The following animation softwares are all designed to function in 2D and the list order is as per the Price.
Pencil v0.4.4b
Pencil is an interesting animation program in that it allows for both vector and bitmap drawings. It’s as if the drawing tools of Photoshop were combined with the powers of Flash. The software itself has been pared down to its most essential elements, meaning it’s an excellent introductory animation program. It doesn’t have all the bells, whistles, and polish that you might find in some more complex (and often expensive) programs, but it is easy to learn the basics and get to the fun stuff quickly. The tools it does have, give you some pretty neat capabilities, particularly if you have some drawing skill.
Synfig Animation Studio
Synfig is a strong, industrial-strength vector-based 2D animation program package, designed from the ground-up for producing feature-film quality 2D animation with fewer people and resources. The creators of the Windows-only Synfig have ambitious goals of their animation software being used to create feature film quality animation. After watching an impressive demo it looks like they’re not far away from their goal. Synfig can create complicated lighting and camera effects, it’s up to you, the animator, to use them properly.
Free, synfig.org
CreaToon 3.0
Another Windows-only animation program, CreaToon uses a cut-out animation process, similar to Toon Boom. The application itself seems a bit less polished, but the ability to use bitmap images within the program is useful. Note that without further technical support.
Free, http://www.creatoon.com
Plastic Animation Paper (PAP:Pro 4.0 is released for free )
Plastic Animation Paper (PAP) is a software package for doing 2D animation. It will allow traditional animators to utilize the powerful and timesaving advantages of computers. Using PAP you see your animation as you create it, removing the need for line tests, cameras and scanners. After getting comfortable with drawing directly to the screen you never want to go back. You will increase your daily output many times. Your workflow becomes more dynamic, you get better quality and your animated character improves his acting.PAP is perfect for big studios and professional animators, as well as small companies and independent filmmakers. Beginners or semi-pro animators get an opportunity to produce great animation from their home office.
Free, plasticanimationpaper.dk
Flip Boom Classic
Flip Boom Classic is a fun and creative software for kids designed to animate freely. Based on traditional animation principles, Flip Boom Classic stimulates imagination and self expression while teaching notions of timing and motion. Easy to use, this educational software is intuitive and playful. It is ideal for children who want to start creating animation in seconds.
MotionStudio 4
MotionStudio 4 is an easy-to-use, all-in-one multimedia authoring software, that combines image, sound, interactivity and animation for you to create stand-alone, royalty-free, executable files. It is an ideal solution for creating your slide shows, interactive and animated stories, educational materials or just "pictures to EXE" for your auto-run CD-ROM. It's compatible with Windows Vista. With MotionStudio 4, you can create scalable, vector-based drawing objects as well as adding photos and pictures. With an array of time-saving productivity tools, adding interactive actions and animation is easy.
Animationish
For Kids:- Animation-ish is designed to have your drawings up and moving in minutes. Animation-ish lets you design animations for movies, greeting cards, websites, presentations and school projects, and then share your creations with the world. Animation-ish is the animation program with a mission. Animation-ish is designed to encourage the artist in everyone, from amateur to professional, from kids to grown up kids. The program's simple-to-use tools, engaging design, and multiple levels offer a fun, rewarding experience providing the novice animator the courage to create with confidence. Animation-ish is a great application to learn the basics of cartoons.
Pro Motion 6
Pro motion is a drawing and animation software for Windows designed similar to the famous Amiga Deluxe Paint (DPaint). It is ideal for artists working on detailed and pixel precise graphics as required for mobile systems like cell phones, smart phones, Pocket PCs, handheld video game consoles like Gameboy / Advance / Nintendo DS or Playstation Portable. It also suites well to create light weight graphics for the web or Macromedia Flash applications. Pro Motion is a Windows-only animation program designed for close-up pixel manipulation. This makes it ideal software for building sprite-based characters such as those found in video games.
