I have loved Balsamiq for years, by far preferring it for concept designing over Figma et al.
However, Balsamiq Desktop version is really laggy, almost unusable, when designing with multiple screens on the same large canvas (a bit like you would perhaps use Figma).
Also, when zooming in, the canvas size is “shrunken”/scrollbars “cut off”, where I can’t scroll to all parts of the canvas…
But I recently stumbled across some official Balsamiq blog post stating that Desktop is almost already a legacy /abandonware product
So, I guess these issues won’t be addressed…
For me to use the web version, going forward, these points are essential:
- Fair-priced user based subscription instead of project count
- Better performance on big canvases like mentioned above
- Offline mode
Hi @Andreas_Ibsen it’s been a while - good to see you!
Thanks so much for the post and the considered feedback - it’s always appreciated.
The project-based versus user-based pricing is something we continue to look at. No immediate plans to change that but it is something that other users have requested.
With the release of the new flexible canvas feature, you may find that performance when handling larger wireframes is improved - we’d encourage you to check it out when you get a chance. If you have exhausted your Cloud trials or need more time to evaluate that, just drop us a line at support@balsamiq.com and we can take care of that for you.
As we move forward, with the focus more on Cloud, we recognize that offline editing is something that people will need and it’s being discussed.
Thanks again Andreas.
Hi @miguel_mezquita
Balsamiq Wireframes for Desktop is still very much an active product that we continue to support.
You can read the background thinking here: The future of Balsamiq for desktop
.