Guide · Claude features
Claude Motion: how to turn a report into a short animated video
Short answer
Claude Motion turns a prompt and your own files, such as a report, data or screenshots, into a short animation you can edit and export as MP4. It is in beta on Team and Enterprise plans only. It is not a video-generation model: it builds the animation as code, so it cannot make realistic footage or people. Claude Dashboards is the sibling feature for data questions and is available on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Both count toward your usage limit.
This is a documented guide, not a test. Features and plans come from Anthropic's Claude Help Center articles on Motion and Dashboards, its announcement of 8 October 2026 and its pricing page, read in October 2026. CheaperStack has not run Claude Motion, because it needs a Team or Enterprise plan, and publishes no output samples. Where a tip is ours and not Anthropic's, it is marked.
Who gets Motion, and who gets Dashboards
| Plan | Price | Claude Motion | Claude Dashboards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | No | No |
| Pro | $17 a month billed annually, $20 monthly | No | Beta |
| Max | From $100 a month | No | Beta |
| Team | Standard $20 per seat annual, $25 monthly; Premium $100 annual, $125 monthly | Beta, on by default | Beta |
| Enterprise | $20 per seat a month billed annually, 20-seat minimum, plus usage | Beta, off until an owner enables it | Beta, off until an owner enables it |
From Anthropic's pricing page and Help Center, October 2026. Both features are in beta and can change; check your own plan before relying on this table.
Claude Motion vs Claude Dashboards
| Claude Motion | Claude Dashboards | |
|---|---|---|
| Job | Explain an idea or a piece of work as a short animation | Answer questions about your data with charts |
| Input | A prompt, plus reports, data or images you attach | A connected data source and a plain-language question |
| Data sources | Your own files and content | Amazon Redshift, BigQuery, ClickHouse, Databricks, Snowflake, and apps such as Salesforce |
| How it is built | Code that animates text, charts, shapes and images | A SQL query for each chart, run against your data |
| Output | MP4 export; also openable in tools such as Adobe, Descript and Runway | A dashboard artifact; can be sent to BI tools such as Hex, Grafana and Sigma |
| Best for | An all-hands explainer, a board-deck chart with motion, a customer walkthrough | Quick, exploratory questions you would otherwise wait for |
| Check before use | Every number and word you put in; it only animates what you give it | The query behind each number; each chart shows its last refresh |
From Anthropic's Help Center articles on Motion and Dashboards and its 8 October 2026 announcement.
The 10 steps to your first animation
Steps 1 to 3, 5, 8 and 10 follow Anthropic's guide. Steps 4, 6, 7 and 9 are practical advice that is ours, based on how the feature is described; Anthropic's guide does not require them.
- Check your plan. Motion is in beta on Team and Enterprise. Pro and Max have Dashboards, not Motion.
- Check it is on. It is on by default on Team. On Enterprise an owner turns it on in Organization settings, Artifacts.
- Pick Motion. In the message box open Output and choose Motion, or ask for an animation in chat, or use a Motion template in the Artifacts tab.
- Say who, where and how long. Anthropic's tip: who will watch it, where it will play and roughly how long.
- Give it your materials. Attach the report, data or images. It builds from your own content.
- Storyboard in text first (our tip). Settle the story in a few lines before animating; text is cheap and animation uses your limit.
- Decide style, colors and length (our tip). Anthropic's guide does not list set questions, so give these yourself. Longer animations use more of your limit.
- Correct as you go. Ask for changes in chat ("slow down the second scene") or edit directly in the editor. Because it is code, changing one number leaves the rest as it was.
- Fewer words, more seconds (our tip). One idea per scene and very little text on screen. A cap of about 8 words per scene is our rule of thumb, not a limit.
- Export to MP4. Click Export and choose MP4. The animation starts private; share it from Share.
A brief template
The tool does a lot by itself, and the quality of the result depends on the brief. This is the template Giovanni uses, translated; it is our suggestion, and CheaperStack has not benchmarked it.
