Shorthand vs Visme (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Shorthand if

• Fits if you make long visual stories for a communications team
• Works for publishers who want stories on their own CMS

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a price, because none is published
• Tight if you publish a lot, as Core includes 12 new stories a year
• Watch out: a published story uses a credit that is not returned if you unpublish it
• Watch out: unused publishing credits expire at the end of each yearly cycle

Pick Visme if

• Fits if you're in marketing or sales and make decks, reports and infographics every week
• Works for students and teachers, who get their own plans at $48 and $96 a year

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you pay monthly: $29 for Starter against $147 for the whole year, and $59 for Pro
• Tight if you're staying free: 50 slides a project, 500 MB, 10 AI credits a month, the Visme logo and no downloads
• Skip it if you need an editable PowerPoint file or a Brand Kit without Pro at $24.75 a month, as the Starter PPTX isn't editable
• Not for you if you use an Android phone or tablet, as Android is still listed as coming soon
• Watch out: single sign-on, approvals and SCORM export are Enterprise only, which starts at 10 users

Shorthand

• No plan prices are published: Core, Unlimited and Enterprise are arranged through the sales team, so pricing is recorded as unverified.
• Core includes 12 new stories per year, and publishing a story uses one credit that is not returned if you unpublish.
• Unused publishing credits expire at the end of each yearly cycle.
• Shorthand says it is SOC 2 Type II compliant and ISO 27001 certified.

Visme

• The free Basic plan caps each project at 50 slides or pages, has 500 MB of storage and keeps the Visme logo on projects.
• Brand Kit, analytics, privacy controls, password protection and editable PowerPoint export start at Pro; the Starter PPTX download is not editable.
• Single sign-on, project approvals, custom roles and SCORM/xAPI export are Enterprise only, and Enterprise starts at 10 users.
• The mobile and tablet apps are for iOS; the download page lists Android as coming soon.

Shorthand

Story editor

Stories are built from sections and layouts in a browser editor, and can be embedded into existing pages.

Publishing options

Shorthand-hosted publishing on annual plans, or self-hosted through S3, WordPress, Drupal plugins or API.

Branding

Themes carry a team's logos, colors and fonts across stories.

Collaboration

Editors, designers and developers work in one shared workspace.

Analytics

Built-in cookieless analytics, plus Google Analytics, Tag Manager and other trackers.

AI Creative Companion

An AI feature the site describes as turning a rough draft into a designed story.

Visme

Templates for many content types

The template library covers more than 50 content types, including presentations, infographics, reports, proposals and social graphics. Premium templates need a paid plan.

AI Designer and AI tools

AI Designer turns a text prompt into a draft design, alongside an AI writer, image generator and image filters. Each use spends credits: 10 a month on Basic, 200 on Starter and 500 on Pro.

Brand Kit and Brand Wizard

Brand fonts, colors and logos are stored in a Brand Kit and applied to projects. The Brand Wizard builds one from a website URL. The full Brand Kit starts at the Pro plan.

Animation and interactivity

Slides can include animated elements, hover effects, clickable menus and hotspots. Custom animation, the full animation timeline and video and audio hotspots are Pro features.

Charts and data widgets

Statistics and figures can be shown as charts, graphs, maps and data widgets inside any project. The free plan has a limited set.

Collaboration and recording

Comments, annotation and live editing are on every plan. The Recording Studio captures a narrated presentation: up to 3 minutes on Basic and 45 minutes on paid plans.

Shorthand

Pricing could not be confirmed. See shorthand.com.

Visme

• Basic$0

  Unlimited projects, 500 MB of storage, up to 50 slides or pages per project, most templates and 10 AI credits a month.

• Starter$12.25

  per person / month, billed yearly ($147); $29 billed monthly

  All premium templates and assets, 1 GB of storage, unlimited slides, no Visme logo, JPG, PNG and PDF downloads, and 200 AI credits a month.

• Pro$24.75

  per person / month, billed yearly ($297); $59 billed monthly

  10 GB of storage, Brand Kit, analytics, privacy controls, PPTX, HTML5, video and GIF downloads, and 500 AI credits. Teams of 3 or 5 pay $24 per person, billed yearly.

• EnterpriseCustom

  From 10 users: custom subdomain, single sign-on and 2FA, project approvals, SCORM/xAPI export, 25 GB of storage per user and a dedicated success manager.

Shorthand

• Nonprofit

  Discounts for charities and NGOs

  Shorthand says it offers discounted plans for registered charities and NGOs, and free educational plans for universities and colleges.

Visme

• Annual discount

  Yearly billing advertised as 50% off

  The pricing page toggle reads "Yearly Save 50%". Starter is $147 a year against $29 a month, and Pro is $297 a year against $59 a month.

• Education

  Student and Educator plans

  A Student plan at $48 a year and an Educator plan at $96 a year, billed annually. Sign-up needs a .edu email address or contact with Visme support.

• Nonprofit

  25% nonprofit discount

  Visme's pricing page offers nonprofits the features of its business plan at a 25% discount, on application.