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Rive

Interactive animation, built in the editor or by your coding agent

About Rive

Rive, from Rive, Inc., is a toolchain for interactive graphics: designers build vector animation, state machines and data binding in the Rive Editor, developers or coding agents describe scenes as plain text with the Rive CLI, and open-source runtimes play the exported .riv file on web, mobile, desktop, game engines and cars. Runtimes and the Rive Renderer are MIT; rive-runtime had 1,239 stars on 2026-10-25. The Editor is per seat, from $9/mo billed yearly; no runtime royalties.

EditorialUpdated 11 min read

The Rive interface

What it is

Rive is a set of tools for making and playing interactive graphics. The site footer calls it "an agent-native engine for interactive graphics": build with the Rive Editor and the Rive CLI, then ship through open-source runtimes to apps, websites, games and vehicles. One .riv file holds the design, the motion and the interaction logic, so developers load the file and bind data instead of rebuilding the design in code.

The toolchain has three layers. On top is the Editor, with vector drawing, bones, timelines, state machines, data binding and scripting; it is sold per seat and its code is not public. In the middle is the Rive CLI, added in 2026, which writes scenes as plain-text files in a markup called RML so coding agents can read and edit them. At the bottom are the runtimes: official ones for web, Apple, Android, Flutter, React, React Native, Unity, Unreal and more, and the runtime docs state that every official runtime is MIT-licensed.

The core runtime is in rive-app/rive-runtime. The README describes it as the low-level C++ runtime that loads .riv files, advances state machines and ships the Rive Renderer; the Apple, Android, Flutter, Unity, Unreal and web runtimes wrap this layer. As of 2026-10-25 it had 1,239 stars, 131 forks and 3,436 commits on main, the latest at 2026-10-25 05:21 (UTC+8); the LICENSE is MIT with the copyright holder given as Rive.

As of 2026-10-25, the rive-app organization has 67 public repositories. By stars, the Flutter runtime has 1,531, the React runtime 1,176, the web runtime rive-wasm 1,014, the Apple runtime 852, the legacy React Native runtime 787 and the Android runtime 545, with the Unity and Unreal runtimes at 211 and 148. The homepage says products built with Rive reach over 2 billion users, names Spotify, Duolingo, Disney and Riot Games, and quotes Kurt Hartfelder of Duolingo on the state machine.

Rive is an agent-native engine for interactive graphics.

Rive website

Core capabilities

First, state machines and data binding. A state machine keeps animation states, transitions and listeners inside the file, so the app only reports that an area is hovered or a value changed and the file handles the rest. Data binding uses View Models to connect colors, text, images, lists and components to live app data. The homepage also lists responsive layouts, scrolling lists, text input, gamepad navigation, accessibility semantics, localization, components and libraries.

Second, the Rive Renderer. The renderer page says it draws vectors, bitmaps and 3D on the GPUs devices already have, through Metal, Vulkan, Direct3D, OpenGL, WebGL and WebGPU, with analytic antialiasing that keeps curves and text crisp at any size. The 2024 open-source announcement explains the approach: antialiased vector paths are broken into specific triangle patches so the GPU's existing triangle rasterization pipeline can draw Bézier curves. The renderer code sits in the renderer directory of rive-runtime and is also MIT.

Third, the renderer is swappable. The choose-a-renderer docs list each runtime's default: Apple, the new Android runtime and React Native default to the Rive Renderer; on the web it depends on the package, with @rive-app/webgl2 using the Rive Renderer and @rive-app/canvas and canvas-lite using Canvas2D; Flutter can switch between the Rive Renderer and Flutter's own Skia or Impeller. Effects such as Vector Feathering only draw on the Rive Renderer.

Fourth, scripting. Scripting, live since 2026-01-13, lets users write code in the Editor for particles, physics, custom layouts and path effects, and the scripts travel with the file into the runtime. The first language was Luau, with type definitions generated from the engine's C++ API for autocomplete and type checking. The homepage now leads with AnimaScript: TypeScript syntax compiled to WebAssembly and run in a sandbox; scripts are signed on publish, and runtimes refuse any script that is not signed.

Fifth, the CLI and coding agents. The CLI docs say it creates, previews, checks and publishes Rive graphics without opening the Editor; a project is a folder of plain text and assets that can live in Git for diff review. The homepage adds that the CLI can confirm a scene compiles, inspect its contents, render frames without a window and drive it with real or simulated input, and script tests can run headless in CI. The CLI can also pull a file from the user's account, edit it locally and push it back, syncing with changes made in the Editor.

Who it's for / Not for

Good fit: teams with a lot of interactive motion who ship the same design on several platforms. The homepage says one file plays through the same runtime on web, iOS, Android, desktop, game engines, consoles, smart TVs and cars, so each platform does not need its own rebuild.

Good fit: game UI and in-car UI. Runtimes cover Unity, Unreal and Defold, and the homepage lists PS5, Xbox and Switch; the BMW i Ventures announcement talks about dashboards, climate controls and infotainment systems, and the renderer page stresses running on an underpowered car GPU.

