I have been using Doodly (Enterprise plan) to create whiteboard animations for a few years now and so I have a very good grasp of what the software is like.
In this Doodly review, I will give you all the information you need to know about the software, as well as my honest opinion, so you can decide if it is the best option for you.
Table of Contents
What is Doodly?

Doodly is a piece of software that makes creating whiteboard animations super easy.
In my opinion, Doodly is one of the very best whiteboard animation software available.
You have probably seen whiteboard animations before. They are the quirky videos where an artist draws doodles as a narrator commentates.
Whiteboard animations are used for a variety of things such as educational purposes and internet marketing. They are very good at maintaining a viewer’s attention.
If you’re interested in Doodly, then you may also be interested in their sister software – Toonly. I also have a Toonly review if you’re interested.
Doodly pricing
Doodly has two pricing options: Standard and Enterprise.
- Standard – $20 per month (annual billing) or $39 per month (monthly billing)
- Enterprise – $40 per month (annual billing) or $69 per month (monthly billing)
The benefit of the monthly plan is that you can cancel at any time; however, the price is higher (per month) compared with annual plans.
With annual plans, you have the benefit of cheaper rates over a 12-month period. So, if you know you want Doodly and will use it a lot, then consider an annual plan to save more money.
The table below shows the amount of money you can save on the Standard and Enterprise plans if you paid annually over monthly for 12 months.
Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Saving |
Standard | $468 | $240 | $228 |
Enterprise | $829 | $480 | $349 |
Is there a free trial of Doodly?
Sadly, there is no free trial of Doodly available.
But, the creators offer a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide to purchase it.
This gives you a bit of peace of mind that you can get your money back if you don’t like Doodly.
Differences between plans
So what’s the difference between the Standard and Enterprise plans?
I have summarized the main differences of each plan in the table below.
Standard | Enterprise | |
Create unlimited videos | ✔ | ✔ |
Install on multiple PCs | ✔ | ✔ |
Support | ✔ | ✔ |
Doodles (characters) | 1,164 | 3,959 |
Doodles (prop images) | 1,620 | 3,341 |
Scene templates | 84 | 84 |
Video templates | 20 | 40 |
Fonts | 35 | 176 |
New doodles every month | ✖ | ✔ |
Royalty-free audio tracks | 150 | 250 |
Private Facebook group | ✔ | ✔ |
Both plans also enable you to create unlimited doodle videos!
The main difference between the two plans is that Enterprise comes with considerably more doodle images and royalty-free audio tracks to use, compared with Standard.
Also, Enterprise members get new doodle character and images each month at no additional cost.
Doodly features
In this section, I will go into more detail about the main features of Doodly. Note, these features come with both the Standard and Enterprise plans.
- 5 board styles
- >100 hand styles
- >1,000 doodles
- Create custom draw paths
- Record voice over
- Export video in high definition
Different board styles
Despite primarily being a whiteboard animation software, Doodly actually gives you the option to create 5 animation styles using the following:
- Whiteboard
- Chalkboard
- Greenboard
- Glassboard
- Custom
With the custom style, you can select your own background color (or custom image) and decide if the arm should use a marker or chalk to draw.

Different hand styles
As well as having different board styles to pick from, each board gives the option to pick a variety of different hand styles.
There are 59 different real hand, 59 2D cartoon and 12 3D cartoon hand styles to pick from.
You can also decide if the style should be right- or left-handed.
Unfortunately, there is no option to upload your own hand style.
I know some viewers actually find the fake hands quite distracting when viewing whiteboard animations, so it’s great to see Doodly users also have the option to have no hand shown during the animation.

Doodle library
As with most whiteboard animation software, Doodly comes with pre-made doodles for you to use. These all have draw paths attached so they will automatically be drawn.
It’s worth mentioning that all doodles are in black and white. You can have access to color versions of each doodle if you purchase the Doodly Rainbow add-on, which costs $67 (one-time fee).
The Standard plan comes with a library of 1,164 characters images and 1,620 different props.
You can see an example of some of these below.

The Enterprise plan comes with a much larger library (~7,000 doodles) with access to the Doodly Club. Members of the Doodly Club get extra doodles added to their library each month.
You can see some examples of the Enterprise library below.

On top of the library, you can also upload your own images. You can upload color images without the need to have the Doodly Rainbow add-on.
Also, there are many niche doodles available to purchase in bundles through the Doodly Marketplace.
Create custom draw paths
Something I really like about Doodly is the ability to create custom draw paths to any image you import into the software.
This means that you can tell Doodly the exact sequence you want the image to be drawn. Having this gives a more natural effect than simply having the image wipe into view.
This Draw Smart feature can be seen in the screenshot below. The rocket image I used for this demonstration can be found here.

