Wick Editor comes up in a specific, slightly worried search: people looking for a free, browser-based animation tool that’s still being worked on. That worry is fair. This page is an honest comparison of Wick and Inanimator — what Wick got right, why it went quiet, and what we built for people who want a browser tool that’s actually moving forward. (New to object shows? Start with the full guide.)
What Wick Editor genuinely gets right
Wick Editor deserves real credit. It’s free, open-source, and browser-based, and it carried the spirit of “animation in the browser for everyone” for years. For a lot of creators it was the first place they opened a tab and made something move: no install, no money, just go. The timeline, the drawing tools, and the code blocks for interactivity add up to a thoughtful, generous piece of software given away for free. We respect it, and we’re not interested in burying it.
Free and open-source is a real stance. The fact that anyone could open a browser and animate without paying or signing up is a genuine good, and it shaped how a generation of young animators got started.
Where Wick Editor stops
Development is dormant. Community forums have repeated “Is Wick Editor dead?” threads running through 2025, and that question keeps getting asked because the answer keeps looking like “mostly.” The software still runs, but it isn’t being actively built forward. Bugs don’t get quick fixes. New platform requirements — newer browser APIs, new device shapes, new export expectations — don’t get followed.
For a creator planning a multi-episode series on a tool, “it still works but nobody’s home” is a real risk. You don’t want to be two seasons in when something breaks and there’s no one arriving to fix it. None of this is a moral failing by anyone involved; open-source projects slow down. It’s just the situation, and it’s the situation a lot of Wick users are quietly checking on.
What Inanimator does differently
Like Wick, Inanimator is browser-based. Unlike Wick, it’s under active development and scoped to object shows.
It’s a browser studio. Open a tab on a phone, tablet, or computer; your projects and asset library sync through your cloud account.
The workflow is object-show-native. Draw parts — bodies, eyes, mouths, arms, legs — with brushes, fill, shapes, layers. Store them in a global, searchable asset library with sections. Save a character as a rig and re-pose it across episodes. A default library of original parts ships with it.
Two animation modes work together: frame-by-frame with onion skinning and a filmstrip, and rig posing with math-based tweening — keyframes solid, tweened frames ghosted. Export is MP4 at 1080p at your chosen framerate.
On the roadmap: an in-app script writer with karaoke line highlighting, per-line voice recording with takes, lip-sync modes, multi-track audio, a thumbnail maker, camera pan/zoom, parallax backgrounds, and native mobile apps.
Two pledges. The 100% generative-AI-free pledge: no AI-generated art, ever, signed in marker on the homepage. Tweening is math, not AI. And Inanimator is free during beta, with beta members locking the Founding Creator price for life. Pricing isn’t announced beyond that.
Side by side
| Wick Editor | Inanimator | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, open-source | Free during beta; Founding price locked for beta members |
| Platforms | Browser | Browser on phones, tablets, computers |
| Rigging / tweening | Flash-style timeline with tweening | Parts + saved rigs; math-based tweening |
| Object-show workflow fit | General browser animation | Native searchable parts library, rigs, default parts |
| Development status | Dormant (“Is Wick Editor dead?” threads through 2025) | In closed beta, actively developed |
| AI policy | No public pledge | 100% generative-AI-free pledge |
Who should stick with Wick Editor
If you specifically want free and open-source, and you’re okay with a tool that isn’t moving forward, Wick still runs and you can still make things in it. If you value open-source licensing for its own sake — modifiability, self-hosting, no vendor — that’s a legitimate reason Wick wins, and we won’t argue with it.
Inanimator is the better fit when you want a browser tool that’s actually being built: new features on a published roadmap, a workflow built for object shows, cloud sync across devices, and a hard no-AI-art pledge backed by people who are home.
Join the beta
If you want a Wick Editor alternative that’s still being built, join the beta at /beta.