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Balsamiq

Balsamiq

Overview

What is Balsamiq?

Balsamiq is a wireframing tool that allows users to sketch out user interfaces for websites and web and and mobile apps.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Balsamiq has proven to be a valuable tool for various departments and teams within organizations. Users have found that Balsamiq is …
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Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Balsamiq

Balsamiq

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Unavailable

What is Balsamiq?

Balsamiq is a wireframing tool that allows users to sketch out user interfaces for websites and web and and mobile apps.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Demos

Demo website penjualan laptop dan komputer menggunakan mockup belsamiq

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Balsamiq demo

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Demo for using Balsamiq to design a login interface for a healthcare app

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Balsamiq Demo Smidig2009

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Rapid Wireframing – LIVE Demo using Balsamiq

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Balsamiq Mockups in XPages

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Product Details

What is Balsamiq?

Balsamiq is a wireframing tool that allows users to sketch out user interfaces for websites and web and and mobile apps.

Balsamiq Video

Balsamiq Cloud is the industry-leading solution for fast, approachable, collaborative wireframing. Check it out at https://balsamiq.cloud

Balsamiq Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(104)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Balsamiq has proven to be a valuable tool for various departments and teams within organizations. Users have found that Balsamiq is particularly useful for creating wireframes and low fidelity prototypes in the early stages of the design process. This helps teams and clients focus on user flows and on-page content, allowing for quick iterations based on user feedback. Balsamiq has also been utilized by product management departments as an alternative to more complex design software like Photoshop or Illustrator, enabling the quick mocking up of layouts and workflows. Additionally, Balsamiq has been used by software development teams to visualize new feature enhancements and refine requirements based on customer feedback. Multiple departments across organizations have found value in Balsamiq's ability to set up mockups quickly, refine requirements, and gain approval for project planning. The software has also helped standardize the design process and improve communication between marketing and design channels. Overall, users appreciate Balsamiq for its ability to create low fidelity wireframes early in the design process, allowing for a focus on layout before getting distracted by colors and other design elements.

Based on user reviews, here are the three most common recommendations for Balsamiq:

  1. Use Balsamiq for quick prototypes and wireframes. It is recommended for creating talking points and drafting design concepts. The software is particularly useful for rapid low-fi comps and prototypes, making it a great choice for beginners learning about user experience design.

  2. When working on more complex applications, consider exploring other options in addition to Balsamiq. While Balsamiq is suggested for wireframing needs and offers a free trial, users also recommend checking out alternative wireframe tools that may better meet specific UI element needs or pricing requirements. They suggest considering other tools after the initial design sprint.

  3. Reach out to Balsamiq's support team for any questions or assistance. Many users appreciate the helpfulness of the support team and find it beneficial to have access to assistance while using the software.

Overall, users find Balsamiq to be an easy-to-use tool for wireframing, especially for quick prototyping and creating basic wireframe concepts. It is considered a good option for beginner designers and teams working with difficult stakeholders. However, some users mention that as users progress in their careers and require more advanced prototyping tools, they may need to explore alternatives to Balsamiq.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 30)
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January 04, 2024

Good Tool for Quick Mockups

SK
Sumit Kadam
Associate Product Manager
ZS Associates (Computer Software, 10,001+ employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is well suited to just mock up something in a quick time before actually developing the detailed wireframes.

Balsamiq is not useful when you want to get the detailed wires to be passed on to the engineers to get them developed.

So if you just want to work on the 1st part, then this is a good tool but if it's your job to make the journey from 1st Part to the 2nd then this tool is not the answer.
December 29, 2023

Simple and speedy mockup tool to visualize your ideas before they slip your mind

Ming Hon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Ming Hon
Solutions Architect
Clearstream Collaborative Inc (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
August 08, 2021

Balsamiq is an excellent tool for prototyping interfaces, it can be expensive but if you are a not for profit it is usually free

Verified User
Professional in Corporate
Research Company, 501-1000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is very well suited for mocking up / prototyping UIs for systems or apps. The really good thing about it is that the wireframes it produces do not look like real screens but all the same do look nice, neat and tidy. This allows you to express and design how your interface will looks and even work, but it also expresses that these are just wireframes. I have had problems throughout my career when I have mocked up UIs with HTML, often users and stakeholders think that the system is ready to be used or not far off, they can't seem to grasp that there is nothing behind it. Balsamiq helps here because the wireframes are in a hand drawn style, so they can't be confused with a near-ready or working system.
March 02, 2020

Balsamiq is Sweet

KC
Karen Chamberlain
Consultant
HMS Cornerstone Solutions (Information Technology & Services, 11-50 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Anytime you have a process to map out to show others we think it works well. It is easy for multiple people to get in, review, and add their thoughts. The look and feel is nice and even the marked-up version with notes looks presentable enough to show management to get approval/buy-in. We still use Visio for things like swim lanes.
May 16, 2019

