Pencil Project 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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On this page

Overview
Pricing and Plans
Features
User Reviews

Overview

Pencil Project

4.3

(21)

Pricing

Pricing available upon request

About Pencil Project

Pencil Project is an open-source GUI prototyping software designed to help businesses draw different types of user interfaces for popular desktop platforms. Key features include inter-page linking, diagram drawing support, clipart browsing, and document export wizard.

Developers using Pencil Project can find cliparts by keywords and add them into drawings by a drag-and-drop operation. Cliparts are listed in vector format, which allows users to scale them to appropriate sizes according to individual requirements. The platform enables teams to link elements in a drawing to a specific page in the same document and define the UI flow when creating website or application mockups.

Pencil Project supports exporting documents into popular formats, such Inkscape SVG, OpenOffice/LibreOffice text documents, and Adobe PDF. Support is extended via email and phone.

Pencil Project Screenshots

Pencil Project Pricing and Plans

Starting price: Pricing available upon request

Free Trial

Free Version

Basic

Pricing available upon request

No plan information available

Pencil Project Features

Popular features found in Diagram
Collaboration Tools
Data Import/Export
Drag & Drop
Flowchart
Mind Maps
Organizational Charting
Templates
More features of Pencil Project
Data Linking
Desktop Interface
Diagramming
Document Embedding
Drag & Drop Editor
Interactive Elements
Mobile Interface
Mockup Creation
UI Prototyping
UX Prototyping
Widgets
Wireframe Creation

Pencil Project User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.3

Ratings Breakdown

43%

48%

10%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

4.3

Value for money

4.6

Customer support

3.7

Functionality

4.1

Abel A.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

2-10 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed February 2023

Pencil Project: The Best Free Wireframing and Prototyping Tool

Great! Pencil Project has help me to create wireframes and prototypes quickly and easily so as to meet tight schedules and deadline. Its been added to my designing toolkit because it's ease to use, customize, and its cross-platform support. I just love Pencil Project..thumbs up.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Awesome! Pencil Project is free and open source tool that is very easy to use, I enjoy the fact that I can customize templates, create my own templates and it supports lots of file format. It also runs across platforms different operating system platforms. It's versatility is great. I am in live with pencil project.

Cons:

I notice it does not release updates regularly but all the same the community attend to any issues that comes up.

Reasons for switching to Pencil Project

It did not contain templates and I could not customize my own template.

Max P.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

201-500 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed May 2019

Great, free way to generate quick UI mockups

If you need to get a quick UI design out, this is a good option. However, it has not been kept up to date since 2013 so the mockups are not up to date with the latest UI trends. You will not want to share your mockups with a customer, but can be used to spread ideas internally.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

This product is free and available on many different operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux). It has a short learning curve and is very easy to get up to speed with.

Cons:

It does feel a bit dated now for iOS application mockups. The latest stencils/templates are from ~2013 so the iOS designs are dated. Also the Windows templates are old as well.

Reasons for choosing Pencil Project

Pencil Project is free so was easier to get going with.

Verified

Reviewer

Information Technology and Services

11-50 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed January 2020

Free and works offline

Overall the experience is below average. Initially i started using it because it's a free tool but now there are many other online tools which are easy to use and have advanced features

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

The tool is free and you can download it on your system. Works without any internet connection so you don't have to worry about having an active internet connection at all time.

Cons:

I know the tool is free and helps in getting the things done but it's no where close to the paid ones plus now there are many other free tools which has better features and are very easy to use. I only use this when I don't want a good looking detailed work and want to do the work offline.

Eduardo H.

Verified reviewer

1001-5000 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed July 2018

Create flowcharts, mockups and interfaces quickly and easily

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Pencil project is an Open Source software with multiplatform support It has an important library of shapes for the creation of models and interfaces, with the look and feel of the most popular systems and platforms such as Android, IOS and Windows. It has extensions to be worked from the web browser Mozilla Firefox allows linking between the sheets of a project to optimally simulate the browsing experience between the screens of the model

Cons:

As graphical elements are inserted in the multiple sheets of the documents tends to put the software slower

Zach K.

