Software Alternatives & Reviews

OpenToonz VS Balsamiq

Compare OpenToonz VS Balsamiq and see what are their differences

OpenToonz logo OpenToonz

OpenToonz is an animation program that is a free software version of Toonz, the animation software...

Balsamiq logo Balsamiq

Balsamiq. Rapid, effective and fun wireframing software.
  • OpenToonz Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-18
  • Balsamiq Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-02

OpenToonz videos

Opentoonz Review - Is it Worth it?

More videos:

  • Review - Opentoonz News: New Version of OpenToonz, V1.4 is now out
  • Review - Learn to Animate in Opentoonz 1.3 [FULL GUIDE WITH TIMESTAMPS]

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)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to OpenToonz and Balsamiq)
Animation
100 100%
0% 0
Prototyping
0 0%
100% 100
Art Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Design Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

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

OpenToonz Reviews

10 Best 2D Animation Software in 2022 [Free/Paid]
Based on the Toonz software, Opentoonz is the best free alternative that will help you create 2D animated content. Anyone can use the software, free of charge, and download it.
The 10 best free animation software in 2021
For any animators, beginners or veterans alike, OpenToonz is the perfect 2D software for anyone looking to improve on their skills. A fun fact about OpenToonz is that it has a high level of customization and is often used by Studio Ghibli, the Japanese anime film studio responsible for movies like My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Top 5 Open Source Animation Software In 2021
Opentoonz is one of the best free animation software for beginners. It helps coming animators to create beautiful 2D animations and sketches. It also provides many other plugins for to apply different effects such as SDK that allow animators to completely alter animations, tweak color, distortion and more. It is open source and free to download used for both small projects...
14 BEST 2D Animation Software in 2020 [Free/Paid]
Opentoonz is an open-source animation production application. It is compatible with 4 types of scanning. It allows you to save settings of scanning.
Source: www.guru99.com
10 Adobe Animate Alternatives in 2020
Verdict: OpenToonz is a free version of the popular professional program for creating animations – Toonz. It is an open-source Adobe Animate alternative, which means that you can develop the program, adding new features and improving the graphical interface.
Source: fixthephoto.com

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.

Social recommendations and mentions

Balsamiq might be a bit more popular than OpenToonz. We know about 30 links to it since March 2021 and only 25 links to OpenToonz. 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.

OpenToonz mentions (25)

  • Need advice on a good computer for animation
    I know a coworker that uses clip studio. Also if you're adventurous, Blender with grease pencil might be a great option. See also: Https://animationpaper.com/ Https://opentoonz.github.io/e/ neat! yt. Source: 5 months ago
  • Csp good for long Animations?
    OpenToonz is a free open source program that branched off the premium version in 2016, and has a few well-known movies and TV shows made with it (including a number of Ghibli films, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Steven Universe). Source: 10 months ago
  • I make educational videos but I want to animate my content like The Infographics Show or Kurzgesagt for better visuals
    For 2D animations you could have a look at OpenToonz. As the name suggests, it is a free OpenSource software. It obviously has a bit of a learning curve, but I had fun with it. Source: 10 months ago
  • The mistake that killed Japan’s software industry
    Another example is OpenToonz[0], which is one of the animation tools used by Studio Ghibli and developed in collaboration with Studio Ghibli, another Japanese company called Dwango, and an Italian company called Digital Video. Although, Digital Video does have a premium, paid version called Toonz[1]. 0: https://opentoonz.github.io/e/ 1: https://www.toonzpremium.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Is this normal?
    As long as you’ve downloaded it from the main website: https://opentoonz.github.io/e/ then you should be good. Source: over 1 year ago
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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: 9 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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What are some alternatives?

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

Synfig Studio - Just another WordPress site

Invision - Prototyping and collaboration for design teams

Adobe Animate - Adobe Animate is a Flash, vector animation software.

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

Pencil2D - Pencil2D is an opensource animation/drawing software for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, based on old...

Zeplin - Collaboration app for UI designers & frontend developers