Why AE is still in 2026 absolutely garbage and unoptimized?

Thanks, Warren. As I said, my comment wasn’t really about finding a fix for one specific error — it was more of a frustrated outcry, haha, after yet another day with AE full of errors, bugs, and all the usual issues. In part, it was also meant as one more small contribution so Adobe can understand what professionals who actually use the Adobe suite currently think.

AE is a fantastic tool, and at the moment it still has no real rival. But for professional software, it has problems that at this point are simply unforgivable.

And yes, in relatively small and “simple” projects — text layers, a few effects, comps that aren’t too long — AE behaves reasonably well. But once you’re working on a complex project, with lots of comps, some simple rigging (Limber, Duik, puppetpin...), and a few FX, the experience becomes unbearable. Splitting the project up and using a more segmented workflow can sometimes help solve it, but sometimes that just isn’t an option.

Thanks again for your comment.

Not sure what your system specs are, but it sounds like things should be faster.

Have you tried running After Effects in Safe Mode?  I find that really helpful for troubleshooting issue with third-party plugins and preferences.  

Why does Essential Graphics glitch from time to time?

I use it for small character rigs, with the idea of reusing the same rigged composition through Essential Graphics so that one single comp can generate multiple animations. That is the theory, at least, because in practice it suddenly starts glitching.

On top of that, I have noticed that After Effects sometimes switches from Mercury GPU to Mercury Software Only seemingly at random.

Why is the After Effects interface so incredibly slow? As soon as a project becomes even slightly complex, the UI starts choking: moving any slider feels sluggish, everything stutters, and an absurd amount of efficiency is lost. How is this possible in a dedicated desktop application with full access to the machine’s resources, while browser-based editors running in Chrome, such as Rive or CapCut, often feel far smoother?

Why is audio handling still so poor? Why does it sometimes take several seconds just to display a waveform?

Why are the tracking and rotoscoping tools still so weak compared with something like DaVinci Resolve?

Why is preview so painfully slow, even with something as basic as dropping in an MP4 or a MOV? Yes, I know MP4 is not the ideal working format, but still: a regular media player can handle an MP4 effortlessly — are you telling me After Effects still struggles with that in 2026?

Why, during rendering, does After Effects often use only 20–30% of the CPU instead of fully utilizing the machine and finishing the render faster?

Why does Dynamic Link fail randomly?

Why do linked comps in Premiere sometimes become unlinked when you reopen the project?

Why is Posterize Time and other FX still so poorly optimized?

Why do path and node controls in shape layers or masks sometimes break to the point where they become unclickable?

Should I keep going?

In any case, this message is really just a way of venting after yet another frustrating day of work with AE. I am not expecting you to solve all of this directly. I simply want to express what so many people in the community feel.

After Effects is still the core application of an entire profession: motion graphics. It offers extraordinary creative possibilities. But it is frankly unacceptable that Adobe keeps charging what it charges for a piece of software that, year after year, update after update, still suffers from these kinds of problems.