Software Alternatives & Reviews

Pencil Project VS SimpleMind

Compare Pencil Project VS SimpleMind and see what are their differences

Pencil Project logo Pencil Project

Single-user mockup / wireframing / diagramming tool

SimpleMind logo SimpleMind

SimpleMind is a great Mind Mapper with focus on simplicity and ease of use.
  • Pencil Project Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • SimpleMind Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-30

Pencil Project videos

Pencil Project | Free UI Mockup Design Software

More videos:

  • Demo - Wireframing with Pencil Project Demo

SimpleMind videos

Best Mind Map App - SimpleMind - Top 3 Reasons - Overwhelm Hack!

More videos:

  • Review - SimpleMind (iOS) Review - Visual Mapping Review Series 2014

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Pencil Project and SimpleMind)
Diagrams
100 100%
0% 0
Brainstorming And Ideation
Flowcharts
100 100%
0% 0
Idea Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Pencil Project and SimpleMind. 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 Pencil Project and SimpleMind

Pencil Project Reviews

10 Best Visio Alternatives for Cost Effective Diagramming [2022]
Pencil Project is one of the best Visio alternatives which is open-source GUI prototyping software suitable for developers to create mockups, flow charts, floor designs, etc. It has a rich set of shapes and designed collections that make it easier to draw.

SimpleMind Reviews

We have no reviews of SimpleMind yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Pencil Project might be a bit more popular than SimpleMind. We know about 11 links to it since March 2021 and only 10 links to SimpleMind. 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.

Pencil Project mentions (11)

  • Uizard: Figma alternative with low learning curve
    I am a software developer, so doing UX is never my strength. From time to time though, I would resort to using the open source tool Pencil (https://pencil.evolus.vn/) to get a low fidelity mock-up. Lately I've been encountering bugs where images would come out broken when I re-open my wireframe in Pencil. Frustrated of the issue on Pencil, I tried out uizard yesterday, and have been really happy with it. It's... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Quick UI-design tool for mockups?
    Thanks for your replies. I checked some of them out, but I found one on my own that fits me perfectly: Pencil. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Best practice to draw/describe UIs in plain text?
    I wouldn't use text to illustrate a GUI. We use Pencil with the crayon-styled stencils to make quick mockups. The crayon styling makes it clear that they're just mockups so people don't poke at the style aspects of the design. We've gotten great feedback from our clients that these are effective illustrations too. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Simple tool for network documentation?
    I use MS Visio at work and Pencil (free) at home. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • A blog web design with Inkscape, what do you think about it?
    Thank you ! Of the ones I have tested, the only one that really works is Pencil, unfortunately, it lacks a lot of functionalities, and it is still far from being as practical as Figma, adobe xd etc. I think Inkscape is much more practical and powerful, but maybe it's just because I'm used to it :). Source: over 2 years ago
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SimpleMind mentions (10)

  • I want to create a Mental Map, do you know any AI tool?
    Think ive seen somewhere on the interweebz about chatgpt and this https://simplemind.eu/. Source: 11 months ago
  • Where do you write your stories?
    Agreed--it's everything I need, although maybe a cool feature could be a way to draw/sketch, unless they have that and I haven't seen it yet. I like to sketch out mind-maps or creatures or building/neighborhood layouts, and drawing it in-program would be lovely. Otherwise I use the SimpleMind app if I don't draw it by hand. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Trilium Notes: note taking application for large personal knowledge bases
    I use SimpleMind: https://simplemind.eu/ It runs fully offline with Google Drive/Dropbox/Nextcloud support. Desktop and native mobile apps are available. No subscription, one-time fee for both desktop and mobile apps. I'm tempted to move on to "infinite canvas" freeform notetaking like Muse, but I don't want to pay a subscription fee. I wish SimpleMind had some of Muse or Kinopio's features, like audio/gif/video... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Mindmap app for macOS and iOS
    SimpleMind (https://simplemind.eu) is a great mind mapping option without having to pay for an app for the rest of your life. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Quick Question
    I'm a fan of SimpleMind: https://simplemind.eu/ It's quite usable on iPhone, and I run the Android version on my Chromebook. I didn't realize they also have Windows and macOS versions. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Pencil Project and SimpleMind, you can also consider the following products

draw.io - Online diagramming application

Xmind - Xmind is a brainstorming and mind mapping application.

SuperNotecard - Introducing SuperNotecard. SuperNotecard is an online writing tool that features virtual notecards to help arrange facts or scenes, track details, organize paragraphs, and clarify your composition process.

FreeMind - FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java.

Linked Ideas - A macOS/iOS apps to treat ideas as links of concepts.

MindMeister - Create, share and collaboratively work on mind maps with MindMeister, the leading online mind mapping software. Includes apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.