It is 11:11; it isn't. Don't worry, my Mac lovers, even if it is not, we have brought something ELEVENY special.

Now, you must all be thinking, what is it?

So, here I open the surprise box for your art and animation experience. It is nothing else but the 11 best animation software for Mac in 2023.

Yes, you all read it right.

Animation is the trend everyone wants to follow for storytelling, education, entertainment, and digital video marketing and advertising. Still, they only want to do the research work after getting involved,  especially if using a Mac. And keeping that in mind, we have done the homework for you.

So, throw away your worries in the trash and prepare to set your hands and mind in the animation game.  

These software options range from simple, user-friendly programs perfect for beginners to more advanced software with powerful features for professionals.

So, if you were looking for animation software, then with our help, you'll be able to find the perfect tool to suit your needs and bring your creative ideas to life.

11 Professional Animation Software for Mac!

Pencil2D Animation Software

The software offers a clear, uncomplicated workspace where users can draw and design 2d animated characters, backgrounds, and objects.

Features of Pencil2D

  • Smooth and efficient drag-and-drop tools
  • From adding multiple layers and keyframes to importing audio to exporting animations in popular video formats
  • With the collection of brushes, including pencil, ink, and watercolor, users can experiment with different styles and techniques to create animations.
  • Supports raster and vector images
  • Inclusion of distortion and light effects

Pros

  • Save the output in Avi, Mp4, Webm, Gif, Or Apng Format.
  • An Open-Source 2d application.
  • Friendly interface and workspace.
  • Great 2d animation tool.

Cons

  • Lower OS versions do not support the advanced feature. 
  • The tools for painting and drawing are fundamental.
  • No support for 3D animations.

Pricing

This is free and open-source software.

Style it supports

  • Professional 2D animation

Blender Animation Software

Blender, like its name, blends in raw materials along with its comprehensive tools and gives a delicious Animation Smoothie.

This 2D, 2.5D animation, and 3d animation software (free download for mac) have some specialty as a three-dimensional animation tool. It handles the video production timeline, from creating complex 3D objects, 3d motion, models, and animations to compositing and post-production. 

Features of Blender 

  • Advanced physics simulations.
  • Character Animation maker
  • Nonlinear animation for independent movements.
  • 3D modeling
  • PBR Material And Texture Creation
  • 3D Scene Creation And Lighting
  • Image And Video Compositing
  • Python Scripting
  • Sculpting and many more

Delivering the correct information about the boon and bane of the Blender animation tool will be the right decision for you. So let's go.

Pros

  • It is an open-source program, meaning anyone can modify, distribute, and use it for anything.
  • It is a complete solution for designing 2D and 3D animation projects because of its many capabilities, which include 3D modeling, animation, physics simulations, compositing, and video editing.
  • Its vibrant user and developer community provides hints, guides, and plugin tools to assist users in making the most of the tool.
  • the most of the tool.
  • Its compatibility with various file types lets it import/export efficiently. Along with its usage with other programs, such as gaming engines.
  • It can be run on most PCs and has quite a low system need.

Cons

  • The challenging learning path may require time to get used to it.
  • Improvement in the user interface is required.
  • It might be superior to commercial solutions as per the documentation and assistance.

Pricing

It is free animation software for mac and open-source.

Style it supports

  • Character, Whiteboard, stop-motion, cartoon, 2D, and 3D animation

Adobe Character Animator Animation Software

Character animation video is for which Adobe Character Animator is made. Whether creating a cartoon series, an explainer video, or an interactive experience, this program brings your objects to life as animated characters with minimal effort.

With its accessible interface and comprehensive features, it allows you to create expressive, dynamic, and advanced animations. 

Features of Adobe Character Animator

A few characteristics that showcase the purpose of animation in this program are – 

  • 300+ full-body animation characters are present in its motion library.
  • Starter mode, especially for beginners, to start making animated videos quickly and easily 
  • Fast export tool for exporting animations quickly

Pros

  • Its starter mode is free and accessible, so it's best suited for beginners to create animation videos.
  • The animations created here can be published anywhere.
  • Unbeatable vector illustrations.
  • Helping the user community in making the work process easy.

Cons

  • HEIC format is not supported.
  • Its camera control needs to be more professional.
  • The inclusion of other features can make it a powerful animation tool.

Pricing

Free trial – 7 days
Creative Cloud All Apps – $52.99/month billed annually
Students and teachers – $19.99/month billed annually
Business – from $33.99/month billed annually

Style it supports

VideoScribe Animation Software

Creativity is the other name of VideoScribe – the powerful whiteboard animation tool that makes creating explainer videos a child's play. This program has all the tools to make your animations stand out.

Whether you're a marketer or entrepreneur, VideoScribe entitles you to easily convey your message and engage your audience like never before. 

You can follow the blog for helpful information about Video Scribe's features, pros, cons, and pricing.

Features of VideoScribe

  • 9 background textures and 13 hand styles, including a monster hand, are available in this tool.
  • Its vast image library of over 6000 images in 40 categories, including animals, buildings, shapes, designs, etc., is a boon for your needs.
  • It is featured with image customization options.
  • It has an integrated voice-over recording option.
  •  It exports high-definition videos.

