Last Updated on October 16, 2022 by Shane

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This honest and unbiased Toonly review will help you decide if you should buy this software or not. This review will cover the features, benefits, pricing, and the good, the bad and the ugly of the software. At the end of this review, you will find out who Toonly is for and if it is the right tool for you or not.

Is this software worth the price they are charging from you? Is this the best software in the market? How will this help you in your business or projects? Well, let’s explore some more and find it out.

Overall rating
Price	$39 – $69
Subscription	One-time payment but you get limited access
Free trial	No
2D	Yes
3D	No
Best for	Short promotional videos, ads, explainer videos, etc.
Compatibility	Windows & MAC
Refund	No
Recommended	Yes only if you don’t care about the price
Website	www.toonly.com

Recently I was looking for a good software to create an animated explainer video for a client. I wanted to use a fast and easy tool to get it done because I had a very tight deadline.

After some research, I tried using Toonly to create the video because I wanted to use the simplest and the easiest tool for this.

How Important is Animated Videos for You?

Before buying the software, you should ask yourself how vital animated videos are for you or your business.

If you are planning to create only one video, I would recommend you to outsource it to freelancing platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, etc. or anyone you know. That will save you time and money.

However, if you have a plan to create multiple videos every month, you should continue reading this review and decide if this is the right tool for you.

What is Toonly?

Toonly is an easy animation making software where you can create animated explainer videos and more in minutes. It’s an easy drag and drop cloud-based software.

You can use Toonly to create animated videos even if you don’t know anything about animation. It is made for that purpose.

It is not for professional animators. Toonly is not very flexible like those professional animation softwares like Adobe Animate, Pencil2D, etc. Don’t expect that you can create professional premium looking animated videos like those movies by Ghibli Studio, Disney, etc.

Things You Should Know About Toonly Before You Buy it

• It’s an easy-to-use software and you can create animated videos in few minutes
• Toonly is one of the cheapest easy animation making software in the market
• Yes, you can import your own images, music, voiceover and fonts which makes it pretty flexible and customizable
• It is one-time payment software but what you get from that is very limited and you might get disappointed with it
• It’s cloud-based and you don’t need to download any software. I love cloud-based softwares but the only drawback is that you can’t use it where there’s no internet
• It has preset gradient backgrounds which are cool but you can’t change the color of the gradients
• Toonly is the right software if you want to animate your texts the way you want. It has only 3 options of text animation styles
• Another thing you should know is that it has a bad music library and very limited templates
•  If you get the basic plan, you’ll feel like they’re pushing you to buy more features with their in-app sales
• They don’t have a proper YouTube channel where you can check out for tutorials when you need

Our Toonly Review

Toonly has been around for a while and they have been trying to compete with the other animation making softwares. People are loving this software but some people are complaining about it too.

So, what people are loving and complaining about? Let’s dive a little deeper and find out.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I have tried different kinds of animation making softwares from good to bad and Toonly has it’s own strong and weak points. I used Toonly for more than a week to understand everything about it and make this review as detailed and unbiased as it can be.

Why You Should Use Toonly?

• It’s one of the most easy-to-use animation making softwares in the market
• You can create animated videos quickly and save time
• You can make the videos yourself and you don’t have to hire expensive animators for it
• If you want to make the video unique and different you can import your own designs or images
• If you don’t like the music or fonts which are in their library, you can import your own music, voiceover and fonts
• They don’t have free trial but you can try it for a month by paying $39 before committing to it for a year or longer.
• It’s cloud-based software which means you don’t have to download any software to use it
• You can try it for free and check if you like it or not before spending money

How to Create an Animated Video Using Toonly?

Creating a video on Toonly is pretty easy. It has a simple user interface and you’ll get it as soon as you open it.

Plan out the scene or the story of your video and write down the script and before you start animating. That will make it easier and save time. I recommend you create a storyboard before you jump right into the software.

If you want to add a voice-over to your video, you can record it yourself or outsource it. You can use freelancing platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, etc. to outsource it and get it done at a very low cost. You can also use a text-to-speech convertor software like Synthesys, Speechelo, etc.

Step 1: Choose a scene or a background

Choose the scene or the background which matches your script/story from Toonly’s library. Drag and drop the background element to the artboard.

Step 2: Choose the character or characters

Now choose the character or characters according to your script and your choice from the library. Drag and drop again to the artboard.

