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A New Chapter: Balsamiq Cloud

Hello friends of Balsamiq!

Today is a big day for our small company.

You could say it's the beginning of a new chapter for us. This feels like the biggest product release in our company's history.

We are very excited and proud to announce to you...

Balsamiq Cloud!

Balsamiq Cloud is our brand new, fast, web-native (no Flash!) web application!

Check it out in this 1-minute teaser video:

Balsamiq Cloud uses the new Balsamiq Wireframes editor we introduced you to a few weeks ago, and it's the best way to do collaborative, online wireframing.

Sign up today at


Over the last 9 years, we've taken everything we've learned from you about what makes 'the perfect low-fidelity wireframing tool' and put it all together in a sweet little package.

In many ways, this is the product we should have built from day one.

We completely re-worked how project sharing works: now you can decide if each user should be allowed to edit, or just review and comment on projects. You can also have multiple project owners if you'd like, and even allow public reviews and comments.

We use vectors everywhere, so controls scale nicely, and exported interactive PDFs look amazing (and you can even select the text in them!)

Cloud also has some new features: the canvas size is 400% bigger; you can change roles temporarily to review your work; we have built-in rich comments (with callouts!); and multi-project member chat with real-time collaboration.

The app is solid. We ran a beta program, followed by an early-access program, and we already have 26 happy paying customers.

Here's what Saffad Khan, Product Designer at Deliveroo, has to say about it:

Balsamiq Cloud fits in really well in our design process. It’s just the right level fidelity for me and it's fast. Really fast. It’s always saved online and shared across the team. I haven’t touched my sketchbook in a while and I love it!

Useful links:


What happens to myBalsamiq?

We built Balsamiq Cloud as a separate, parallel product. We know many of you are happy with myBalsamiq and don't want (or don't have the time) to change to a new solution.

Migrating your projects, users and subscription from myBalsamiq to Cloud is fairly easy, but we don't want to rush anyone. If you're happy with myBalsamiq, you can stick with it.

We're not going to accept new customers to myBalsamiq starting today, but we'll continue supporting existing customers for a long time.

What about the Desktop version?

Mockups 3 for Desktop is alive and well. In fact, we just made a release that adds the iPhone X control and fixes a few bugs! Go get it from the download page now!

We are also hard at work rewriting our Desktop clients with native technologies, and are ramping up our efforts so that we can finally abandon Flash and Adobe Air in 2018.

If you want to try out Cloud, know that it uses the same BMPR file format as Mockups 3 for Desktop, so you can upload your existing projects easily.

Let us know what you think!

Balsamiq Cloud is a new project, so you might hit some rough edges and it might be missing some features that are important to you. Our whole team is on standby, waiting for your feedback.

Try it out and let us know what you think!

Onward!

Peldi for the Balsamiq Team

Leave a Comment

Comments (12)

  1. Hi Konstantine,

    Thanks for the post and for the request. Right now, we’re working hard on new, native versions of the desktop apps which should be fine regardless of your monitor set up. One of the reasons we’re updating the apps is to move on from the underlying framework we’re currently using for macOS and Windows. If you are having issues, that may be the culprit.

    Please reach out to us at support@balsamiq.com with more details of your specific problem and we’ll do everything we can to help, ok?

    Alasdair Manson
  2. Please make Windows version work well with high quality screens 🙁 Ignoring this is not right in the age of high quality screens and laptops.

    Konstantine Shengelia
  3. Hi

    You have a few different offerings ie balsamiq cloud, desktop and also Google app.

    What are the differences between them in terms of features, by features I mean wireframing and mockup features.

    I do know some of the other ones with file formats and others.

    I’m thinking of getting the desktop version but the cloud one really works better for me in terms of cost savings.

    Cheers,
    Mani

    • Hello Mani! Great question. Our editor is essentially the same across all platforms, so all basic features will more or less be the same. We are still working on the next major (native) version of our desktop app, so Mockups 3 for Desktop is indeed a little behind in that regard. In terms of picking one over the other, it really depends on your particular needs. For example, if you know you’ll need to work a good chunk of time while offline, then our web-based versions like Cloud or Balsamiq Wireframes for Google Drive might not be the best fit, since they require an internet connection. The file format is the same for all (.bmpr), so you can easily continue editing a project with any of our versions. We encourage you to check out the 30-day free trial, so please take them all for a spin before making a decision. If you need assistance along the way, please don’t hesitate to reach us directly at sales@balsamiq.com.

      Liz Green
  4. Hi,

    Is there any way of switching back the other way around?

    I recently created a bunch of wireframes in Cloud on the free trial, but found out that another team have a subscription to myBalsamiq which I can use to finish off the wireframes, but I’ve got no idea how to import the frames I made in Cloud, into myBalsamiq.

    What would you recommend?

    Thanks,

    Jess

    • Hi Jess,

      While Balsamiq Cloud doesn’t include an option for converting a BMPR file to BMML files (our old file format used in myBalsamiq), you can convert the project using our Desktop version. More details about it on this page.

      Don’t hesitate to reach out via support@balsamiq.com and we’ll be happy to do the conversion for you.

      Side note: In case your team decide to move from myBalsamiq to Balsamiq Cloud, all the steps are detailed here.

      Hope this helps! Any questions, we’re here. 🙂

  5. Hi,
    Any updates on the progress of the native client for Mac?

    Thanks!

    • Hi Martin and thanks for checking on this.

      We’re working hard to have it ready this year but still no precise ETA for now. That being said, I’ll be happy to add you to our waiting list to try out the Mac beta version when it’s ready. If you’d like, please send us an email to support@balsamiq.com or reply here with your email address and I’ll add you there.

      Thanks!

  6. Hi,

    Is there any downside to switching from myBalsamiq to Balsamiq Cloud, i.e., missing features, performance issues or platform support? Also, if I want to switch, do I just follow the instructions, then cancel the myBalsamiq account so I am not paying for both?

    Thanks.

    • Hi Todd and thanks for reaching out!

      Our new web app is actually faster (native) so performances should be improved. Our system requirements are listed here and the interface is a little different compared to myBalsamiq. Balsamiq Cloud handles our BMPR file format so all the components of a project are stored in the same file.

      The app comes with a 30-day free trial so feel free to give it a try before switching completely from myBalsamiq.

      Also, all the steps for making the switch are detailed on this page.

      Please reach out to support@balsamiq.com if you still have any questions, we’re here to help!

  7. How can users of mybalsamiq port across wireframes if they want to start using Balsamiq Cloud?