The 9 Best Free GIF Makers of 2023

Free GIF makers let you create an animated GIF from images or videos that you can then share with everyone you know. Some of our favorite free GIF makers are downloadable while others are online programs. They all, however, are absolutely free and will create an animated GIF in a matter of minutes.

01

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Make A GIF

What We Like

• Easy to create animated GIFs from images and videos.

• Resize all images at once.

• Custom animation speeds.

• No user account required.

What We Don’t Like

• Watermark applied unless you log in.

• High-quality GIFs available only after payment.

• Unhelpful text tool.

• GIFs longer than 10 seconds require an account.

Make A GIF lets you create a GIF from multiple images, a video from your computer or the web, a YouTube or Facebook video, or one taken directly from your webcam.

If you make a GIF from images, it’s easy to customize the order of the photos because you can simply rearrange them via drag-and-drop. You can also resize all the images at once and set a custom animation speed.

It’s also easy to produce a GIF from a video because you just have to choose at what point in the video to start the GIF and then decide how many seconds of it should be used.

A captioning tool is included to add text on top of your GIF, but you can’t preview it before making the GIF or change where on the GIF the text is displayed.

Once it’s created, you can save the GIF to your computer and copy its URL to find it online. You have the option for making your GIF public, unlisted, or private. You can even link directly to the file.

Create a GIF at Make A GIF

02

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Imgur

What We Like

• Very easy to convert video to animated GIFs.

• No user account necessary.

• Lets you share the GIF.

What We Don’t Like

• Doesn’t support images, just videos.

• The video has to be online already, not on your computer.

Imgur provides the easiest way to make a GIF from a video and then immediately post it to the Imgur gallery, which is one of the most popular places to host and share images.

Just paste the link to the video you want to convert to a GIF and then choose a start and end point, and optionally add some text. GIFs made at Imgur can be up to 60 seconds long.

When you create the GIF, you’ll be taken to its dedicated page where you can download it to your computer, share it with others, or delete it from Imgur.

Create a GIF at Imgur

03

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ezgif.com

What We Like

• Make high-quality GIFs.

• Upload multiple images in bulk or in a single zip file.

• No watermarks.

• Optimization features.

What We Don’t Like

• Tool layout on separate pages may take getting used to.

• Interface isn’t as slick as some.

• Must download the GIF when finished (no online save option).

ezgif.com is a little strange to use because all the tools are on separate pages, but it’s not actually difficult. You can crop the images, resize the whole GIF, optimize the frames, reverse the photos, flip or rotate the GIF to a particular angle, alter the speed, split the GIF back into its original images, and add text.

There’s also a grayscale, sepia, and monochrome effect you can apply to the entire GIF.

ezgif.com has a free video to GIF converter if you’d rather not use images.

Create a GIF at ezgif

04

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ImgFlip

What We Like

• Preview of GIF during creation.

• Many options for customizing.

• Can store the GIF online.

What We Don’t Like

• Some custom settings only available for a fee.

• A small watermark is placed on all GIFs.

• Free users are limited to storing GIFs on the site that are less than 4 MB.

ImgFlip shows a preview of your GIF as you’re creating it, which is very helpful. You can make a GIF from images, a video URL, another GIF URL, or a video you upload yourself.

The animation delay, photo order, width, height, and quality can be altered for a GIF made with images. There’s also a text tool, crop option, and the ability to rotate the GIF, reverse it, and change the play count and background color.

When finished, you can download your GIF, share it over a few social media sites, or set it as private so it’s not posted online.

A watermark is displayed on all GIFs made at Imgflip. Also, several of the custom settings for creating a GIF from a video are usable only if you pay for ImgFlip Pro.

Create a GIF at ImgFlip

05

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Picasion

What We Like

• Doesn’t leave a watermark.

• Publish GIFs in online gallery and share with others.

What We Don’t Like

• Bulk upload could be easier to use.

• Limited features.

• Can’t preview it before finishing.

• Outdated website.

Picasion lets you build a GIF from images you upload from your computer or import from Flickr.

Unfortunately, though, if loading images from your computer, you can’t upload them in bulk, but instead must choose single files at a time. There are also few editing tools, so you can’t add text to the GIF or rotate or organize the images.

A GIF can be sized up to as large as 450 pixels wide and the animation speed can be adjusted from a fast speed to one as slow as 10 seconds.

Before creating the GIF, you can optionally choose to include it in Picasion’s online gallery. Once the GIF has been made, you can download it, copy a direct link to where it’s hosted online, share it over a social media site, or email it to a friend.

Create a GIF at Picasion

06

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GIFPAL

What We Like

• Can disable watermarking.

• Easy to arrange images.

• Includes filters.

What We Don’t Like

• Missing a text tool.

• Can’t upload more than one file simultaneously.

GIFPAL is an amazing online GIF maker. Your GIF is played automatically as you make changes so you can clearly see how it will appear when you’re finished. Rearranging pictures is super easy and you can even turn off the watermark.

Before you’re finished, you can optionally reverse the frames to run the GIF backward, change the quality of the images, overlay a filter, and adjust the animation speed.

Photos from a webcam or your computer can be uploaded to GIFPAL.

You can download your GIF and share it over Tumblr and Twitter.

Create a GIF at GIFPAL

07

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GIMP

What We Like

• Free and powerful open-source image editing software.

• Refine images in the editor before adding them to a GIF.

What We Don’t Like

• Not as simple to use as other GIF creators.

• Not specialized to create GIFs.

GIMP is an image editing program you must download to your computer to use. It’s ideal for this task because you can use some really great editing tools to perfect your images before building them into an animated GIF.

Begin by choosing File > Open as Layers and selecting all the pictures you want to use for the GIF. You can edit your images at this point or continue on to create the GIF as the photos currently are.

See our GIMP Animated GIF Tutorial for all the directions.

When ready to save to GIF in GIMP, go to File > Export As, and choose GIF image as the file type. Before the images are exported, you can choose to disable the continual loop and also change the delay time between frames.

Download GIMP

08

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GiftedMotion

GiftedMotion.

What We Like

• Open-source GIF animator.

• Easy to use.

What We Don’t Like

• Must download app to use it.

• Can’t adjust image sizes by pixel dimensions.

GiftedMotion is another program you must download to your computer to use. However, it’s different than GIMP in that you don’t need to install it to use it and it’s not complicated in the slightest.

After you load in the images you want to use, you can adjust their order and frame delay. You can also resize the entire GIF and position the images exactly how you want them to appear, both using drag and drop.

You can’t, however, adjust the images to a specific pixel size like most of the other GIF makers in this list.

Select the record button to save the images as an animated GIF file.

Download GiftedMotion

09

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Giphy

What We Like

• Lots of editing options.

• Sharing options are easy to use.

• Ad-free site.

What We Don’t Like

• Must upload every GIF you make.

• Can’t delete GIFs after uploading them.

• Lets you add just one text box.

• You need a user account.

Giphy’s GIF creator lets you load photos, other GIFs, or videos to make a new GIF file. Videos can be imported from sites like Vimeo and YouTube, or from your computer.

Arranging the files in the order you want is super easy, and you can slide the image duration button back and forth to make the frames shorter or longer.

The final step before creating the GIF is decorating it. There are options for a caption, stickers, filters, and freehand drawing.

When you’re finished, you have to upload the GIF to Giphy, either with public visibility or as a private GIF. From there, you can share the link, download it to your computer, or embed it on your website.

Create a GIF at Giphy