Features Live Demo Under the Hood Pricing FAQ
For Adobe After Effects · CEP Panel + Native Windows Service

Your After Effects,
in perfect health.

AE Doctor scans your machine, your plugins and your projects — finds exactly what's slowing down or crashing After Effects, and shows you the exact fix. One click applies it with Pro.

The smartest way to diagnose optimize repair supercharge your After Effects.

Download Free Checkup Try the live demo

Runs locally · No data leaves your machine · Free tier forever

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Diagnostic modules
0 ms
Sensor refresh rate
0+
Known fixes in database
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Bytes leave your machine
The problem

Sound familiar?

  • Renders crash right before the final frame — and the error code doesn't tell you why.
  • RAM preview stutters while Chrome quietly eats 9 GB in the background.
  • You spend hours on forums guessing which of dozens of plugins is the culprit.
  • Your disk cache lives on the wrong drive — and nobody ever told you.

Stop guessing. AE Doctor finds the exact cause — and shows you exactly how to fix it (Pro fixes it for you).

Live interactive demo

Don't watch a video. Use it.

An exact recreation of the real panel UI, running right here in your browser. Click around, run a scan, fix the issues, fire up ICU Mode — exactly like you would inside After Effects.

After Effects ▸ Window ▸ Extensions ▸ AE Doctor Live demo
AE Doctor System Health Scan · Live Demo
2 warnings

Welcome to AE Doctor

The smartest way to diagnose optimize repair supercharge your After Effects.

Ready to check your setup

Press Scan below to inspect your AE version, GPU, memory, disk cache, and installed plug-ins.

Knowledge Base

Paste an error message — get the exact fix.
Try a real error:
Match found · 98% confidence

Cached preview needs 2 or more frames

Your RAM reservation is too low for the current resolution…

No match in our 100+ documented issues

We haven't seen this one yet

One click sends this error — plus your hardware spec, if you've opted in — straight to our support Discord as a tracked thread. Most unknown issues get a documented fix within days.

Plugin Manager

8 plug-ins · 1 error · 1 warning · 1 duplicate

Live Hardware Monitor

Streaming from the native C# companion · 1,000 ms refresh
Total System Power
312W
Live tracking · ws://localhost:8099

AI Diagnostics

System Stable
Temperatures, memory, and storage are optimal. Excellent environment for heavy rendering and caching.

Fan Control

CPU Fan
Noctua NH-D15
1240 RPM
GPU Fan
RTX 4080
1860 RPM
Case Fan
Front intake ×3
890 RPM

Thermal Zones

CPU
Ryzen 9 7950X
62°
GPU
RTX 4080
71°
VRM
Motherboard
54°
NVMe
Samsung 990 Pro
47°

Memory Modules

RAM Module 1
32 GB · DDR5-6000
RAM Module 2
32 GB · DDR5-6000

Storage Drives

C: — System Drive
39°C
Capacity Used84%
Read Speed
210.4 MB/s
Write Speed
96.1 MB/s
D: — NVMe Scratch (Samsung 990 Pro)
47°C
Capacity Used12%
Read Speed
3120.8 MB/s
Write Speed
2870.3 MB/s

Performance Boost

ICU Mode
Frees RAM from background apps (Chrome, Discord, Spotify…) and gives After Effects CPU priority. Fully reversible — nothing is closed.
ICU active — freed 6.4 GB from 17 background apps · After Effects now has CPU priority.

Background Processes

System Memory18.6 / 64.0 GB
After Effects.exe AE
4.8 GB
Chrome Background ×42
9.1 GB
Discord Background
960 MB
Spotify Background
410 MB

System Tools

Project Optimizer

Crash-risk & performance advisor for your open comp
Scanned MainComp_4K_v12.aep · 14 layers · 3 precomps · 2.1 GB footage

Optimize your current project

Press Scan Open Project to flag resolution, layer, codec and memory risks — with fixes tuned to your hardware.

Settings

Every switch is real — this is the exact settings page inside the plugin.

Scanner & Engine

Deep Scan Mode
Scan subdirectories inside Scripts and Plugins folders (slower but more thorough).
Hardware & Session Monitoring
Poll live CPU, GPU and VRAM temperatures, and run the background watcher that detects After Effects errors.
Developer Debug Mode
Write verbose scan logs to a local file for IT and support diagnostics.