Step 3: Import the voice over and music

Import the music (background music) and the voice-over to the timeline and place it in a proper place. Make sure you decrease the volume of the background music so that you can hear the voice-over clean and clear.

Step 4: Animate the character/characters and background

Time for some fun. Now animate the character/characters and background by using the preset animation types according to your need.

Step 5: Preview the video

Now preview the video you have created by clicking on the preview icon to check if everything is according to the script.

Step 6: Export the final video

When you’re happy and satisfied with your video, export it by clicking on the export icon and save it. You will have the option to choose the resolution of your video before exporting it.

What People Think About Toonly

After some searches on the internet for people’s opinions about Toonly, I found some positive and negative things about it. Here are some reviews from it’s users.

Toonly’s Pricing

It doesn’t have free trial. The two plans of Toonly are Standard Plan with $39 per month and Enterprise Plan with $69 per month. They have both monthly and yearly payment options. If you choose to pay yearly, the $39 per month plan decreases to $20 and the $69 per month plan decreases to only $40.

The Standard plan offers less access than the Enterprise plan. For example, you get fewer characters, character animations, prop images, background, etc. in the Standard plan.

Who All Can Use Toonly?

Toonly is best for explainer videos, promotional videos, educational videos, presentation videos, etc. I don’t recommend it for advertising videos because of its low-quality characters and background designs. It can give a bad impact on your brand or business’s image.

1. Business Owners

If you’re a business owner and you want to make promotional videos, explainer videos, etc. for your brand or business, Toonly can do that for you. You can also create videos for internal training and more.

2. Social Media Agencies

If you run a social media agency, you can create animated video posts for your clients in case you don’t want to outsource it.

3. Video or Animation Production Studios

Toonly can be handy if you need short and simple videos like social media posts for your clients. Its ability to create videos fast can help you save some time.

4. Freelancers

You can use Toonly for making animated videos for your clients if you are a freelancer. Or you can use it to create videos for the works you get from the freelancing platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, etc.

5. Marketing Consultants

As you know the power of video marketing, you can create animated videos with this for your clients.

6. YouTubers

With this software you can create animated explainer videos and more for your YouTube channel. You can start a YouTube channel like CrashCourse, Proactive Thinker, etc. using the animated videos created on Toonly.

8. Teachers

If you run a school or you’re a teacher who wants to use animated videos to teach your students, you can use Toonly to make the videos.

Recommended Alternative Softwares

i. CreateStudio

CreateStudio is a newly launched easy animation making software with great potential. I recommend this software because of its beautiful premium character designs and other elements. It’s the most flexible software among its competitors.

It has both 2D and 3D characters and elements to animate. And my favorite thing about this software is that you don’t have to pay every month to use it. It’s one-time payment software.

Pricing: CreateStudio costs $197 (one-time payment) for its Commercial Use License and $247 (one-time payment) for Commercial Use License With Pro Media. They offer 30 days money-back guarantee.

Website: CreateStudio.com

ii. Renderforest

Another easy animation tool for creating premium quality explainer videos, Renderforest makes the video-making process scalable and straightforward. It is cloud-based and there’s no need to install any software.

Renderforest allows you to make a wide range of videos, including promotional, slideshow, presentation, birthday video, marriage, etc. I recommend it because of its high-quality design, customization, and competitive price.

Pricing: It ranges from $9 to $52 per month which bills annually. They have different pricing for single month subscriptions.

Website: Rnderforest.com

iii. Animaker

This cloud-based easy animation making software is designed to save time in making any kind of videos. It is made for non-professional video makers and has more than 4 million users worldwide. It allows you to select a template you like best or start from scratch.

You can use 2D character animations, props and backgrounds, upload images of your own, add effects, edit text, and add some music. And when you’re done animating, you can download it to your PC or export it to Facebook or Youtube.

Pricing: You can try it for free but the final video had its watermark. The starter package is $19 and the business package is $39. These are monthly charges and billed monthly.

Website: Animaker.com

Check out my list of 6 Best Animation Making Softwares That Anyone Can Use (2020)

Conclusion

Toonly is best for making quick animated videos because of its simple and easy interface. It is a good software overall however, I will not use it because there are other softwares in the market which offer better features. For example, CreateStudio offers 30 days money-back guarantee and you can use and try Rederforest before paying anything.

Happy Creating!