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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)

    Proto.io

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AProto.io is a prototyping tool for creating interactive mobile apps.N/A
    Pricing
    BalsamiqProto.io
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
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    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    BalsamiqProto.io
    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
    Community Pulse
    BalsamiqProto.io
    Considered Both Products
    Balsamiq
    Chose Balsamiq
    Axure vs Balsamiq. I would pick Axure over Balsamiq. The only con is there could be a learning curve to Axure.
    Sketch gives more interactivity over Balsamiq but is limited to Mac users.
    UXPin has easier palettes to move around than Balsamiq but Balsamiq is easier to use than UXPi…
    Incentivized
    Protoio Inc
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
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    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
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    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
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    Best Alternatives
    BalsamiqProto.io
    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
    BalsamiqProto.io
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (31 ratings)
    8.2
    (5 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    BalsamiqProto.io
    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
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    Protoio Inc
    Proto.io is the perfect solution for UX/UI designers that need to create and share interactive prototypes. Proto excels at the interactive part. There are so many different ways to make elements change or interact, whether you're viewing the prototype on a computer (mouse clicks) or on a phone (screen touches). We could build and prototype our entire mobile app on here if we wanted to because Proto.io has the customization that we need to make the app look and feel like ours. If you're looking for a software to create wireframes and static mockups, Proto.io is probably overkill for you.
    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
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    Protoio Inc
    • Easy to use
    • Great interface
    • Integrated icons and easy management of images
    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
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    Protoio Inc
    • complex transition animations
    • robust interactions
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Protoio 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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    Protoio Inc
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Balsamiq
    We haven't had to use the support feature yet
    Incentivized
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    Protoio Inc
    I never had to use Proto.io support.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Protoio Inc
    Proto.io is definitely the premier mockup and wireframe application. Lucidchart shares some of the capability but can be a bit clunky. Proto.io is interactive and smooth and helps you to see exactly how your UI will look and behave before the development stage. Additionally, it's library of native components is robust.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Protoio Inc
    • It helped us rebrand a company to have a better strategy for the target audience
    • It helped a small company new to UX and UI understand it a little more
    • It was easy to teach new people minimizing on boarding time
    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