Interface & Behavior

Auto-Scan on Launch
Automatically run a system health scan when the panel opens.
Auto-Fix Safe Issues Pro
Automatically apply safe local fixes (like clearing cache) when issues are found. Pro fixes always ask before running.
Intelligent Auto-Save
Automatically save your AE project periodically to prevent data loss.

Data & Privacy

Include Hardware Specs in Reports
Attach your OS, total RAM and GPU model to bug reports you choose to send. Nothing is collected in the background.
Your Discord Username
Optional — so we can @mention you in the bug report thread if we need more details.
Custom Support Webhook
Route "Report Issue" tickets to your own studio's Discord/Slack instead of AE Doctor's public server.
Clear Scan History
Permanently delete all saved scan reports from this machine.
Ignored Issues (Whitelist)
Clear the list of hidden issues so they appear in scans again.

Community & Resources

Join the Community
Get help, share renders, and chat with other AE Doctor users on Discord.
Open Discord
Runs locally · No data leaves your machine

Tip: press Scan, then fix the two warnings. Or open Live Hardware and hit ICU Mode.

Eight modules. One panel.

Everything your AE setup needs
to stay fast and stable.

From one-click diagnosis to ring-0 hardware telemetry — AE Doctor covers the whole stack, inside the app you already work in.

Free

System Scanner

One click inspects your OS, RAM, GPU, AE version, disk cache and preferences — then grades everything green, yellow or red, with a "since your last scan" diff.

Free

Smart Auto-Save

After Effects' native auto-save buries your SSD under dozens of bloated, redundant copies. AE Doctor saves your real project on a clean timer — or every N clicks — so you never lose a keyframe without suffocating your disk. One file, zero clutter.

Free scan · Pro isolate

Plugin Manager — 1-Click Isolator

Hit a cryptic Error 5027:12? AE Doctor inventories every script and plug-in on your machine — hundreds of them — and flags duplicate conflicts, 32-bit relics and version clashes instantly. One click isolates the corrupt .aex or .jsx file so you never have to dig through hidden Program Files\Adobe folders. 100% local.

Free scan · Pro fix

Project Optimizer

Deep-scans your open comp for the real timeline-killers — 8K precomps, layer bombs, heavy motion-blur stacks and long-GOP codecs (raw MP4s, WhatsApp clips) that choke playback. Free shows you exactly what's wrong; Pro applies the exact fix — proxy, pre-render or transcode — tuned to your actual hardware, and every proxy or transcode can be undone in one click if you change your mind.

Pro

ICU Mode — Performance Boost Windows only

Don't let 50 Chrome tabs and Electron apps (Claude, Discord, Spotify) choke your preview. One switch force-flushes their bloated working-set memory into the Windows standby cache and parks them on your CPU's efficiency cores — nothing closed, everything reversible. Reclaim 3–8 GB+ of RAM instantly and raise After Effects' scheduling priority while exempting it from CPU throttling.

Before
AE: 24%
ICU Mode
AE: 74%
Built-in A/B benchmark: same comp, measurably faster renders
CPU share shown from one internal test comp — results vary by hardware and workload.
Pro

Live Hardware Telemetry Windows only

AE Doctor's AI Diagnostics reads the same class of sensor data Fan Control and HWMonitor do — through the same native, low-level driver access those tools need — and translates it into a plain verdict for the render you're about to hit: "excellent environment for heavy rendering," or an early warning before it costs you one. Right inside the panel you're already working in, not a separate app you have to alt-tab to.

Power
312W
CPU
62°C
GPU
71°C
GPU Fan
1860RPM
Free search · Pro auto-fix

Smart Knowledge Base

Paste any cryptic AE error — fuzzy search matches it against 100+ documented issues and shows the exact cause. You could paste the same error into ChatGPT and get a similar-sounding answer. What you won't get from ChatGPT: a watcher that catches the error popup automatically, before you've even alt-tabbed to look it up, and a "Fix it for me" button that applies the repair directly inside After Effects — no copy-pasting, no guessing which generic step actually applies to your AE version.

Free

One-Click Bug Reporting

Hit an error nobody has seen before? One button sends it — with a screenshot and your full hardware spec attached automatically — straight to the support Discord as a tracked forum thread. No forms, no log hunting, no "please attach your specs".