Balsamiq: The Solution for Creating Quick Lo-Fi Wireframes

Verified User
Professional in Research & Development
Education Management Company, 51-200 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is excellent for creating low-fidelity wireframes where the designer is trying to communicate a general, loose idea of how the design should look. Because of this, it should be used early in the design stage, when there are still many decisions to be made about how the final design should look like. However, it is less suitable for situations where one wants to communicate a more final-appearing version of a design. There are limited functionalities (which appear intentional, as the Balsamiq website says that the tool "has 'just enough' prototyping capabilities, but not more”). Because of this, it is likely wise to choose a more high-powered tool, such as Axure, to create a fuller design toward the later stages of the design process.
December 19, 2018

When you need to create rough mockups, Balsamiq is the fastest choice.

John Rougeux | TrustRadius Reviewer
John Rougeux
VP Marketing, North America
Skyfii (Computer Software, 11-50 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is great if you're a non-designer and want to share ideas with people who will be executing design or front-end development. It's also good for getting feedback from non-designers as well - the fact that you can only create "crude" mockups helps the people you're sharing with give comments on fundamental issues like content and layout and avoid getting bogged down in fine design details.
December 03, 2018

Mockups in a Jiffy makes Basalmiq a welcome tool for agile marketing groups

Craig Orser | TrustRadius Reviewer
Craig Orser
Marketing Specialist
E-Brand Marketing Inc. (Marketing and Advertising, 51-200 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
  • For a business scenario in which marketing is in need of constant design solutions but the structure of the company isn't amenable to sourcing design ideas or there is no process for sourcing UX resources at all.
  • Useful for marketing companies with a primarily online presence. Useful for nascent designers looking to understand the keystones of using design elements.
August 02, 2018

Perfect for sketching out a UI/UX for clients!

Verified User
Administrative Assistant in Information Technology
Computer Software Company, 11-50 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is the easiest way to lay out a design without pen and paper. Quick ways to design without having to get into the nitty gritty of UI design. The ability to turn around designs quicker and with ease.
July 31, 2018

Great wireframing tool

Ben Seigel | TrustRadius Reviewer
Ben Seigel
Principal
Versa Studio LLC (Internet, 1-10 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Quick, rough wireframes that show layout without getting into the weeds of colors, fonts, or exacting element placement. In the vendor's own words:
Split the problem in small chunks > make a quick wireframe of key screens > tweak wireframe > incorporate feedback > build working screen as quickly as you can > iterate until solid.
May 29, 2018

Balsamiq - Simple Wireframes

Elizabeth Coppinger | TrustRadius Reviewer
Elizabeth Coppinger
Senior Business Analyst
Lucid Agency (Marketing and Advertising, 11-50 employees)
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is great for non-designers or less-sophisticated users. It's great for creating quick mock-ups, and it's great for focusing on user-flows and content prior to the design phase. However, I think that most designers will find this program too elementary for their needs. In my opinion, there's not a compelling reason for a skilled designer to use Balsamiq over Sketch for wireframing, since Sketch can so easily be parlayed into a complete design whereas Balsamiq cannot. If you need a software for creating quick mockups and you are not a designer, Balsamiq is for you. If you're a graphic designer, go somewhere else.
April 13, 2018

Amazing for fast prototyping

Alexis Medvedeff | TrustRadius Reviewer
Alexis Medvedeff
Product Manager
Omnia Salud (Internet, 1-10 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
It is probably the best option for people who need to move fast and don't care about the aesthetics of the mockup.
It is also very good for a presentation as it has a special cursor that points out easily parts of the design.
It is great when you care most about layout and functionality and less about the final look.

It is probably not the best option for a high definition mock, even though you can do it.
I would not suggest this for a sales/marketing/PR presentation as it is not as good looking.


March 21, 2018

Amazing solution for quick, iterative wireframing

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Environmental Services Company, 1-10 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is best suited for early mockups and interface prototyping where you are trying to define the general layout of your screen as opposed to particular aesthetics. It's great for scenarios where you want to get a lot of feedback from stakeholders and integrate the feedback quickly into a new design. Balsamiq is less useful for final designs or designs that require a large amount of custom and interactive features to be displayed on the prototype as it will not allow for this functionality.
March 16, 2018

My designs with Balsamiq

Eliz Marvic Melicio Carvajal | TrustRadius Reviewer
Eliz Marvic Melicio Carvajal
Coordinador de desarrollo de software
Ingeniería de Consulta Incostas (Oil & Energy, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Because it is simple to use, it adapts very well when you want to present, clarify, approve and adjust with a client the models of the product that you request. In addition to this, it supports the developers when starting the code to have a clear idea of ​​what the client wants and to minimize rework or scope changes.
February 15, 2018

