Best for
Best for product managers, founders and consultants who need to agree on screen structure before anyone designs the visuals.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
UI/UX Design & Prototyping Comparison
Balsamiq vs. Justinmind
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for designers and business analysts who need prototypes with real forms, data and conditional logic before anything is built.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Balsamiq | Justinmind |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | lower value From $16 / editor / month Starter, billed annually ($192 a year) for up to 10 projects; annual billing saves 30% against monthly. Reviewers are free. Teams is $24 and Enterprise $35 per editor and month, billed annually. | Free; Standard $19 / editor / month The same rate applies billed annually or month-to-month. Professional is $29 and Enterprise $59 per editor and month. Standard and Professional are also sold as perpetual licences at $295 and $455 per editor, with new versions and support for the first year; after that, updates cost 20% of the list price. |
| Free trial | 14 days, no credit card required | Free plan, limited to 1 project |
| Output | Low-fidelity wireframes and clickable prototypes | Interactive prototypes, HTML exports and specification documents |
| API | Official Balsamiq MCP server on every Cloud plan, for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other AI tools | API and SDK |
| Hosting | Balsamiq Cloud in the browser, with US or EU data storage on Enterprise; apps for Jira and Confluence; Desktop for Windows and Mac, sold until December 31, 2026 | Desktop app for Windows and macOS with cloud collaboration; self-hosted collaboration server on Enterprise |
| Made in | Italy (founded in Bologna) | Not stated |
| What it makes | Low-fidelity wireframes in a hand-drawn style for web, mobile and desktop interfaces, and clickable prototypes built from them | Wireframes, UI designs and interactive prototypes for websites, web apps and mobile apps, plus user flows and specification documents |
| Fidelity | Low fidelity on purpose: hand-drawn style wireframes built from a library of UI controls; AI-generated prototypes are described as rough enough to change, not as finished visual design | From wireframes to high-fidelity simulations in the same project, with responsive design and a built-in device emulator |
| Interaction and logic | Links between boards from buttons, tabs, links and text links, played back in full screen presentation mode or exported PDFs; AI prototypes add clickable navigation, switch between mobile, tablet and desktop layouts and download as raw HTML. No variables or conditional logic are documented | Events that trigger sequences of actions, conditions built in a visual expression builder, variables that pass data between screens, dynamic panels, gestures, animations and transitions; fully functional forms with validation and data grids, with data simulation from Professional |
| Components and design systems | A built-in library of UI controls and templates, plus custom, reusable UI components on every plan | Shared UI libraries from Standard, masters and smart templates from Professional, shared fonts on Enterprise, global design systems, and ready-made UI kits for web, iOS and Android |
| Collaboration and review | Real-time co-editing in Balsamiq Cloud with live presence per board, a review and comment mode with @-mentions, and unlimited free reviewers. Project history logs every change, with an automatic snapshot every hour kept 30 days unless pinned, and editors can restore one | Cloud collaboration in which several users edit the same prototype at once, with version control, commenting, roles, permissions and user groups; Enterprise adds a self-hosted collaboration server with SAML and LDAP |
| Handoff and export | Export to PDF, PNG or a BMPR project file; free reviewers view and comment; apps for Jira and Confluence; the MCP server hands projects to AI coding tools | Export to SVG, PNG, JPG and TIF on every plan, fully interactive HTML from Professional, and specification documents generated from the prototype, customisable on Enterprise; imports from Sketch, Adobe XD and Figma |
| Platforms | Balsamiq Cloud in Chrome 124, Edge 142, Firefox 140, Safari 17 or later; apps for Jira and Confluence; Balsamiq for Desktop on Windows 10 and macOS 14 or later, sold until December 31, 2026 | Desktop app for Windows and macOS; prototypes run on iOS and Android devices through the viewer app |
| AI features | stated Yes | No |
| MCP-ready | stated Yes | No |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), On-premise |
| Support | Email helpdesk | more entries Email helpdesk, Community forum |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Jira, Confluence, Slack, Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor | Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Jira, Azure DevOps, DOORS |
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Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Balsamiq From $16 / editor / month Justinmind Free; Standard $19 / editor / month
- Free trial Balsamiq 14 days, no credit card required Justinmind Free plan, limited to 1 project
- Deployment Balsamiq Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Justinmind Cloud (SaaS), On-premise
- Company size Balsamiq Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Justinmind Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Hosting Balsamiq Balsamiq Cloud in the browser, with US or EU data storage on Enterprise; apps for Jira and Confluence; Desktop for Windows and Mac, sold until December 31, 2026 Justinmind Desktop app for Windows and macOS with cloud collaboration; self-hosted collaboration server on Enterprise
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Balsamiq
Strengths
- Unlimited reviewers at no extra cost on every plan
- AI turns prompts, screenshots and sketches into editable wireframes
- MCP server included on every Cloud plan
- Customer data is not used to train the partner AI models
- Enterprise offers data storage in the US or the EU
Limitations
- No free plan, only a 14-day trial
- Sales of the Desktop version end on December 31, 2026, and it has no AI features
- Projects are capped by plan, from 10 on Starter to 400 on Enterprise
- Low-fidelity on purpose, so not a tool for finished visual design
Justinmind
Strengths
- Free plan with unlimited screens and viewers
- Conditions, variables and data simulation for logic-heavy prototypes
- Perpetual licences as an alternative to a subscription
- Self-hosted collaboration server on Enterprise
Limitations
- The free plan is limited to a single project
- HTML export, masters and data simulation need Professional
- Jira, Azure DevOps and requirements management are Enterprise only
- Customer support starts at Professional; Free and Standard rely on the Q&A forums
Plans
Pricing
Balsamiq
- Starter $16 Per editor per month, billed annually ($192 a year). Up to 10 projects, 500 AI credits per editor per month, MCP server, Slack integration, export to PDF or image.
- Teams $24 Per editor per month, billed annually ($288 a year). Up to 100 projects, 1,000 AI credits per editor per month, billing admin role, priority support.
- Enterprise $35 Per editor per month, billed annually ($420 a year). Up to 400 projects, 2,500 AI credits per editor per month, SAML single sign-on, US or EU data storage, premium support.
Justinmind
- Free $0 1 project, unlimited screens and viewers, UI design and wireframing, interactive input forms, vector tools, export to PNG, JPG and SVG.
- Standard $19 Per editor per month, billed annually or month-to-month; or $295 per editor as a perpetual licence. Unlimited projects, advanced interactions, forms design, variables, shared UI libraries, testing on mobile devices.
- Professional $29 Per editor per month, billed annually or month-to-month; or $455 per editor as a perpetual licence. Masters, smart templates, data simulation, user flows, export to HTML, user testing integration, custom branding.
- Enterprise $59 Per editor per month, billed annually or month-to-month. SAML single sign-on, shared fonts, document export, requirements management, Jira and Azure DevOps integration, priority support, self-hosted collaboration server on request.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Balsamiq
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
Justinmind
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
Reviews are not published yet. The form on a tool's page works and reaches us, but nothing from it appears on this site, so no score here is based on a review. The rules below are the ones that will apply once reviews go live.
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Balsamiq https://balsamiq.com · checked against the official source on 2026-10-04
Justinmind https://www.justinmind.com · checked against the official source on 2026-10-07
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.