# Adobe Animate

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Adobe Animate and 23 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for 2D frame-by-frame animation, its pen tool and HTML5 export. Main caveat: subscription-only pricing and a shaky future after discontinuation plans.

## Why people recommend it

- Still strong for 2D animation (2 comments): "Animate is still one of the better tools for 2D frame-by-frame animation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46885181)) "It's just as good or better than it ever was, with the same workflow." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45811681))

## What people warn about

- Discontinuation plans and uncertain future (5 comments): "I'm really sad to see it go, and that Adobe has so little love to this important piece of the web" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46862711)) "They literally told major animation studios that the product is going to be dead in just a month" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46898354)) "People who rely on Animate shouldn't rest easy just because Adobe backed off this time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46909503))
- Few updates in years (4 comments): "Animate has had hardly any updates in 13yrs, yet other animation tools offer a lot of innovative features." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46073317)) "once a complex application is no longer updated for new OS versions, its death knell has sounded" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46898692)) "Adobe let Animate rot after 2 yrs from the Apple/Jobs decision" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46881307))
- Subscription only, no perpetual license (2 comments): "I would really, really like it if they would let me buy it outright instead of subscribing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46897367)) "I think it's stupid that Adobe won't sell a perpetual license." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46200780))
- Buggy, missing Flash tools (3 comments): "basically Flash stripped of all its useful tools and riddled with bugs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46764756)) "Basically it does not work for me and I abandoned Adobe Animate" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46898169)) "something went wrong in the translation to modern web tech" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47262136))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Tixl](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tixl.md): 8 recommend
- [Pivot Animator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pivot-animator.md): 6 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.adobe.com/products/animate.html)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Adobe Animate", https://hackerapproved.com/p/adobe-animate/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).