In this article, we have decided to create a list of best free prototyping tools of 2022 . In here, we will share the review of the prototyping tools which you can use for your web and mobile app development.
Do you want to build a prototype for your website or application, but you don’t know how? This article will show you the best free prototyping tools. These tools help you build a clickable prototype quickly. The benefits of creating a prototype include:
Framer:
Cost:
- Free Trial (14 days)
- $15/month
Runs on:
- OS X
- iOS
- Android
- Windows 10 Mobile
Prototypes for:
- All
Framer is one of the most popular prototyping tools. It’s based on the premise that with the code it is possible to prototype anything, resulting in novel and beautiful designs. It provides a seamless workflow, further complemented by device previewing, version control and easy sharing.In case you do not understand, Framer has a very well structured documentation. Also, there are plenty of how-to videos and courses on Udemy and O’Reilly about the UX prototyping tool. It offers a first-hand view of how flexible and powerful code can be.
Like other tools, Framer supports Sketch, Photoshop projects, and will also preserve your design’s layers.In addition to this, Framer’s Mac App is well designed and provides live previews as you write code, which is encouraging for those who are writing code for the first time. You can also import graphics directly from Sketch, Photoshop or Figma.
Just in mind:
Cost:
- $19/month
Runs on:
- OS X
- Windows
Prototypes for:
- Web
- iOS
- Android
Another popular prototyping tool, JustInMind is known for creating high-quality work, although at a very steep cost. Another big plus is that it can be downloaded on your computer for offline work anywhere. If you’re new to this tool it comes packed with tutorials and guided videos for everyone from beginner to expert.Export your prototype to a fully functional HTML document and make it readily available to view in any web browser. Also, it provides you access to use items from UI libraries and download numerous add-ons.
Framebox
User-review rating: n/a
Type: Web-based, Freemium
Overview: Framebox is the second completely free wireframing tool on this list. With no paid plans, all the features of Framebox are included directly on their website’s easy to use web app. It’s a complete drag-and-drop tool that allows designers to sketch wireframes using UI elements and allows users to sign in to save progress and have revision history. The tool even allows for UX/UI designers to send their work with a custom link to their entire team or key stakeholders for easy online sharing and feedback.
Wirefy
User-review rating: n/a
Type: Desktop, Open source
Overview: Wirefy is a completely free wireframing software that is open-source and comes available in a desktop download – in this case, downloading a Git repository. For those who have never done this, Wirefy examples how here.
The platform does require some basic HTML and CSS knowledge, but is a robust UX/UI tool with large collection of atomic elements to create advanced and flexible wireframes.
Proto.io
Price: From $24/mo (free trial)
Pros:
- Record user tests
- Sharable prototypes
- Mobile app available
- Supports VR prototyping
- Add-ons available
Cons:
- Not great for offline use
Proto.io is an incredible contender for creating lifelike prototypes from rough ideas right through to fully fledged designs. The tool also provides many possibilities for your projects, including creating detailed animations and custom vector animations.
It’s certainly one of the front runners when you’re assessing tools to help create your prototypes. With Proto.io, starting a project is as simple as you want it to be. With only a rough idea sketched out, you can get cracking right away and start using predefined assets to evolve your concept quickly.
Once you’re happy with your ideas, these can then be turned into more polished and presentable wireframes for further validation and reflection. The next significant step after that enables you to tweak the design of your prototypes so they are as true to the end result as possible.
Proto.io is a web-based tool and comes with a bucketload of add-ons and features, which include the importing of Sketch and Photoshop files, VR prototyping, UI Libraries and even screen recording for user testing. This can really help if you are transitioning to and from other applications.
Ultimately, you will need to take some time to get to grips with this tool. There’s a lot that can be done with it and there are a great number of options and menu items to play with. Once you’ve learned your way around it though, it will be a hard one to put away. The prospect of creating detailed animations really does make this an excellent tool to use and the perfect way to execute your ideas in as realistic a manner as possible.