Good fit: teams already using coding agents. The CLI describes scenes in plain text, supports checks, windowless rendering and tests in CI, and then hands off to designers for hand tuning in the Editor.

Not a fit: pages that are mostly text, documents or forms, or that need to be indexed by search engines. The homepage itself says plain HTML is still the right call there, and a simple web-only effect needs only a few lines of CSS.

Not a fit: teams that need the whole toolchain to be open source or self-hostable. The runtimes and renderer are open, and the Editor is a subscription service.

Not a fit: linear-only animation where the team already works fluently in After Effects and Lottie. Rive's own comparison article says linear content such as loaders, icons and marketing motion can stay on Lottie.

How it compares

Lottie is a common comparison. Rive's comparison article (updated October 2026) splits the work this way: "Pick Lottie for linear animations made in After Effects or Lottie Creator"; "Pick Rive when graphics need to react to people or live data, adapt to any screen, or run inside apps and game engines"; "You can also use both." The article says Lottie is catching up: dotLottie files can now include state machines, and slots let apps swap colors and text at runtime; Lottie supports alpha masking while Rive's alpha masking is still in development. The article says Rive files are often 10 to 15 times smaller than equivalent Lottie JSON, which is the vendor's own comparison.

The business models differ. On 2026-10-25 the LottieFiles pricing page showed Individual at $19.99 per user per month billed yearly and Team at $24.99, selling hosting, an asset library and collaboration, and it claims 16 million users and 280,000 companies. Rive's paid Editor starts with Cadet at $9 per seat per month billed yearly, selling exports and collaboration, with free runtimes.

The other reference points are Adobe Animate and the UI systems built into game engines. The homepage lists Flash Import, where symbols in an .fla file become artboards and frame labels become a state machine, and links comparison pages against Animate, After Effects and HTML; one homepage testimonial compares it with Scaleform. rive-runtime's README says Rive's Apple, Android, Flutter, Unity, Unreal and web runtimes all wrap the same C++ runtime library.

Getting started

The CLI path: macOS and Linux installs use the official install script or Homebrew's rive-cli, and Windows uses the PowerShell script. rive create myproject generates a project, rive myproject opens a preview window that rebuilds on save, --once builds without a window, and --verify only checks that the project compiles. The homepage suggests handing a prompt to Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, letting the agent set up the CLI and build a first draft, then refining it in the Editor.

The traditional path is the Editor. With a free account, the Editor opens in a browser or the desktop app, and the docs' getting-started tutorial walks through building an interactive project. The Free plan already includes state machines, data binding and scripting.

Wiring up a runtime. On the web, the npm packages are @rive-app/webgl2, @rive-app/canvas and @rive-app/canvas-lite, with three matching React packages; Apple uses Swift Package Manager or CocoaPods, Android uses Maven, Flutter uses the rive package on pub.dev; the new React Native package is @rive-app/react-native, and the old rive-react-native is marked legacy.

Two easy mistakes. The runtime docs warn that .riv files tracked in Git should be marked binary in .gitattributes, or line-ending conversion can corrupt them. The CLI docs say files with scripts that ship to the web must be built with --publish, because the CDN and web runtimes reject unsigned scripts; --publish may add a watermark, and a clean .riv requires the project to be bound to a file in a Cadet or higher workspace.

Pricing & license

As of 2026-10-25 the pricing page lists these yearly-billed prices: Free at $0 per seat per month, Cadet $9 (up to 3 seats), Voyager $32 (up to 25 seats) and Enterprise $120, with the Enterprise column labelled "$10M+ annual revenue". The docs pricing page gives monthly and yearly prices: Cadet $17 a month or $108 a year, Voyager $39 a month or $304 a year, Enterprise $1,440 a year, with yearly plans paid up front.

Plans differ mainly in exports and collaboration. Free includes the Editor, a rate-limited CLI and AI Agent, and 3 collaborative files, and exported .riv files play a Rive splash screen; Cadet removes the splash screen and the file limit; Voyager adds Libraries, embed URL hosting, $20 per seat per month of agent credits and the option to use a customer's own model API key; Enterprise adds SSO, SOC2 Type II, a custom S3 bucket, dedicated Slack support, custom runtimes for the customer's own platforms and $40 per seat per month of agent credits.

AI agent pricing changed in 2026. The 2026-04-30 post says the agent is open on every plan with free capacity that recharges hourly; new Cadet plans no longer include AI credits while existing Cadet plans keep $5 a month; Voyager includes $20 a month of recurring credits with top-ups. Students can apply for a discounted plan for personal learning only, not commercial work.

On licensing, the Rive Editor's code is not public and it is sold per seat, while the runtimes are open source: rive-runtime's LICENSE is MIT with the copyright holder given as Rive, and the runtime docs say all official runtimes are MIT for personal and commercial projects. The 2025-10-20 pricing announcement promises no runtime fee, says exported files do not phone home or depend on an active subscription, and says they keep working after cancellation.

Risks & limits

First, the Editor is closed. Design source files live in Rive's account system, and exports, Libraries and collaboration depend on the subscription. Open runtimes mean shipped products do not break if a subscription ends, but further design changes still need the Editor; the CLI can pull files locally, yet publishing and script signing go through Rive's services.

