Balsamiq

Free Download and free Trials#

You can download Mockups for Desktop for free. The application is fully functional for 7 days, but you’ll need a key in order to save your work after the evaluation period is over.

Our web app myBalsamiq and our plugins all come with a free trial period. See this article for more info.

You can also try the Mockups editor on the web here.

How to Qualify for Free Mockups for Desktop or Plugin Licenses#

We love donating our software to good people, we think it’s a whole lot of WIN!

Note: these instructions do not apply to myBalsamiq. Please see below for our myBalsamiq offers instead.

To apply for a free license key for Mockups for Desktop or a plugin version of Mockups, you can do one of the following:

1. If your company bought Mockups for Confluence, JIRA, FogBugz or XWiki, and you are an assigned Mockups editor, ask your IT admin for your company’s license information and use Mockups for Desktop FREE of charge.
2. If you are a do-gooder of any sort (non-profit, charity, open-source committer, you get the idea), email us with a short blurb and we’ll send you a license, FREE of charge.
3. If you are willing to demo Mockups to an audience of at least 15 professionals (at a team meeting, user group, a conference, a BarCamp), email us your info and we’ll give you two licenses, one for you to keep and one to give away at the event, FREE of charge.
4. If you are a usability professional, you might be interested in our Free Mockups for UX Training program.

If you don’t fit in any of the buckets above, you can use the demo on this site or the Desktop trial and use "Export…" to save your work manually. Or you can just buy a single-user license of Mockups for Desktop for $79.

IMPORTANT: due to the large volume of requests we receive, we cannot promise we’ll answer every email. We try our best, but please be understanding if you don’t hear back from us.

Getting myBalsamiq free for classroom use#

This program is designed for high-schools and universities which want to use Balsamiq Mockups in a classroom setting, to teach their users about user interface design.

Note: this is NOT for university staff use. For that, we have academic discounts available on many of our products (see pricing).

If you want to use Mockups in your classroom, we’ll be happy to give you a myBalsamiq site to use, free of charge.

Because myBalsamiq is designed for group use, it’s perfect for classes. You as the site owner can create a project for each group of students and invite them to it.

Once invited, students will be able to create, edit and collaborate on mockups by using the in-browser editor. This removes the pain of installing Mockups for Desktop on lab machines and managing license keys. If some students are eager to purchase Mockups for Desktop for their own personal use, they can do so at a discounted rate ($40/user instead of $79) via myBalsamiq.

If you are an instructor interested in this program, please follow these steps to apply:

1. Sign up for myBalsamiq and confirm your email address (this is important).
2. Email free@balsamiq.com from your school's email address. Be sure to include the follwing information.
   • Your myBalsamiq subdomain:
   • Your Name and title:
   • Name of School:
   • Name of Department/Program:
   • First course myBalsamiq will be used in:
   We will email you back if we need any clarification.
3. That's it! If we approve your application (and we usually do), you'll see that your myBalsamiq site is free the next time you use it.

If for some reason your site is still not free as the trial period nears the end, please email free@balsamiq.com again.

Getting myBalsamiq free for one year for Non-Profits#

This program is designed for non-profits and other do-gooders who are trying to make the world a better place.

Because myBalsamiq has fixed costs for us month after month, we cannot offer "free forever" licenses like we do for Mockups for Desktop licenses (see above).

Instead, we would be happy to extend your trial period for one full year, after which you will have to start paying in order to continue to use myBalsamiq.

Please follow these steps to apply:

1. Sign up for myBalsamiq and confirm your email address (this is important).
2. Email free@balsamiq.com including a your myBalsamiq subdomain, along with a short blurb about who you are and how you plan on using myBalsamiq to make the world a better place.
3. That's it! If we approve your application (and we usually do), you'll see that your myBalsamiq trial period is over 360 days the next time you use it.

Getting myBalsamiq free for Open-Source projects#

We're big fans of open-source software, and want to support serious open-source efforts as much as we can.

Because myBalsamiq has fixed costs for us month after month, we have to be a little more restrictive in who we give open-source access than we do with Mockups for Desktop (see above).

To apply for a free myBalsamiq site, your open source project must fulfill the following requirements:

• The project is licensed under a license approved by the Open Source Initiative.
• The project is alive and well and you can prove it (with an ohloh.net page for instance or some press mentions).
• Your open source project has a publicly accessible website.
• The project source code is available for download.

If you are a core committer to an open-source project and interested in this program, please follow these steps to apply:

1. Sign up for myBalsamiq and confirm your email address (this is important).
2. Email free@balsamiq.com. Be sure to include the follwing information.
   • Your myBalsamiq subdomain:
   • Your Name and title:
   • Project Name:
   • Project Home Page:
   • Proof that your project is alive and well:
   • Where we can download your source code:
   We will email you back if we need any clarification.
3. That's it! If we approve your application, you'll see that your myBalsamiq site is free the next time you use it. Give us a few days.

If for some reason your site is still not free as the trial period nears the end, please email free@balsamiq.com again.