Doodly vs VideoScribe: Which Whiteboard Tool to Pick
In Doodly vs VideoScribe, VideoScribe is the better buy for most people in 2026. It costs $150 a year against Doodly’s $490, runs in a browser as well as on Windows and Mac, and now generates AI images for scenes its library doesn’t cover. Doodly wins on one thing: a cast of 200 characters with 20 poses each, which keeps the same person on screen through a whole story. Both are editors, so either way you build every scene yourself. Prices below come from each vendor’s site, checked in October 2026.
Create a whiteboard video in minutes
Turn any idea into a hand-drawn whiteboard animation with script, voiceover and drawing done for you.
Key takeaways
- VideoScribe is cheaper ($150 a year for Lite against $490 a year for Doodly through Voomly Cloud), works in the browser and on desktop, and has AI images, AI scripts and, from the Core plan, AI voiceover.
- Doodly’s homepage still advertises a $67 one-time price, but its pricing link leads to Voomly, where Doodly comes in a $49 a month or $490 a year bundle with Toonly, Talkia and a video host.
- Pick Doodly if your videos need recurring characters, blackboard or glassboard looks, or green-screen exports. Pick VideoScribe for everything else.
- In both tools a 2-minute video is about 20 scenes you place and time by hand. If that’s the part you want gone, an AI generator such as ShortsCrafter makes the whole video from your script.
Doodly vs VideoScribe at a glance
Doodly vs VideoScribe at a glance
How each one builds a video
The two work the same way, and most comparisons skip over that. You write or record the script, then build it scene by scene: pick an image, put it on the board, choose how it draws and when, then move on. Neither tool reads your script and drafts the scenes for you.
The difference is in what you drag. In Doodly you build a scene from a character, a pose and a few props, so a video reads like a story with the same people walking through it. In VideoScribe you work with single images (icons, objects, people) on one big canvas, and the camera moves between them. That suits explainers built around ideas, like a lightbulb next to a rising chart.
Doodly is a little faster to learn. Its editor has fewer controls, and reviewers on Trustpilot keep praising how easy it is to pick up. VideoScribe has more timing and camera options, which take longer to learn and give you finer control once you know them.
Assets and AI images
This is where the two tools differ the most.
Doodly’s library is drawn by its own artists: 200 characters with 20 poses each, 20 backgrounds and hundreds of props. It all looks consistent, and the poses let one character point and walk in the same video. The cost is that it looks like every other Doodly video, and a topic the library doesn’t cover means drawing your own image and setting its path with Smart Draw.
VideoScribe’s library is much bigger: 9,000+ images on Lite and the free trial, over 5 million on Core and Max (VideoScribe pricing). When nothing fits, its AI image generator draws one from a prompt in a Highlight (black lines with blue accents) or Color style. You get 20 generations a month on Lite, 50 on Core and 100 on Max, and each one returns two versions.
Doodly’s site lists no AI features. Talkia, which comes in the Voomly bundle, makes voiceovers, but it’s a separate app.
If your videos follow one character through a story, Doodly’s cast is the better tool. For anything else, VideoScribe’s library plus AI images covers more topics.
Voiceover and export formats
Both let you record a voiceover in the app or upload one, and both come with royalty-free music. VideoScribe adds AI voiceover on Core (75 minutes a month) and Max (150 minutes), plus AI script writing on every plan (plan limits). With Doodly, a generated voice means opening Talkia.
Doodly exports more flexibly. It renders MP4 from 480p to 1080p at 24 to 60 frames per second, in custom sizes, and draws on four board types plus green screen for compositing in another editor. VideoScribe exports MP4 at 1080p and offers 16:9, 1:1 and 9:16 canvases, which covers YouTube, Instagram and Shorts.
VideoScribe caps video length by plan: 5 minutes on Lite, 10 on Core, 20 on Max. Lite also limits you to 5 downloads a month, and Core to 30.
Price
VideoScribe sells three plans, each per license and billed yearly in the US: Lite at $150 a year, Core at $225 and Max at $280. The 7-day trial needs no card and gives you 3 watermarked downloads.