"Since your last scan"

AE Doctor remembers every scan and diffs them — so when something breaks, you know exactly what changed.

  • GPU driver updated 551.86 → 552.12
  • New plug-in installed: Old_Plugin_x32.aex
  • Disk cache moved to D: (your fix)

One-click everything

Purge RAM + disk cache, raise memory reservation, relocate cache drives, disable a broken plugin — every fix is a single button, applied through AE's own scripting engine.

  • aeDoctor.fix("memory.reservation") → done in 0.4s
  • aeDoctor.fix("cache.relocate") → done in 1.1s
Under the hood

Three engines.
Zero compromises.

Most panels can only see what After Effects shows them. AE Doctor goes three layers deep.

ExtendScript Engine inside AE

Talks directly to After Effects' internal engine — versions, GPU acceleration state, disk-cache preferences, and the scripting hooks that apply one-click fixes.

Node.js Runtime CEP context

Sweeps your file system at native speed — inventories every plug-in and script, reads system specs, and keeps local scan history for the diff engine.

Native C# Companion .NET 8 service

A Windows service with sensor-level access reads your motherboard's raw diagnostic chip data (the same low-level readout a signed hardware driver needs — not something a normal app can just query) — watts, fans, VRM temps — and streams it over local WebSockets every second. Its OCR watcher catches AE error popups the instant they appear.

ws://localhost:8099 — live telemetry 
// broadcast every 1,000 ms — never leaves localhost
{
  "power_w":    312.4,
  "cpu":  { "temp_c": 62, "fan_rpm": 1240 },
  "gpu":  { "temp_c": 71, "fan_rpm": 1860,
            "name": "NVIDIA RTX 4080" },
  "vrm_c":      54,
  "nvme_c":     47,
  "ram":  { "free_gb": 41.2, "ae_gb": 18.6 },
  "icu_mode":   true,
  "source":     "AEDoctorCompanion v2"
}

Your projects never leave the building.

Every scan, every sensor read, every fix runs 100% on your machine. No cloud, no accounts required for scanning, no telemetry phoning home. Your client work stays yours.

Runs locally No data leaves your machine Scan history stored locally Bug reports are opt-in, per report

Read our full Privacy Policy

Pricing

Free diagnoses. Pro fixes.

Scan and diagnose forever, free. Upgrade when you want AE Doctor to do the fixing — and the boosting — for you.

Crashed renders cost you hours — Pro's crash-risk advisor flags the problem before you hit render. One skipped all-nighter pays for a year of Pro many times over.

Checkup

Know exactly what's wrong. Forever free.

$0forever
No credit card. No account.
  • Unlimited system health scans
  • Full health report (green / yellow / red)
  • Plugin & script inventory
  • Knowledge base search (100+ fixes)
  • One-click Discord bug reporting
  • Live error catcher — flags it, you apply the fix
  • Real-time power & temperature readout Windows only
  • Project Optimizer — see exactly what's wrong
  • One-click fixes (manual steps shown instead)
  • Fan control, RAM/storage detail & ICU Mode boost
Download for free
Install in under a minute
Recommended
Pro

The full doctor — fixes, telemetry, boost.

$89 / year
That's $7.42/mo — billed annually (save $55/yr)
On macOS: one-click fixes, Project Optimizer & scan history included · live telemetry and ICU Mode are Windows-only
  • Everything in Checkup, plus: 2 Windows-only
  • One-click fixes for common issues
  • Full hardware monitor — fan control, RAM/storage drives, live per-app RAM view & AI verdict Windows only
  • ICU Mode performance boost + A/B benchmark Windows only
  • Project Optimizer — full fix applied, proxies & transcodes fully reversible
  • Scan history & "since last scan" diff
  • Priority Discord support
Upgrade to Pro
Cancel anytime · 14-day money-back guarantee
14-day money-back guarantee Secure checkout Keyless 6-digit activation
Pro Exclusive

What exactly do you get in Pro?

AE Doctor isn't just a simple script. It's a deep system-level C# service that monitors your hardware and optimizes Windows for After Effects in real-time. (ICU Mode and Live Hardware Telemetry below are Windows-only — macOS gets the Project Optimizer and one-click Auto Fixes.)

