Best Animation Tools for React Native and Flutter Teams in 2026
Reanimated, Flutter's animation APIs, Lottie, Rive and ExodeUI compared for React Native and Flutter: what each does, who writes the motion, and when to use it.
Core Takeaway
For motion written in code, use Reanimated in React Native and Flutter's built-in implicit and explicit animations in Flutter. For designed animations that only play, use Lottie (lottie-react-native, or the lottie package for Flutter). For designed, interactive animations with states, use Rive or ExodeUI, which both have runtimes for React Native and Flutter. We make ExodeUI.
Two questions decide the tool
Who owns the motion, developers in code or designers in a tool? And does it only play, or does it react to state and input? Those two answers narrow the choice quickly.
Code-first
Reanimated, from Software Mansion, is the standard React Native animation library. Its docs say animations defined in JavaScript run natively on the UI thread by default, and it pairs with Gesture Handler for interactive gestures. In Flutter, the framework itself provides implicit animations (the simplest, pre-packaged option) and explicit animations with AnimationController for full control. Both are free and give developers complete control, at the cost of hand-writing every transition.
Designed animations that play: Lottie
Lottie plays After Effects animations exported as JSON. lottie-react-native provides React Native bindings, and the lottie package on pub.dev is a pure-Dart Flutter implementation. It is ideal for illustrations, onboarding art and loaders that do not need to react to state.
Designed and interactive: Rive and ExodeUI
Rive has official runtimes for both platforms (rive-react-native and the rive Flutter package) and is the established choice for interactive vector animation with state machines. ExodeUI, which we make, also has React Native and Flutter runtimes; it focuses on product UI, with layout, spring physics and logic in one open JSON file that the same team can also use on the web and in SwiftUI.
Choosing
Typical combinations:
- A few transitions and gestures, owned by developers: Reanimated or Flutter animations.
- Illustrations and loops from a motion designer: Lottie.
- Characters and illustrative interactive graphics: Rive.
- Interactive product components shared across mobile and web: ExodeUI or Rive.
- Most apps: a code-first library plus one design-tool runtime.
Key Principles to Remember
- Code-first: Reanimated (React Native), implicit and explicit animations (Flutter)
- Playback of designed animation: Lottie on both platforms
- Interactive designed animation: Rive or ExodeUI runtimes
- Choose by who owns the motion and whether it reacts to state
- Most teams combine a code library with one design-tool runtime
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources
- React Native Reanimated — Software Mansion
- Introduction to animations — Flutter docs
- lottie-react-native — npm
- rive-react-native — npm
- lottie (Flutter package) — pub.dev