SWiSH Max4
SWiSH Max4 is absolutely amazing. I want people to understand that this is a fully featured development environment that is capable of producing anything that flash can. If you are a developer comfortable at building things from the ground up, I feel that SWiSH Max4 is faster, more logically constructed, and easier to work with. SWiSH was initially created to take advantage of the open .swf format established by Flash. Originally billed as a cheaper Flash alternative, SWiSH has become a solid Windows-only text animation program in its own right, allowing you to easily create impressive swooping effects and export them for the internet.
Toon Boom Studio
Home Users:- Toon Boom Studio is the best 2D animation software to learn and create animation with. Ideal for students and hobbyists looking for an easy-to-use animation program, excellent for teachers and educational institutions, Studio makes all animation techniques accessible to users, offering them the most creative and rewarding experience.
CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X5
Graphic design software for striking visual communication. Put the power of CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X5 behind your ideas and make a bold impact across any media. This versatile graphic design software has it all—vector illustration, page layout, photo editing, tracing, Web graphics and animation in one tightly integrated suite. Designed for professional and aspiring designers alike, it offers a quick, intuitive workflow, high-value digital content, market-leading file compatibility and graphic design tools that let you do more than you thought possible.
Toon Boom Animate
Professional:- Toon Boom Animate is a unique all-in-one vector based professional animation software that includes content creation, compositing and delivery to audiences no matter what the media. Ideal for the professional Flash animator and educator, Toon Boom Animate is the most complete Flash-style animation software for paperless creation.
CorelDRAW® Premium Suite X5
Premium design software for print, web design and video editing. Open yourself up to new web possibilities with CorelDRAW® Premium Suite X5! Built on the renowned CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X5, this premium design collection introduces website creation, complete video editing for web and disc, and flash animation software on top of enhanced illustration, tracing and graphic design tools. What's more, this high-value suite gives you hundreds of dollars in savings, compared to buying the applications separately. Now, do even more than you thought possible.
TVP Animation Standard Edition
TVP Animation is a unique package for the creation of graphic content and 2D animation and is intended for all digital painting and animation lovers. This package offers a complete toolset to create a simple blue-lined rough animation sketch to digital hand-drawn paperless animation. TVP Animation also allows you to import pictures to create cool animation or you can grab the pictures directly from the application and then create and add some cool 2D animated sequences with your own Custom Brushes.
Adobe Flash Professional CS5
CS5 brings out a new version of Flash that will transform the way many use the program, and will open up new possibilities for animation, design, web development, and interactive content sharing. Adobe Flash Professional CS5 software combines expressive design features like a new multilingual text engine and more realistic inverse kinematics effects with timesaving development features like extensible code snippets and enhanced ActionScript authoring options.
Adobe After Effects CS5
After Effects CS5 is Adobe’s powerful motion graphics software for designers and visual effects artists. The program is one of three in the new version of Adobe's Creative Suite to go 64-bit native, taking full advantage of the multicore processors and more RAM. The new version introduces some high-end features: The Roto Brush tool lets you easily isolate foreground elements in complex scenes. It also features native support for the new AVC-Intra 50 and AVC-Intra 100 codecs, as well as expanded native support for RED camera footage. It also offers an auto-keyframe mode, supports custom color lookup tables, includes an updated version of Synthetic Aperture’s Color Finesse 3 LE color correction tool, and now includes the Digieffects FreeForm plugin.
TVP Animation 9.5 Professional Edition
TVP Animation Pro is the best professional solution for the creation of 2D bitmap animation.It is nothing but the favorite tool of professionals who want the best of digital animation: an environment consisting of the traditional animation workflow combined with all the advantages of the digital world. Because artists can now paint, animate and effect in one single application, the first significant result is that you will increase your productivity like never before. And you will paint using a drawing engine that allows you to create any type of content. Your style won't be limited like it is when using a vector application; you're free to bring to life any kind of graphic content.
Toon Boom Animate Pro
Professional:- Toon Boom Animate Pro is the most complete professional animation software for cutting-edge animators. It offers award-winning state-of-the-art content creation, animation and compositing toolset for any style of animation, all within a single desktop application.