Doodly is desktop software for making whiteboard-style animated videos. Drawings appear on screen as a narrator explains a topic. Doodly’s official pricing page lists two subscriptions: Standard costs $49 per month or $490 per year, and Enterprise costs $79 per month or $790 per year. The plans differ in the size of their image, music, and template libraries, as well as in support and storage.
If you want to make narrated explainers or product demos without a Doodly subscription, explainroo is a free, open-source alternative. It uses an AI coding agent to make videos on your computer. Choose Doodly for its desktop editor and included libraries, or explainroo for its agent-directed approach.
Doodly’s two plans and prices
Doodly’s official pricing page lists these prices:
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $49 per month | $490 per year |
| Enterprise | $79 per month | $790 per year |
Third-party listings show different prices, including lower monthly and annual rates. These listings may not match the checkout price, so confirm the amount on Doodly’s official site before subscribing.
Doodly’s subscription information describes a 14-day free trial, but at least one third-party listing says otherwise. Check the trial terms during signup. Doodly also lists a 30-day money-back guarantee. Review its conditions before buying.
What Standard and Enterprise include
Both plans allow unlimited video creation and use on multiple computers. Each plan also includes 84 scene templates. Both come with unlimited border and player skins and unlimited video funnels, plus access to Voomly Cloud. They differ in library size, support, and cloud storage.
| Included item | Standard | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
| Character images | 1,164 | 3,959 |
| Prop images | 1,620 | 3,341 |
| Royalty-free music tracks | 150 | 250 |
| Video templates | 20 | 40 |
| Fonts | 35 | 70 |
| Scene templates | 84 | 84 |
| Cloud storage | 7 TB | More |
| Support | Standard | Premium |
Both subscriptions include an invitation to Doodly’s Design Facebook Group and access to other Voomly products. The Standard subscription bundles Standard versions of Doodly, Toonly, Talkia, People Builder, Pyks, and Voomly; Enterprise bundles the Enterprise versions of those products. The Voomly support page describes these bundles.
Standard may offer enough variety for a solo creator who makes videos occasionally. Enterprise makes more sense if you need more characters and props, music and video templates, premium support, or cloud storage. Both plans include the same number of scene templates.
Editing, exporting, and internet requirements
Doodly runs on Windows and Mac computers. It needs an internet connection to download images and save projects to the cloud. An unreliable connection can interrupt those tasks.
The official pricing page lists export options from 360p to 1080p resolution, frame rates from 24 to 60 frames per second, and quality settings from 62% to 100%. Resolution sets the video’s dimensions and detail. Frame rate sets how many images appear each second. Before publishing online, check that the export settings meet the platform’s requirements and your quality needs.
How explainroo compares and when it fits better
Doodly gives you a desktop editor and ready-made characters, props, music, and templates. With explainroo, you describe a video to a coding agent, which uses the kit to make it on your computer. explainroo is a free, open-source kit under the MIT license. It works with Claude Code, Codex, Pi, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, and other agents that can run shell commands. It works best with Claude Code.
The agent writes a narration script and a JavaScript file to draw the scenes. explainroo generates the voice and matches pictures to the spoken words. It adds music and sound effects, then assembles the video as an MP4. For product demos, the agent can recreate an app’s screens from its code or website. It can then show a pointer clicking and typing while the narration explains the product. explainroo also provides still images and a contact sheet. It checks for overlapping or cut-off text and mispronounced words, giving the agent ways to inspect the video.
If you are comfortable directing a coding agent and want to make narrated explainers or product demos without paying for video software, try explainroo. Paste this prompt into a compatible agent and replace the bracketed topic:
Make me a short explainer video about [your topic]. Use explainroo for it: clone the explainroo repository, read its AGENTS.md and follow the steps.The agent sets up explainroo, makes and checks the video, then provides an MP4 file with English voice narration. As a separate service, the agent may have its own cost. Optional AI illustrations through OpenRouter cost money per image; the other explainroo video-making steps cost nothing per video.
explainroo works for narrated animations and demos made from recreated product screens. It cannot edit existing camera footage or create talking avatars or live-action footage. It also has no drag-and-drop editor. To request changes, describe them to the agent.