Doodly’s pricing is harder to read. Its homepage still shows “Today ONLY $67” as a one-time price, but the pricing link goes to Voomly, where Doodly Standard comes with Voomly Cloud at $49 a month or $490 a year. Doodly Enterprise needs Voomly Pro at $79 a month or $790 a year. The bundle also includes Toonly, Talkia, People Builder, Pyks and a video host with 7 TB of storage. That’s good value if you use them; if you don’t, you pay for them anyway. Both plans have a 14-day trial and a 30-day refund window.
For one person making whiteboard videos, VideoScribe Core costs less than half of Voomly Cloud and comes with more images and AI.
What users say
Reviews lean towards VideoScribe, though neither sample is perfect. VideoScribe scores 4.5 from 43 reviews on Trustpilot; people praise its support and how easy it is to pick up, and complain about glitches and slow rendering. Doodly scores 3.8 from about 2,300 reviews on Trustpilot. Its users like the editor, and most complaints are about the business side: upsells after purchase, trouble cancelling, charges after a trial, and slow email replies. Only a couple of Doodly’s reviews are from the past year, so they describe older versions more than the current one.
Which one to pick
Pick VideoScribe if you make explainers and lessons about ideas, if you want to work in a browser, or if you post vertical video. It’s cheaper, and the AI images fill the gaps in the library.
Pick Doodly if your videos tell stories with recurring characters, if you want blackboard or glassboard looks or green-screen exports, or if you already use Toonly and Talkia from the same bundle.
Whichever you pick, run one real script through the trial before you pay. Time the hands-on work from blank board to export, then change one sentence in the middle and see how long it takes to fix the scenes after it.
A third option: skip building scenes by hand
Both tools leave you with the same job. A 2-minute script runs about 300 words, which comes to roughly 20 scenes, and each one is an image you place and time to the voiceover. The second video takes as long as the first.
ShortsCrafter takes a topic or your script and makes the whole video. It splits the script into one scene per sentence and draws a new illustration for each. Then it records the voiceover and times every drawing to its sentence. Generation takes 2 to 4 minutes on average. Scenes are drawn for what their sentence says, with characters and a setting, so there’s no shared library for your videos to resemble. You pick one of four styles (minimalistic, regular, colored or stick figure), or let it mix regular and minimalistic scene by scene.
Videos come in 9:16 at 30 to 60 or 60 to 90 seconds for Shorts, TikTok and Reels, or 16:9 from 1 to 2 minutes up to 8 to 10 minutes. You can use a library voice or clone your own. Before you render, you can redraw any scene, add or delete scenes, and regenerate the voiceover. Each plan includes all four styles and voice cloning, and you can subscribe or buy a one-time credit pack; the pricing table has the numbers.
The trade-off is control. You can’t drag a drawing to an exact spot on the board, and there’s no fixed cast like Doodly’s that stays the same across a video.
To see how it draws before you commit to a full video, try the free whiteboard animation maker. For more tools in the same space, including Golpo, Powtoon and Vyond, see the best whiteboard animation software.
FAQ
Is Doodly better than VideoScribe?
For most people, no. VideoScribe costs $150 a year against Doodly’s $490, runs in a browser, and generates AI images. Doodly is better for story videos with recurring characters, and it has more board types and green-screen export.
Is Doodly a one-time purchase?
Not as its pricing page stands. The homepage still advertises $67 one time, but the pricing link goes to Voomly, where Doodly is part of Voomly Cloud at $49 a month or $490 a year.
Does Doodly or VideoScribe have AI?
VideoScribe does: AI images on every plan (20 to 100 a month), AI script writing, and AI voiceover on Core and Max. Doodly’s site lists no AI features; Talkia in the Voomly bundle makes voiceovers.
Which is easier for beginners, Doodly or VideoScribe?
Doodly, by a little. Its editor has fewer controls, and you build scenes from ready-made characters. VideoScribe has more camera and timing options, which take a few projects to learn.
Can I make vertical videos for TikTok and Shorts?
Yes, in both. VideoScribe has a 9:16 portrait canvas, and Doodly exports custom sizes. In either one you still lay out every scene for the tall frame yourself.
Is there a free version of Doodly or VideoScribe?
Neither has a free plan. VideoScribe has a 7-day trial with 3 watermarked downloads, and Doodly comes with a 14-day Voomly trial and a 30-day refund window.