Software Alternatives & Startups

Mockaroo VS refern.

Compare Mockaroo VS refern. and see what are their differences

Mockaroo

A realistic data generator to test your app

Rating
0 reviews
refern.

A visual reference manager for creatives. Organize your reference library and build moodboards on an infinite canvas, all in one desktop app.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Paid Free trial $30 / One-off
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Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Mockaroo seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 27 times since March 2021.

social mentions
27 vs 0
Testing popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
99 vs 15

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

M
Mockaroo
refern.
Website mockaroo.com refern.app
Pricing
Paid Free trial $30 / One-off Official pricing
Platforms —
Desktop Windows Linux MacOS +1
Company — Startup from Canada · 1 - 9 employees · 2026
Listed in

About Mockaroo and refern.

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

M
Mockaroo
refern.

No description of Mockaroo yet.

refern is a local-first desktop app for collecting, organizing, and working with visual references. The library side gives you folders, hierarchical tags, smart folders, ratings, color labels, color search by hex, image-to-image visual similarity, and more than 14 typed search operators, all...

Read more about refern.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

M
Mockaroo 5 features
refern. 31 features
  • Ease of Use
    Mockaroo provides a user-friendly interface that makes it simple to generate data quickly. Users can easily define data types and settings with minimal effort.
  • Customizability
    It offers extensive customization options, allowing users to define schemas and specify various data types, constraints, and formats to match their specific needs.
  • Data Volume
    Mockaroo supports large-scale data generation, enabling the creation of datasets with millions of rows, which is useful for performance testing and large applications.
  • API Access
    The platform provides an API for integrating data generation into automated workflows or applications, enhancing flexibility for developers.
  • Variety of Data Types
    A wide range of predefined data types, including text, numbers, dates, geographic locations, and even custom lists, allows for diverse and realistic dataset creation.

Possible disadvantages

  • Cost for Advanced Features
    While Mockaroo offers a free tier, advanced features and higher data volume usage may require a subscription, potentially increasing costs for extensive use.
  • Learning Curve for Complex Data
    For users with complex data generation needs, there can be a learning curve to understanding how to effectively use advanced features and define complex schemas.
  • Data Privacy
    Since Mockaroo is a third-party tool, there may be concerns about data privacy, particularly if sensitive data formats are being simulated and downloaded from the platform.
  • Dependent on Internet Access
    As a web-based tool, Mockaroo requires a stable internet connection, which may limit usage in environments with restricted or unreliable connectivity.
  • Infinite Canvas
    Arrange references on an infinite spatial canvas with layers, text, and groups.
  • Canvas Drawing & Shapes
    Freehand pen with pressure, eraser, 9 shape tools, and color swatches.
  • In-App Image Cropping
    Crop images in place or save as a new copy, with crop provenance tracked.
  • Image Filters
    Adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and hue on images and canvas elements.
  • Never Copies Your Files
    References images from your own folders. No proprietary library, no doubled disk.
  • Relationship Graph View
    Navigate your library as a graph of folders, tags, canvases, and linked images.
  • Visual Similarity Search
    Find similar images locally with a built-in feature vector. No uploads, no API cost.
  • Color Search
    Search your library by hex code or dominant color with fast local scoring.
  • Operator Search
    Full-text search with 16 inline operators like type:, tag:, rating:>=3, and color:.
  • Hierarchical Tags
    Parent-child hierarchies, tag groups, linked tags, and macros for bulk tagging.
  • Smart Folders
    Saved multi-condition searches that stay up to date automatically.
  • Image Grouping
    Stack related references into groups shown as fan cards in the grid.
  • Cross-References & Backlinks
    Link any asset to any other and see backlinks across folders and canvases.
  • Grid Layout Modes
    Masonry, justified, and horizontal layouts, set globally or per folder.
  • Duplicate Detection
    Find duplicate images by perceptual hash with an is:duplicate query.
  • Metadata Management
    Rating, color labels, description, notes, source URL, creator, and custom fields.
  • Directory Metadata Presets
    Auto-apply tags and metadata when files are added to a folder.
  • EXIF / IPTC / XMP Import
    Read embedded tags and ratings from images for DAM interoperability.
  • Import Staging
    Drag, drop, or paste images into a staging area with metadata pre-fill and dedup.
  • Browser Extension
    Save images from the web with hover buttons and batch save (Chrome, Firefox, Safari).
  • Eagle Import
    Migrate an existing Eagle library into refern.
  • Disk Sync
    Detect external file changes and reconcile your library with what is on disk.
  • Timed Study Mode
    Full-screen reference practice sessions with configurable duration and count.
  • Pin Window On Top
    Always-on-top mode keeps references visible while you work.
  • Window Transparency
    Adjustable window opacity for overlay reference.
  • Click-Through Mode
    Interact with apps beneath the transparent window.
  • Desktop Screenshot Tool
    Capture your screen directly into your library.
  • Scales to Millions of Images
    Streaming indexer handles 2M+ file libraries with bounded memory.
  • RAW & HEIC Support
    Decodes camera RAW, HEIC, SVG, and standard image formats into thumbnails.
  • Directory Customization
    Custom folder icons, cover images, and backgrounds in the tree and grid.
  • Local-First & Private
    Works fully offline. No account, no telemetry. Files stay on your disk.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

