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Developer Tools · head to head

Hookdeck vs LottieFiles

Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit HookdeckFull review
LottieFiles logo

LottieFiles

Design

Authoring, hosting and delivery platform for Lottie vector animations

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit LottieFilesFull review

The short version

  • LottieFiles is free; Hookdeck starts at $39/mo.
  • Only Hookdeck lists ingest and persist; only LottieFiles lists lottie Creator.
  • Where Hookdeck falls short: pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hookdeck and LottieFiles actually diverge.

Attributes where Hookdeck and LottieFiles differ
AttributeHookdeckLottieFiles
Pricing modelPer month by delivered event countPer user per month
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, WindowsWeb, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDesign

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

Only in LottieFiles

  • Lottie Creator
  • After Effects plugin
  • Figma plugin
  • dotLottie
  • Hosted delivery
  • Player SDKs

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot LottieFiles
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot LottieFiles
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot LottieFiles
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot LottieFiles

LottieFiles

  • Replacing a heavy GIF or MP4 loading state with a vector animation that costs a few kilobytesnot Hookdeck
  • Shipping the identical animated brand asset to a website, an iOS app and an Android app from one source filenot Hookdeck
  • Handing motion work from a designer to engineers without exporting frames or writing animation codenot Hookdeck
  • Auditing and version-controlling a library of micro-interactions across a design systemnot Hookdeck

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate

LottieFiles

  • Lottie only renders the After Effects features the player libraries implement, so expressions, most effects, layer styles and merge paths behave inconsistently or fail outright, and you must test every animation on web, iOS and Android before shipping
  • Runtime cost scales with path and keyframe count, so a detailed illustration animated at 60fps can consume more CPU on a low-end Android handset than the video it was meant to replace
  • The free plan caps private files and collaborators, so once a team standardises on the platform for handoff the seat count grows with reviewers and stakeholders, not just with animators
  • Using the hosted CDN puts a third-party request in your page or app load path; self-hosting removes that dependency but also removes the versioning and analytics that justified the subscription
  • The browser editor still does not replace After Effects for character work or complex effects, so most studios keep an Adobe subscription running alongside it and pay for both

Pricing, plan by plan

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/mo
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/mo
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

LottieFiles

Free
  • FreeOn request
    • Public and limited private files
    • Basic editor access
    • Open-source players and SDKs
  • ProOn request
    • Private workspaces
    • Version history
    • Team review and handoff
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • SSO
    • Admin controls
    • Volume seat management

Which should you pick?

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.
Hookdeck review

Choose LottieFiles if

  • You need lottie creator.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android.
  • You also want after effects plugin.
LottieFiles review

Questions people ask

Is Hookdeck or LottieFiles better?
Neither clearly leads. Hookdeck starts at Free and LottieFiles at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hookdeck or LottieFiles?
Hookdeck starts at Free and LottieFiles at Free.
Does Hookdeck or LottieFiles run on more platforms?
Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows. LottieFiles runs on Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android.
Can I use Hookdeck for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Hookdeck best used for?
Hookdeck is most often used for a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled, fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately, debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fix, receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnel. Of those, a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled and fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately are not what LottieFiles is typically brought in for.
What can Hookdeck do that LottieFiles cannot?
Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations. LottieFiles covers Lottie Creator, After Effects plugin, Figma plugin, dotLottie.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

LottieFiles: Do I need After Effects to produce Lottie files?

No. Lottie Creator and the Figma plugin both output Lottie directly. Character animation and anything using complex effects still goes through After Effects.

Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

LottieFiles: Is the format proprietary?

No. The Lottie JSON schema and the player libraries are open source under permissive licences and dotLottie is an open container, so files keep working after you stop paying.

Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

LottieFiles: Why does the same file look different on Android?

Each platform ships its own renderer with its own level of feature support. Test the exact file on every target rather than trusting the After Effects preview.

Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

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