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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Balsamiq

    Score7.2 out of 10
    N/ABalsamiq is a wireframing tool that helps lean product teams turn early ideas into clear, actionable direction. The tool helps product managers, founders, and engineers worldwide share concepts, reduce rework, and build better products.

    $12

    per month (up to 2 projects)

    essensys

    Score7 out of 10
    N/ADesigned for ambitious operators and landlords, essensys in London boasts providing the ultimate technology platform for flexible workspaces.N/A
    Pricing
    Balsamiqessensys
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Balsamiqessensys
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPay per project, not per user
    More Pricing Information
    User Ratings
    Balsamiqessensys
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (31 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Balsamiqessensys
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Balsamiq
    Balsamiq is a great tool for quickly getting ideas into visual form. At first it seems like there are not that many UI assets, but this constraint actually adds to the speed. There are less things for you to fuss over, you can focus on getting your ideas down. This is a tool for lofi rough drawings not a tool for building beautiful prototypes for developers to code to. It is fantastic for ideation because you mostly just drag and drop components onto the canvas and move things around. It's great in a live workshop setting for that reason.
    Incentivized
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    essensys plc
    Great platform for a flexible office space company. However, as our company continues to grow, it may be interesting to see how scalable the platform is with the growth. Right now, each account is managed separately and we really should be able to consolidate that much more effectively.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Balsamiq
    • Easy to use
    • Produces good quality mock ups and prototypes
    • Mock ups are obviously only just mock ups (this is important as if users see mock-ups in HTML, for example, they tend to think the system is ready to use or not far off)
    • Has a good selection of standard shapes that mock real world fields / controls
    • Allows not for profit organisations use it for free
    Incentivized
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    essensys plc
    • Internet access: most reliable within this space for us.
    • Management of members when onboarding or offboarding, easy to add or remove users.
    • High level of security: This is something that many of our members require.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Balsamiq
    • The sketch-like style can be off-putting to some stakeholders, and it’s not initially very clear that there is the option to turn this “off.” While I do think there is benefit to the default style, knowing from the start that this flexibility existed would have helped us be able to use this tool more often in the past and in different situations.
    • There are very limited collaborative functionalities. When it’s early in the design process, it’s often really helpful to have a number of people in the design to offer in-app feedback so the designer doesn’t have the burden of collecting feedback from many disparate sources in order to incorporate the feedback.
    • There are limited UI elements. As design evolves, there are more and more UI elements to consider, and many to stop using. Our Balsamiq wireframes would be a lot more effective in communicating design ideas to stakeholders if there was a wider range of UI elements to choose from.
    Incentivized
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    essensys plc
    • Integrations: I wish that there were more integrations with other business software.
    • Invoicing: The company often does not send invoices in time and we are forced to contact them.
    • Auditing: Would be great if we could get a consolidated audit report across all locations instead of one per account.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Balsamiq
    I'm not sure how else we would be able to complete our work without Balsamiq or another similar tool. All of my experience with Balsamiq has been positive and they continue to develop new features so that my job gets easier. I would be very surprised if we didn't renew Balsamiq
    Incentivized
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    essensys plc
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Balsamiq
    Very intuitive and easy to understand. It only takes minutes to get the hang of it and get back to work. For new analysts (like, brand new, fresh out of school) it's not difficult and they need minimal to no hand-holding. The training content that is embedded is easy to find and use.
    Incentivized
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    essensys plc
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Balsamiq
    We haven't had to use the support feature yet
    Incentivized
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    essensys plc
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Balsamiq
    Creating digital wireframes in Photoshop is a nightmare. Photoshop was not really designed for this purpose. It doesn't have good collaboration options and it doesn't allow pattern libraries, which are essential for consistency and efficiency. We use UXPin and Axure for some time, but found that these platforms were a bit bloated. Balsamiq is much simpler than any of these options. It's a perfect wireframing platform for non-designers or for designers that want to focus on content and element-placement prior to design
    Incentivized
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    essensys plc
    I am not the most knowledgeable in this area.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Balsamiq
    • The product works very well for showing product owners and developers design ideas for purposes of discussion, debate and refinement.
    • The products also works very well for specifying new designs for developers. This is best done in a series of screens that show various screen states and user interactions.
    • I also use the products to document bugs in software products and websites we have developed. This includes outlining and documenting bugs and changes to user interactions and refinements to the usability of completed interfaces and user experiences.
    Incentivized
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    essensys plc
    • High cost per location (negative)
    • Reliable (positive)
    • Scalability (neutral)
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Balsamiq Screenshots

    Screenshot of the Balsamiq user interfaceScreenshot of the commenting feature, which supports collaborationScreenshot of where to export wireframes to PDF and PNGScreenshot of where to add wireframes to Confluence pages to clarify ideas, make specs visual, and align teamsScreenshot of where to add wireframes to Jira issues to clarify specs, reduce rework, and help teams build the right thing