M
Mockaroo
refern.

No analysis of Mockaroo yet.

Overall verdict

  • Refern (refern.app) is a solid referral and networking platform that helps professionals and businesses streamline referrals, connect with trusted contacts, and grow through word-of-mouth. It offers a clean interface and useful tools for managing and tracking referrals, making it a worthwhile choice for those looking to leverage their networks.

Why this product is good

  • Simplifies the process of giving and receiving referrals
  • Helps build and maintain a trusted professional network
  • Offers tracking and management tools to monitor referral activity
  • User-friendly interface that reduces friction for both parties
  • Can drive business growth through word-of-mouth and warm introductions

Recommended for

  • Freelancers and independent professionals seeking new clients
  • Small businesses that rely on referrals for growth
  • Sales and business development teams
  • Professionals looking to expand their trusted network
  • Anyone wanting to organize and track referral relationships more effectively

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

M
Mockaroo 2 videos + Add
refern. 0 videos + Add

Best Free Sample Data Generator - Mockaroo.com

More videos

  • - Mockaroo Extra Import Options

No refern. videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
M
Mockaroo
refern.
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Mockaroo and refern..

What's the story behind your product?

refern.'s answer:

I'm an artist, and too often I was frustrated: I couldn't find the right pictures, I struggled to organize and keep track of my reference images, and I was juggling too many apps when all I wanted to do was draw. I wanted one tool that could do it all, with every component well integrated. So I made refern.

What makes your product unique?

refern.'s answer:

The flow of collecting references for art usually goes like this:

find references and inspiration online -> save and organize those images -> use them on their own or in a moodboard -> reuse them for the next project or share them with others

Normally that means a different app for each step. refern does all of it in one place, with every part built to work together.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

refern.'s answer:

Most tools solve only one part of the reference workflow, so artists end up juggling several. refern combines them in one app: Eagle-style organization and search, a PureRef-style infinite canvas, and an Obsidian-style graph of how your references connect. It never copies your files, so it doesn't double your disk usage. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, works fully offline, and is a $30 one-time purchase with no subscription. Built in Rust, it stays fast even on libraries with hundreds of thousands of images.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

refern.'s answer:

Individual artists and creative professionals: illustrators, concept artists, digital painters, designers, and photographers. They collect and organize large libraries of visual references, build moodboards, and study from reference. refern is built for solo creators rather than teams, spanning hobbyists and students through working professionals.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

refern.'s answer:

refern is a Tauri v2 desktop app with a Rust backend and a React 19 (with React Compiler) plus TypeScript frontend. Data is stored locally in SQLite (rusqlite) with FTS5 full-text search. The interface uses Tailwind CSS, Zustand, and TanStack Query, with motion/react for animation. The infinite canvas and graph view are built on react-three-fiber and three.js. Thumbnailing, perceptual hashing, and color and visual similarity run in Rust with rayon and SIMD.

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

M
Mockaroo 27 mentions
refern. 0 mentions
  • Human coders are still better than LLMs
    If you give it the rules to generate something, why can't it generate it? That's what something like Mockaroo[0] does. It's just more formal. That's pretty much what LLM training does, extracting patterns from a huge corpus of text. Then... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Frugal SQL data access with Athena and Blue / Green support
    A quick way to test this out is to use a tool like Mockaroo to generate some test data and then have a Glue Crawler analyse the data in S3 and create the required data catalog entries. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Mockaroo — Mockaroo lets you generate realistic test data in CSV, JSON, SQL, and Excel formats. You can also create mocks for back-end API. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago

View more

Tracking refern. since Mar 2024.

Alternatives to Mockaroo and refern.

When comparing Mockaroo and refern., you can also consider the following products.