Motion design tools are splitting into two groups: tools for video and tools for interfaces. Most trend lists mix them, which is confusing.
Video and motion graphics
After Effects is still the industry standard. Cavalry is popular for procedural 2D motion, and Blender for 3D and increasingly 2D with Grease Pencil. Jitter offers browser-based motion for social and product marketing.
Interactive UI motion
The fastest change is here. LottieFiles has added Lottie Creator, a browser editor, plus dotLottie state machines for click, hover and press interactions, and a Prompt to Lottie tool. Rive pairs its editor and open-source runtimes with a CLI and an AI coding agent. The Motion library team launched Motion Studio and an AI Kit for developers. ExodeUI, which we make, combines state machines, spring physics and layout in one open JSON file with an MCP server.
AI everywhere
Nearly every tool now offers some way to generate motion from text. Results are good for drafts and variations and still need a motion designer's eye for timing and meaning.
How to choose
If your output is a video, stay with timeline tools. If your output is a component in an app, choose a tool whose file runs in your framework, and test it on a real device.