Axure
Advertisement
Price: From $29/mo
Pros:
- Great for complex sites and ideas
- Excellent at handling dynamic data
- Conditional logic
- Able to export as HTML files
- Very functional
Cons:
- Not ideal for prototyping a high-fidelity designs
Axure has managed to build up a reputation as being one of the best wireframing tools on the market, and the perfect choice when it comes to dealing with more complex projects requiring dynamic data. With Axure, you can really focus your attention on mocking up projects that are both more technical and require more attention when it comes to structure and data.
Although it’s not necessarily the first choice for prototyping a high-fidelity design, it is nonetheless great at quickly taking the larger projects / software platforms through the first stage wireframe concepts.
A major benefit of Axure is that it handles dynamic content really well, enabling you to change and alter it according to certain user journeys or interactions. This is achieved through a combination of conditional logic and manipulating pages, content blocks or text by setting variables and parameters.
But the potential of what you can do with Axure doesn’t stop there. It’s a great option for visualising flow charts and diagrams, which is just the thing for helping you to articulate some of the more technical journeys you might come up against.
And talking of the technical aspects of a project, Axure should be top of your shopping list for tackling technical aspects of design, as well as data-led or dynamic platforms, whereby design is a mere cosmetic overhaul at the end. Function over form comes to mind.
Webflow
- Price: From $12/mo (free trial)
Designing prototypes is fast and seamless with Webflow, but where this tool really shines is when your prototype is all finished. You can turn your finished prototype into a production-ready site with the click of a button.
Recently, Webflow has introduced a game-changing new feature: a CMS for your prototypes. Webflow’s CMS is completely visual, allowing you to create powerful, dynamic sites without writing a single line of code. Another particularly useful feature is its ability to create a blog using your blog page prototype concept.Advertisement
If you’re a freelance designer and have had difficulties finding a developer to turn your designs to production sites, Webflow may be for you. You can even set up user accounts or designate an admin to manage content, and your clients will be able to visually make changes.
Alternatively, it’s easy to export the prototype into code. Webflow’s clean, semantic code can save your engineers hours of code clean-up.
Webflow comes with site templates and web components that can be dragged and dropped into your prototype. These speed up the prototyping process, as they mean you don’t need to recreate commonly used design assets.
If at any time you’re stuck and need help, you can check out Webflow’s detailed documentation or watch its helpful how-to video courses. And of course, if you’re using Webflow for the first time, this support will help minimise the learning curve.
Webflow is responsive by nature, so your website layouts will be optimised for all devices: desktop, mobile and tablet. If that wasn’t enough, you can design animations that will work on mobile devices and all modern browsers. And it still doesn’t end there: Webflow has extensibility built in, which makes it easy to connect your live prototypes to Slack, MailChimp, Google Drive, and more than 400 other services.
Vectr
Advertisement
Price: Free
You can design your prototypes on Vectr’s web or desktop apps for Mac and Windows, which is impressive considering the app is free. The prototypes stay synced whether you’re working on the desktop or web browser, freeing you to work whenever you’re ready and ensuring you always have access to the latest changes.
Vectr prototypes can be shared with a URL and integrated into apps like Slack for powerful collaboration. As an added bonus, those you share your mockups with can annotate and edit them.
At the moment, Vectr isn’t as feature-rich as many other options, but this shouldn’t deter you from getting familiar with it. A roadmap for the app has been published, detailing an impressive list of slated features. These include: fully-offline desktop apps, more platforms, built-in version control, a built-in design assets marketplace, full collaborative editing, image effects, plugins, clickable mockups, built-in feedback and annotation tools, and offline desktop apps.
Conclusion
Everyone is talking about how important prototyping is. You can find tons of amazing prototyping tools for your projects today. To help you with your prototype needs, we have created this ultimate guide. If you need a free prototyping tool for UI/UX, there are a lot to choose from, but not all of them offer the features you need or are usable by non-technical users.