Nexrender alternative
Looking for an alternative to Nexrender Cloud or the open-source Nexrender setup? Plainly combines After Effects automation, cloud rendering, integrations, and an API in one managed platform.
You know you often hear business owners say we really just want technology to help us run our business better. Like this is it. This is what you do to run your business better.
Jody Poole, Team Lead Design @ Leads.io
Comparison table
| Feature | Plainly | Nexrender open-source | Nexrender Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| After Effects automation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cloud rendering | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Infrastructure | Managed | Self-hosted | Managed |
| REST API | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Web app | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Native integrations | 20+ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Layer scripting | 12 | ✗ | 8 |
| Thumbnail export | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Add captions | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Plugin support | Enterprise only | ✗ | Enterprise only |
| Security & compliance | ISO 27001, GDPR, SSO, and MFA | ✗ | ✗ |
| Customer support | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Pricing | Starts from $69 per month | Free | Starts from $119 per month+ $0.21/render minute |
Plainly Flows
A single system that connects your creative tools into an automated workflow that generates on-brand creatives.
Real reviews from Plainly users
Outstanding features - they understand what our developers need AND our After Effects creative professionals as well. The support is outstanding and responsive - they genuinely care about their customer's success and are willing to help solve our challenges in executing our creative vision.
There is much more possible within Plainly outside of our specific use case, as it can read all your After Effects layers, allowing you to make practically anything a variable. With our current plan, we easily render 700 videos within 15 minutes, as it renders multiple videos simultaneously.
Plainly is just brilliant. Compared to my old in-house rendering setup, it’s like night and day. It scales effortlessly, performs consistently, and has been rock-solid reliable. Integration with third-party services was quick and straightforward, and getting started was super easy.
The tool enabled us to render almost 20000 individualised videos in a relatively short amount of time with relatively low cost, which was a game changer for the way we as a company operate when it comes to content.
Integrating Plainly into our web app was a simple process from day one. The service has allowed us to easily render After Effects templates and provide customized video content.
Plainly allows you to produce large amounts of video content very quickly. A great advantage is that your content can be still very individual and on-brand due to the ability of using Templates made in Adobe After Effects. Its interface is quite intuitive and the software gets new interesting features often.
Switch without rebuilding your templates
Already have templates set up in Nexrender? Keep the original After Effects files and move them to Plainly instead of recreating your creative from scratch.
Upload your template
Upload the same template you already use with nexrender, with all its comps and assets.
Map your dynamic layers
Choose which text, images, footage, colors, audio, and other layers should change between renders using the web app or API.
Connect your data and render
Connect your data through a spreadsheet, integrations, or API, and render every video variation automatically.
Why is Plainly the best Nexrender alternative
API and web app in one platform
Connect Plainly through a REST API or manage the same workflows from the web app. Render videos, pass dynamic data, trigger batch renders, and access with full feature parity between the API and app.
Connect the tools you already use
Connect Plainly with 20+ native integrations, including Google Sheets, Airtable, Dropbox, Frame.io, HeyGen, and more. Pull in data and assets, trigger renders, and send videos straight to the tools and platforms your team already uses.
Automate how layers behave
Use built-in layer scripts to control how elements behave in each video. Crop or scale media, trim footage, adjust timing, resize compositions, manage layers, and more without rebuilding the template for every variation.
Export thumbnails automatically
Every video can come with its own thumbnails, ready to use. Set the time points once, and Plainly takes care of capturing them on every render, in the format you need.
Help at every step
Get help from people who know video automation and After Effects, or find answers in our Help Center. Whether it’s setup, templates, API, or rendering, we help you get things working quickly.
Enterprise-grade security
Keep your video workflows and data secure at every step. Plainly is ISO 27001 certified, GDPR compliant, and runs on battle-tested infrastructure that Fortune 500 companies rely on for their video production.
Some of our happy clients
Ready to move from Nexrender?
Upload a template you already have and render your first video today.