Pros

  • The online tool also has a support team to resolve users' questions or issues.
  • This excellent, flawless whiteboard animation software helps small and medium businesses. 
  • Around 300 copyright-free audio tracks are available..

Cons

  • No direct MP4 support.
  • The audio addition could be more satisfactory.

Pricing

7-DAY free-to-use trial; after that, the paid versions are as follows.

Monthly Plan – $17/month
Quarterly Plan – $35/3 months
Yearly Plan – $96/year

Style it supports

SideFX: Houdini Animation Software

This is famous for VFX tools and the node-based procedural nature of its workflow that assists in speeding up the work and delivering satisfactory results.

Features of SideFX: Houdini

  • Pyro FX to showcase natural fire expressions
  • Fluids, to showcase real-like fluid actions
  • Particle, to showcase real-like particle movements
  • Destruction FX, to showcase natural destructive actions
  • Finite elements
  • Grains
  • Crowds with rag Doll dynamics

Let us move toward the pros and cons of SideFX Houdini!

Pros

  • It is considered an appropriate software to create VFX from scratch. Thus, it is considered the best 3D animation software for Mac.
  • Its workflow has the power to design and manage simulations excellently.
  • The software has upgraded modeling tools for uncomplicated poly modeling.
  • Various options in the shader system

Cons

  • Node-based software that leads to complex working.
  • The user interface will seem quite complicated in the beginning. Thus, additions to the user interface can make it easy for the users.

Pricing

Free learning edition   
HOUDINI FX (Artist edition) – US$4,495 
HOUDINI FX (Studio version) – US$6,995

Style it supports

  • 2D, 3D, and Whiteboard animation

Gifs.com Animation Software

Attractive qualities and features to create captivating gifs from videos. It can transport video from anywhere to give a funny and cool gif. So please do not waste a second and spare a few minutes to read the features, pros, cons, and pricing and know how it is easy to use animation software for mac.

Features of Gifs.com

  • Option for adding captions to gif
  • A sticker creator tool is available
  • One-Click memes can be created easily
  • Use YouTube videos, Facebook videos, vine, Instagram, or any other app to transfer video to this app and make a gif.

Pros

  • It has a user-friendly interface.
  • The tool has a quick work process.

Cons

  • Watermark persists while working with the free version.
  • Images cannot get converted into gifs.

Pricing

Free version 
Premium version
 1-2 gifs – $1.99
3-11 gifs – $5.99
12-28 gifs – $10.99
29-58 gifs – $19.99
59-108 gifs – $39.99
Unlimited gifs – $59.99

Style it supports

  • 2D, 3D, and Whiteboard animation

Adobe Photoshop Animation Software

With its comprehensive interface and tools, Photoshop makes it easy to bring your imagination to life and create eye-catching GIFs that will leave your audience in awe. 

Whether you want to add humor to your social media posts or create engaging video ads, Photoshop will back you up. Get ready to make GIF-tastic animations with adobe photoshop that will blow up everyone's mind.

Features of Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop's unique features let you understand how it could benefit animation makers.

  • Image edits with the latest AI-powered Neural Filters
  • One-click delete and fill with Content-Aware Fill
  • New preference to improve selection stability (windows only) 
  • GPU status indicator – to report the exact mode Photoshop's GPU state is in, allowing you to address further GPU troubleshooting steps.
  • Support for emoji glyphs
  • Live gradients (only for the beta app on desktop)
  • Tool for removing the background
  • Utilize keyboard shortcuts to save time

Pros

  • Its paid version provides 100 GB of cloud storage.
  • Step-by-step tutorials to understand the workflow of the tool.
  • Creative Cloud Libraries.
  • Access to the latest features.
  • 14 new cameras have been added to the list of 100+ cameras of over 30 brands. Using and knowing the camera structure and language for animation creation becomes necessary.

Cons

  • Beginners can spend time working with this best video animation software for mac.
  • The tool lags while working with a batch of images.
  • It is expensive and, thus, cannot be afforded by various animators or small businesses. 

Pricing

You can enjoy the 7-day free trial, then subscribe to the paid version.

Monthly – US$30.57
Annual paid monthly – US$20.37
Annual, prepaid – US$232.96

Style it supports

  • 2D, 3D, Gif animation

GIMP Animation Software

Features of GIMP

Let us highlight what these features of the best video animation software for mac have to tell us!

  • The intuitive Editing option in the tool lets the user follow the smooth editing process.
  • Quick rendering with mass production image renderer
  • Image Format Converter for customizable use of images
  • The presence of an advanced scripting interface. 
  • Potent gradient editor and blend tool to create flawless animations.
  • Full Alpha channel support while working on the tool
  • A procedural database for calling internal Gimp functions from external programs, as in script-fu
  • Load and save animations in a convenient frame-as-layer format, supporting the Mng support.

With pros and cons, we can create a vivid and clear image for the reader's eyes.

Pros

  • Making GIFs is an easy task here.
  • It is free of cost. Thus anyone can get a chance to use it.
  • It consists of an expert-quality Photo Retouching Program.

