Motion graphics · honest comparison
Rescroll vs After Effects.
After Effects is the professional standard for motion design. Rescroll is for creators who want the graphics on their own videos without learning it.
The short version
After Effects is Adobe's motion design and visual effects app, and the tool most professional motion designers use. Anything you've seen animated on a screen, someone has probably made in it. The price of that range is skill: you design each element, keyframe every move and line it up with your audio yourself.
Rescroll AI Motion Graphics does one job: graphics on your own talking-head video. You describe the moment in plain English — "count up to $47,200 as I say it" — attach a screenshot or your logo if you have one, and Rescroll designs it, places it around you, times it to your words and exports the finished video.
Where the difference shows up
Time per graphic. In After Effects, a clean animated card — designed, keyframed, eased, timed, exported, checked on a phone — is real work, and a six-graphic Short can take an afternoon for an experienced editor. In Rescroll, describing a moment takes about a minute and the build runs on its own.
Placement and timing. After Effects does exactly what you tell it, so keeping graphics off your face and on the right word is your job, frame by frame. Rescroll looks at your footage before designing each graphic, and uses a word-by-word transcript to land it on the exact word.
Control. Here After Effects wins outright. If you want to adjust one keyframe's easing, build a character rig or do 3D compositing, you need a real motion design tool. In Rescroll you change a graphic by asking — "bigger, later, a different colour" — which is faster, but it isn't keyframe-level control.
What it costs
After Effects is $22.99/month on its own (annual plan, billed monthly), or part of Creative Cloud Pro with Premiere and the rest of Adobe's apps. The bigger cost is the months it takes to get good. Rescroll's motion graphics come with the Pro plan at $20/month billed yearly ($29 monthly) or Ultimate, alongside everything else in Rescroll. For the full picture, including freelancers, see what motion graphics cost in 2026.
The honest take
We're not for everyone.
Both tools are great at different things. Here's where each one wins.
Where After Effects wins
The ceiling is unlimited.
- Anything is possible — character animation, 3D, VFX, title sequences, full explainer videos.
- Keyframe-level control over every property, easing curve and expression.
- The industry standard. Endless tutorials, plugins, templates and a huge community.
- Build templates for others — package graphics as .mogrt files for editors in Premiere.
Where Rescroll wins
Graphics on your video, from a sentence.
- No motion design skills. Describe the graphic the way you'd brief an editor.
- Placed around you — clear of your face, hands, captions and, on vertical video, the app buttons.
- Timed to the word from a word-by-word transcript, not by scrubbing the waveform.
- Your real brand and data. Attach screenshots, saved web pages, logos, fonts or a CSV, and it matches them.
- Checks its own frames before you see the result, and exports a finished MP4 with your original audio.
Feature comparison
Side by side.
| Feature | Rescroll | After Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Describe a graphic in plain English | ||
| Builds graphics on your own footage | ||
| Places graphics around the speaker automatically | ||
| Times graphics to your spoken words automatically | ||
| Keyframe-level control of every property | ||
| Character animation, 3D and VFX | ||
| Reusable graphics templates (.mogrt) | ||
| Matches your brand from attached references | ||
| Any aspect ratio (9:16, 16:9, 1:1, 4:5) | ||
| No motion design skills needed |
Who is this for
Pick the one that fits your job.
Choose After Effects if
You're a motion designer, or want to become one, or you need something beyond graphics on a talking head — explainers, title sequences, character work, VFX. Nothing replaces After Effects there.
Choose Rescroll if
You film yourself and want numbers, lists, screens and brand moments on your videos every week — designed, placed and timed — without learning motion design or paying an editor per video.
Try AI motion graphicsCommon questions
After Effects vs Rescroll — answered.
Is Rescroll an After Effects alternative?
Does After Effects have AI that makes motion graphics from a prompt?
Can I use both?
How much does After Effects cost compared to Rescroll?
Keep reading
Where to go next.
See it yourself.
Decide in 60 seconds.
Drop a video, describe one moment, and watch it get built. Then make the call.
Try AI motion graphics