15 Best Online GIF Makers for Marketers
by Federica Rustico
12 min read
Last Updated: May 26, 2023
by Federica Rustico
No matter how serious or silly your thoughts may be, trust me when I say there's a GIF out there that perfectly captures your current state of mind. For this very reason, year over year, animated GIFs have been becoming more and more popular in advertising. As companies experiment with different methods of marketing their goods and services, they’ve found that these trippy animated images with hip copy and a lighthearted tone stand out from the crowd. But how can you make a GIF? Do you need a graphic designer, a specific tool or a platform? Luckily for you we have prepared a list of 15 of the best GIF makers for creating animated GIFs online that are both user-friendly and cost-effective. Get your pictures ready, upload them, do some customizing (if you like) and then press the produce button to get started!
If you’re new to GIFs (Graphic Interchange Format), let me enlighten you on what they are and what makes them stand out. An animated GIF is a special kind of picture file, created specifically to allow for the animation of still pictures while maintaining the lowest feasible data footprint. Their distinctive, video-like quality is achieved by sequentially playing a sequence of still pictures frames. So essentially, an animated GIF is a collection of still pictures (frames) that, when played in rapid succession, provide the impression of a moving picture. The display duration for each GIF picture frame is controlled by the time delay associated with that frame. But moving away from the technical description, you usually see GIFs on social media postings, emails, as reactions to text messages and even in blog entries. Since its invention in 1987 by American software engineer Steve Wilhite, the GIF has become an indelible part of online culture.
The short answer? Very. In fact, if you’re a consumer brand, you need to start using GIF marketing immediately. Why? Because there are several positive outcomes that derive from implementing GIFs into your brand's voice. Here are just a few short examples:
To begin, you should be aware that the process of elaborating on a notion, event, or emotion may be facilitated more effectively by using GIFs. You have the option of augmenting your explanation with a GIF that features either an entertaining or educational animation.
Compare and contrast a dry, long blog article with one that is conversational and has eye-catching, relevant GIFs and photos. Which do you think you'll like more? For the most part, website visitors want to see some kind of visual aid that will help them better understand the text they're reading. Therefore, increasing the amount of entertainment and useful information in a single article may increase traffic and improve user satisfaction. If you don't believe me, there's even a psychological explanation to why GIFs attract out attention.
There is no doubt that GIF animations have contributed to the success of many brands by becoming an integral element of the digital world. In addition to conveying your message, you may advertise your firm and its products by making a GIF with its logo and brand colors included.
If you thought you needed a bachelor degree in graphic design to create a GIF, think again. All it takes is heading to a GIF maker website to create your animated GIFs. Just take your video or image content, submit it and convert them into GIFs. Stunning results may be achieved by modifying your GIF using various tools often provided by generators. Some even let you insert files into your posts or publish them straight to your social networking accounts!
Typically, big companies and brands commission an animator to produce GIFs. But, since you're just starting out, why don't you start out by searching the internet for pre-existing GIF editors? Keep in mind that any approach may be laborious and time-consuming. But surely, in order to generate a GIF that effectively expresses your intended meaning without wasting time or resources, it is recommended that you use a GIF maker.
Using a GIF maker is the best option if you need a GIF quickly and without any hassle. Plus, it's a fun way to exercise your creativity and achieve the goals you’ve set out for your brand!
There's a GIF for almost every situation on social media. Selecting the appropriate online GIF creator is the key to creating original GIFs. Here are 11 GIF makers we suggest.
If you’re a fan of animated GIFs, I bet you've already heard of GIPHY. It’s not only the biggest GIF engine on the web, it’s also a pretty cool GIF maker! This one does everything—from searching for GIFs to making your own using pictures, videos, and URLs from sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and GIPHY. Stickers, text, filters, and even freehand drawings may be added to your GIFs to give them a more personal touch, and it's easy to use. Their easy drag-and-drop functionality makes it possible to rearrange the file order and a simple slider makes it possible to adjust the frame time from 0.1 to 3.7 seconds. Decorating the GIF is the last step before making it. Captioning, stickers, filters, and freehand art are all available. As soon as you're satisfied, you may publish the GIF to Giphy as a public GIF or a private GIF. You may then forward the link to others, save the file to your computer, or add the embed code to your website. And last but not least, you can even create Stickers on GIPHY, which will then be available to Instagram users to publish on their Stories!
Another one that really creates GIFs that you can use. With its intuitive user interface and capacity for up to 2000 files, Ezgif has undoubtedly simplified the process of creating GIFs online. All the tools necessary to create a killer GIF are at your disposal. It also lets you reverse the picture and add captions. The greatest aspect, however, is that you can make your own GIFs without having to worry about any watermarks or credits. You are able to change the time delay between the different frames, add text, crop the pictures, resize the whole GIF, optimize the frames, reverse the photographs, flip or rotate the GIF to a certain angle, and divide the GIF back into its original images.
Visme is a web-based application for making social media images, including animated GIFs, and it's free and simple to use. Their animated GIF editor allows you to make your own professional-quality GIFs or alter ones you find online. Visme allows you to customize your GIFs to match your brand's colors and typography. There are also several pre-made GIF templates available for usage, each of which may be modified to reflect your company's aesthetic.
Make A GIF is the place to go if you want to turn your photos or a link to a video on Facebook or YouTube into an animated GIF. Utilizing a webcam video is as easy as dragging and dropping images in the program's intuitive interface. When creating a GIF from photographs, the order of the photos may be easily modified since you can drag and drop them to change their position in the sequence. This makes the process quite simple. You also have the ability to create a custom animation speed and resize all of the photos at the same time.
