As Adobe ramps up its investments in AI, the company has decided to retire its 2D animation software. Adobe Animation. On Monday, Adobe has a update to the company’s support site and sent emails to existing customers announcing that Adobe Animate will be discontinued on March 1, 2026.
Enterprise customers can continue to receive technical support until March 1, 2029 to ease the transition. Other customers will receive support until March next year, the company said.
The decision has been made meet of disbelief, disappointment and anger among Adobe Animate users, who are concerned about the lack of alternatives that mirror Animate’s functionality.
One customer, post on Xbegged Adobe to at least make the software open source instead of abandoning it. Commenters on the thread responded with fear and said things like ‘This is going to ruin my life’ And “What the hell are they doing? Animating is the reason a large portion of Adobe users subscribe in the first place.
Adobe explained its decision to discontinue the program in a Frequently asked questionssaying, “Animate is a product that has been around for over 25 years and has served its purpose well in creating, nurturing, and developing the animation ecosystem. As technologies evolve, new platforms and paradigms emerge that better meet users’ needs. We recognize this change and plan to discontinue support of Animate.”
If you read between the lines, it sounds like Adobe is saying that Animate no longer represents the current direction of the company, which is now focusing more on products that incorporate AI technologies.
What’s surprising is that Adobe can’t even recommend software that will completely replace what customers lose with Animate. Instead, it says that customers with a Creative Cloud Pro subscription can use other Adobe apps to “replace portions of Animate functionality.”
For example, it suggests that Adobe After Effects can support complex keyframe animations using the Puppet tool, and that Adobe Express can be used for animation effects that can be applied to photos, videos, text, shapes, and other design elements.
There were indications that Adobe was heading in this direction after Animate was ignored at the company’s annual Adobe Max conference. Additionally, no 2025 version of the software has been released.
The software will continue to work for those who downloaded it, Adobe noted. Normally, Adobe charged $34.49 per month for the software, which dropped to $22.99 with a 12-month commitment. The annual prepaid plan was available for $263.88.
Some users recommend using other animation programs instead, including Moho animation And Show Tree Harmony.
TechCrunch has contacted Adobe for comment. This article will be updated if the company responds.
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