Free After Effects plugins and scripts worth installing

You do not need a large plugin budget to do good work in After Effects. These are free tools I and many other motion designers keep installed, because they save time on everyday jobs. Plugins change hands and pricing over time, so check each developer's page before you download.

Plugins, scripts and extensions: what is the difference?

Plugins add new effects and are installed into After Effects' Plug-ins folder. Scripts automate tasks and go into the Scripts folder (or ScriptUI Panels to dock them). Extensions are panels usually installed through a manager such as aescripts' ZXP installer. Each comes with its own instructions, so follow them, and restart After Effects afterwards.

Saber by Video Copilot

A fast, flexible glow and energy effect. Use it for light trails, neon, electricity, glowing text and logo reveals. It can follow masks and text outlines, so it is far more useful than its lightsaber name suggests.

FX Console by Video Copilot

A search bar for effects. Press a shortcut, type the effect's name and it is applied. It also saves frame grabs. Once you have used it you will not go back to the Effects menu.

Duik Angela by RxLaboratory

The standard free toolkit for character rigging and animation: bones, inverse kinematics, automatic walk cycles and controllers. If you animate characters, this is essential.

Motion Tools Pro by Mister Horse

A panel of small time-savers: aligning and distributing layers, creating nulls and controllers, splitting and sequencing layers, and more. It removes dozens of clicks from every project.

Ease and Wizz by Ian Haigh

Applies classic easing curves (expo, back, elastic, bounce) to keyframes through expressions. Useful when you want a specific feel quickly without editing the graph by hand.

Explode Shape Layers by Zack Lovatt

Splits a shape layer with many shapes into separate layers, one per shape. Indispensable when animating illustrations imported from Illustrator.

Already included: Mocha AE and Roto Brush

Two of the most powerful free tools are already in After Effects. Mocha AE does planar tracking for screen replacements and sign tracking, and Roto Brush separates subjects from backgrounds with AI. Learn these before buying anything.

A word on paid tools

Some of the best-known plugins, such as Element 3D, Trapcode Particular and Motion by Mt. Mograph, are paid. They are worth it for regular professional work, but start with the free tools above and buy only when a project needs something they cannot do.

Planning a film? See my AI video production and motion graphics services, or email me about your project.