GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform) has become entirely free for everyone, including all its premium plugins, thanks to Webflow's acquisition and support. This landmark change removes financial barriers to advanced web animation capabilities, empowering developers and designers worldwide with professional-grade tools.

What is GSAP?

GSAP is a powerful JavaScript animation library designed to give developers precise control over animating virtually anything on the web. It allows for smooth animations of HTML elements, CSS properties, SVGs, canvas elements, and more with exceptional performance across all major browsers. Before becoming free, GSAP had a core library that was free, but its most powerful features were locked behind a paid Club GSAP membership.

As a robust JavaScript toolset, GSAP has earned its reputation as one of the most versatile and powerful animation technologies in web development, enabling everything from subtle UI interactions to complex, cinematic animation sequences. Its performance advantages and cross-browser compatibility have made it the tool of choice for professional web animators and developers for years.

The Big News: GSAP Goes Completely Free

As of April 30, 2025, Webflow has made GSAP 100% free for all users, including all the previously premium plugins that were only available through paid Club GSAP memberships. This dramatic shift means that everyone-regardless of whether they are Webflow customers-can now leverage the full range of GSAP's powerful animation tools at no cost.

The standard license has also been expanded to cover commercial use, empowering developers to use GSAP anywhere without financial constraints. This represents a significant change in accessibility for professional-grade animation tools on the web.

According to Webflow's official announcement, this move is designed to "give web animation superpowers to everyone-whether you want to bring your ideas to life visually or through code". The news has been widely celebrated across the web development community, with developers on platforms like Reddit sharing their excitement about the change.

Behind the Decision: Webflow's Acquisition and Vision

The Acquisition Timeline

The path to making GSAP free began in October 2024 when Webflow announced its acquisition of GSAP. At that time, Webflow signaled its intentions to begin integrating GSAP directly into their platform while promising that GSAP would remain available for all developers, even for projects outside the Webflow ecosystem.

This acquisition was strategic for Webflow, aimed at enhancing their Interaction solutions and providing more powerful animation tools to their users. The full fruition of this strategy came six months later with the announcement that GSAP would become completely free.

The Vision for Democratizing Web Animation

According to Webflow's announcement, the GSAP team has "always strived to make their offerings free to as many people as possible while maintaining high quality standards". With Webflow's support, the GSAP team can now achieve this goal while continuing to innovate and improve the platform.

This move aligns with a broader vision of democratizing web design and development tools, making professional capabilities accessible to more people regardless of budget constraints. It also represents a significant investment by Webflow in the future of web animation as a key differentiator for websites and applications.

What's Now Free: The Full GSAP Arsenal

The shift to a free model includes all previously premium GSAP plugins that were only available to paid Club GSAP members. These powerful tools include:

Key Premium Plugins Now Free

• SplitText: A plugin that enables complex text animations by splitting text into characters, words, or lines for granular animation control
• MorphSVG: Allows smooth morphing between SVG shapes for engaging visual transitions
• Physics2D: Adds realistic physics-based motion to animations
• ScrollSmoother: Provides enhanced smooth scrolling experiences
• CustomEase: Creates custom easing functions for precisely controlling the flow of animations

These plugins significantly extend GSAP's capabilities beyond basic animations, enabling developers to create sophisticated, professional-grade animations without additional costs.

Recent Improvements

As part of their ongoing investment in GSAP, Webflow has also announced a major upgrade to the SplitText plugin, which has been completely rewritten from the ground up with significant improvements. This demonstrates their commitment to not only making the tools free but continuing to enhance them.

Benefits for Developers and Designers

Economic Advantages

The most immediate benefit is the elimination of the membership fee previously required to access premium plugins, resulting in significant cost savings for professionals and agencies. This removes a financial barrier that previously limited some developers from utilizing GSAP's full capabilities.

For freelancers and small studios especially, the cost savings represent a meaningful change in their ability to deliver high-quality animations without increasing project budgets.

Creative Freedom and Enhanced Capabilities

With access to the complete suite of GSAP tools, developers and designers now have greater creative freedom to implement complex, engaging animations without worrying about additional costs. This democratization of advanced animation tools is likely to raise the standard of web animations across the industry.

The ability to use premium features in both personal and commercial projects without restrictions empowers professionals to experiment more freely and implement the same high-quality animations across all their work.

Streamlined Workflow Integration

For Webflow users, there's an additional benefit of tighter integration between GSAP and the Webflow platform. Webflow has announced plans to expand their native Interactions with popular GSAP features, allowing designers to build GSAP-powered animations visually without coding knowledge.

These upcoming features include:

• The ability to create with and preview Interactions on a horizontal timeline
• Options to reuse Interactions across sites for greater workflow efficiency
• Integration of GSAP features into Webflow's visual builder

Community Growth and Innovation

The removal of the paywall is expected to foster a larger, more diverse community of GSAP users, which will likely accelerate innovation and knowledge sharing. A broader user base typically results in more tutorials, examples, and community-driven solutions, benefiting everyone in the ecosystem.

Understanding the New License Terms

While GSAP is now free, it's important to note that there are some restrictions in the new license that went into effect on April 30, 2025. The license distinguishes between "Permitted Uses" and "Prohibited Uses":

• Permitted Uses include implementation on any website, web application, or digital interface by any person or entity
• Prohibited Uses involve implementing GSAP in tools that allow users to build visual animations without code that compete with Webflow's visual animation building capabilities

These terms allow GSAP to remain free while protecting Webflow's commercial interests in the visual web design space. For most developers and designers, these restrictions won't impact their ability to use GSAP in their projects.

The Future of GSAP and Webflow Integration

Looking ahead, Webflow has outlined plans for deeper integration between GSAP and their platform. In the coming months, they plan to expand native Webflow Interactions with popular GSAP features, enabling visual building of GSAP-powered animations without coding knowledge.

The company has stated that these updates will "unlock the ability for anyone-regardless of coding knowledge-to build GSAP-powered motion into Webflow sites". This integration sets the foundation for the next generation of native Webflow Interactions, which will be entirely replatformed on GSAP.

For those interested in learning more, Webflow has announced a YouTube event on May 9, 2025, where they'll share more details about these updates and provide live demonstrations.

Conclusion

The decision to make GSAP completely free represents a significant shift in the web animation landscape. By removing financial barriers to advanced animation tools, Webflow is empowering a broader range of developers and designers to create more engaging, interactive web experiences.

This move benefits not only the direct users of GSAP but potentially the entire web as sites and applications can now incorporate more sophisticated animations without additional costs. For Webflow, this investment in GSAP's future strengthens their position in the website experience platform space while building goodwill in the development community.

As this new chapter for GSAP unfolds, we can expect to see more innovative uses of web animation, closer integration with visual development platforms, and potentially a rise in the overall quality of motion design across the web.