Build your post-production library with the best free plugins, scripts, and presets for After Effects! and use them in your next project.
Boost your After Effects with these free plugins, scripts, and presets. This huge list of freebies enhances visuals and streamlines workflow. Download links and video tutorials included! If you’re looking to take your creativity to the next level in Adobe After Effects 2025, this blog post is a treasure trove for you. We’ve compiled a list of over 20 of the best free plugins and effects that will make your visual effects, motion graphics, and animation workflows faster, better, and more professional.
Whether you want to create glow effects, enhance text animations, or just make After Effects faster and easier—these free tools will save you both time and effort. Best of all, these plugins are great for both new and experienced users, and are completely free.
List of 20+ Free Plugins and Filters for After Effects 2025
- Saber – Powerful energy & light effects plugin by Video Copilot.
- Quick Chromatic Aberration – Simple and fast chromatic color distortion.
- Orb – 3D planet and sphere creation by Video Copilot.
- Displacer Pro – Advanced displacement map effects.
- Dojo Glitch – Quick and customizable glitch effects.
- AEJuice GIF – Export high-quality GIFs from AE.
- Color Vibrance – Add vibrant color glow to elements.
- Thick Stroke – Extra-bold stroke effect for shapes and texts.
- Long Shadow – Add dynamic long shadows to text and shapes.
- FX Console – Workflow booster from Video Copilot; quick access to effects.
- LimberLite – Lightweight character rigging and IK tool.
- TextBorder – Add outlines and borders to text layers.
- BOUNCr – Automatic bounce animations with realistic motion.
- Better Bokeh – Create high-quality bokeh blur for backgrounds.
- Duik Bassel – Full-featured rigging and animation toolkit.
- Label Maker – Customize and color-label layers in timeline.
- gridRig – Create modular, grid-based character rigs.
- Dojo Shifter – Offset and shift layer keyframes easily.
- Numbers+ – Create animated numbers with style and control.
- Squash & Stretch – Pre-made motion presets with cartoon-like animation
Why are Plugins and Filters necessary in After Effects?
Using Plugins and Filters in After Effects not only makes work easier but also more creative. Would you like to create every animation and effect yourself, or would you like to achieve stunning results in one click?
That’s why these tools save time, increase the quality of work, and bring a professional touch to projects. Take a look at some of our favorites.
1. Saber
Saber from Video Copilot tops the list of free After Effects plugins. This powerful tool creates light and energy beams with realistic glow effects.
Saber is undoubtedly one of the most popular and powerful free plugins for After Effects, developed by Video Copilot. If you need light effects, energy beams, or cinematic glow effects, Saber should be your first choice. This plugin allows you to create professional-quality neon, lightning, laser, fire, and other light-based effects without any complicated settings.
Saber is incredibly easy to use — just select a mask or text, apply the Saber effect, and you’ll immediately start seeing bright, vibrant, and dynamic light lines. It also includes over 40 pre-built presets like “Fire”, “Electric”, “Energy”, and “Laser Sword”, which you can apply with just one click. Additionally, you can customize its settings to create your own effects.
Saber not only brings beauty to motion graphics, but also delivers stunning results in visual effects, intro titles, game or film projects — all at no cost. If you work in After Effects and your workflow is lacking some wow factor, Saber can breathe new life into your projects.
2. Quick Chromatic Aberration
Quick Chromatic Aberration is a lightweight but extremely useful free plugin, developed by Plugin Everything. This plugin allows you to add professional-quality chromatic effects and color fringes in just a few clicks. Chromatic Aberration is actually a popular visual effect that simulates real lens distortion, and is often used in films or video games to make videos feel more cinematic and organic.
The beauty of Quick Chromatic Aberration is that it is very simple and fast, and easy to use even for new users. You can easily add subtle or intense distortion to your video by shifting the red, green, and blue channels separately. This effect works especially well for glitch transitions, sci-fi visual effects, and dreamy aesthetics.
If you want to add a little visual depth, retro flair, or cinematic distortion to your video or motion graphics, Quick Chromatic Aberration is an essential free tool that gives you stunning results in a very short time.
3. Orb
Orb is a great free 3D plugin developed by Video Copilot specifically for creators who want to create realistic 3D planets right inside After Effects — without any third-party 3D software. This plugin gives you a fully controllable 3D sphere system, with advanced illumination, texture mapping, atmospheric glow, and real-time reflections.
The best thing about Orb is that it works in complete harmony with After Effects’ built-in lights. This means you can light your planet from the inside, like changing the angle of sunlight or adding realism to shadowy areas. With it, you can create Earth, Mars, the Moon, or any other fictional planet, with complete control.
This plugin is a valuable tool for motion designers, VFX artists, and space-themed content creators. Whether you’re creating intro titles or a science video, Orb gives you 3D depth and a cinematic feel — all for free.
4. Displacer Pro
Displacer Pro is a great free plugin that takes After Effects’ traditional displacement effects and puts them in a new and modern way. If you’re interested in creative distortions, wave-like animations, or organic warping effects, Displacer Pro is a great addition to your workflow. Not only does this plugin improve upon the basic displacement map features, but it also adds advanced options like scale, rotation, chromatic aberration, and anti-aliasing that set it apart from the rest.
With Displacer Pro, you can distort your images or videos in intricate ways, giving them glitchy, dreamy, or abstract visual styles. Especially if you’re using a noise map, fractal, or custom mask, this plugin produces very nice and smooth results. Plus, the included anti-aliasing makes your distortions look smooth and professional, without any jagged or rough edges.
Displacer Pro is especially great for motion graphics or VFX creators who want both creative freedom and technical control — and best of all, it’s available completely free!