Creating a GIF from a video is also a simple process since all you have to do is choose the moment in the video where you want the GIF to begin playing, and then determine the length of time that should be utilized for the GIF. Once the GIF has been made, you will have the option to either download it to your computer or copy its URL in order to locate it online.
This GIF creator is ideal for those who want to see the results of their edits in real time. If you are creating a GIF from images, you may edit its quality, width, and height before you begin. This impressive program also allows you to change the length of the animation and reorder the pictures. ImgFlip is a really handy program since it provides a preview of the GIF you are making while you are working on it. You may create a GIF using photographs, a video URL, another GIF URL, or even a video that you have uploaded to your computer.
You can choose the animation delay, photo order, width, height, and quality of the image. In addition, there is a text tool, a crop option, as well as the capability to rotate the GIF, reverse it, modify the play count, and change the color of the backdrop.
It's exactly what you'd expect: a reliable internet companion for making amazing GIFs. Conveniently, you can preview your GIF as you make changes using this straightforward program, allowing you to have a good idea of how it will look after you're done. It is really simple to rearrange photographs, and you can even deactivate the watermark if you want. Before you are done, you have the ability to modify the quality of the photos, apply a filter over the top of them, reverse the frames to run the GIF in reverse, and control the pace of the animation.
FreeGIFMaker.me is yet another excellent animated GIF generator that makes making GIFs from photos and videos a breeze. This GIF maker is compatible with Macs, PCs, and Linux systems, so everyone may use it. FreeGIFMaker.me is capable of creating a GIF from as many as 300 individual JPG, PNG, or GIF files. You are provided with a real-time preview while the GIF is being created so that you are aware of its final appearance at all times. You are able to choose the pace of the animation, as well as the size of the canvas that the GIF will be shown on. You also have the option of selecting an endless loop for the GIF, as well as specifying the number of times the GIF will loop until it stops playing.
Okay, so this GIF creator boasts, "the fastest way to make and edit gifs and short videos." Absolutely, that is the case. It's true, it's one of the quickest GIF makers available. This free, user-friendly media editor also has some excellent features. To sum up, whether you use it for tweening, clipping, or animations, you'll like it.
Imgur combines the functions of a GIF archive and maker, giving you the best of both worlds. Imgur offers the simplest method for converting a video into a GIF, after which the GIF may be quickly uploaded to the Imgur gallery, which is one of the most well-known online destinations for hosting and sharing photos. Simply copy and paste the URL of the video that you want to convert into a GIF, choose a beginning and an ending point for the GIF, and then optionally add some text. Imgur allows users to create GIFs that are up to 15 seconds in length. Moreover, you may modify your GIFs in several ways, like cropping, rotating, resizing, and more.
Trying to find a GIF creator that works with Picasa Web and Flickr? One of your better bets is Picasion. Also, you may use this application to create avatars without having to install any other software, including Flash. The option to choose between standard, fast, and slow animation speeds is another plus. Once your GIF is complete, you can put the cherry on top by giving it some sparkle with some glitter lettering.
GIMP is not only a superb GIF generator, but it is also widely recognised as one of the finest freeware and open-source image editors. This app's undo/redo functionality is enhanced by its abundance of plugins (over a hundred). A foreground extraction tool is included, as are editable choices and pathways for creating the perfect animation.
ScreenToGIF is an all-in-one recording solution for your computer's display, camera, or even a digital sketchpad. It records your screen and allows you to choose a specific area to use in your GIF. Both the camera and the sketchboard may be used to record an animation to be shared as a GIF.
Toolson.net's Gif Maker is an online GIF generator, like the others on our list, that allows you to upload many photos at once from your computer and rearrange them in any way you wish. Toolson.net's Gif Maker allows you to do more than just change the size and frame interval time of your GIFs; you can also apply an effect to the whole GIF, such as animated hearts, a border, or even turn it black and white. To prevent the GIF from continuing to cycle between images after the final one has loaded, you may set it such that it stops animating after the last image loads and won't start up again until you open it again.
Kapwing's GIF creator provides users with identical capabilities out of the box, but also includes free cloud storage with an account and the ability to purchase for more advanced features. This GIF creator tool is the best alternative we have for creating simple GIFs. Kapwing is able to produce high-quality short animations and has the necessary tools integrated into its platform to mass-produce GIFs.
Canva is a web-based, template-based digital marketing tool with a simple drag-and-drop interface. You've likely seen a Canva design template on Facebook or Instagram.There's also a free GIF creator that's more about marketing than making funny short video loops, but you may use it on the site anyhow. If you're a designer interested in using GIFs in your digital marketing efforts online, Canva is the best tool we've found so far. Though the free version will do the job, upgrading to Canva Pro or Enterprise will unlock access to more features such as more templates, stock pictures, editing tools, and cloud storage.
If you are interested in creating a GIF, we hope that you will find the tool that best suits your needs from this list. This collection has the potential to serve as the foundation for an efficient GIF stack for any and all of your marketing endeavors, whether you're aiming to grab people's attention or add some humor to the content you're producing. Choose the right programme to meet all of your requirements for editing and creating GIFs, and then stick with that program.
- GIPHY
- Ezgif
- Visme
- Make A Gif
- ImgFlip
- GIFPAL
- Freegifmaker.me
- Gifs.com
- Imgur
- Picasion
- GIMP
- ScreenToGif
- Toolson.net
- Kapwing
- Canva
All it takes is heading to a GIF maker website to create your animated GIFs. Just take your video or image content, submit it and convert them into GIFs.
