Software Alternatives & Reviews

Balsamiq VS draw.io

Compare Balsamiq VS draw.io and see what are their differences

Balsamiq logo Balsamiq

Balsamiq. Rapid, effective and fun wireframing software.

draw.io logo draw.io

Online diagramming application
  • Balsamiq Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-02
  • draw.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-20

Balsamiq videos

UX Review: Balsamiq.com - Watch a Usability Expert Review Our Site!

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Balsamiq Mockups: Beginner Tutorial
  • Review - Balsamiq Wireframes for Desktop Overview (Windows)

draw.io videos

draw.io - Draw diagrams in the cloud or as an AppImage

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Draw.io Tutorial - Getting Started || How to use Draw.io
  • Review - Creating Entity Relationship Diagrams using Draw.io
  • Review - Using Layers, an advanced draw.io feature
  • Review - Draw.io (aka diagrams.net) Basics
  • Review - Better, faster, stronger; draw.io introduces AI-powered Smart Templates

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Balsamiq and draw.io)
Prototyping
100 100%
0% 0
Diagrams
0 0%
100% 100
Design Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Flowcharts
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Balsamiq and draw.io. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Balsamiq and draw.io

Balsamiq Reviews

Figma Alternatives: 12 Prototyping and Design Tools in 2024
Balsamiq is a design tool that has been available since 2008. It’s easy to use and even boasts active customer service if you need help. The software is beginner-friendly, so there is no learning curve if you’re a newbie.

draw.io Reviews

5 great diagramming tools for enterprise and software architects
Where do you even begin with Diagrams.net, formerly known as Draw.io? Besides being free of charge, it also has a low learning curve, so anyone can quickly start creating diagrams or whiteboards. Many people use Diagrams.net for diagramming business processes, data flows, and networks. You can also modify elements without having to change the entire diagram with this tool.
Source: www.redhat.com
Software Diagrams - Plant UML vs Mermaid
There are many generic diagramming tools that can be used to design software such as diagrams.net (formerly draw.io), Miro, or Lucid Charts. These generic tools do allow a lot of flexibility but end up costing you more time than you intended to align all boxes and arrows and to get the colour schemes just right.
10 Best Visio Alternatives for Cost Effective Diagramming [2022]
Price may vary from time to time as Draw.io does some promotions and might give discounts as well. You should check their website for the latest prices. Also, the pricing depends upon the features you are taking it for. So, it has very distinctive processing. You’ll get all your options in the right column and the drawing and editing options you’ll get in the space provided...
Top 10 Alternatives to Draw.io / Diagrams.net - Flowchart Maker Reviews
Drawio is a free online software for creating flowcharts and process maps. It is an easy way to create professional diagrams and share them with your team, your clients, or the whole world. Drawio's user-friendly interface lets you drag and drop shapes from our library onto the canvas and format them using our comprehensive set of tools. Drawing charts has never been easier!...
Best 8 Free Visual Paradigm Alternatives in 2022
Another cost-efficient option as an alternative to Visual Paradigm is Draw.io. This is an online flowchart maker that you can use for free. Draw.io is absolutely free to use so you won’t have to worry about spending any amount. The only drawback that we saw upon reviewing the tool though, is the lack of templates. It is purely made for flowchart creation so the interface...
Source: gitmind.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, draw.io seems to be a lot more popular than Balsamiq. While we know about 714 links to draw.io, we've tracked only 30 mentions of Balsamiq. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Balsamiq mentions (30)

  • Tell HN: My Favorite Tools
    A few apps that are a joy to use: https://ia.net/writer for writing. https://usecontrast.com/ for checking contrast. https://sipapp.io/ for picking colors. https://nova.app/ for editing code. https://cleanshot.com/ for screenshots. https://getpixelsnap.com/ for measuring elements on screen. https://netnewswire.com/ for reading things via RSS. https://panic.com/transmit/ for file transfers. https://usefathom.com/... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Ask HN: Best UI design courses for hackers?
    I think the best practical approach for designing UIs is to download (and buy) Balsamic[0] and use that to design UIs. Cut through the nonsense of colours and pixels in the first instance and just lay things out logically and simply. [0] https://balsamiq.com. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Build Products that don’t SUCK
    Create a low-fidelity mockup or wireframe of your MVP using tools like Balsamiq, Sketch, or Figma. Or use an easier-to-use tool like Uizard, which also has text-to-design capabilities. Source: 8 months ago
  • Starting Design Work in a Spreadsheet
    Just for drawing mock app screens, I have found Balsamiq[0] to be pretty good (you can do a bunch of stuff with the trial version itself). Not affiliated with them in any way. [0]: https://balsamiq.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Is there software for building out copywriting for a website?
    Balsamiq has been pretty good for me so far. It's super bare-bones so it's better for copy mockups than actual UX design. It's also a lot easier than Figma. Note that you don't have to use the default comic sans, but I do because it's funny. Source: over 1 year ago
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draw.io mentions (714)

  • Reactor controller
    Glad you like it! :D Feel free to reuse/edit it for the Steam page if you want. Also happy to send you the draw.io file if you'd like :). Source: 12 months ago
  • Note taking app
    Shraing, LDAP, sync, reminders are all possible. draw.io can be integrated by an app in nextcloud. Also, there is "Deck" which is a Kanban board for Nextcloud. Source: 12 months ago
  • Diagramming on Note 2 Air+
    I've been using draw.io web to diagram, but I can't find it on android... Is there any good alternatives? Source: 12 months ago
  • Tips and tricks for picking up Visio?
    Visio isnt hard, but stencils are a pain in the ass. So, I suggest draw.io instead, also its free and they have both a cloud GUI tool and desktop tool on Git. I have not used visio since 2019. Source: 12 months ago
  • Creating wiring schematics with ease!
    Adding the desired temperature instead of multiplying by x75 caused my reactor to overheat but maybe I did a mistake in the wiring. :D Why don't you show how you wire your reactor controller by using draw.io with my libraries. ;) You don't have to, of course. Source: 12 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Balsamiq and draw.io, you can also consider the following products

Invision - Prototyping and collaboration for design teams

LucidChart - LucidChart is the missing link in online productivity suites. LucidChart allows users to create, collaborate on, and publish attractive flowcharts and other diagrams from a web browser.

Moqups - The most stunning HTML5 app for creating resolution-independent SVG mockups, wireframes & interactive prototypes for your next project

yEd - yEd is a free desktop application to quickly create, import, edit, and automatically arrange diagrams. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix/Linux.

Zeplin - Collaboration app for UI designers & frontend developers

PlantUML - PlantUML is an open-source tool that uses simple textual descriptions to draw UML diagrams.