Turn [THIS REPORT / THESE NOTES / THIS CHART] into a [20]-second explainer video.
Who will watch it: [YOUR AUDIENCE].
Where it will be shown: [ALL-HANDS SCREEN / LINKEDIN / A SALES CALL].
The one thing they must remember: [ONE SENTENCE].
Use my [LOGO / SCREENSHOTS / BRAND COLORS], attached.
One idea per scene. Few words on screen.
Close with: [YOUR LAST SENTENCE].The sentence to remember matters most. A tool that animates in minutes does not rescue a confused message, so write that line before anything else.
What Motion cannot do
- Realistic footage or people. Anthropic states that it does not use a video generation model.
- Invent your content. It animates the text, charts and images you give it, so a wrong number in the report is a wrong number on screen.
- Run for free. It counts toward your plan's usage limits, and longer or more complex animations use more.
- Reach every plan. It is Team and Enterprise only, while it is in beta.
When you need footage, not an animation
If the video needs generated scenes, people or realistic shots, a generation platform is the tool, not Motion. Anthropic lists Higgsfield, Luma AI and Runway among the tools you can open a Motion animation in. Two other options with their own pricing, compared in BudgetPixel vs Magnific:
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up through one and later make an eligible purchase, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
BudgetPixel has a free tier of 300 credits a month and credit packs with no subscription; if you sign up through this link and start a paid plan, you receive bonus credits worth 30% of that plan's monthly credits, and so do I. Try BudgetPixel (affiliate link).
Magnific (formerly Freepik) lists image and video models, upscaling and a commercial AI license on every paid plan; arriving through this link applies 20% off Premium and Premium+. See Magnific plans (affiliate link).
Generated images used on a website need alt text and honest metadata; see AI-generated images and SEO.
Who should skip it
- Free, Pro and Max users. Motion is not available to you. Dashboards is, on Pro and Max.
- Anyone who needs realistic footage. Use a generation platform instead.
- Teams with no clear message. The tool animates what you give it; it does not decide what matters.
- Enterprise teams whose owner has not enabled it. It is off by default there.
The verdict, by situation
| If you want… | Use |
|---|---|
| An all-hands or board explainer from a report | Claude Motion, on Team or Enterprise |
| A quick answer from your warehouse or CRM data | Claude Dashboards, on Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise |
| An animated chart for a LinkedIn post | Motion, with the brief template above |
| Realistic scenes or people | A video-generation platform; see the comparison above |
| To try it on a Pro plan | Not possible yet; start with Dashboards |
Frequently asked questions
Who can use Claude Motion?
Claude Motion is in beta on Team and Enterprise plans. It is on by default on Team plans. On Enterprise plans it is off until an owner turns it on in Organization settings under Artifacts. Anthropic's pricing page marks it as not included on Free, Pro or Max.
Does Claude Motion generate realistic video?
No. Anthropic says it does not use a video generation model, so it cannot create realistic footage or people. It builds animations as code that animates your text, charts, shapes and images.
What is the difference between Claude Motion and Claude Dashboards?
Dashboards answer questions about connected data with SQL-backed charts, and are in beta on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Motion explains ideas or work through a short animation built from your own content, and is in beta on Team and Enterprise only.
Can I export a Claude Motion animation?
Yes. Click Export and choose MP4. Animations start private to you, and you share one from its Share button. Anthropic also lists tools you can open them in, including Adobe, Descript, HeyGen, Higgsfield, invideo, Luma AI and Runway.
Does Claude Motion use up my usage limit?
Yes. Anthropic says it counts toward your plan's usage limits, and that longer or more complex animations use more of your limit than a typical message.
Sources
Anthropic's Help Center articles Get started with Claude Motion and Get started with Claude Dashboards, its article Build live dashboards and animate explainers with Claude (8 October 2026) and its pricing page. Both features are in beta, so check the current pages before you rely on a detail.
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Last reviewed . Both features are in beta and change quickly, so this page is re-checked monthly. Spotted one out of date? Tell me.