Natron
NatronGitHub/NatronReviewed by Radar
What it does
Natron is a free video compositing program. You connect boxes (nodes) in a graph to layer footage, key out green screens, rotoscope, track motion and animate effects, then render the result. It is aimed at video effects artists and students who want something similar to Nuke or After Effects. Ready-made downloads bundle the program with four sets of effect plugins. It needs a graphics card with OpenGL 2.0 for full speed, and the README notes the project is looking for new developers and maintainers.
How easy it is to install
A · download and open · Windows
The checks found a Windows installer in the project's releases, and the README says the standalone downloads already include the main effect plugins.
Numbers on GitHub
- Stars
- 5,624on Oct 31, 2026
- Downloads
- 1,161,1313,588 this week
- Growth
- +28stars in 6 days
Stars over time
Facts
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- You need to install
- Nothing extra
- To build from source
- FFmpeg
- Disk space
- 256 MB–768 MB · from the installer
- Accounts or keys
- None
- Cost
- Free · GNU GPL version 2. Some third-party OpenFX plugins it supports are commercial.
- License
- GPL-2.0 (Copyleft)
- Can replace
- After Effects, Nuke, Blackmagic Fusion Studio
- Last update
- Jul 24, 2026
Risk signals (3)
- Attentionstale releases
Last release on 2024-09-13 (772 days ago)
automatic check
- AttentionLow OpenSSF Scorecard
OpenSSF Scorecard 2.8/10
automatic check
- Infono recent windows build
The latest releases, v2.5.1-pre2 (2024-09-13) and v2.5.1-pre1 (2023-04-15), only contain macOS .dmg files; README: "Natron is looking for developers and maintainers!"
AI review
Evidence is shown in its original language.
What Radar could not check
- Which release is the newest one with a Windows installer, and how old it is
- Whether it runs well on current Windows versions and modern graphics cards
- Whether commercial OpenFX plugins you own work with it