Cacoo is a user-friendly online diagramming tool that allows users to create a variety of diagrams such as wireframes, flowcharts, UML diagrams, network diagrams, mindmaps, sitemaps, database diagrams, and more.
Cacoo includes an extensive collection of templates and shapes, collaboration features such as simultaneous editing, version tracking, and commenting. Cacoo is simple, cloud-based software users can access from anywhere with an internet connection.
$0
InVision
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
InVision is a collaborative design and prototyping platform with features such as freehand drafting mode and interactive mockups, collaboration, idea management, user testing, and integration with Slack and other collaboration tools. According to the vendor, 1 million designers are using the free version.
Particularly helpful to an organization that has Windows people who are staunch Visio users and Mac people who are die-hard OmniGraffle or Sketch users.
InVision is well suited for design reviews and immersing yourself in the experience of an app-to-be. As a Product Manager, it's difficult to take abstract concepts, user pain points, and business needs, and produce a vision for an app without a visual aid to communicate a vision. InVIsion offers PMs, designers, and developers the opportunity to sketch a vision, communicate about it with inline commenting, and shareable with other stakeholders.
Easy for prototyping, sharing for comments and review changes with version. lags a bit when the design is heavy and large design models learning curve is shorter so saves time with new stakeholders responsiveness could be better and auto modeling can be introduced Not much advance features that can be used
I didn't need to contact InVision support, as I've never needed it. They have an intuitive UI, and most of the questions are answered in their help portal or in tutorials online. Since many people use it, there a great resources available on for example YouTube. No problems so far with InVision.
Cacoo is web-based and OS independent. OmniGraffle is a local install and mac only. Microsoft Visio is a desktop app also and Windows only. Two strikes for me, as I use between 2-4 different computers daily where I expect my applications to be always up-to-date and files synchronized.
We only tested out using Adobe XD for similar uses and found it to be more challenging to fit within our processes. It didn't have as robust a set of capabilities as InVision and wasn't as easy to use enterprise wide. I recall also having issues with working with Sketch.
Easier to diagram and create workflows without having to engage a designer's assistance. That means staff at lower billable hourly rates, reducing overall admin or billable hours cost.
Less time involved in creating support documents for less robust product options. Again, reducing overall admin or billable hours cost.
Most of our staff use the free version so no added cost until they are familiar and really embrace it = a reduction in upfront cost.
InVision helps our team better and more professionally portray the value and the work we do as designers, leading to more company buy-in in supporting and funding our work. In the past, we would create PowerPoints with screenshots to portray a user workflow that we would share out to stakeholders. Once we began to use this app, where stakeholders could click through and comment as though they were “real” users, stakeholders began to better understand our work, designs, and workflows. This has led to more productive conversations that, in turn, lead to more effective end products that have more consistently served our business goals in tangible ways.
InVision helps us save production time, effort, and cost, as we are able to solve design issues early in the process by having clickable prototypes to show to internal stakeholders and external users. It’s, understandably, difficult for people to provide effective feedback on screenshots. Using the clickable prototypes we created in InVision, we are able to get more effective feedback to solve user workflow issues before we spend time and money developing problematic designs (and later having to redesign them).
It’s easier to market designs to potential buyers with clickable prototypes than with screenshots. With these prototypes, we’ve been able to sell more digital products before product release dates, which has helped to secure many contracts and new business relationships that continue to this day.
