Froala Vs. Shorthand – Which WYSIWYG editor has the Best Features and Value

Supercharge Your Sencha Ext JS Apps With The Froala WYSIWYG HTML Editor

WYSIWYG editors have become a very popular choice for content editing because of the extreme convenience they provide. Because of this, there are currently many WYSIWYG editors on the market. Unfortunately, with so many available choices, choosing the best one can be challenging.  It all depends on what you are looking for —  Is it simplicity and flexibility, or is it something budget-friendly with advanced features?  Whatever your criteria, when you choose the editor best for you, it is essential you understand how they differ from each other in both features and functionality. 

Because of its best features and value, Froala’s Javascript Editor provides its customers with a rich storytelling experience.  This article compares two top-performing Javascript WYSIWYG editors – Froala, the leader on the G2 grid for WYSIWYG editors, and Shorthand. 

Device screen showing a web editor interface, highlighting design and functionality

Froala

Froala is a beautiful WYSIWYG  web editor with a clean, intuitive design. In addition to this,  it is easy for developers to integrate. Because it is written in Javascript, Froala is a lightweight HTML editor that provides a rich text-editing experience for any application or any platform.  

Shorthand

Shorthand is a powerful storytelling tool. It lets you create stunning, interactive digital stories for websites without having to rely on web developers or designers. 

Features

The following table summarizes the key features of both Froala and Shorthand.

Feature Froala  Shorthand
APIs Powerful API with Rich Documentation

Froala WYSIWYG HTML editor comes with a powerful Javascript API that allows you to easily customize and interact with the editor.

Story API

Shorthand Story API can programmatically access your stories and integrate them with your CMS and custom plugins.

Accessibility Compliant with Section 508, WCAG 2.0, and WAI-ARIA. Adhering to W3 Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). You can build accessible stories, including alt-text options and accessible themes.
Performance Ultra-High Performance

  • Initializes in less than 40 seconds. 
  • Lightweight to ensure optimum loading speed. 
Faster initialization speed 
Security Consists of a robust defense mechanism against XSS attacks. 
  • Allows publishing stories directly to client infrastructure, allowing them to manage media assets.
  • Provides isolated infrastructure
  • Authenticates with enterprise SSO
Content  

  • Advanced Linking
  • Images and Image Edit
  • Paste from MS Office
  • Video Edit
  • Video URL Parsing
  • Can use words, video, images, and sounds
  • Image Gallery
  • Scrollmation Images
  • Include Video
  • Responsive embed
Customizations
  • You can customize everything – buttons, dropdowns, popups, icons, shortcuts, etc.
  • Has a unique customizer tool to change the look and feel the way you want.
  • Can customize editor toolbar functionality and customize for each screen size.
  • Custom JavaScript, CSS, and HTML to the stories
  • Customize buttons
  • Using custom JavaScript, you can integrate third-party maps, charts, or data visualizations for creating an interactive story 
Support
  • email support seven days a week
  • Feedback on drafted stories
  • Technical support
  • Free webinars
Track Changes Track changes against new or deleted text,  various styling and formatting changes,  images & tables. No
Markdown Support Version 4.0 lets you format words & phrases using code shortcuts through predefined markdown syntax. No
Collaboration No Can collaboratively work with a team
Plugins most popular development frameworks Plugins for WordPress and Drupal

Feature Summary

As you can see, Froala has many useful features that give you a rich inline editing experience. In addition, Froala works across all browsers and platforms and automatically cleans up HTML outputs. Therefore, users can paste from word and excel, and the editor also cleans up the unnecessary code.

On the other hand, Shorthand also provides valuable features — mainly for rich visual storytelling.

Froala     Shorthand

Pricing

Price is one of the most important factors when it comes to choosing the right editor. Let’s take a look at how Froala and Shorthand compare.

Froala

Froala has four pricing plans which you can get as a subscription or a perpetual license. A free trial is also available. 

Perpetual Plans

  • Basic –  $499. Suitable for simple personal applications. 
  • Pro – $1299. Ideal for SaaS, intranet, or mobile applications
  • Enterprise – $2999. Suitable for teams with wide product portfolios.
  • Custom -This is perfect for teams with on-premise deployments.

Subscription Plans

  • Basic –  $199/year.
  • Pro – $899/year.
  • Enterprise – $1999/year.

Moreover, Froala supports new businesses by providing an ‘Ignition discount,’ a 35% discount for Pro and Enterprise plans. 

Shorthand

Unfortunately, Shorthand refrains from providing pricing information for their product. You can only receive a quote by contacting them directly. We did contact them, and Shorthands’ Prime plan starts at £8,000 per year and the Pro plan at £12,000 per year. A free trial is available for you to try out their product.

  • Prime – provides only section options and inline media as editing features
  • Pro – Gives you section options, inline media and HTML, and dev tools. 
  • Premium- Apart from all the features of Prime and Pro plans, it provides premium add-ons

They have several discounts for different types of organizations. 

  • Charities and NGOs – 20% discount
  • Academic Institutes – 50% discount
  • Journalisms and Comms Classes – 100% discount 

Froala               Shorthand

Documentation

Froala

Froala has rich documentation that consists of Quickstart guides, changelogs, and Migrate from Froala V2 Guides. It has a comprehensive set of example code snippets for different editor features and how to migrate from Froala guides. Not only that, there are FAQs for various technical questions. Moreover, its API comes with complete documentation for developers. 

Shorthand

Shorthands’ help center contains a knowledge base for various guiding topics, including how to plan a story, section types, media sizes and formats, developer tools, etc.  They provide free video demos for you to watch and learn. In addition to that, Shorthand hosts free webinar sessions, and you can also access past webinar sessions. 

Froala               Shorthand

Ease of Use

Froala

Because of its simple design and rich content, Froala is the most straightforward editor to use. Since there are how-to guides for every feature, it is not difficult to learn and take to its full potential within a short period. 

Shorthand

Although Shorthand has a visually appealing editor, mastering it can take some time because of its different sections and image options. 

Froala               Shorthand

Which WYSIWYG editor has the Best Features and Value?

The Shorthand editor lets you create a rich storytelling experience with many images and video customization options. But Shorthand is very costly and lacks some features a rich editor should have. Froala, on the other hand, images is a powerful javascript editor with more than 100 features with affordable pricing plans than Shorthand. Thus, as the leader on the G2, Froala editor stands out from all these areas and is the best editor for all your editing needs.

Ready to get started creating exciting projects with Froala editor? Download now

Posted on August 5, 2021

Shanika Wickramasinghe

Shanika Wickramasinghea former writer for Froala, showcased exceptional talent and dedication during their tenure with the company.

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