The Best Free Websites and Tools for Making Your Own GIFs

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so a GIF must be an entire conversation! Create your own custom GIFs using these awesome websites and apps, then share them with your friends in chat or on social media.

GIFs are fun to use in any kind of conversation. They’re great for laughs and do a better job of expressing emotions than plain text does. After all, you can say you’re excited, but a GIF of a happy puppy or your favorite TV show character being excited really drives the point home.

Here are our favorite picks for the best apps and websites for creating all the GIFs from images, video clips, and other sources.

Where to Make GIFs from Your Desktop

You can make a custom GIF using images or videos stored on your computer’s hard drive, or create a new one live with your friends or your cat using your webcam. Even if you don’t know how to make a GIF, these websites make it easy to create one in minutes.

Giphy

With Giphy (Free), you can make your own GIFs on the website and on your iOS or Android device. From Giphy’s homepage, click on the “Create” button at the top, then you’ll be on the GIF Maker page, ready to get creative. Giphy gives you the option to make a GIF out of a photo, video, existing GIF, or using a URL from YouTube, Giphy, or Vimeo.

For GIFs created from videos or URLs, you can select the duration and trim your clip. For those created from images, simply select the ones you want to use from your hard drive, then Giphy will automatically connect them together as a GIF. You can switch up the order each image appears in then decorate your GIF with stickers, filters, a drawing, or add a colorful caption. Before uploading your GIF, you can add a source link and relevant tags, which will make it easy for others to find your GIF! It was also recently announced that Facebook purchased Giphy for $400 million.

GIFS.com

GIFS.com (Free) lets you create GIFs from video URLs or files from your computer. You can source content from Instagram videos, Vines, YouTube videos, Facebook videos, and other options. GIFs can be up to 15 seconds long and uploads up to 150 MB. Once you’ve thrown in a link, you can select GIF’s start time and apply other edits to the clip like cropping the image, adding a caption, or even blurring or inverting the image if you want to add an artistic flair. For captions, you can add a general caption, or go frame by frame for extra precision, and customize fonts, font color, alignment, and even add a border. You can add effects, like a Thug Life filter, Pokemon stickers, or other images. It’s easy to personalize the GIF you make, and you add on tags to make it easier to find, and you don’t need an account to make a GIF.

MakeAGIF.com

With MakeAGIF.com (Free), you’ve got plenty of choices for sourcing your GIF material. It works with photo and video files from your computer, lets you upload content from YouTube or Facebook, or allows you to take new photos or videos with your webcam. This website has an impressive GIF editor that gives you granular control over start and end time (and GIF length) down to hundredths of a second, as well as adjustable GIF speed. You can also add simple captions or choose a sticker from their small gallery to put on your GIF.

MakeAGIF.com also offers a Premium Membership option for $11.95 per month, which gives you access to lifetime GIF storage, high-definition GIFs, personalized watermarks, faster editing and uploading, and removes annoying ads. You can try this out with a three-day free trial.

and then i was like…

Cartoons and random animals are cute, but you are adorable. With and then i was like… (Free), you can make GIFs of you (and your friends and your cats and doggos) to your heart’s content using just your webcam. That’s right, no Shocked Joey reaction GIFs here—just whatever you bring to the table. All you need to do is record for three seconds. Once you do, you can move the sliders to adjust the start and end time, and toggle a few of the other limited editing options, like reversing the video, creating a back-and-forth loop (like Boomerang), and speeding up or slowing down the video. And voila! Go share it with your friends!

Where to Make GIFs from Your Phone or Tablet

If you need to make a GIF but you’re away from your computer, you can still make a GIF on the go right from your phone with one of these cute easy-to-use apps.

5SecondsApp

Many GIF maker apps limit you to three seconds of video, but 5SecondsApp (Free) gives you, as you may guess, five whole seconds to do your thing. And it’s simple to use, so you can easily create, edit, and share your new GIF with your friends within just a few minutes. The app can make a GIF from both videos or photos you have on your iOS or Android device, or you can add effects to existing GIFs you’ve downloaded. 5Seconds has a really good selection of effects you can add to your GIF plus it allows you to add text or stickers then share your new creation with your friends and followers with just a few taps.

Imgplay

It’s super easy to make a custom GIF (or meme) with ImgPlay (Free). You can use images and videos stored on your iOS or Android device, edit an existing GIF, import images from cloud storage options like Dropbox or Google Drive, or create a brand spanking new one with your device’s camera. Once you’ve got your media selected, you can crop the GIF’s frame, trim its length, and adjust its speed until it’s perfect. You can then add multiple text boxes with customizable text, add colorful filters to it as you would on Instagram, and export it anywhere once you’re done. So easy!

GIF Me!

With GIF Me! (Free), you can import videos, images, and GIFs from your iOS or Android device or create new photos or videos with your camera. The app lets you alter the image sequence for photo-sourced GIFs and adjust its animation speed before you add other edits. You can add captions, borders, and stickers to your new GIF, and even apply a fun colorful filter to make it pop. GIF Me lets you export your GIF creations to social media and even to Giphy to share with other GIF enthusiasts.

GifGuru

GifGuru (Free) is a great Android-only GIF-making app that’s powerful and easy to use. If you’re making a GIF from photos on your device, you can add over 200 images into a single GIF, which is way more than any other app. You can also adjust the aspect ratio of the GIF, control its speed and, of course, add stickers, captions, and filters so it looks just right.

If you’re making GIFs from video files, you can crop and trim the video, or apply other basic edits for up to 50 frames. GifGuru also lets you search for GIFs from Giphy and edit or add effects to any of those GIFs before saving or exporting as well, from adjusting the speed to flipping the image and compressing the GIF size. GifGuru’s editings are powerful and user-friendly.

GIF Maker

GIF Maker (Free) works on iPhones, iPads, and iMessage, and lets you create GIFs from photos and videos already saved to your device, create new memes, and make Boomerang videos for Instagram. Or you can use your device’s camera to create new videos or photos to then turn into a GIF. Once you’ve selected your media, you can adjust the speed and add captions, filters, stickers, and emojis.

You can also upgrade to a Premium subscription for $9.99 per month, $59.99 per year, or for life with a one-time payment of $99.99. Upgrading gets you unlimited GIF and meme creation, premium fonts, stickers, and filters, and removes ads.