Verified reviewer

Marketing and Advertising

Self-Employed

Used weekly for free trial

Review source

Reviewed December 2021

Pencil Project - Free & Hassle-free Software For Your Wireframing Needs

I am very happy with the tool. It's easy to use and I found it very useful in my projects. Tried other online tools and found them quite clunky. I love that Pencil is lightweight, responsive & the way Pencil Project allows you to create your own library of objects too. I would definitely recommend this tool to any UX designer creating prototype or wireframes.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

I needed an application that could help me create mobile prototypes and this is. I needed something that could help me get my ideas out of my head and into a digital format as quickly as possible and this does that for me. What I really like about this is that it's also a community project and other users have contributed their own collections of UI shapes so that I can make use of them and this is.

Cons:

Because it is lightweight and free, it is quite limited in some way. It lacks the bells-and-whistles which aren't that essential but good-to-have when it needs it.

Sanjeep L.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

Self-Employed

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed January 2021

Perfect tool for Prototype and Design wireframe

I am regular user of Pencil, I have found that Pencil is the one the most perfect tool for me to make prototype and design wireframe. It is really easy and helpful for front end. While using Pencil I have realized that still it has some problems which users are facing. It will be more better if mentioned above points are review and improve.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

Some of most best features of Pencil are listed below: - It is free too use - Easy and user friendly to use - Content are well manage - Can save both PNG and .epgz file - Can find wireframe, widgets, prototype, shapes and other (for android, desktop)

Cons:

It would have been better if some of given below features are review and improve: - Can not use external images or icon.( It would be better if it allow to use our own images or other file) - Can not save on JPG format. (Only allow to save on PNG file and .epgz file which is not suitable for document and we have to use another software to convert on JPG file) - Some time can not resize as our want. - Result not shown after search shape and icon.

FC T.

Verified reviewer

Retail

1001-5000 employees

Used other for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2019

One of the best mockup tools around

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Not the most feature-rich or easiest mockup tool around, but boy does it make up for it by being open source. No free trials or elapsed subscriptions, no budget approvals, no limitations on the number of mockups or the people you can share it with. Just download, install and do mockups.

Cons:

Could be easier to use and it should be able to hook up to a more extensive online shapes library. But honestly, if you need more then graduate to other apps. Just know that whatever you do in Pencil will always be accessible.

Maryorie Nataly V.

Verified reviewer

Used other for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed June 2018

I used it in order to design templates and my experience was positive. Its very easy to use.

To learn about sistems design. To make templates and mockups for my tecnology project. To express graphically process in a sistem.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

Very intuitive. Great variety of icons. I don need to know about sistems development in order to working with it.

Cons:

I think that its not easy to download. I couldn´t download my work in another format like .pdf or .jpg.

Felix H.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

Self-Employed

Used other for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed March 2020

Great for personal projects

Used to rapidly create a wireframe whilst on a budget and alone. It was a nice tool to use and did the job well.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Relatively easy to understand, yet functionality really relies on installing the external packages. However, for personal projects, the ability to play through your wireframe and then make a website to demo it is very beneficial. Being free also makes it very comparative to other software.

Cons:

The lack of tools available for creating your own shapes and then implementing these easily. The UX can feel a bit underwhelming sometimes,.

Reasons for choosing Pencil Project

Cheaper – this is a free tool.

Verified

Reviewer

Internet

2-10 employees

Used weekly for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed March 2019

Excellent tool for product managers

Phenomenal. I wish the project was alive and improving. I am not familiar with any other tool that quite fits this space so well.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

- Easy to use - Most of the required functionality with no fluff for developing wireframes - Does not impose the design-related overhead that many product managers do not want to deal with - Provides incredibly functional clickable wireframes for having meaningful discussions with designers and engineers

Cons:

- Little quirks that have not ironed out yet - Feels like the project has died -- which is a real pity. It was right on target for the group of product who want to develop clarity about the the product usage without getting bogged down by complex design tools.

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