# Apple Motion

17 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Motion and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Long-used Apple motion graphics app with a low one-time price; people find it serviceable. Critics dislike the 3-PC activation limit and say it trails After Effects.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong value for money (2 comments): "Final Cut, Logic, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage are offered in a bundle for education" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46601432)) "Pricing seems incredibly reasonable as well (30$ for a lifetime license)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48075393))

## What people warn about

- 3-PC activation limit concerns (2 comments): "I don't like the 3 PC activation thing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48072396)) "I don't like the 3 PC activation thing. It implies that the software needs to call home and will stop working if the company goes under." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48074317))
- Less capable than After Effects (1 comments): "not as capable as After Effects, it's pretty serviceable and with some love could be excellent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48998304))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [CorridorKey 2.0](https://hackerapproved.com/p/corridorkey-2-0.md): 17 recommend
- [Adobe After Effects](https://hackerapproved.com/p/adobe-after-effects.md): 14 recommend
- [ntsc-rs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ntsc-rs.md): 14 recommend
- [Nuke](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nuke.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Apple Motion", https://hackerapproved.com/p/motion/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).