Simply go around the image and introduce new markers in a sequence that is logical. You can then edit the path size and animation duration to make the drawing look authentic.
Another useful thing is the ability to import SVG paths. So, if you import an image in an SVG format, you can add in the attached paths with the click of a button. This saves so much time.

Record voice over
It is also possible to record a voice over directly inside Doodly, so this means you can easily add narrations to the video.
During audio recordings, a preview of the whiteboard animation is played so you can get the timings just right.
You can then adjust the audio on the timeline, such as removing parts of the beginning and end, as well as introducing some fade in or fade out effects.

If you prefer, you can also import audio files. So, you don’t have to record your voice over inside of Doodly, you could do it in a software that has more audio editing features such as Audacity.
Various video export options
When it comes to exporting your finished whiteboard animation, there are plenty of file types and resolutions that can be selected in Doodly.
Videos can be saved as MP4, MKV, OGG and WebM file types. Most people will only really need MP4, especially if you are uploading to YouTube.
Resolutions range from 360p to full 1080p high definition. There is also the ability to enter your own resolution without an aspect ratio for videos that are slightly different, such as those on social media.
Doodly supports 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60 frames per second (FPS). Some people like going all out 60 FPS these days to make their animations really smooth.
All export options available in Doodly can be seen in the screenshot below.

It’s worth keeping in mind that these settings can affect how long it takes for your animation video to render.
Doodly support
A great thing about Doodly is that it has a lot of support on hand. This is a must for any piece of software that you use!
The creators have recently revamped their YouTube channel with some fresh, clear tutorials that are more than enough to get you going.

There is also a large customer support desk where you will find FAQs as well as having the ability to submit a support ticket.
When you purchase Doodly there is an invitation to the Doodly Facebook Group that contains over 90,000 members! For a Facebook group, it is very active, with people sharing their whiteboard animation videos and asking for advice.

