginners, students, learners, and professional animators making rough animation, animatic sketches, or storyboards. Finished work can be exported as video, GIF, PDF, PSD, or image sequences, and editable projects can be exchanged among the Android, iOS, and Windows apps. The iOS listing also describes export to Photoshop for further editing. Animation Desk is free to download, and a free plan is listed. Animation Desk Pro for iOS is $2.49 a month, billed annually at $29.99. Creativity 365 for Individuals is $4.99 a month, billed annually at $59.99. KDAN says the product will remain available under existing paid plans but will not receive proactive new feature development or routine version maintenance updates.
Pencil2D
Pencil2D is free, open-source software for creating hand-drawn 2D animations. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and, according to the homepage, FreeBSD. The project provides stable builds for Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.14 or later on Intel, and both 32-bit and 64-bit Linux. Artists can switch between raster and vector workflows for sketching, inking and painting. A timeline manages keyframes, while dockable tool and color windows accompany an unlimited canvas with a camera field. Onion skin displays drawings before and after the current keyframe, with controls for drawing count and transparency. Sound can be imported through a sound layer, although waveform display is still pending. Exports include MP4, WEBM, AVI, GIF, APNG and PNG image sequences. Video importing, text tools and shape tools are not implemented. Pencil2D is free for commercial use. Help is available through its forum, Discord, tutorials, FAQ and user manual.