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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Shorthand

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AShorthand enables the user to create interactive multimedia stories for any online audience — all with no code. The vendor boasts that Shorthand is used by hundreds of publishers, brands, non-profits, and more — including the BBC, Honda, Business Insider, and Doctors Without Borders.N/A

    Venngage

    Score10 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    Venngage is an infographics creation platform. Users can create inforgraphics for their marketing team from scratch or from a template.

    $19

    per month per user

    Pricing
    ShorthandVenngage
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Premium
    $19
    per month per user
    Business
    $49
    per month per user
    Enterprise
    starting at $499
    per month 10+ seats (billed yearly)
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    ShorthandVenngage
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—50% discount for Premium and Business plans for annual pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    ShorthandVenngage
    Considered Both Products
    Shorthand
    No answer on this topic
    Venngage
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    67%
    Happy with the feature set
    4 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    67%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    4 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    4 Answers
    Features
    ShorthandVenngage
    Content Creation
    Comparison of Content Creation features of Shorthand and Venngage
    Feature
    Shorthand
    9.0
    1 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Venngage
    -
    Ratings
    Content collaboration9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Publishing
    Comparison of Content Publishing features of Shorthand and Venngage
    Feature
    Shorthand
    6.8
    1 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Venngage
    -
    Ratings
    Content hub9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Embedded CTAs7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content distribution6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content promotion5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
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    ShorthandVenngage
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    Contently
    Score9.9 out of 10
    GIMP
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    CoSchedule Marketing Suite
    Score10 out of 10
    Adobe Illustrator
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    PathFactory
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Adobe PhotoShop
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    ShorthandVenngage
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.4
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    ShorthandVenngage
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Shorthand
    Shorthand is ideally suited to visual stories where you have a good number of images and/or embeds or video to include. It is well-suited to long-form stories, where you wish to keep the readers' attention longer than usual. It can help to differentiate particularly important or intriguing stories from others on your website - and for this reason, it could be used as a premium content tool, perhaps for subscribers. It can also be used to showcase stories about awards you've organised, giving them special treatment. It is less suited to breaking news, or very time-sensitive news stories, as it can take some time to prepare, post or update shorthand stories. And it doesn't work well for stories with strong accompanying imagery
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    I find it great for personal use especially when you are a visual person. As an assistant that needs a lot of organizing, it's wonderful. It helped me a lot and I usually don't require a lot of features. I also find it great for accessibility stuff, I respect that since I have a relative who has special needs. I didn't really need that specifically, but it's nice to know it was considered.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Shorthand
    • Enabling visual storytelling with multiple pictures
    • Embedding rich media within a story, including video
    • Engaging readers for longer than average dwell times
    • Making it easy to create striking article design without coding experience
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    • Extremely user-friendly: simple, easy-to-follow interface really made ramping up on the offering incredibly fast and painless.
    • Variety of templates: Venngage has a HUGE assortment of templates ranging from corporate reports and business decks to more visually-engaging, "fun" content such as infographics, awesome charts, and highly customizable social graphics.
    • Brand-alignment: we really appreciated the opportunity to tee up our brand guidelines and have those remain on the back-end and let us apply our style guide to multiple templates instantaneously.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Shorthand
    • Additional flexibility in how text is overlaid on pictures would be welcome so that there are more choices on what images to use with particular layouts
    • Enabling users to control the path of text - for example, enabling runaround - could enable some excellent designs
    • Adding additional section templates could speed up design
    • More flexibility in caption placement would be helpful
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    • It's hard to lock graphics into place in Venngage once you create something.
    • Layering is next to impossible. The feature is there but is very difficult to use and most times the user is better off copying the object over instead
    • Unless you have a business account (we have a professional account- middle grade) you cannot sort and organize your infographics. This is messy and cumbersome to go through and the price difference between professional and business grade accounts was quite large.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Shorthand
    No answers on this topic
    Venngage
    I use Venngage for a new project 1-2 times per week... I could not see using another program at this point.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Shorthand
    No answers on this topic
    Venngage
    I find it very user friendly, straight to the point, and the minor issues I found wasn't really impacting on my role. So I think it would depend? but personally I find it perfect for me. There were lots of templates I could use, and they were very open to feedback and customer service was very accommodating.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Shorthand
    I have never known it to be down during my use of it. All you require is an internet connection to log in and you can use it on multiple devices. Adding ease of accessibility, there are simple ways to log in. I've also never known a Shorthand story to go down once live on our site.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Shorthand
    Due to the integration with our content management software, there is a short delay on our site while it loads, which may cause some readers to drift away. However, I've seen other sites where it instantly loads articles, so I believe this to be down to the content management software behind our site more than Shorthand itself. Once that brief initial period is over, it doesn't require additional loading time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Shorthand
    No answers on this topic
    Venngage
    I think that the attention that I get as a small business owner from Venngage is excellent. They quickly respond to questions and provide information that helps to resolve the issue that I am having.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Shorthand
    No answers on this topic
    Venngage
    We prefer Canva but feel Venngage is easier for us. In comparison to Adobe, we prefer Venngage because of the ability to have everything in one system and not have to jump around.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Shorthand
    As a web-based service, it is easy for users to log into from anywhere. Content can easily be shared, as you can set up teams that enable access to each other's work as required. And content can be reviewed by others before publication using the sharing function. You can also view how an article will look on different devices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Shorthand
    • Helped us create one of our top 10 most-read and most-shared stories in the last year
    • Enabled us to elevate key pieces of content, boosting dwell time on our site
    • But can also be time-consuming to adopt for some stories, meaning you need to choose well what stories really deserve the investment in time
    • Boosted collaboration between teams via its ability to share, including offering the chance for others to preview content prior to publication
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Venngage
    • It was frustrating to be required to purchase a full month, not be able to download into PowerPoint and edit, and not be given a refund.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Shorthand Screenshots

    Screenshot of Easily add sections and adjust styling.