Creature vs Spine
Creature
kestrelmoon.com
Spine
esotericsoftware.comSide by side
| Figure | Creature | Spine |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $70.83/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 8 |
| Spec score · 2D Game Animation Software | 8.2 (#6) | 8.1 (#10) |
| Spec score · 2D Character Animation Software | 8.0 (#18) | 8.1 (#17) |
| Spec score · Game Animation Software | 8.0 (#15) | 8.0 (#17) |
| Spec score · Cartoon Maker Software | 8.0 (#16) | 8.0 (#17) |
| Export formats | Animations can be exported as PNG image sequences, spritesheets, animated GIFs, MP4/QuickTime movies, FBX, Alembic and JSON. | JSON,binary,GIF,PNG,JPEG,AVI,QuickTime video,texture atlas |
| Purpose | Creature is 2D animation software for game developers, digital artists and web designers. | Spine is an animation tool focused specifically on 2D animation for games, with an editor and runtimes for using animations in games. |
Plans
Creature
- Pro (upgrade from Basic)$99, paid once
- TrialFree
- Basic$50, paid once
- Pro (Upgrade from Basic)$99, paid once
- Enterprise$800, paid once
Spine
- Essential$99 a month
- Professional$449 a month
- Enterprise$2,499 a year
- Education — 10 computers$850 a year
- Education — 25 computers$1,700 a year
- Education — 50 computers$2,900 a year
- Essential$69, paid once
- Professional$379, paid once
In their own words
Spine
Spine is a 2D animation tool focused on making animations for games, with an editor and runtimes for using the results in games. It builds skeletal or cutout animation by attaching images to bones and animating those bones. Rigging and animation tools include inverse kinematics, paths, skins, meshes, free-form deformation, weights, a dopesheet, a graph editor, and runtime preview. Exports include JSON and binary animation data, animated GIFs, PNG or JPEG image sequences, AVI or QuickTime video, and texture atlases or spritesheets. Official runtimes support Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, iOS, Android, Flutter, Phaser, PixiJS, and libgdx; generic runtimes are also listed for C, C++, C#, Haxe, and TypeScript. Spine runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its free trial includes Professional features but cannot save projects, pack textures, or export animation data, images, or video. Essential is listed at $99 a month; Professional is $449 a month.