Make a storyboard online for free, with no sign-up
If you need a free storyboard maker, or a free alternative to Boords for a small project, open Storyboard. You get a grid of frames you can sketch in or fill with images, a place for shot type, camera move, action and dialogue under each frame, an animatic player, and a PDF export with no watermark. It runs in your browser and your frames never leave your device.
Step by step
- Open Storyboard. You start with three empty frames. Click the title at the top to name your storyboard.
- Pick the frame shape in the drop-down next to Play: 16:9 for video, 9:16 for vertical social video, 1:1, 4:3 or 2.39:1 for widescreen film.
- Click a frame to draw. Choose Pen or Eraser, a colour and a size, and sketch with a mouse, finger or stylus (stylus pressure changes the line width). Thirds shows a rule-of-thirds grid, Image puts a photo under your drawing, and the arrows undo and redo. Press Done.
- Have pictures already? Press Add images under the frames, or drop image files onto the grid. They fill the empty frames first, then new frames are added.
- Under each frame, choose the shot type (wide, medium, close-up, over the shoulder…) and the camera move, set the duration in seconds, and type the action, dialogue or voice-over, and any notes.
- Reorder frames by dragging them, or with the ← and → buttons on each card. Use Insert after, duplicate or delete; a deleted frame can be brought back with Undo.
- Press Play to watch the animatic. Space pauses, the arrow keys step through frames, and the slider jumps anywhere.
- Press Export PDF, choose A4 or US Letter, landscape or portrait and 1 to 4 frames per row, and save. The More menu also exports a WebM video of the animatic, a shot list as CSV for a spreadsheet, every frame as a PNG in a ZIP, or a project file you can open again later.
Who it helps
- Film and media students who need to hand in a storyboard as a PDF and don't want to pay for a subscription for one assignment.
- Social media creators planning a short vertical video: set 9:16, block out the shots, check the timing with the animatic.
- Small agencies and freelancers pitching an ad: drop in reference images, write the voice-over under each frame, and send the client a clean PDF.
- Teachers who use storyboards for lessons or school projects on shared computers where installing software is not allowed.
Why it's private
Storyboard is a static page. Your drawings, images and text are kept in your browser's own storage (IndexedDB) on your device and are never uploaded; the page's security policy blocks it from sending data to other websites. The PDF, video and images are made by your browser. Clearing your browser data deletes the storyboard, so save a project file for anything important.
Tips and limits
- Arabic and other scripts work in every text field and come out correctly in the PDF and video, because pages are drawn by the browser. The flip side: PDF text is part of the page image, so it can't be selected or searched.
- Video is recorded in real time, so a two-minute animatic takes two minutes to export. It is WebM (plays in Chrome, Firefox and VLC), has no sound, and needs a browser that can record canvas video (Chrome, Edge, Firefox).
- Big photos are shrunk to a little over the frame size when you add them, which keeps the project small.
- No collaboration. There are no share links, comments or client approvals like paid team tools have. Share the PDF or the video instead.
- Keyboard: N adds a frame, P plays, ? shows all shortcuts; in the drawing window B and E switch pen and eraser and Ctrl+Z undoes.
FAQ
Is this storyboard maker really free?
Yes. There is no paid plan, no account, no frame limit and no watermark on the PDF, video or images you export.
Can I make an animatic?
Yes. Give each frame a duration in seconds and press Play to watch the frames in order with the dialogue as captions. More > Export video (WebM) records it as a video file. There is no audio track.
Do I have to be able to draw?
No. You can drop photos, screenshots or reference images into frames instead, and draw stick figures or arrows on top of them.
Where are my frames saved?
In your browser's storage on your device. Nothing is uploaded. Use More > Save project file to keep a copy or move the storyboard to another computer.
Can I share it with a client?
Send them the exported PDF or video. There are no share links or comments, because nothing is stored on a server.
Related tools
- Whiteboard: a simple drawing board for rough ideas before you break them into frames.
- Video Frames: pull still images out of a video to use as reference frames.
- Collage Maker: put several images on one page for a mood board.
- Screen Recorder: record a walkthrough of your animatic with your voice.
- All guides