# Pencil2D vs Spine

| Attribute | Pencil2D | Spine |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 43.8 (24% (low)) | 43.2 (26% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 1 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 0 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 1,791 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"on_prem":true}` |
| description.long | Pencil2D is a free, open-source animation tool that lets you draw traditional 2D cartoons frame-by-frame using both raster and vector graphics. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD. | A dedicated animation software for game developers to create, rig, and animate 2D characters using skeletal animation techniques. Provides tools for mesh deformation, timing control, inverse kinematics, and character rigging, with runtime libraries available for integration into game engines. |
| integrations.count | - | 14 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"libgdx"},{"name":"Kryo"},{"name":"KryoNet"},{"name":"Unity"},{"name":"Unreal Engine"},{"name":"Godot"},{"name":"Flutter"},{"name":"Phaser"},{"name":"Pixi"},{"name":"Construct 3"},{"name":"WeChat"},{"name":"Android"},{"name":"iOS"},{"name":"WebGL"}]` |
| language.primary | C++ | - |
| license.spdx | GPL-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Completely free and open source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.pencil2d.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-17T21:35:03.185Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Spine Essential","summary":"One-time purchase. Includes all future updates.","minSeats":1,"description":"Perpetual license; includes all future updates. Can be upgraded to Professional for the price difference.","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Spine Professional","summary":"One-time purchase. Includes all future updates.","minSeats":1,"description":"Perpetual license; includes all future updates. Required if company earnings exceed $500k USD annually.","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Spine Enterprise","summary":"Annual subscription. Required for companies earning over $500k USD annually.","commitment":"annual","description":"Annual subscription for teams/companies. Allows use of the editor and integration of Spine Runtimes into any number of products.","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"Spine Education","summary":"Educational licensing for institutions.","description":"Provisioned for specific number of computers. Any number of users can use for non-commercial purposes.","contactSales":false},{"free":true,"name":"Spine Trial","summary":"Free trial; read-only.","description":"Free evaluation version for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Cannot save projects; for evaluation only.","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Perpetual licenses for Essential and Professional. Enterprise requires annual renewal. Free trial available. Exact pricing not disclosed on provided pages.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"http://esotericsoftware.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-18T12:17:29.017Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | yes | no |
| release.cadence_days | 136 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.7.2","date":"2026-03-13T01:14:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.7.1","date":"2026-03-07T02:58:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.7.1-rc2","date":"2026-02-24T12:35:30Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.7.1-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.7.1-rc1","date":"2025-06-18T15:04:13Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.7.1-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.7.0","date":"2024-07-12T08:36:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.7.0-rc1","date":"2024-06-18T17:23:27Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.7.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.6.6","date":"2021-02-17T04:53:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.6.5","date":"2020-07-31T16:02:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.6.4","date":"2019-06-03T04:44:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.6.3","date":"2019-03-17T14:02:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.6.2","date":"2018-09-26T00:14:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.6.2-rc1","date":"2018-09-17T07:11:40Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.6.2-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.6.1.1","date":"2018-04-16T02:52:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/v0.6.1","date":"2018-04-15T10:39:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/0.6.0","date":"2017-11-30T09:33:18Z","type":"stable","version":"0.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pencil2d/pencil/releases/tag/0.6-rc","date":"2017-11-15T05:23:44Z","type":"prerelease","version":"0.6-rc"}]` | - |
| security.scorecard | 5.7 | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fpencil2d%2Fpencil&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (Animation Tools)

| Capability | Pencil2D | Spine |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Deployment model | - | - |
| Skeletal puppet rigging inverse kinematics | - | - |
| Frame by frame cel drawing engine | - | - |
| Json state machine web export lottie rive | - | - |
| Automated audio lip sync matching | - | - |
| Vector brush and bezier manipulation | - | - |
| Bitmap raster layer import and tracing | - | - |
| Javascript actionscript timeline scripting | - | - |
| 3d camera depth and parallax layering | - | - |
| React vue ios android native playback sdks | - | - |
| SOC2 type ii | - | - |
| ISO 27001 | - | - |
| Pricing model | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:21:42.077Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*