Saving Money With Balsamiq Cloud

Balsamiq Cloud is charged per Space, and for each Space, you have three different plans to choose from. We've settled on the offered plans following a bit of research, but even then, you might struggle finding the plan that best suits your needs.

We've compiled a few tips that might help keep your Balsamiq Cloud costs down.

Setting Your Space to Auto-Hibernate

Balsamiq Cloud offers a nifty new feature called Auto-Hibernation. It automatically pauses your subscription if your Space is empty on the day of your scheduled renewal, so you won't be billed for that month! This feature is only available on the 2-project plan when billed monthly. Head over to the Auto-Hibernation FAQ to learn more.

Combining Projects

If you're coming from one of our other products, chances are you're already familiar with our BMPR files. Since Spaces have limits on the number of allowed projects, an option to keep costs down is to combine your projects.

The easiest way to combine two (or more) projects is to follow these steps:

Download locally the project(s) you want to combine to another one.

Import the project(s) to the desired one using the "Import BMPR" option from the Project menu.

Once your projects are combined, you can even organize them nicely using the hierarchy feature.

Note: Alternatively, you can also use the Import/Export Wireframe JSON if you prefer to move one wireframe at a time from a project to another, but this option won't copy Images and Symbols.

Managing Your Project Count

There might be times when you don't necessarily need to work on multiple projects simultaneously. Since Balsamiq Cloud plans allow for a maximum number of projects, you can play around with this depending on your needs.

For example, let's assume you're on the 2-project plan, and you are working on Project A. You already started Project B, but it won't need to be worked on until next month, and you need to get started with Project C. In that case, you can download Project B to your computer, then delete it from your Space. That frees up a slot for you to get started with Project C.

You can find more info here: Managing Project Count

Having Multiple Spaces

If the 2-project plan is not enough, but the 20-project plan is too much, there are ways of finding middle ground. It is possible to create multiple Spaces, and subscribe each one to the lowest plan available.

For example, let's say you really need to work on 4 projects at a time, but do not wish to pay for the 20-project plan. What you can do in that instance is create two different Spaces, and then subscribe each one to the 2-project plan at USD $9/mo each (total of USD $18/mo).

The downside is that you will have two separate Spaces to manage, each with its own subscription (which might be billed on a different date, depending on when you sign up), and its own list of people. That means you will receive a separate invoice for each Space, and if the same staff members need access to different Spaces, they will need to be invited to each one of them.

You can subscribe 5 different Spaces to the USD $9/mo plan each before the savings stop. If you were to subscribe 6 Spaces (USD $9 x 6 = USD $54/mo), then you'd already be paying more than what the 20-project costs (USD $49/mo).

Balsamiq Software Donation Program

Although Balsamiq Cloud is not offered through our Software Donation Program, we offer free access to Balsamiq Wireframes for Google Drive for classroom use. We are also more than happy to donate Balsamiq for Desktop licenses to those who qualify, such as nonprofits, universities (classroom use), and plain do-gooders. If you'd like to apply, or know someone that should, head over to our application form and send in your request.