Second, the rules have changed. The 2025-10-20 announcement moved exports from Free to paid plans, while the pricing page on 2026-10-25 says Free can export files with a splash screen; agent credits changed on 2026-04-30; and the yearly Voyager price differs between the pricing page and the docs.

Third, the scripting language is in transition. A 2025-11-20 post signed by the CTO explains why Rive chose Luau and not WebAssembly; in August 2026 the repository gained a WebAssembly script execution lane, and the homepage now leads with AnimaScript, compiled to WebAssembly. The comparison article says both languages work, while the CLI docs still describe project scripts as .luau files.

Fourth, feature support varies by runtime and renderer. The runtime docs warn that some features are not yet supported on certain runtimes or require the Rive Renderer; Vector Feathering only shows on the Rive Renderer and is missing when the web uses a Canvas2D package.

Fifth, open and closed parts sit side by side. The rive-runtime repository's LICENSE is MIT; the runtime docs say all official runtimes are open source under the MIT License and can be used in personal and commercial projects; the Rive Renderer was announced as open source on 2024-03-19. The Editor's code is not public, and it is sold per seat. rive-runtime's commit messages often read chore(downstream): advance submodule/refs and cite PR numbers above ten thousand. Versions appear as runtime-v0.1.x tags, which start at 2026-04-21 18:25 (UTC+8).

How it got here

A 2023 Business Insider report says twins Guido Rosso and Luigi Rosso co-founded Rive in 2016, raised a $4 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Unusual Ventures in December 2019, and a $10 million Series A led by Two Sigma Ventures in January 2022. The report also notes that Duolingo used state machines to animate characters speaking in 40-plus languages. Rive blog bylines give Guido Rosso as CEO and co-founder and Luigi Rosso as CTO and co-founder.

rive-runtime's git history starts with an "Initial commit" at 2020-07-11 05:15 (UTC+8) under the author name Matt Sullivan, yet the GitHub repository itself was created at 2023-06-02 10:26 (UTC+8), so the early history was brought in later.

On 2023-10-16 Rive announced that Lottie founder Hernan Torrisi had joined. On 2024-03-19 the Rive Renderer went open source and shipped on all platforms; the announcement calls the in-house renderer two years in the making, after Rive had relied on existing options such as Skia and the HTML Canvas API. A commit titled "Scripting begins!" at 2024-12-17 00:52 (UTC+8) started scripting, which went live on 2026-01-13. On 2025-09-02 BMW i Ventures announced an investment, listing Andreessen Horowitz, Duolingo, Two Sigma Ventures and Unusual Ventures as other investors. On 2025-10-20 the $9 Cadet plan arrived and exports became a paid feature.

Changes in 2026: a commit at 2026-05-03 13:37 (UTC+8) added 3D, later presented on the site as GPU Canvas; a commit at 2026-08-08 11:59 (UTC+8) introduced the Rive CLI; and a commit at 2026-08-21 11:59 (UTC+8) added a WebAssembly script execution lane. The homepage positioning also moved from an interactive animation tool to an engine for games, apps and UI, with coding agents on the first screen.

As of 2026-10-25, the GitHub contributors API is led by luigi-rosso, mikerreed, mjtalbot, JCash and mjohnsullivan.

Our verdict

What sets Rive apart: design, motion, interaction and logic live in one Rive file, which the homepage puts as "What you design is what ships"; the same runtime plays it natively on web, iOS, Android, desktop, game engines, consoles, TVs and cars; the toolchain covers the Editor, CLI, open-source runtimes and an in-house renderer; the official runtimes are MIT-licensed, with no runtime fees or royalties.

Its limits: the Editor's code is not public and it is sold per seat, and free-plan exports play a Rive splash screen; the runtime docs warn that some features are not yet supported on certain runtimes or require the Rive Renderer.

Why it stands out

Rive is an animation tool and a runtime in one. Designers build interactive animations with state machines, and the same file plays natively in iOS, Android, web, Flutter, Unity, and game engines at a fraction of the size of video or Lottie.

The team built the renderer from scratch, including its own vector rasteriser, so that animation is a first-class runtime primitive rather than a playback layer. Duolingo ships it in production.

One file built with its state machines plays natively on iOS, Android, web, Flutter and Unity, drawn by its own vector rasteriser.

Sources

Official

  1. rive-app/rive-runtime on GitHubGitHub · Accessed Oct 25, 2026
  2. rive-runtime READMEGitHub · Accessed Oct 25, 2026
  3. rive-runtime LICENSE (MIT)GitHub · Accessed Oct 25, 2026
  4. rive-runtime commit 958a63a: Initial commitGitHub · Accessed Oct 25, 2026
  5. rive-runtime commit 914d487: Scripting begins!GitHub · Accessed Oct 25, 2026
  6. rive-runtime commit 2cfa84e: feature(rive-cli): the Rive command line toolGitHub · Accessed Oct 25, 2026
  7. rive-runtime commit 845a82a: feat(scripting): wasm script execution laneGitHub · Accessed Oct 25, 2026
  8. rive-runtime commits on mainGitHub · Accessed Oct 25, 2026

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