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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Balsamiq

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/ABalsamiq is a wireframing tool that helps lean product teams turn early ideas into clear, actionable direction. The tool helps product managers, founders, and engineers worldwide share concepts, reduce rework, and build better products.

    $12

    per month (up to 2 projects)

    Origami Studio

    Score4 out of 10
    N/AOrigami is a free prototyping tool offered by Meta Platforms. It allows users to build a prototype, run it on an iPhone or iPad, test it, and export code snippets. It was used to create Instagram, Paper, Messenger, Slingshot, Rooms and Groups.N/A
    Pricing
    BalsamiqOrigami Studio
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    BalsamiqOrigami Studio
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPay per project, not per user—
    More Pricing Information
    Best Alternatives
    BalsamiqOrigami Studio
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Figma
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Figma
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Figma
    Score8.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    BalsamiqOrigami Studio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (31 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    BalsamiqOrigami Studio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Balsamiq
    Balsamiq is a great tool for quickly getting ideas into visual form. At first it seems like there are not that many UI assets, but this constraint actually adds to the speed. There are less things for you to fuss over, you can focus on getting your ideas down. This is a tool for lofi rough drawings not a tool for building beautiful prototypes for developers to code to. It is fantastic for ideation because you mostly just drag and drop components onto the canvas and move things around. It's great in a live workshop setting for that reason.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meta Platforms Inc
    I love Origami and have always recommended the software to other designers. I use Origami on a daily basis, especially when working on new packaging designs. It's nice to see how a box/package looks live while working on moving elements around in the artwork along with making sure dielines work properly and there won't be much work needed on the vendor's end to adjust dielines.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Balsamiq
    • Easy to use
    • Produces good quality mock ups and prototypes
    • Mock ups are obviously only just mock ups (this is important as if users see mock-ups in HTML, for example, they tend to think the system is ready to use or not far off)
    • Has a good selection of standard shapes that mock real world fields / controls
    • Allows not for profit organisations use it for free
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meta Platforms Inc
    • Proper view of closed or open box
    • Control of adding degree of angle for flaps to see how a box looks open or closed
    • High resolution exports from Origami to other softwares
    • Love the new capability of being able to add multiple boxes for a group render/image
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Balsamiq
    • The sketch-like style can be off-putting to some stakeholders, and it’s not initially very clear that there is the option to turn this “off.” While I do think there is benefit to the default style, knowing from the start that this flexibility existed would have helped us be able to use this tool more often in the past and in different situations.
    • There are very limited collaborative functionalities. When it’s early in the design process, it’s often really helpful to have a number of people in the design to offer in-app feedback so the designer doesn’t have the burden of collecting feedback from many disparate sources in order to incorporate the feedback.
    • There are limited UI elements. As design evolves, there are more and more UI elements to consider, and many to stop using. Our Balsamiq wireframes would be a lot more effective in communicating design ideas to stakeholders if there was a wider range of UI elements to choose from.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meta Platforms Inc
    • It can be glitchy at times
    • Challenging dielines can sometimes be difficult to render in Origami unless you trick it
    • Large files with a lot of elements can slow down the software
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Balsamiq
    I'm not sure how else we would be able to complete our work without Balsamiq or another similar tool. All of my experience with Balsamiq has been positive and they continue to develop new features so that my job gets easier. I would be very surprised if we didn't renew Balsamiq
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meta Platforms Inc
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Balsamiq
    Very intuitive and easy to understand. It only takes minutes to get the hang of it and get back to work. For new analysts (like, brand new, fresh out of school) it's not difficult and they need minimal to no hand-holding. The training content that is embedded is easy to find and use.
    Incentivized
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    Meta Platforms Inc
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Balsamiq
    We haven't had to use the support feature yet
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meta Platforms Inc
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Balsamiq
    Creating digital wireframes in Photoshop is a nightmare. Photoshop was not really designed for this purpose. It doesn't have good collaboration options and it doesn't allow pattern libraries, which are essential for consistency and efficiency. We use UXPin and Axure for some time, but found that these platforms were a bit bloated. Balsamiq is much simpler than any of these options. It's a perfect wireframing platform for non-designers or for designers that want to focus on content and element-placement prior to design
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meta Platforms Inc
    Origami is a faster/easier way to view and render 3D views of packaging files--especially the instant gratification when adjusting artwork and or dielines before rendering out to other softwares. Other than Blender being free, this software is much easier to use for unexperienced users. Someone can learn Origami in matter of minutes--that's how easy it is.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Balsamiq
    • The product works very well for showing product owners and developers design ideas for purposes of discussion, debate and refinement.
    • The products also works very well for specifying new designs for developers. This is best done in a series of screens that show various screen states and user interactions.
    • I also use the products to document bugs in software products and websites we have developed. This includes outlining and documenting bugs and changes to user interactions and refinements to the usability of completed interfaces and user experiences.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meta Platforms Inc
    • No negative impact
    • Price is great
    • Saved us time and money in dieline creation
    • Saved us time on rendering out DAE files from origami to other softwares for rendering
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Balsamiq Screenshots

    Screenshot of the Balsamiq user interfaceScreenshot of the commenting feature, which supports collaborationScreenshot of where to export wireframes to PDF and PNGScreenshot of where to add wireframes to Confluence pages to clarify ideas, make specs visual, and align teamsScreenshot of where to add wireframes to Jira issues to clarify specs, reduce rework, and help teams build the right thing