What Is Doodly? Doodly is a desktop software application for creating whiteboard animation videos — the style where a hand appears to draw images and text in real time on a white (or colored) board surface. It runs natively on Mac and Windows, requires no animation background to use, and is designed specifically to make this one type of video fast and accessible for non-designers.
If you have ever watched an explainer video online where drawings appear to be sketched onto a board while a voice explains a concept, you have seen whiteboard animation. Doodly is one of the most widely used tools for producing that style of content, and it has built its reputation on making the process simple enough that a solo creator with no video production experience can produce professional-looking results in under an hour.
What Does Doodly Actually Do?
At its core, Doodly lets you:
- Choose a board style — whiteboard (white surface), blackboard, greenboard, or glassboard
- Drag assets from a built-in library onto the canvas — characters, props, icons, text, and backgrounds
- Set the order in which elements appear and how long each drawing sequence takes
- Add audio — voiceover narration or background music tracks
- Export the finished video in HD up to 1080p
The software handles the animation automatically. You place an element on the canvas, and Doodly generates the “hand drawing it” animation for that element. You do not need to animate anything manually. This is what makes it fundamentally different from general-purpose video or animation tools — the output format is fixed, the production process is streamlined, and the learning curve is minimal.
Who Makes Doodly?
Doodly is made by Bryxen, a software company that also makes Toonly (character animation), Talkia (text-to-speech), and several other creator-focused tools. Bryxen is known for the desktop-app-based, one-time-purchase model that sets Doodly apart from browser-based subscription competitors. The software has been commercially available since 2017 and has accumulated a large user base among online educators, marketers, and content creators.
What Is Doodly Used For?
The most common use cases for Doodly are:
- Online course content — visual lesson intros, module explanations, concept breakdowns
- Marketing explainer videos — product introductions, landing page videos, ad content
- Training and onboarding — internal business videos that explain processes or procedures
- YouTube content — educational and how-to channels that use the whiteboard style
- Social media video — short explainer clips for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn
- Sales and pitch support — visual explanations to accompany presentations or proposals
For a full assessment of the software’s strengths and limitations, read our complete Doodly review. To understand the cost, see the pricing breakdown. And if you are not sure whether Doodly is the right tool or want to compare it against alternatives before committing, our alternatives guide covers the main options.