---
title: Shorthand Reviews
meta_title: 'Shorthand Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2'
meta_description: Filter 126 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry
  to find out how Shorthand works for a business like yours.
aggregate_rating:
  rating_value: 4.7
  review_count: 126
  scale: '5'
date_modified: '2026-07-31'
parent_category:
  name: Content Marketing
  url: https://www.g2.com/categories/content-marketing
---

# Shorthand Reviews
**Vendor:** Shorthand  
**Category:** [Content Creation Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/content-creation)  
**Average Rating:** 4.7/5.0  
**Total Reviews:** 126
## About Shorthand
Shorthand is the beautifully simple visual storytelling platform that helps the world&#39;s iconic brands tell their most important stories. Shorthand empowers content creators, designers, and developers to publish visual stories with up to 10x higher audience engagement, in a fraction of the time. Global organisations such as Honda, the BBC, TripAdvisor, and Sky Sports use Shorthand to engage their high-value audiences on their owned properties. Creating premium digital stories is often slow, fragmented, and resource-intensive. Shorthand solves this with a powerful no-code editor that lets anyone create, edit, and publish stunning reading experiences in minutes — without needing design or development skills. Prebuilt templates, AI-powered auto layout, and PDF import help teams move from source material to published story faster, while built-in workflow and collaboration tools keep everyone aligned. The AI Creative Companion takes this further, letting teams generate story drafts, explore ideas, and make edits using natural-language prompts directly inside Shorthand — reducing production friction while keeping teams in full editorial control. With Shorthand for WordPress, teams can create and publish immersive stories straight from their CMS, bringing Shorthand&#39;s storytelling tools to the world&#39;s most widely used publishing platform. Users can publish Shorthand content nearly anywhere — via AWS, their CMS, Shorthand hosting, or by embedding directly on their website. The Shorthand team is a band of geeks with art and heart, dedicated to helping content teams build the world&#39;s most impressive and impactful digital content.



## Shorthand Pros & Cons
**What users like:**

- Users find Shorthand&#39;s **ease of use** invaluable, enabling quick creation of high-quality digital content with minimal training. (31 reviews)
- Users love the **easy creation process** of Shorthand, making storytelling interactive and visually stunning with minimal effort. (16 reviews)
- Users appreciate the **creativity and ease** of Shorthand, enabling them to craft engaging multimedia stories effortlessly. (14 reviews)
- Users love the **ease of creation** with Shorthand, enabling them to produce stunning content effortlessly and quickly. (13 reviews)
- Users love the **intuitive and powerful features** of Shorthand that enhance storytelling with multimedia and interactivity. (12 reviews)
- Users commend the **high-quality storytelling capabilities** of Shorthand, enhancing engagement with immersive features and stunning visuals. (12 reviews)
- Visual Appeal (11 reviews)
- Users appreciate the **great support** from Shorthand, highlighting the team&#39;s quick responses and helpfulness. (10 reviews)
- Intuitive (10 reviews)
- Helpful (9 reviews)

**What users dislike:**

- Users find the **initial learning curve challenging** , requiring time and effort to adapt to Shorthand’s features. (7 reviews)
- Users find Shorthand to be **expensive for startups and small institutions** , limiting access despite its impressive capabilities. (6 reviews)
- Users find Shorthand **expensive** , making it difficult for startups and small institutions to afford its features. (6 reviews)
- Users find Shorthand&#39;s **editability limitations** frustrating, especially regarding story headers and complex design options. (6 reviews)
- Users express a desire for greater **customization limitations** in Shorthand, hindering their creative flexibility and placement options. (6 reviews)
- Adjustment Issues (5 reviews)
- Editing Difficulties (4 reviews)
- Limited Options (4 reviews)
- Steep Learning Curve (4 reviews)
- Difficulty (3 reviews)

## Shorthand Reviews
  ### 1. Shorthand Review

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Helen R. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 03, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is a superb tool for quickly building microsites and immersive landing pages to showcase immersive digital stories or long-form content.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I honestly cannot think of anything I dislike about Shorthand.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand allows us to integrate multiple content types (editorial, video, sound, social posts, imagery etc) into our CMS via a Drupal API. The tool is super-easy to use and enables non-tech savvy users to get quickly up to speed. We typically use Shorthand to showcase thought leadership events, long-form stories and to power the Careers section of our website.

  ### 2. My experience with Shorthand.

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Andrew E. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 04, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

I enjoy making the premium content we create as engaging as possible for fans. The platform helps us do just that.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

There is nothing on top of mind that I dislike about Shorthand.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand allows us to easily create premium longform content for our website. It helps us produce a top-level experience for fans, from presentation to taking the users on a journey when they explore an article created using Shorthand.

  ### 3. Incredibly intuitive and caters for endless business needs

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Will R. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 29, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The continuious changes to the platform, adding new features to promote creativity across our content.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Some of the rigid structures, I would be nice to be able to customise the pages a little more.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Stops reliance on Development teams, we can create engaging wesbites from little input from other teams.

  ### 4. We've had a fantastic experience using Shorthand

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Online Media | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 29, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is great and makes it super easy to make very impressive looking stories that really come to life and engage audiences. It is really easy to use and the consistent additions and new developments means we can always keep our content fresh. The team at Shorthand are also very helpful and are incredibly quick to respond if there are any issues.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

There isn't much to dislike about Shorthand, and will be great to see the platform continue to develop more and more new features.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Making it much easier and much quicker to create impressive looking content for our website. It is also working well to engage audiences and keep them on the page for longer.

  ### 5. Couldn't be without it!

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Joanna W. | Senior Media Manager, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 10, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is an excellent tool, that me and my team couldn't be without. It's intuitive, creative and visually appealing, and the support behind the scenes is also excellent.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Nothing! I've had no problems with Shorthand so far.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

With Shorthand, my team and I can tell stories in a visually appealing and engaging way. When we build something using Shorthand, we always receive excellent feedback.

  ### 6. Freedom to tell stories with no boundaries

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** David C. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 28, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Easy dashboard and simple story building platform

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Would like wider font selection to create better headlnes etc

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Allows stories to come to life - readers know they are in for a different experience when they use see a Shorthand feature.

  ### 7. A powerful storytelling tool

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Claudio L. | Production Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 06, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is a powerful tool, we enjoyed creating with it since it is really user-friendly and minimalistic. It really helped us create engaging landing pages and improve conversions.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

nothing at all! It is a poweful tool and at the moment the only limitations I see are the ones related to image quality but overall it is great and I believe it will improve with the years.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

the opportunity to generate landing pages without involving external agencies and developers. It is helpful because it saves time and give us more freedom to structure pages the way we want.

  ### 8. Great tool for publishing industry

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Christina R. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 29, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The templates and how easy it is to use!

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Nothing specific. Sometimes i got annoyned that i have to use a graphic designer for outstand concepts

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Creating long-form content without using a developer

  ### 9. Amazing storytelling platform

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Sorina M. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 31, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

I love how it allows you to easily create impactful stories in no time

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I would like it to have a wider variety of templates.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Impactful storytelling in journalism

  ### 10. Super Easy to Use

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospitality | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 23, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is very easy to use and it makes our newsletter more engaging and easy to read. The images and videos are very simple to just drag and drop into the editor.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

If the text box sizes were able to be editable, it could be better.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand helped our newsletter go digital instead of continuing to be printed every month. We are spending less and our members are reading more!

  ### 11. Extremely easy to customize and create dynamic stories.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Andrea J. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 13, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The easy-to-use section templates and tools like "Projects"  make creating stories fun.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

As a graphic designer, I want to create more complex designs, and we are sometimes limited if there are more flexible options to create more complex layouts without using codes.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand makes presentations come to life instead of using boring PowerPoint to present data/information. Keeps viewers interested and engaged with the content.

  ### 12. Presentation

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Gary  W. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 30, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

I use shorthand for sales presentations. The feedback from potential clients is always positive and now and then clients do respond with a thanks for the professional proposal.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Seems to take a lot of memory from the computer

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Vibrant sales presentations

  ### 13. Form beats content

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Lars Ørjan N. | Content creator

**Reviewed Date:** January 12, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The simplicity. It is very quick to create something that is incredibly beautiful

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I've stayed up all night trying to figure out what I don't like. But I can't find one

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I stand out when I share links that are written in Shorthand. It creates a WOW factor and makes it easier to keep the reader engaged.

  ### 14. Amazing tool for creating easy longform articles

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Publishing | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 31, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

it is very easy to setup a longread article or a collection of them

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

It does not include animations over the content or elements

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Publishing longform articles

  ### 15. Easy to use and implement

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** March 28, 2023

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Easy to build an expert-like site. Helpful account managers and tutorials on how to use.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Not able to add Lead Generation to the page. I am hoping that this will be a feature that will soon be rolled out.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand provides an external link for our clients. It gives us one centralized place to keep our marketing/sales enablement material.

  ### 16. Elegant interface, easy to use, and excellent customer support

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Marissa R. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 24, 2020

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

For ease in creating custom multimedia storytelling experiences, Shorthand is the way to go. Their templates allow for elegant and simple stories that any novice could quickly master creating, as well as the option for more technically nuanced approaches to create slick and professional designs. But what has been as impressive as their platform is their customer support. They are always quick, efficient, and treat me and my team with personal professionalism that is often lacking from tech companies. Our early missteps received kind understanding and the support team immediately took the time to adjust things on the back end for us. I definitely recommend Shorthand, particularly for other cultural heritage institutions, like ours.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

We are very satisfied with Shorthand. One point our users mention is that they miss breadcrumbs that would easily direct them back to the previous story they were in when advancing through linked stories (rather than having to click back to the original tab).

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand has provided us with an easy way to take our exhibition content and scholarly research and pair them with digitized cultural heritage collections to create engaging online stories for our the public.

  ### 17. Shorthand gives our journalism students real pride in their multimedia work

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 01, 2022

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Customer support is prompt and friendly.
Shorthand is intuitive to use
The presentation of stories is beautiful and encourages students to explore, experiment and be ambitious

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Uploaded media e.g. images are not stored in a library. This means that when the editor wants to move things around, it's problematic if they don't have access to the original media. Are we missing something obvious here/

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We were looking for a multimedia platform to showcase student work in a professional manner.

  ### 18. The perfect tool for creating immersive content

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** January 04, 2022

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Platforms similar to Shorthand are at their best when they are quick and easy to use; Shorthand's is both and what's more, it's a breeze to put together rich content in no time.

Even better is the way they support you in everything you do. There's always the detailed Knowledge Base to hand and a personal account manager who supports and investigates any issues which may arise for us.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

There's a few limits, design-wise, and the ability to have more sections to work with would be nice, but on the whole, Shorthand has everything we need as an organisation.

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

Sign up for the free trial and experience Shorthand for yourself. The trial allows you to use pretty much everything that's available in the full version – you won't be disappointed!

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We regularly deal with infographics, charts and diagrams – Shorthand helps bring all of these to life with simple animations that help reveal information in a progressive and easy-to-understand way. A restriction on the number of sections a Story can hold can be a bit restrictive, but it does force our clients to hone and sharpen their content, which can only be a good thing.

  ### 19. Seamless, Beautiful, Easy-to-Navigate Platform

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Xandi E. | Head of Social and Digital Marketing, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 05, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is a fantastic no-code platform that allows us to showcase our creative work and storytelling. As a digital publisher, we can focus on the campaign objectives without having to tackle complicated codes and programs. The interface is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. Any user can figure it out at the first use.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

It would be great to have paid add-ons per story, rather than per subscription, because each campaign/story is unique in terms of objectives and budgets.

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

Shorthand is highly recommended for content creators and storytellers who want to focus on the visuals and design, rather than the coding.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

With Shorthand, we have eliminated the need to outsource coding and progamming. We used to hard-code every microsite we create, and the back-and-forth with feedback and changes eat up precious time. Shorthand has allowed us to create beautiful and attractive pages without using a single line of code ourselves.

  ### 20. Beautiful and easy-to-use web interface

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Renae B. | Communications Coordinator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 17, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is an incredibly user-friendly web design interface that makes beautiful web pages and articles simple to achieve.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

We haven't encountered any issues or things we'd change with Shorthand yet!

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We are finding Shorthand particularly helpful for larger form reporting, such as our annual Donor Impact Report. With Shorthand, our digital reports are visually comparable to the printed version - we are so happy with our digital reporting outcomes, we are aiming to offer only digital reporting from 2022.

  ### 21. A great tool for storytelling

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Richard J. | Subject Area Leader, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 06, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

I teach Shorthand to students and have limited time to do so, but they find it very user friendly and are quickly able to get the basics and tell some impressive-looking stories.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Nothing in particular really, this has been an effective product for us.

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

This is the best digital tool I've so far used for this kind of storytelling purpose.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand is an easy way to introduce students to the creation of striking looking visual content, with a minimum of coding knowledge.

  ### 22. Shorthand is a Powerful Tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Entertainment | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 12, 2022

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand gives us a new storytelling tool that fits our clients.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Some of the scrolling features that reveal images, don't give me enough control of when the images are revealed

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

When we need to tell a complex story for a client, Shorthand helps us deliver.

  ### 23. Easy to use and perfect for our requirements

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Sports | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 20, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The platform does a lot of the work for you - it makes the process extremely fast. The nature of what we need means that I can duplicate a story and have the next one made quickly.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

There are limits design-wise - this is obviously so that anyone can use it, but as a designer, you are used to a lot more freedom. Having to make graphics and infographics on a separate platform and then add them in as JPEGs doesn't feel like best practice, but it does still work.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It provides us with the means to send a digital programme to supporters. We could create a PDF and send this out, but we didn't want to do this as we wanted to make best use of the fact that this will be viewed on a screen. It means that supporters see images responsive to their screen size, we can send them straight to other digital content (youtube videos, website links etc) and it's just a better experience overall.

  ### 24. Shorthand Simplicity

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Damion D. | Deputy Digital Producer, Information Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The system is very user friendly and takes no time to get to grips with the interface and capabilities - its all there for you. Options to embed enriched media from other software you might use like Infogram, and if you have coders you can embed your own creations.
The support team have been great, quick, friendly and go above and beyong to help you get the best from the system

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Nothing, alls good, but hope at some point they continue to add new functionlity

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Creating engaging Marketing Insight articles for our customers without involving our tech teams

  ### 25. Great platform with brilliant customer support

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Media Production | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** October 28, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The support from the Shorthand team has always been prompt and helpful, whether it's a small problem or a big change to our template. It is an excellent platform that really elevates the design of our stories and reports.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

There could be room for even more customization and flexibility within sections when building a story.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand has improved the appearance and user-friendliness of our reports and long articles, with readers commenting on how much they like the new look and sponsors being increasingly impressed.

  ### 26. Shorthand is marvellous

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Daniel S. | Digital production editor, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 26, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is really easy to use to create lovely looking results, and the more you use it the more you find different ways of improving what you're putting out. The suport team are fantastic, really going above and beyond to sort out any problems and work with you to achieve what you want.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

There's nothing at all I dislike about it.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

The content produced is much more appealing than an ordinary text-heavy page, with opportunities for multi-media.

  ### 27. I love creating content on Shorthand

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Shalini R. | Digital Content Producer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** August 17, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is a great platform to help us make the most of our visual assets, doing them justice. I love the scrollmation features, keeping the user engaged, especially for longer-form content. 
Shorthand enables great collaboration for us at WaterAid, working closely with our photo, design and editorial teams. 
I look forward to creating more stories, exploring more features and capabilities.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

The only thing I wished I could have added were more visual blocks for CTAs back to our website at the bottom.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand allows us to create dynamic storytelling content, giving the user an immersive-type feeling that we can't yet achieve on our website alone.

  ### 28. A wonderful, flexible service that enables creativity

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Dominic E. | Online Content Editor, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** July 23, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The flexibility is terrific. You can use Shorthand for simple photo-led pieces or as a platform for something a bit more ambitious. They're also constantly working on the platform, improving the UI and adding new components. Finally, the Shorthand team has great communication and will respond to help request almost immediately (regardless of your timezone).

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

No major drawbacks. It does exactly what it should.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We have published photo essays, long-form features, and even interactive Escape Rooms. It's wonderful.

  ### 29. Shorthand is an excellent, user-friendly digital publishing tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** November 10, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand has a simple interface and it's easy to create striking pages with rich media content quickly and with professional results.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

While an extremely valuable tool, a custom Shorthand theme is somewhat expensive for our state-funded budget. However, the capabilities and ease of use far exceed the value of cheaper options.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I would love the option to organize projects in the backend. Being able to stack or put related projects in a folder would be lovely. Shorthand has enabled our team to publish content quickly and professionally.

  ### 30. Very useful tool and service

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Stefanie S. | Adjunct Professor, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 22, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is a very useful tool for any person interested in telling stories with an amazing design. It's easy to use, very intuitive. Also, their support service is helpful and fast.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I can't see any bad thing about Shorthand, but if I have to name one is that it is not translated to other languages so it could be used in much more countries.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand makes it easy to tell a story with great design features without having to learn about programming or CSS. If you know CSS you can personalize even more the tool, but if you don't, you're going to have a great result also.

  ### 31. Excellent storytelling software

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Online Media | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

It's very easy to use and intuitive – and it looks great. The team are also extremely helpful when it comes to any issues.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Sometimes there are issues when embedding its stories on our own site, but these are usually resolved quickly.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We use it for both commercial and editorial content on our website and it really helps to get us across a lot of information in an attractive way.

  ### 32. Digital Storytelling in Tertiary Education

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Mark T. | Acting Manager – Education, Technology and Academic Development (ETAD), Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 19, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Visually striking and easy to use platform

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Slowdown when using large images and vid

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

Save yourself some time looking at others and take the leap with shorthand. Works great across teams and allows you to quickly create visually striking content with ease of navigation and collaboration. Just make sure you practice the humble face you'll make when receiving complements, while being painfully aware that it only took you about 30 minutes to create something professional and unique.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Engaging students across longer periods, evaluating effectiveness with analytics to drive continuous improvement.

  ### 33. Excellent product, outstanding customer service. I never write reviews, so it must be good.

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** November 26, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Support for new and potential future users.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Capers, word counts, enforced feedback structures.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Teaching my students. I get to watch them grow..

  ### 34. An engaging and user-friendly way to add value and compile a story without prior coding knowledge.

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Renewables & Environment | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The fact you could create an interesting scroll-read without having prior coding knowledge.

Functional section layouts and easy ways of adding images and text. Alternative smaller screen versions and alt text for accessibility were useful additions.

Good tips and supporting documents for safe areas, image resolution and effective file format. And live/recorded tutorials to understand the workings were a useful reference at any time.

Customising options by allowing the user/client to add in the specific brand details – logo, font and colours.

Prompt support from the shorthand team, especially technical and theme support Alex Marshall and Dawn Murden.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I found the theme form quite complex without a visual reference and what each section/heading or body style would look like. It would be good if the form had visual elements built in to cross-reference the context of the style and colour, especially where they would be applied and how they would appear.

And one other thing was not being able to have different height sections for text over media and scrollmation sections. Sometimes these sections aren't very long when they are broken up for layout reasons, so you end up with a lot of blank space. It would be good to have full and half screen layout like the title section for these as well.

In some sections I found the alignment of the image containers (top and left) to the text column a bit off and this bothered me, all it needed was a light nudge to align.

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

An engaging medium if the story is visually compelling and has supporting visuals and media to offer. Storyboard and plan the story on paper before moving on to building the visual.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

In the current circumstances (unpredicted 'pandemic') when we've lost human contact and sharing important reports and research via conferences, meetings with people using printed reports and other tactile means, shorthand helps bridge this gap by allowing a more user-friendly way of sharing a story and adding value to a report. As the report we worked with had many reviews and videos, Shorthands dynamic workspace with images, text and video aided a more interactive approach of telling the story.

  ### 35. Good understanding of our needs and excellent delivery.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Oil & Energy | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 29, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand were very responsive to any questions we raised and always happy to confirm what was happening at each stop of the process.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I don't have any negatives, our experience was 100% positive.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand have simpifiled the process of publishing content to our new domain and created redirects for all of our old content to the new sub-domain.
This has saved our team hours of work re-publishing all of the content manually.

  ### 36. Deadline response

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Michelle H. | Writer and coach, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 10, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

We needed help getting a story published on deadline and the customer "success manager" came through. Thanks Shorthand !

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I wish more people used Shorthand. It's a great tool.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

It's a good tool for storytelling especially when you have good images. You don't need a lot of text.

  ### 37. Great product, great service!

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 28, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is a really intuitive platform that makes it easy to produce engaging, beautiful digital content. The service is brilliant, with as much 1:1 support as you need.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I can't think of any specific downsides other than relatively high costs which can be a bit tricky for my org.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Being able to have a platform for very longform content, with more easily customisable features than our own website. Engaging storytelling without the need for coding.

  ### 38. Shorthand - Flexible, Intuitive and appealing visual design

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 25, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

I really like the visually attractive templates available and the fact that it's easy to use.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Not a lot to talk about here once you get used to the concept of stories live in collections which in turn live in stories.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I'm able to create more appealing websites than on my business CMS.

  ### 39. It radically changed how we think of content and what we can accomplish.

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Helena C. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 23, 2020

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The universe of possibilities it opens up for us, in terms of what we can do with our content. It's very flexible, and yet, it always looks cohesive and elegant. The user experience is wonderful every time. The Reveal Section has endless uses: we've published animated cartoons, interactive waterworks infographics, pie/bar charts and photographs. This range provides an opportunity to rethink content - what we can do and how we can do it - and to incorporate new methodologies into our conceptualization process.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Depending on what you want to achieve, it can be the right tool for you or not. If you want total freedom to design user experience and interactivity, this wouldn't be the right platform. But for newsrooms without coding capabilities, this is as good as it gets.

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

If you think this can be the right fit for your needs, do it. Get Shorthand. If you use its sections creatively, the possibilities are endless for what you can accomplish with your content. You get a flexible and elegant user interface, and strong backend processing capabilities. It is also easy to use, scale and incorporate into your production pipeline. 

With Shorthand you can stop worring about the software and focus on creating the best content.

It's an overall superior product.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We are able to publish interactive, engaging and informative stories eficiently and without having to code. As a small newsroom in a country like Venezuela, our resources are limited. We face many constraints, from internet speed to hiperinflation, that make having a full-time programming team impossible. Shorthand allows us an array of content possibilities that work well with our needs and capabilities. The content is easy to upload, and therefore, the process is easy to incorporate into our pipeline, and several sections provide the opportunity to build interactivity through good design. 

Shorthand allows small newsrooms to build big stories.

  ### 40. Shorthand has enabled us to deliver content in a wider range of styles and in a more engaging manner

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Andy H. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 22, 2020

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The relative simplicity of the system - it's very easy to find your way round. And it's pretty intuitive too. Where it's not, there's normally some kind of help page or article that points you in the right direction. Also like the preview option to check your work as you go along and that you don't have to constantly save while putting an article together. When Ive' encountered technical publishing-related issues, I'm pleased to say the help desk has been pretty quick to respond on the whole.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

The lack of ability to make adjustments such as font size and column width within templates. Some built in image editing software would be useful too. For some articles you have to crop an image in so many different dimensions so that works well in all the different places - desktop version, mobile version, social channels. We've had some issues with a recent update at Shorthand's end which means articles look good in preview but when published the images are all pixelated. Apparently it's an issue at our end with our webservers but, to my knowledge, we weren't warned in advance that there could be disruption.

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

Get your theme right from the start. And explore how others have put Shorthand to use - it will stimulate ideas.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

The ability to display not only data in a much more engaging way, but general content too. Articles are clutter-free, easy to digest and a pleasure to lazily scroll through. We've not really had the ability to do that before and consequently traction of our long-form reads has increased.

  ### 41. We have loved using Shorthand

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Andrea H. | Graphic Designer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 03, 2020

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

I love how easy the platform is to use and how speedy their help service is to help (on the few occasions we have needed it). They have been super accommodating of us and are always willing to help!

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

There are a few things we wish we have control over (such as how the responsiveness works and some custom styling), however I know on higher plans this is available, and shorthand . The other thing I have found challenging is that the pricing structure changes every year, this being said, shorthand has always been willing to help and find a plan to suit our NGO budget.

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

I would highly recommend it. The team has been amazing over the 3 years we have used them.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We have moved our Annual Report to Shorthand which has been amazing and a really engaging way to engage our supporters. More recently we are using it for more digital assets that we are needing to be more engaging and something different for people for are being bombarded with NGO asks.

  ### 42. A brilliant platform, for creating really engaging case studies.

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Rich E. | D, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 04, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The platform is super easy to work with and has some brilliant features. Connecting different social platforms to help layer stories and embed videos from youtube. The technical support and help is great too.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I would recommend the Pro licence, although it's more expensive the additional features are worth the cost.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Workstreams are much better, making digital case studies more engaging and connecting social platforms.

  ### 43. Great visual storytelling tool

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Jayvik P. | Digital Content Operations Manager, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 03, 2020

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

It’s easy to use with simple guides (if needed) to on-board other team members. You can really push your creativity as the various options, especially tailoring content just for desktop AND/OR mobile, allow you to provide a unique experience for your users to consume your content/information.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

The limited networks offered as sharing could be expanded, to truly reach the masses. Only one user can be editing at one given time so sometimes limits collaboration.

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

Ensure you have a well laid out content strategy and plan to produce high quality Shorthand pieces, as well as having enough design/creative support to really bring it to life.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We are trying to ensure our users absorb crucial info and take real notice of the message in our storytelling. The benefit with Shorthand is the creative ways you can achieve this really ensures users retain that information.

  ### 44. Responsive team, recommend

**Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Tobacco | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** June 22, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

That they reply to your emails, queries straight away

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Once, they cancelled a meeting unilaterally

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

Easy to use, straight-forward process

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

technical stuff, practical tips on how to make the story better

  ### 45. Shorthand is easy to learn, fun to use and produces amazing results

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Paul J. | Digital Content Designer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 22, 2020

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

I like not worrying about making an story/page responsive - the preview shows the end product for the majority of devices, and the setting the focal point takes care of the rest. I like finding creative ways to combine sections. Still finding them a year into using it!
Tech support are suberb too.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

There have been a few occasions when the positioning of text on a Text Over Media section feels limited. I usually get around this by editing the image but I'd like to suggest having 5 horizontal placements instead of the current 3.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

We can create stunning stories in such a short space of time. It's easy to use with a good selection of sections and also handles custom html, css and javascript when needed.

  ### 46. Shorthand review

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** April 27, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is very intuitive, easy to use and the product is awesome.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

The is not much to dislike about Shorthand, perhaps the blocks can be mildly restrictive at times but then again, that makes for a very user friendly experience for beginners.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Shorthand is helping us to create extremely engaging and impactful stories.

  ### 47. Easy to pick up and use - fabulous customer support

**Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Fred G. | Producer/Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** September 18, 2020

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

The people who work there are really great - helping out with any problems quickly and giving time for long calls when we have had questions.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

I guess if pushed I'd say the cost, but then it does a huge amount - so I can see why

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

It's worth looking at all the tips - they have a huge amount of material to help you understand the potential of shorthand - plus they're favourites on pinterest is useful too.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

As a digital agency - it's been a great new way of telling stories for our clients - I like the fact that it combines all the different elements together to create a compelling package. S

  ### 48. Excellent tool, excellent support

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Tyler N. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** November 03, 2020

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

An excellent storytelling tool that is stable and powerful. Wonderfully responsive support from an outstanding company. Shorthand's generous support of journalism education is helping prepare the next generation of journalists.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

There are very few things I dislike about the product.

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

I use Shorthand to teach my students how to approach more advanced presentation of longer-form journalism projects. Using the same tools as major media organizations is an important step in preparing them for their future careers. Students are very satisfied with this product, and from an administration perspective, it works very well.

**Official Response from Andrew Cobby:**

> Hey Tyler, thanks for your lovely review of Shorthand! I’m so glad you’ve found our support team to be wonderfully responsive. Best of luck to you and your students in producing some beautiful stories.

Thanks again, and happy storytelling!

  ### 49. Online storytelling in a simple and safe way

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Eszter S. | Senior Graphic Designer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** November 25, 2020

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

Shorthand is an online storytelling system, easy to use, and custom designed for clients. with the pre-defined styles the visual identity is always respected. Used by a designer, magic can happen.  I have been using Shorthand for 4 years now and never had a problem that they could not solve and the help is always very fast.

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

Once the style is defined, there is not much room for change.

**Recommendations to others considering Shorthand:**

Your decision should be based on the publications you plan to produce (length, frequency, etc)

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

Giving offline publications a new life, not the usual pdf viewing.
Publications can be done without hiring a designer.

  ### 50. Shorthand have been great at helping us tell stories in a visually striking way

**Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars

**Reviewed by:** Verified User in Performing Arts | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

**Reviewed Date:** May 25, 2021

**What do you like best about Shorthand?**

I love how easy it is to use, and I love how visual the platform is

**What do you dislike about Shorthand?**

At times the backend can take a while to load if using big files etc

**What problems is Shorthand solving and how is that benefiting you?**

How to tell stories in a compelling way - including audio, video and other rich media all in one place


## Shorthand Discussions
  - [How do I create a storytelling website?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-do-i-create-a-storytelling-website)
  - [How much does shorthand cost?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-much-does-shorthand-cost)
  - [What is an example of shorthand?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-an-example-of-shorthand)
  - [What is shorthand software?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-shorthand-software)

- [View Shorthand pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/shorthand/reviews?page=2&section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-31+14%3A06%3A19+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=9469a883-d91c-47b5-8037-1aea51b9af8b&secure%5Btoken%5D=0f8c240c2695f76f1c15eb2243f7d90c19e51ca9b6a18531f80880ac544584fe&format=llm_user)
## Shorthand Integrations
  - [AWS Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/aws-cloud/reviews)
  - [Drupal](https://www.g2.com/products/drupal/reviews)
  - [Flourish](https://www.g2.com/products/flourish-flourish/reviews)
  - [Google Analytics](https://www.g2.com/products/google-analytics/reviews)
  - [Google Tag Manager](https://www.g2.com/products/google-tag-manager/reviews)
  - [Infogram](https://www.g2.com/products/infogram/reviews)
  - [Microsoft Teams](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-teams/reviews)
  - [Slack](https://www.g2.com/products/slack/reviews)
  - [SoundCloud](https://www.g2.com/products/soundcloud/reviews)
  - [Umbraco](https://www.g2.com/products/umbraco/reviews)
  - [Unsplash](https://www.g2.com/products/unsplash/reviews)
  - [Vimeo](https://www.g2.com/products/vimeo/reviews)
  - [WordPress.com](https://www.g2.com/products/wordpress-com/reviews)
  - [WordPress.org](https://www.g2.com/products/wordpress-org/reviews)
  - [YouTube Live](https://www.g2.com/products/youtube-live/reviews)

## Shorthand Features
**Content**
- Content Authoring
- Rich Text Editor
- Plug-ins/Widgets/Apps
- Approval Process
- Asset Management
- Internal Search
- Content Repository

**Content Creation**
- Content Creation Tools
- Content Curation
- Buyer Personas
- Content Management

**Content Creation**
- Content Management

**Design**
- Templates
- Layout editor
- Publishing formats
- Saved preferences
- Infographics
- Asset Library

**Platform - Owned Media**
- Analytics
- Integrations
- Distribution

**Agentic AI - Content Experience Platforms**
- Autonomous Task Execution
- Multi-step Planning
- Cross-system Integration
- Adaptive Learning
- Proactive Assistance
- Decision Making

**Design**
- Breadth of Pre-Built Templates
- Mobile
- Branding/Themes
- Customization

**Optimization**
- SEO
- A/B Testing
- Dashboards & Reporting
- Audience Targeting
- ROI Reporting

**Optimization**
- ROI Reporting

**Platform Additional Functionality**
- File Storage

**Publishing**
- Execute Content Publication

**Agentic AI - Owned Media**
- Autonomous Task Execution
- Multi-step Planning
- Cross-system Integration
- Adaptive Learning
- Proactive Assistance
- Decision Making

**Platform**
- User Community
- Flexible Navigation Structures
- User, Role, and Access Management
- Enterprise Scalability
- Internationalization
- Dashboards and Reports
- API / Integrations

**Logistics**
- Customizable Templated Workflows
- Internal Communication
- Version Control
- Editing and Approval Tools
- Distribution Features
- Integrations & APIs
- User, Role, and Access Management

**Social Media**
- Social Media Integration

**Generative AI**
- AI Text Generation
- AI Text Generation
- AI Text Summarization
- AI Text-to-Image

**Agentic AI - Web Content Management**
- Cross-system Integration
- Natural Language Interaction

**Agentic AI - Content Creation**
- Autonomous Task Execution
- Multi-step Planning
- Cross-system Integration
- Adaptive Learning
- Natural Language Interaction
- Proactive Assistance
- Decision Making

## Top Shorthand Alternatives
  - [Foleon](https://www.g2.com/products/foleon/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (181 reviews)
  - [Vev](https://www.g2.com/products/vev/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (135 reviews)
  - [Ceros](https://www.g2.com/products/ceros/reviews) - 4.1/5.0 (113 reviews)

