Plans and limits
What you can do as a guest, with a free account and with Pro, how the free trial works and which limits apply to every project.
You can use Swash in three ways: as a guest, with a free account, or with Pro. This page explains what each one gives you, how to try Pro, and the limits that apply to everyone.
Guest, free account and Pro
- Guest. You open the editor and work without an account, on one project saved in this browser. Publish asks you to sign in.
- Free account. You sign in with Google. Your projects are saved to your account and listed on Files. A changed guest project moves into the account when you sign in.
- Pro. A paid plan on top of your account.
| Guest | Free account | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projects | 1, in this browser | Up to 3, in your account | Unlimited |
| Export size and frame rate | Up to 720p, 30 fps | Up to 720p, 30 fps | Up to 4K, 60 fps |
| Watermark | On every MP4 and GIF | A monthly number of exports without it | Never |
| Pro cards and options | No | No | Yes |
| Remove background | No | No | Yes |
| Publish to Community | No | No | Yes |
| Price | Free | $0 / month | $12 / month after a 3-day free trial |
PNG stills never carry the mark, on any plan.
The project limit
A free account holds up to 3 projects. When you have 3, the actions that would make a fourth one open the plans dialog instead:
- New project in the sidebar,
- Duplicate in a project card's menu on Files,
- Import .json on Files,
- remixing a work from Community. The dialog then says
You have 3 of 3 projects — delete one or go Pro, with Open my files next to it.
To make room without Pro, delete a project from its card menu. One project can also hold several animations as artboards. See Artboards and formats.
Exports and the watermark
Without Pro, exports stop at 720p and 30 fps. Larger sizes and 60 fps are greyed out in the export panel with the tooltip Pro plan.
With a free account, the export panel shows how many exports without the mark you have left this month, for example 2 exports without watermark left this month. When they run out, the mark comes back until the count starts again on the 1st of next month. See The watermark and Pro for which exports count.
What needs Pro
Most things that need Pro carry a Pro badge. Without Pro, clicking one opens the plans dialog and changes nothing in your project. You meet them in these places:
- 3D. Most 3D cards in the Library, and most shapes in the Shape list of the 3D section. See Camera and 3D.
- Custom text path. Custom (draw) in the Path section, where you draw the line yourself. See Text and fonts.
- Camera. Camera orbit, depth, focus and shake. The locked fields stay greyed out next to a Pro chip. See Camera and 3D.
- Remove background on a selected image. See Images and video.
- Publish. Publishing to Community, and creating the public profile it needs. Without Pro, the dialog says
Publishing to Community is part of Pro.
Shaders are not on this list. Every shader in the Shaders tab works without Pro.
Try Pro and upgrade
Everything goes through the plans dialog. It shows Free and Pro side by side, with what each includes and the price. You can open it from:
- any Pro card, badge or chip,
- the upgrade links in the export panel,
- Start free trial on the Try Pro card at the bottom of the sidebar (the cross hides the card),
- Upgrade to Pro on the Account page, if you have never subscribed,
- the project limit, as described above.
The button in the dialog reads Start 3-day free trial. It takes you to the payment page, where you add a card. Swash does not see your card number. You pay nothing on that day. After the 3 days, Pro costs $12 a month and renews on its own until you cancel. When you come back to Swash, a note says Finalizing your upgrade… while your plan updates.
As a guest, the button reads Sign in to start 3-day trial and takes you to sign in first. Your guest project comes with you, unless the account already has 3 projects.
Manage, cancel or delete
Click your email at the bottom of the sidebar to open Account. Under Plan it shows whether you have Free or Pro and what happens next, for example when the trial ends or when Pro renews, and how many days are left.
To change your card or cancel, click Manage subscription. It opens the subscription page of the payment provider. If a payment fails, Account shows Payment failed · update your card to keep Pro.
When you cancel, Pro stays on until the end of the period you paid for. Account shows Canceled · access until <date> and, under After that, Back to Free, your projects stay. Cancelling during the trial works the same way: Pro stays until the trial ends and does not renew.
When Pro ends, the free limits apply again: 720p and 30 fps, the monthly watermark-free exports, and the plans dialog on Pro cards. Your projects stay, even if you have more than 3. You can open and edit all of them, but you cannot create, duplicate or import another one until you are under 3 projects.
To delete your account, click Delete account at the bottom of Account. The dialog explains that it removes your projects, uploaded fonts and images, and the templates you published to Community, and that it cannot be undone. An active Pro subscription is cancelled as part of it. Type DELETE in the field and click Delete account.
Other limits
These apply on every plan, Pro included.
- Scene length. Up to 600 seconds, set in Duration on the timeline.
- Artboards. Up to 24 on one board.
- Video. MP4 or WebM, up to 30 seconds and 100 MB per file.
- Audio files. mp3, wav, m4a or ogg, up to 20 MB and 5 minutes each. A project holds up to 8 audio tracks and 10 minutes of audio files in total. See Sound.
- GIF. At most 540 px wide.