Another useful thing Doodly has is a request feature. Here, customers can suggest features they will like to see introduced in the program. A lot of these requests are taken into account by the creators, which I like!
3 things I like about Doodly
This wouldn’t be a Doodly review if I didn’t tell you about the things I like about the program in an honest light.
So, here I will give you 3 things I love about Doodly.
Creating animations is easy
Having used Doodly for a long time now, I can honestly say that it is super easy to use.
There was no need for me to look up Doodly tutorials to see how to use the software – the interface is intuitive enough for most people to get going straight away.
Doodles, doodles and more doodles!
I’m not great at drawing, so having a large doodle library that I can browse and easily add images from is essential for me. This was the main reason I went for the Enterprise over the Standard plan.
Custom images support
For my niche website, I create animations that involve a lot of statistical and mathematical images and symbols. As expected, these are not available in the doodle library, but I can easily import them into Doodly and add my own drawn path.
3 things I don’t like about Doodly
Again, this wouldn’t be a Doodly review if I didn’t share my thoughts on what I don’t like about the program. So, here goes…
Lack of color images as standard
The basic version of Doodly comes with black and white doodles; however, if you want them in color you have to purchase the Doodly Rainbow add-on for a one-time fee. The additional one-time fee is to cover the development cost of the feature.
This isn’t a huge deal for me since I only create whiteboard videos with black and white doodles. But, I know others who would like to see this feature as standard.
It’s worth noting that having the ability to import your own images in color is a way around this.
Requires an internet connection
A slight niggle about Doodly is that it requires an internet connection for you to use it.
Albeit this isn’t a massive issue, it can be annoying if you are out and about and want to carry creating your whiteboard animation.
Limited audio features
I always add voice overs to my whiteboard animations and so I was glad to see a voice over feature in Doodly. However, at this moment in time, it is very basic.
This means I avoid using the feature altogether and instead create my voice overs in software that has more audio controls. In fact, I use Camtasia for this.
Maybe things will improve in later software updates.
Doodly alternatives
If Doodly isn’t quite your thing, then check out these Doodly alternatives…
- VideoScribe (also check out my VideoScribe review and Doodly vs VideoScribe post if interested)
- Explaindio
- Animaker (this has a free version for those on a budget!)
Doodly review: Final thoughts
It’s now time to wrap up this Doodly review. Hopefully you have a greater understanding about what it has to offer and if it is the right choice for you.
If you are after a whiteboard animation software that is easy to use, then I would thoroughly recommend getting Doodly. I’m glad I made the investment.
I have the Enterprise plan, which despite being the more expensive option, it gives me the added doodle assets to cover most of my requirements.
If you’re still on the fence, then I advise paying a Standard monthly fee so you can give it a try – think of this as the trial. You then have up to 30 days to change your mind. If it isn’t for you, then you have the right to get your money back.
Are you thinking of purchasing Doodly? If so, let me know in the comments if you would like to know more about the program.
For those who already have Doodly, let me know how you are finding it.
Further reading on SideHustleTeach.com
If you do end up getting Doodly, be sure to check out my step-by-step guide on how to create a whiteboard video. Alternatively, if Doodly doesn’t look right for you, then check out some of the other awesome whiteboard animation software available.
Hello. Thanks for your review. I am on the doodly website and they do not give me the two options, just a one time fee. But I’ve read that the one time fee is so limited that you have to buy package after package to get the full program, therefore costing you a lot more than you mentioned. Do you have any advice?
Hey,
Many thanks for your feedback.
So, the one-time promotion you mentioned I believe comes off a Facebook deal.
For the difference between the one-time fee and pay monthly products, then I cannot advise since I do not have both to compare.
I recommend contacting their support team and asking them. They are usually very quick to respond.
I hope that helps,
Steven
Yes, it seems difficult to find their pricing structure. I can’t find it in their menu in the website.
Most websites show a side by side comparison of their different purchase levels.
The software looks great but this marketing looks a bit sneaky.
I liked the product and was hopeful . . . But I had too many issues with the company that I had to “get away”. I first purchased the product for the “one time” price and upgraded for another “one time price”. Oh wait, no color . . . another “one time price”. I accepted the additional costs and thought I had what I needed. THEN the sales emails came. . . and came . . . and came even though I had spent extra money already. OK, I unsubscribed but was concerned that the up-selling was excessive. BUT THEN I had an issue with choppy videos. They were fine after being exported, but difficult to create and view. I didn’t complain, I asked on their Facebook — because I was considering upgrading my graphics card. THEY DELETED MY POST. Then I continued to read and saw that other people said posts were deleted if you didn’t praise the product. I continued and saw that commenting was turned off on some posts with questions. Note: I wasn’t criticizing, I was trying to get advice from other users about a graphics card. Finally I am DONE.
Hi Barb,
Oh no, so sorry to hear about your bad experience.
Did you manage to sort the issue with your graphics? And did you use an alternative software to Doodly, if so, I’d be super interested to hear what you went for.
Thanks,
Steven
Hi, you don’t mention the difference in price plans when it comes to using Doodly to create an order for a client. Don’t you have to buy a special plan in order to sell work you’ve created?
Hi Dan,
I contacted Doodly and asked them to clarify this. They confirmed their software includes commercial rights as standard.
I hope that helps.
Steven
Is that if I upgrade to the enterprise one … then Doodly Rainbow colour version is already included? Or i still have to additionally pay for the Doodly Rainbow?
Hi Julia,
Unfortunately not. Doodly Rainbow is a one-time add-on that is separate from the two Doodly plans.
I hope that helps.
Steven
I am a Spanish teacher & am considering using Doodly. I read that some fonts contain certain characters, but the info on the site is vague. I need to know if I can get the following: ¿ ¡ á é í ó ú ü ñ. Has anyone tried these? As a teacher, I need all of them 😊.
Hey Kimberly,
Thanks for reaching out. I have just copied those characters into my Doodly and they all work fine. 🙂
I hope that helps.
Steven
hey Steven
I’d like to ask about rainbow… is it really one off payment? or are there more after upsells? I’m asking, because I’ve bought doodly for $67 (that was basic) then bought enterprise, then came automatic script and lastly voomly… I’m not complaining about them, but I’d like to know if rainbow is really 1off or are there more “extra add ons” to really appreciate the full advantage of the product? thanks in advance…
Hi Pete,
Thanks for your comment.
So, yes, Doodly Rainbow is a one-time add-on. As you said, the company do have other upsells, but you can always decline these. The basic version of Doodly is more than enough for most people, but the Rainbow add-on will give you access to the color versions of all images you have access to on your plan.
Hope that helps.
Steven
Hi, I am planning to create videos on business management and finance area. Is the standard version sufficient?
Hi Vik,
If you are happy with using just back and white doodles in your videos, then yes the standard version should be fine. If you want color images, then you’ll want to get the Rainbow add-on too.
You can also find additional doodles in the Doodly Marketplace that relate to business and finance (https://www.doodly.com/marketplace/image-bundles/)
Hope that helps,
Steven
Can you get monetized on YouTube with this software?
Yes, I believe so
Are you able to upgrade with the enterprise and rainbow one-time fees anytime? Or only during the initial upsell pitch? I’d like to see how the basic plan works for me before I invest more money…. TIA
Hi Alexandra,
Yep. You can upgrade at any time. There is no need to do this straight away.
All the best!