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I am brand new at this. I'm making a person a website and I'm currently prototyping. I'm planning on using Balsamiq and have installed their free trial. I red through the licence agreement to the best of my ability, but wanted to make sure, is there anything in the licence or anywhere else that said you can't use a trial for commercial services? Is anything like this ever a concern?

What if your trial runs out and you start a new trial on a different computer?

UPDATE: I did read the licence, found here, but am still unsure as it is long and hard to understand. I didn't find any words "commercial" or "profit" so does this mean it's ok to use and charge someone a fee for a mockup made with it?

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    Read the license... That's going to be the only source of accurate information
    – Canadian Luke ♦
    Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 18:58
  • @CanadianLuke I did but it's a bit hard to understand 10+ pages of legalese. I was hoping people could point out phrases to look out for.
    – JamesJay
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 0:58
  • there is no way to know for sure of a method of determining this, unless you read
    – Canadian Luke ♦
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 0:59
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    It's the truth though. Like it or not
    – Canadian Luke ♦
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 1:01
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    @JamesJay fair enough if you want to give a fairly broad and unhelpful question, but don't criticise others for their 'lack of help' when you provide very little in the way of determining a useful answer. Stack exchange isn't your personal lawyer / reader. If you've read through the licence and can't understand it, contact Balsamiq and ask them. stack exchange isn't just for any question you can't find on the first result of google, SE aims for a higher quality of Q&A that demands effort be put into both: answers, and questions. I personally see little effort put into this one.
    – lewis
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 12:53

3 Answers 3

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This is Liz from the Sales Support team at Balsamiq. You’re more than welcome to use our free trial at your pace, and to your convenience. There aren’t any strings attached regarding the wireframes you create during the trial period. They are yours and you can use them commercially if you wish.

Nothing stops you from starting a new trial on a new computer. We do rely on the honor system and hope our customers do the same. But if you’re strapped for cash, please get in touch with us, we might be able to work something out: [email protected]. We often give licenses away via our Free Program.

Please feel free to drop by our dedicated forum whenever you have questions.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

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I don't know about Balsamiq but from my experience most of the softwares I've seen so far with free/trial version didn't allow commercial use.

If it's allowed then as long as it won't be a problem for the client I don't see why you couldn't with different trials.

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  • The licence was rather long and I'm not well versed in legal language. Do you have any suggestions of terms to look out for? I scanned the document for "commercial" and the word never appeared.
    – JamesJay
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 0:59
  • Try again for professional , or try to see if there's an official forum where you can ask about it
    – Rolexel
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 7:56
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What if your trial runs out and you start a new trial on a different computer?

Asking this question indicates that you know you are at the very least in a gray zone.

Put yourself in the software vendor's place; if you allow someone else to use a trial version of your product for free, how would you feel if they used it commercially?

If the license cost is miniscule compared to the entire project budget, attempt to add it as an expense. If you argue that this extra cost will lead to quicker delivery or a better end product, most sane clients would probably choose to bear the expense.

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