GSAP vs Framer Motion: Choosing the Right Animation Library

If you've decided to add animation to your site (good move — done right, it dramatically improves perceived quality), the next question is which library. GSAP and Framer Motion are the two best choices in 2025. They're not interchangeable.

The 60-second answer

• Framer Motion — pick this if you're in React and most animations are simple component transitions and gestures.
• GSAP — pick this if you need complex, scroll-driven, timeline-based, or vendor-agnostic animation.

Where Framer Motion shines

Framer Motion is built for React. Its API maps to how React thinks: animate-on-mount, animate-when-prop-changes, gesture handlers as components. Hover effects, page transitions, layout animations, drag-and-drop — all are one-liners.

<motion.div animate={{ opacity: 1 }} initial={{ opacity: 0 }} />

If your site is React-only and you mainly need declarative animations tied to component state, Framer Motion is the cleaner fit.

Where GSAP shines

GSAP is older, framework-agnostic, and rules complex animation. Its ScrollTrigger plugin is the gold standard for scroll-driven storytelling. Timeline chaining lets you choreograph dozens of animations precisely. It works equally well in vanilla JS, Vue, React, or with no framework at all.

gsap.timeline()
  .to(".hero", { opacity: 1, duration: 1 })
  .to(".cta", { y: 0, duration: 0.5 }, "-=0.5")

If you're building a portfolio, agency site, or product page with cinematic scroll moments, GSAP is the right tool.

Performance reality

Both libraries are highly optimised. Real-world performance differences are negligible at typical use. The one caveat: GSAP's free tier is impressively complete, but ScrollTrigger and a few advanced plugins are part of the paid Club GreenSock. For commercial projects this is worth it.

Bundle size

• Framer Motion: ~30-50KB depending on imports
• GSAP core: ~22KB, plus plugins

Both can be tree-shaken in a modern build. Neither is "too big" for a serious project.

My typical setup

For React/Next.js sites that need both worlds: I use Framer Motion for component-level state-driven animations (mounting, hover, drag), and GSAP for scroll-driven timelines and full-page choreography. They coexist happily.

Want to see what good animation does for conversion? Check out my project case studies.