8 Best Whiteboard Animation Software (Free And Paid)

Whiteboard animations are incredibly powerful in capturing viewer’s attention. These videos have an ‘artist’ draw out doodles as a narrator speaks.

Classically though, these types of videos required artistic skills and an overhead camera to capture the time lapsed doodles. This was both time consuming and required some level of creativity.

But, with the help of whiteboard animation software, it is now super easy to create your own whiteboard animation.

In this post, I will describe the 8 best whiteboard animation software available. Some of these are paid, while others are free, so there should be something to suit everyone’s needs.

What to look for in whiteboard animation software?

When thinking about getting a whiteboard animation software, be sure to consider the following…

• Price
• Voice over support
• Custom drawing
• Free trial

Price

One of the main aspects you need to decide upon is whether you are after a premium or free whiteboard animation software.

Simply, this will effect the software features you will get. The premium ones undoubtedly enable you to create flawless animations, whereas you will be heavily restricted when using free software.

If you are strapped for cash and need a free software, be sure to consider the limitations. These include watermarks, limitations on recording time and low quality export options.

Voice over support

Most whiteboard animations have a voice over with a narration that complements the drawings.

Some software have voice over recording support, whereas others only allow audio files to be imported. If you’re going to use a voice over, be sure to look for those that have this feature to make you life a little bit easier.

Custom drawing

Most whiteboard animation software come with a library of doodle assets that are ready to use. This means that the doodles will be drawn in a natural fashion since they have a draw path attached.

Some of these libraries can be rather limited, and so you may want to add your own images. Only certain software support custom image imports with custom drawing paths.

With custom draw paths, you can decide how the images are drawn. This way, the doodle animation looks more natural compared with a general hand movement to reveal the image.

Free trial

When you are after a paid whiteboard animation software, then ideally you will want to try before you buy. Look out for those that offer a free trial, or a free plan, to get an idea of the functionality and doodle library on offer.

If there is no free trial, then your next best thing is to look out for a money-back guarantee.

Best paid whiteboard animation software

Below I have included 4 of the best paid whiteboard animation software available right now. These options give you the tools to create amazing whiteboard animations.

Doodly (#1 recommended)

Doodly is my number one recommended whiteboard animation software.

Doodly is my favourite software for creating whiteboard animations. It’s super easy to use!

With Doodly you can create whiteboard, greenboard and even glassboard animations.

There are a range of hand types to pick from including male and females, as well as different ethnicities.

A great aspect of Doodly is their custom drawing (Smart Draw) feature. With Smart Draw you can add in your own images and tell the software how you want it to be drawn. This can take some time to do, but the final effect is natural looking and totally worth it.

There are two recurring price options: Standard and Enterprise. Prices start from $20 per month (annual billing).

Standard comes with a basic set of 400 pre-made doodle assets, whereas Enterprise comes with more assets (>6,200) and access to the Doodly Club. Members of the Doodly Club get sent new doodle assets each month.

With Doodly, you also get access to the Doodly Design private Facebook group. This active group has over 50,000 members and is full of advice and support on creating your whiteboard animations with Doodly.

• Related: Doodly Review: The Best Whiteboard Animation Software?
• Related: How To Create A Whiteboard Video

Videoscribe

Videoscribe by SPARKOL offers a 7 day free trial so you can try before you buy.

Videoscribe is another big player in the whiteboard animation field. Some respectable companies, such as the likes of the BBC and the World Bank Group, have used Videoscribe to create their own animations.

There is an extremely large library of free images to choose from (>6,000 images), that already have animations attached. Custom image imports is also supported, however, the custom draw paths cannot be edited directly in Videoscribe.

There are three pricing options for Videoscribe: Monthly, Yearly and One Off. Prices are cheapest on their Yearly plan, which works out at a reasonable $12 per month.

As mentioned, there is also a 7 day free trial so you can give the software a good test before you buy. There are some limitations with the trial, however, including the presence of a watermark and the lack of high definition video support.

Explaindio

Explaindio is an all in one 2D/3D animated video and whiteboard animation software.