ICU Mode (Force-Flush + EcoQoS Boost)

Not a RAM cleaner — Task Manager literally can't do this. Windows has no built-in way to hand back an app's memory without closing it; it takes direct calls to low-level OS memory and scheduling APIs (what Windows calls EcoQoS). ICU Mode forces background apps (Chrome, Discord, Spotify) to release memory they're hoarding and moves them onto your CPU's efficiency cores — reclaiming 3–8 GB+ and raising After Effects' scheduling priority while exempting it from CPU throttling, without closing a single window or touching system stability.

Project Optimizer (Codec Probe)

Reads your footage's actual file headers, not just its file extension. It opens the raw MP4/MOV data to catch Long-GOP codecs (H.264/HEVC — footage where every frame depends on the ones before it, which is why it stutters when you scrub) plus 8K precomps, layer bombs and heavy motion-blur stacks. Free tells you exactly which problem it found; Pro renders the fix — proxy, pre-render or transcode — for you, and if it's not what you wanted, one click removes the proxies or reverts the transcode. Nothing is a one-way door.

Live Hardware Telemetry

The same sensor data Fan Control shows you — plus the one thing it can't. Total power draw and CPU/GPU/VRM/NVMe temps are real and free for everyone. Pro unlocks the rest — fan RPMs, per-DIMM RAM, per-drive storage health, and exactly which background app is hogging your RAM right now — and AI Diagnostics watches all of it together (heat, RAM pressure, storage fill) to give you one plain-English verdict: "excellent environment for heavy rendering," or an early warning before it wrecks your render.

One-Click Auto Fixes

Free tells you what to change and where. Pro just changes it. The ExtendScript engine — After Effects' own internal scripting language, the same interface Adobe uses to build its own automation — opens the right preference, sets the right value, and confirms it, for memory reservations, cache paths, corrupt preferences and buggy plugins. No hunting through nested menus mid-deadline, no risk of a typo in a setting you rarely touch.

FAQ

Questions, answered.

AE Doctor supports After Effects 2015 (v14.0) and every release since — including the latest builds. The panel installs as a standard Adobe CEP extension via Window → Extensions → AE Doctor.
The scanner, plugin manager, knowledge base and project optimizer run anywhere CEP runs. Live hardware telemetry and ICU Mode use a native Windows service today — macOS telemetry is on the roadmap.
No. The free scanner and one-click fixes do run through After Effects' own ExtendScript/CEP layer, but Live Hardware Telemetry and ICU Mode (Pro) come from AEDoctorCompanion, a signed native .NET 8 Windows service with Administrator-level access to sensor data and OS scheduling (EcoQoS) that no script or CEP panel can reach on its own.

If you're thinking of a similarly-named tool like Project Doctor — a well-known aescripts panel for relinking footage and organizing project media — that solves a different problem entirely. AE Doctor optimizes your OS and hardware for After Effects; it doesn't manage your project's media. See the full comparison →
The scanner and one-click fixes run inside After Effects' own scripting sandbox — no elevated access needed.

Reading real fan RPMs and VRM temperatures and applying ICU Mode's CPU/RAM prioritization does require it, because Windows restricts raw hardware sensors to Ring 0 drivers — the same level tools like Fan Control or HWMonitor need. That access is isolated to AEDoctorCompanion, a separate signed Windows service installed with a single Administrator prompt; After Effects itself never runs elevated.
Yes. Everything — scans, sensor data, history — runs and stays on your machine. The telemetry service broadcasts only to localhost. The only thing that ever leaves your computer is a bug report, and only when you press the button yourself.
No. ICU Mode trims working-set memory from background apps and raises After Effects' CPU priority — nothing is closed or suspended, and one click reverses everything. Chrome keeps your tabs; it just stops hoarding your RAM.
Pro includes a 14-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. And if you hit an error the knowledge base doesn't recognize, the one-click Discord reporter sends it to us with your specs — unknown issues usually get a documented fix within days.
Pro is a single-user license, active on one machine at a time. Switching computers? Unpair the old one from your account dashboard with one click, then pair the new one — no waiting, no support ticket. It's not built for multiple concurrent users. Running a studio with several editors? Reach out via Discord or email and we'll sort you out.

Give your After Effects
a 90-second checkup.

Download free, press Scan, and see exactly what's been slowing you down. No account, no credit card, no data collection.

Download AE Doctor Free
Windows · AE 2015+ Installs in under a minute Free tier forever