Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Balsamiq VS GIMP

Compare Balsamiq VS GIMP and see what are their differences

Balsamiq logo Balsamiq

Balsamiq. Rapid, effective and fun wireframing software.

GIMP logo GIMP

GIMP is a multiplatform photo manipulation tool.
  • Balsamiq Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-02
  • GIMP Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30

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)

GIMP videos

Gimp vs Photoshop - Photo Editing Software - COMPARISON 2018

More videos:

  • Review - GIMP 2020 Preview and GIMP 2019 Recap
  • Review - 10 Reasons to Use GIMP in 2020 Over Photoshop

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Balsamiq and GIMP)
Prototyping
100 100%
0% 0
Graphic Design Software
0 0%
100% 100
Design Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Digital Drawing And Painting

User comments

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Reviews

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

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.

GIMP Reviews

  1. A great site

    This is a great site for photo editing and the software is supper.

    👍 Pros:    Trusted

10 Best Adobe Illustrator Alternatives
Check out GIMP, one of the best free Illustrator alternatives which is ideal for any creative.
16+ Best Web Design Software in 2022 (Ranked by a Trusted Expert)
GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It’s a free and open-source software for editing images and a valuable tool to have in your arsenal.
10 Helpful Black Background Remover Review
Gimp is a completely free and cross-platform graphics editing software. With a completely free price and an easy-to-understand interface, it can be an excellent alternative to professional software like Photoshop for beginners to work on. It comes with several tools for editing photos, and it certainly works great for removing black backgrounds.
Our 6 Favorite Free Photoshop Alternatives (2022 Update)
If you’re a professional that needs all the tools and QoL features that Photoshop provides, then perhaps Gimp might not be for you, but if you’re a hobbyist to intermediate creative looking for a good free alternative. Gimp is pretty damn good.
15+ Best Web Design Software of 2022 (Ranked and Reviewed)
It provides several tools for high-quality photo manipulation and color management features for high-fidelity colors. GIMP’s high-quality framework also helps you handle scripted image manipulation efficiently. What’s more, it supports multiple languages like C, C++, Python, Perl, Scheme, and more.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GIMP should be more popular than Balsamiq. It has been mentiond 59 times since March 2021. 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 / 6 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 / 6 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: 10 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 / 11 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
View more

GIMP mentions (59)

  • Yurt Calculator
    Image Creative Commons (CC) BY-SA-NC 2005-2017, developed, designed and written by René K. Müller Graphics & illustrations made with Inkscape, Tgif, Gimp, PovRay, GD.pm Web-Site powered by FreeBSD & Debian/Linux - 100% Open Source. Source: about 1 year ago
  • I just cannot understand why they did Paint so bad
    Paint.NET for a familiar paradigm with nicer features. Pinta for an old school, simple Paint experience. Krita for more advanced drawing. Gimp for editing/manipulating photos. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Had to make This after seeing all the post over and over again
    If you don't want to pay for photoshop, check out the Gnu Image Manipulation Program at http://gimp.org which is free. It has most of what you'd want photoshop for. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Super, just Super.
    As good as this suggestion is, without proper links and explanation it means nothing. GEGL is a type of plugins for GIMP, which can adjust the settings of already present effects and create new ones. The most notable ones are made by LinuxBeaver. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Useful apps for Ux designers
    GIMP: FOSS alternative to Photoshop. Like Inkscape, it’s not directly related to UI, but might be handy. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Balsamiq and GIMP, you can also consider the following products

Invision - Prototyping and collaboration for design teams

Adobe Photoshop - Adobe Photoshop is a webtop application for editing images and photos online.

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

Krita - Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to seaffordable art tools for everyone. Concept art. texture and matte painters, illustrations and comics.

Zeplin - Collaboration app for UI designers & frontend developers

Affinity Photo - Affinity is the imaging and design suite for creative professionals exclusively for Mac.