If you’re looking to go beyond whiteboard animations, then Explaindio may be for you. As well as having the ability to create whiteboard animations, you can also use the software to create a range of animated videos – this is ideal for the all round internet marketers.

In terms of assets available for whiteboard animations, with Explaindio you get access to 800 doodle images (black and color). There is also the option to import your own images or browse the integrated Pixabay library.

Imported bitmap images have a draw path automatically attached to them, therefore making them animate without having to do anything.

Explaindio costs $67 per year ($5.58 per month), when billed annually.

There is no free trial for Explaindio, but they do have a 14 day money-back guarantee.

Easy Sketch Pro

Easy Sketch Pro is a whiteboard animation software with no monthly recurring fees.

If you don’t want to pay a recurring fee to use a whiteboard animation software, then have a look at Easy Sketch Pro.

Easy Sketch Pro has three pricing options: Starter, Business and Business Pro.

In the Starter plan you get access to all of the core features, including upload your own images and access to over 50 hand and pen styles. However, videos made with this plan will have a ‘Made with Easy Sketch Pro’ watermark on the bottom.

To remove the watermark, you need their Business plan ($67 one-time fee). Their most premium plan – Business Pro – comes with an additional 12,000 premium images and sound tracks (work $360).

A unique feature of Easy Sketch Pro is the ability to add doodles directly on top of a video. So, instead of a whiteboard, you could sketch text and drawings as a live video is being played!

Best free whiteboard animation software

If you want to create a whiteboard animation, but have little to no money to commit to this, then have a look at the software below. While most are heavily restricted, such as the inclusion of watermarks and recording time limits, they are enough to get you going.

Renderforest

Renderforest is a freemium software that has a whiteboard animation feature.

Renderforest is the Swiss Army Knife of online video creation. Its versatile capabilities include an animation, cartoon and whiteboard creator. Best of all, there is a free plan available!

Despite labelled as a software, Renderforest is completely browser based, so there is no need to download and install anything.

There are over 1,000 whiteboard animation scenes that are ready to use and customize. Unlike other whiteboard animation software, the editing capabilities of the scenes are rather restricted, so you can only edit certain areas on the canvas.

With the Forever Free plan, you can create videos up to 3 minutes in length with the use of a limited number of assets. Video exports are restricted to 360p quality and they also contain a watermark.

If you later decide to get away from these restrictions, there are also a number of premium of plans to suit your needs.

Raw Shorts

Raw Shorts is another web-based video creator that can generate whiteboard animations.

Raw Shorts, like Renderforest, works completely through a web browser.

The free plan allows you to create 3 short videos (2 minutes long) per month that can be uploaded to YouTube. These videos will also have a watermark and will be in 480p resolution.

If you upgrade to their premium plans, starting at $39 per month (annual billing), then these restrictions start to reduce.

Animaker

Animaker is an online video creator that can be used for whiteboard animations.

The free Animaker plan enables you to create standard definition quality videos of up to 2 minutes in length. You can export up to 5 videos to YouTube each month, each will contain an Animaker watermark.

As well as the standard whiteboard background, with Animaker there is also the option to create blackboard, notepad, glassboard and even stitchboard videos!

Upgrading to a premium plan is also fairly cheap – with costs starting at just $12 per month (annual billing).

Animiz

Animiz’s free plan is one of the best around for creating whiteboard animation videos.

Animiz, unlike the other free software in this list, is an actual software and in my opinion it has the best set of features for a free version.

Without paying a penny, you get a massive 10 GB of free cloud storage. There are also no limitations on the length of recordings and number of videos that can be created using Animiz.

Despite this, videos are exported in standard definition (576p) only and have a watermark attached.

The watermark can be removed by upgrading to their premium plans, which start at $29 per month.

Wrapping up

Whiteboard animations are great videos to grab viewers attention. The great news is that anyone can now create their own animation with the help of the best whiteboard animation software.

If you want all the bells and whistles, then go for a paid software. I use Doodly and absolutely love it.

Got no money to commit? Well start off by using a free alternative. Animiz has a strong set of features without having to pay a penny.

Do you create whiteboard animations? If so, let me know in the comments below the software you use – I’d love to hear them!