Friendly, simple and effective tool for mockups and prototyping

Verified User
Manager in Product Management
Computer Games Company, 51-200 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is a great tool for any product and project managers, UX designers, and development teams in general. It helps to communicate ideas and flows. It can also be used to create clickable prototypes that later could be used in user testing. Thanks to Balsamiq a product manager doesn't have to wait for a proper design, they can simply create something themselves and get the user feedback. This way time, effort and money are saved.
February 01, 2018

Balsamiq - Easy Peasy

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Information Technology and Services Company, 501-1000 employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I always start with a fast and furious white board drawing to get the basic flow and concept down, then sharpen it up with Balsamiq to run up the chain for management review and approvals. It works really well on single screen designs that are typically printed out for manual mark-ups. One team I'm on uses JIRA and there is a plug-in, but I haven't used it yet as that team sits together so the need to explain stuff to others is pretty minimal.
August 30, 2017

Balsamiq: Easy Tool for simple Wireframing & Prototyping

Verified User
Account Manager in Marketing
Computer Software Company, 11-50 employees
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is built for software engineers and their development teams if they don't want to invest in a graphic designer or a UI/ UX designer from the beginning, as there isn't too much room for creativity. I have used it for simple wireframing and the software teams understand it really well, however those wireframes aren't going to sell any investor to invest in the project as the full vision of the software can't be recognized.
I really love how easy it is for beginners to get started on this without any prior training. However the more you use it, the more you want the fancier, more elaborate options to be there.
February 24, 2017

Cooking Up Quick Mockups

Grant Wilkins | TrustRadius Reviewer
Grant Wilkins
Senior UX Designer
Northern Tool + Equipment (Retail, 1001-5000 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is a great tool for getting mockups put together quickly. Its focus is on speed and so it's fairly simple. If you need a low cost and lightweight tool to just get up and running, this is where Balsamiq makes an excellent choice. If you're looking for a robust UX tool to create interactive layouts, then there are probably better choices available.
February 15, 2017

Faster Friendlier tool - Balsamiq

Pooja Sawant | TrustRadius Reviewer
Pooja Sawant
UX Researcher/Usability
zeal (Information Technology and Services, 11-50 employees)
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is best suited for creating rapid prototypes or wireframes within the team for collaborative work. It is also suited for getting approval from the clients for the initial design phase. It is not suited or is less appropriate if you have a high fidelity prototype and need to add more interactions. If you have the need to create more robust prototype I would not recommend Balsamiq
December 01, 2016

Get your hands on Balsamiq and become stress free.

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Internet Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is well suited for:
  • Sketchy, low-fidelity wireframes which focus on rapid design conversations and functionality.
  • 75 built-in user interface components and 187 icons, plus a whole lot of community-generated components.
  • Linking lets you generate click-through prototypes for demos & usability testing.
  • Share or present mockups with embedded links using PDF export, or use a 3rd party tool to export to code.
December 01, 2016

Simple, Quick, and Easy Wireframing

Jordan Sakowitz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Jordan Sakowitz
Product Manager
Burgiss (Financial Services, 51-200 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
It is very well suited for rapid, simple prototyping. If you just need to demonstrate where a certain component should be on a page, this is a great tool for you.
If you want to show exactly how something is going to look (color scheme, styling, etc.), build an interactive prototype, iterate on existing tools, or use a lot of custom/non-standard controls in your design, this will not be a great tool for you.
November 07, 2016

Communicate your design quickly to start a conversation

Abbie Cataldo | TrustRadius Reviewer
Abbie Cataldo
Principal UX Designer, UX Practice Lead
Accruent (Computer Software, 501-1000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is definitely used on a case-by-case basis by my team. I will use it when:
  • My development team has worked with UX a lot and is very in tune to our visual language--when they just don't need as many details to pull off the design properly
  • I need a quick design to communicate an issue or solution
  • For internal tools, where the overall UI is going to be less important than the interaction
I do not use Balsamiq when
  • I need to communicate to customers who are not very knowledgeable of UX or its processes
  • My development team needs a lot of guidance and detail
  • A full UI layout with colors, styles, measurements, etc. us required
September 27, 2016

Great tool to get out in front of planning problems

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Computer Software Company, 11-50 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
Balsamiq is great for rapid prototyping of ideas. If inserting items automatically did a reflow, I could probably see myself using it in meetings where we are typing to prototype. As it is now I need to use it to capture the ideas after the meeting. It does work well for getting consensus on the ideas discussed.
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