Cons

  • Creating gifs is easy, but it has complex programming.
  • It needs to be more precise and comprehensive.

Pricing

It is free of cost.

Style it supports

  • Gif animation

iStopMotion Animation Software

With its user-friendly interface and intuitive controls, iStopMotion makes it easier to create eye-catching frame-by-frame quality animations. 

Features of iStopMotion

Create fantastic stop-motion animations with the features mentioned below. 

  • Onion-skinning 
  • Time-lapse
  • Chroma-key feature
  • Rotoscoping

Pros

  • User-friendly at an ultimate level. Thus, suitable for beginners.
  •  Option of previewing the video.
  • The working process is efficient.

Cons

  • It is expensive and hence not easy to access for some people.
  • The affordable version offers fewer features.
  • It does not work on Windows.

Pricing

No free trial version.
Perpetual license (One time purchase) – US$50  

Style it supports

  • Gif animation, 2D or 3D animation

Dragonframe Animation Software

Our compliments will not help you to accept it as a pro, but stop-motion films like Disney's Frankenweenie and Laika's Coraline have been created with this animation software.

Features of Dragonframe

Features of this Animation Software that you need to know:

  • Precise control over the usage of animation tools
  • Live view and capture option available
  • Sound synchronization for flawless results
  • Customizable controls for smooth usage
  • Keyframe animation, motion control, and audio lip-sync to create complex animations

Pros

  • User-friendly interface.
  •  Improved workflow.
  • Support for multiple cameras.
  • Adjustment feature in the tool section
  • Modern instruments for drawing
  • Great functionality and performance

Cons

  • It sometimes becomes slow during rendering or dealing with lots of data – images and videos.
  • It is not affordable, a drawback for beginners or small animation companies.

Pricing

Use the accessible version of Dragonframe5, which is valid for 30 days

Software full version 
Annual Subscription with keypad – US$139 (Excludes tax)
Annual Subscription without keypad – US$119 (Excludes tax)

Software student version
Annual Subscription  with keypad  – US$99 (Excludes tax)
Annual Subscription without keypad – US$79 (Excludes tax)

Style it supports

  • 2D, 3D, and stop-motion animation

Moovly Animation Software

It is designed to be user-friendly and accessible to beginners and professionals, making it an admirable option for businesses, educators, and individuals looking to create engaging visual content.

Features of Moovly 

Features of this Animation Software that you need to know:

  • Drag-and-drop animation tool
  • Collection of pre-made objects, characters, and backgrounds
  • Wide range of templates and themes
  • Ability to import audio, video, and image files
  • Support for voice-over and audio recording
  • Option to collaborate with others in real-time
  • Publish to a variety of platforms, including YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook

Pros

  • Easy-to-use interface with a drag-and-drop editor.
  •  Wide range of templates and themes to choose from.
  • Ability to collaborate with others in real-time.
  • Cloud-based, so there is no need for powerful hardware.
  • Affordable pricing plans for businesses and individuals.

Cons

  • Limited customization options compared to other animation software.
  • Some users have reported stability and performance issues with the cloud-based platform.
  • Limited features for advanced animation

Pricing

Pro: For budding creators – US$33.25/month, US$399 billed yearly
Max: For maximum creative freedom – US$49.92/month, $599 billed yearly
Enterprise: For teams and collaboration – Custom pricing

Style it supports

  • 2D, and 3D animation

Ready to enter the World of Animation?

When more and more options come along with confusion, we bring you a magic list of animation software like we did today.

We presented you to check out the best animation software for Mac that lets you rule the animation universe. However, on the same side, determining your specific needs and goals is the key to finding the proper animation software.

If you're starting, free options like Blender and Pencil2d may be great software for beginners and professionals, as you can experiment and learn the basics without committing to a paid subscription.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a more advanced tool with a broader range of features, consider a paid option like Dragonframe, Adobe Animate, or Moovly.

Ultimately, the best animation software for you will depend on your unique needs, goals, and preferences, whether you want to create animations for fun, work, or a personal project. Saving your research time was the primary goal of preparing this list.

Guess what? We helped you choose the right software to assist you in bringing your creative visions to life and engaging your potential customers.

Still, need some answers? Feel free to reach out to us in case you have any questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, animating on a Mac is possible with the right animation software. Numerous options, ranging from 2D to 3D, are designed for Mac users and offer various features and tools to create animations. From beginner-friendly options to professional software, there is a solution for every need and skill level.

Several animation software options are available on Mac, including Adobe character animator, iStopMotion, SideFXHoudini, Blender, and more. These software options offer a range of features and tools to create animations, from basic 2D animation to advanced 3D animation to stop-motion and what not. The best option for a Mac user would depend on their needs and experience level.

Yes, Apple does have animation software. Apple's most popular animation software is Motion, a professional tool for creating stunning visual effects, motion graphics, and animations. It is designed for Mac users and integrated with other Apple products, such as Final Cut Pro.

people find stop-motion easier because it involves physically moving objects and capturing images, while others may find traditional animation more accessible as it requires drawing and painting skills. Both animation forms have unique challenges and require time, effort, and patience to master.