5. Dojo Glitch
Dojo Glitch is a great free glitch effects plugin, developed by Creative Dojo. This plugin is a powerful tool for all creators who want to add realistic glitches, digital artifacts, and analog distortion to their videos or motion graphics. Where most glitch effects are limited, Dojo Glitch gives you complete control.
You can easily adjust the glitch intensity, create color separations with RGB separation, add screen flicker, and make the video more distorted or glitchy with lens distortion. In addition, the included randomness controls give you the freedom to give each frame a different look, so your result doesn’t feel boring or repetitive.
Dojo Glitch is not only ideal for glitch transitions and error aesthetics, but it also works great with sci-fi, cyberpunk, or abstract visual themes. If you want to give your videos an edgy, noisy, and modern look, this plugin is a must-have in your AE toolkit — and best of all: it’s completely free.
6. AEJuice GIF
AEJuice GIF is a simple but very useful free plugin that makes it super easy for creators working in After Effects to create GIFs. If you’ve ever manually rendered a video and then gone into another software to convert it to a GIF, you know how time-consuming and tedious this process can be. AEJuice GIF takes all the hassle out of it.
With just one click, you can export your After Effects composition directly to a high-quality GIF — without any external conversion. This plugin is especially great for designers who create fast GIFs for social media, web animations, or presentations. Its simple interface and automated settings are suitable for both new and experienced users.
If you want to save time and have effortless GIF workflows, AEJuice GIF should be a must-have in your After Effects toolset — and the good news is that this plug-in is available completely free of charge.
7. Color Vibrance
Color Vibrance is a great free plugin designed specifically for creators who want to transform black and white stock footage like smoke plumes, fire explosions, or other visual effects into eye-catching, vibrant colors. This plugin gives you the option of sample and realistic colorization, making your video look more vibrant and impactful.
Color Vibrance includes controls that give you complete control over color intensity, tone, and lighting effects, so you can achieve the result you want. It’s especially useful for VFX artists and motion graphic designers who want to reimagine black and white elements like smoke bursts, shockwaves, or ink effects.
With this plugin, you can transform any black and white footage into a stunning, high-energy visual in just a few clicks — and the best part is that Color Vibrance is completely free.
8. Thicc Stroke
Thicc Stroke is a variable-width stroke plugin for masks and shapes. It offers customizable settings and loopable color gradients along stroke paths.
9. Long Shadow
Long Shadow is a preset for creating flat, long shadows in After Effects. Adjust the angle, add gradient colors, and control shadow falloff.
10. FX Console
FX Console is a free plugin that speeds up After Effects workflow. It acts as a pop-up search bar for quick effects, presets, screenshots, and more.
11. LimberLite
LimberLite is the fastest way to start character rigging and animation in After Effects. It simplifies animation with a single click.
12. TextBorder
TextBorder lets you add a customizable border to text layers. Adjust expansion, thickness, roundness, and color with ease.
13. BOUNCr
BOUNCr from Ukramedia applies Dan Ebberts’ Overshoot and Bounce Back expressions in After Effects. This dockable panel lets you add bounce effects with ease.
14. Better Bokeh
Better Bokeh The gamma correction preset that enhances blurs in After Effects, perfect for the built-in Camera Lens Blur effect.
15. Duik Bassel
Duik Bassel the powerful 2D animation and rigging toolset. This includes controllers, bones, keyframe management, and automation, perfect for animation professionals.
16. Label Maker
Label Maker scans layer colors in After Effects and automatically matches their label color, making layers easier to identify.
17. gridRig
gridRig from Ordinary Folk lets you create stunning grid animations with just a few keyframes. Learn more in John Rodriguez’s article Take a Look at gridRig.
18. Dojo Shifter
Dojo Shifter quickly staggers and offsets layers in After Effects, with options for linear staggering or eased offsets.
19. Numbers+
Numbers+ the ultimate preset for counters, timers, and clocks. Fully rigged for animation, it’s perfect for infographics, currencies, and countdowns.
20. Squash & Stretch
Squash & Stretch from mamoworld adds handcrafted squash and stretch effects to animations, making them dynamic and fun in no time.
Conclusion
Plugins, Scripts, and Presets in After Effects make work faster and easier. They save time and make difficult effects possible in just a few clicks. If you want to bring a new style to your projects, be sure to try these tools!
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Are all these After Effects plugins really free?
Yes, all the plugins and filters included in this blog are available absolutely free. Some plugins may also have premium versions, but their basic features can be used at no cost.
Do these plugins work with After Effects 2025?
Most plugins are updated by their developers from time to time and are also compatible with After Effects 2025. Still, it is best to check the version by visiting the official website of each plugin.
Are these plugins suitable for new users?
Absolutely! Especially plugins like Saber, AEJuice GIF, and Color Vibrance are very easy to use. Most plugins also include presets and simple controls.
Is there any additional software required to use these plug-ins?
No, all of these plug-ins are specifically designed for Adobe After Effects. You just need to install them in the correct folder after downloading.
Can I use these plug-ins in commercial projects?
Most plug-ins are free for both commercial and personal use. However, it is a good idea to read the licensing terms of each plug-in.
How are plug-ins installed in After Effects?
Plug-ins are usually in the form of a .zip file. Extract it and place the .plugin or .aex file in the “Plug-ins” folder of After Effects. Then reopen After Effects so that the plug-in appears.
Will these plug-ins slow down my computer?
Some plugins like Orb or Displacer Pro can be a bit heavy, especially on older computers. But most plugins are well-designed for good performance. Having adequate RAM and GPU is beneficial for better results.
Are there any tutorials available for these plugins?
Yes! YouTube is a great resource. Most plugin makers like Video Copilot, AEJuice, and Plugin Everything provide complete guides on their official websites or YouTube channels.
For more Plugins, scripts and presets check these out: