When comparing Pencil vs Rocket, the Slant community recommends Rocket for most people. In the question“What are the best web frameworks for Rust?” Rocket is ranked 1st while Pencil is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose Rocket is:
Rocket makes extensive use of Rust's code generation tools to provide a clean API.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Built-in diagramming
Pencil allows you to create diagrams and flowcharts directly in its editing software. No other major mockup editor allows you to do this so easily, and doing so usually requires the use of separate software.
Pro Versatile outputs
Pencil includes the standard outputs that all mockup editors should have. It is notable that the program includes HTML output to "Single web page", which is a rarity among wireframing programs.
Pro Free open source software
Free and Open Source
Pro Linking, even in HTML
Like Balsamiq, Pencil allows you to link multiple wireframes together within a mockup. More importantly, this linking is preserved when the mockup is exported as HTML, allowing you to create a full "web site" mockup with numerous pages.
Pro Vector icons
Similar to open-sourced UI libraries, Pencil also includes open-sourced clipart that allows users to drag-and-drop a seemingly unlimited collection of clipart into wireframes.
More importantly, these icons are all vector format, thus they are fully scalable.
Pro Works offline
Pro Immense shape database
Unlike other tools which may include just a small collection of shapes to put in your wireframe, Pencil has a huge, well-organized collection of shapes and flowchart elements.
Most notably, Pencil features an iOS and Android collection with all common UI shapes to make mobile wireframing a breeze.
In addition, Pencil allows drag-and-drop installation of user-created shapes, a rare feature in mockup tools.
Pro Easy To Use
Rocket makes extensive use of Rust's code generation tools to provide a clean API.
Pro Streams
Rocket streams all incoming and outgoing data, so size isn't a concern.
Pro Cookies
View, add, or remove cookies, with or without encryption, without hassle.
Pro Testing Library
Unit test your applications with ease using the built-in testing library.
Pro Extensible
Easily create your own primitives that any Rocket application can use.
Pro Templating
Rocket makes rendering templates a breeze with built-in templating support.
Pro Query Strings
Handling query strings and parameters is type-safe and easy in Rocket.
Pro Type Safe
From request to response Rocket ensures that your types mean something.
Pro Boilerplate Free
Spend your time writing code that really matters, and let Rocket generate the rest.
Pro Config Environments
Configure your application your way for development, staging, and production.
Cons
Con Abandoned
Con Nightly
Uses only nightly versions of Rust.