After Effects CC is a professional software for creating animations. It's one of the most popular among Hollywood professionals and independent content creators. So how to get Adobe After Effects for free?

It's quite pricy. And there is a good reason, because of the sheer quality and possibilities After Effects CC has. Also, it has great synergy with other famous software like Photoshop or Premiere Pro. That way it's no brainer to get graphics ready in Photoshop, animations done in After Effects and then make a video with all the media in Premiere Pro.

After Effects Free Version

It's quite easy. All that you have to do is to visit the official After Effects CC webpage and download a trial version of the software. The link is in the top menu near the "Buy" button.

Here is the picture to make it all clear. Click here to get to the page.

Adobe After Effects CC trial version

How to Download Adobe After Effects Free Trial

When you will have pressed a button to download a free trial of After Effects you will see a for that you need to fill. This is obligatory since you need to have an Adobe ID to use any of the Adobe Creative software.

If you have an Adobe ID then just log in. To make a new Adobe ID just follow the instructions. Once you've logged in or signed up you will able to download After Effects. After installing log in into your Adobe ID inside After Effects. Now you know how to get Adobe After Effects for free.

Adobe After Effects Free and Paid Options

Adobe After Effects is an industry-standard for video post-processing and video graphics. And it has a lot of nice features to back it up. From the official website, you will get the latest version. It always will be up-to-date as long as your subscription is active.

After Effects is one of the Creative Cloud apps. You can get Creative Cloud for free, including such widely-known software as Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Encode and other.

You came here to get Adobe After Effects for free, however, there are options that are better than a free 7-day trial. Here they are.

1. Adobe After Effects Free Trial Version

You already know how to get this version. Just go to Adobe After Effects webpage and click the "Free Trial" button there.

This free 7-day trial version has all the functions apart from the fact that it works only for a week. Otherwise, it works just as good as the paid version.

2. Single After Effects Subscription

You can get only After Effects if you don't need any other Creative Cloud apps. Maybe you already have a video editing software of your choosing. However, After Effects without Premiere Pro is not an option if you want to make a great quality video production and don't use any other video editing app. Here you can learn how to get Premiere Pro for free.

Besides the application itself, you will get other useful options: 100GB of cloud storage, Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, and Adobe Spark. All the future updates of After Effects also would be available as long as your subscription is active.

There are three different pricing plans for you to fit into your budget:

  • Annual plan, paid monthly – $20.99/mo.
  • Annual plan, prepaid – $239.88/yr.
  • Monthly plan – $31.49/mo.

3. All Creative Applications Subscription with After Effects

This is simply the best value option that has the entirety of Adobe Creative Cloud inside. You'll get 20+ creative desktop and mobile apps with such industry standards as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, After Effects, Lightroom, and Premiere Pro. With this option, you can leverage the synergy between Adobe's software – all of the apps can communicate and share the media from one to the other.

There are also three pricing plans to get this option:

  • Annual plan, paid monthly – $52.99/mo.
  • Annual plan, prepaid – $599.88 /yr.
  • Monthly plan – $79.49/mo.

4. Students and Teachers Discount for After Effects

If you're a student older than 13 or a teacher you can get a fabulous 60% discount on All Creative Applications Subscription. The trick is that you have to prove that you're a student or a teacher. If you have a school or university e-mail address then you can easily get a student discount. In other cases, you'll need to send a photo or a scan of your School ID Card or another document that proves that you're a student or a teacher.

The pricing plans for Students and Teachers Discount are:

  • Annual plan, paid monthly – $19.99/mo.
  • Annual plan, prepaid – $239.88/yr.

These are all the options of how to get Adobe After Effect for free or paid. The plans are pretty flexible so you can choose the one that fits your needs the best.

Sure it can be a little bit disappointing to learn that there is no legal way to get Adobe After Effects for free for an unlimited time. And if you thought about pirating it I ought to tell you against piracy.

Don't use Adobe After Effects Crack

On the web, you can sometimes find things as After Effects portable or a "free and patched" version. Be aware that sites that distribute such software are pirate sites – torrent trackers, software sites that filled with questionable adults-only ads and so on.

Let me say it again – you shouldn't get into piracy by no means. But here are some key points why cracked After Effects is a bad thing:

1. Viruses, trojans, ransomware

The gravest danger of pirated apps. You download an After Effects crack and virus flood your PC. It can be as simple as just slowing your computer. The worst scenario is that you catch some ransomware that blocks your computer until you pay money to a perpetrator.

2. No official updates, ever

With no Adobe subscription, there are no updates. Adobe ships its updates only to subscribed users. That means if you don't legally subscribe or using After Effects crack you won't get sweet new updates with new juicy features.

3. Customer support is not available

You can say goodbye to the official Adobe support service. With pirated Adobe After Effects, you have no means to contact them 24/7. All the problems that you could encounter with cracked After Effects are your own. That's a price you pay with "free" pirated apps.

4. Pirated versions are malfunctioning

Who knows what was altered in the cracked After Effects? You wanted to get Adobe After Effects for free and you get a cat in the bag. Some important features can easily be disabled by pirates just in order for the software to launch. And forget about any Internet-connected functionality.

5. It is prohibited by law

Throughout the world, piracy is prohibited by law. And chances are that it's prohibited in your country. The USA and European laws are pretty strict about it. You'd better be safe and with no charges for piracy after all.

Adobe After Effects free alternatives

If you still think that a free Adobe After Effects for 7 days is not for you then let me fill you in about notable free alternatives. The more you know the better.

Blender

Blender is open-source software for video animation. It is totally free and works with both Windows PC and Linux. It's a notable alternative to Adobe After Effects. It includes tools to edit video, compose 3D models and animations, video animations. With Blender, you can create your own 3D model and insert it in your video.

Blender is a community-developed app. It's made by people from around the world; by studios and individual artists, professionals and hobbyists, scientists, students, VFX experts, animators, game artists, modders, and so on.

Hitfilm Express

HitFilm Express is a widely-known free app that includes both functions to edit video and create VFX. It is constantly updated since the FXhome team has means to earn money – HitFilm Pro is a big brother of HitFilm Express with more features and it is paid.

HitFilm Express has much power in terms of video editing which makes it a notable alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro. Also, it excels in 2D and 3D compositing, green screen removal and video effects.

It can also be powered up with paid addons for as little as $10. With these extensions, you can create such magnificent effects as lightning, electricity, laser beams, lightsabres and so on. And don't forget an option to color grade your footage to give it the desired look: from modern cinema to classic films.

Natron

Natron is also an open-source app. It's a new player in video editing game but with a lot of features to explore. Natron can be used as After Effects alternative when you don't need the power of Adobe to back you up in VFX and video editing.

The software also can be used to grade the colors, apply filters and special effects to video. And the export options are all the way from SD to HD and 4K. And with powerful chroma key tools, you will need these high fidelity resolutions.

Natron supports many different formats. And if you have some OpenFX plug-in that you like you can easily hook it up to Natron and use it in your working process.

Want to learn more about video editing software? Check out our article Top 10 Best Video Editing Software in 2018.