How to Create an SVG Cursor Trail Effect
Make SVG shapes follow the cursor for a playful, lightweight trail effect.
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Supports PNG, JPG, BMP, WEBP up to 5MB
Shapes That Follow the Cursor
A cursor trail spawns small shapes that follow the pointer and fade out. SVG circles, stars, or your logo make crisp trail particles that scale on any display while staying lightweight.
- Spawn SVG particles at the pointer position
- Animate them trailing and fading out
- Crisp particles at any resolution
Implementation Notes
Track pointer movement in JavaScript, append or move SVG elements with easing toward the cursor, and recycle nodes for performance. Convert a small logo to SVG to use as a branded trail particle.
- Track pointermove and ease shapes toward it
- Recycle SVG nodes to keep it performant
- Disable on touch and for reduced-motion users
Frequently Asked Questions
Are SVG cursor trails performant?
Yes, if you recycle a small pool of SVG nodes and use transforms rather than recreating elements each frame; keep particle counts modest.
Should a cursor trail run on mobile?
Usually no — there's no hover cursor on touch devices, so detect pointer type and disable the trail, and respect prefers-reduced-motion.
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