Prototype is a process of creating a model of how your website would look like and decide if it’s what you really want. It is easier to create an interface using prototype tools. This article will show how to use some free tools available for prototyping and wireframing. These free tools work well and fast and can give very good final results. Mockingbird is one of the most popular prototyping tool and they offer a great way to work on your prototypes both on desktop computers as well as mobile devices.
Balsamiq Mockups
With a free trial of 30 days and a basic plan starting from $12 per month, Balsamiq offers a browser-based Web UI mockup tool. It has everything you need to create a simple prototype like a collection of icons, buttons, frames, text generator and other elements. There is also a toggle button that lets you switch between a sketch like a layout and the real interface.
Protopie
Just like Proto.io, this tool allows interactive prototyping without any coding knowledge. Apart from applying all the latest styling features in your design, you can also control the sensor of smart handheld devices like tilt, touch sensors, sound etc. in your prototypes.
Apart from the free trial version, the basic edition starts from $79.20 for only 1 user. If you are planning to purchase multiple licenses, the pricing starts at $99.
Justinmind
Justinmind is a Web UI mockup tool that allows you to create a clickable and functional prototype or wireframe. It offers downloadable software which is free for 30 days. After which you have to pay $19 per month for the basic plan. You can create every UI aspect that you need in your site, like dropdowns, toggle animations, add shadows and other effects in your web elements and create a prototype for desktop as well as handheld devices.
Flinto
This is a Mac-based WebUI mockup tool popular among designers worldwide. You can create dynamic prototypes having animated transitions, customized scrolling, sound effects, and other features. You can also export the prototype as a recorded video or GIF and present it to your stakeholders.
Apart from the free trial, the pricing starts from $99 for a single user with a year of free updates.
Proto.io
Proto.io is a feature-rich Web UI mockup tool that provides a 15-day trial plan after which, the basic plan starts from $29 per month for a single user. If your aim is to showcase all the UX features which you want to add in your website, including animations, this is an free wireframe tool that gives you the liberty to create a dynamic prototype.
TemplateToaster
TemplateToaster is a robust desktop application able to handle heavy design work. With an interactive interface, it allows you to create responsive websites that are SEO-friendly as well.
The trial version provides unlimited usage with limited features, while the standard and professional editions are priced at $49 and $149 respectively.
Wireframe.cc
For creating a static wireframe, this is one of the best tools to try. You can sketch your single page prototype for free. While the premium version provides you a private account and allows you to create multiple pages and export them in different formats. The premium plan starts from $16 per month for a single user and for $99 per month, you will have access to unlimited accounts and features.
Sketch
This WebUI mockup tool is popular among designers who prefer to work in MacOS. The reason behind its popularity is its simplicity. Undoubtedly, the tool is more intuitive than Adobe Photoshop and makes prototyping an easier and less time-consuming job. If you have the idea ready, you can make it alive by just “Sketch”-ing it.
For personal usage, the pricing starts from $99 for a single user with $89 for additional devices.
Adobe XD
Adobe XD has skyrocketed into popularity since its initial release date in 2016, and with good reason. This tool is fantastic for wireframing, prototyping, and collaboration. If you’re collaborating with others (especially remotely), this is a tool to check out. Get a beginner’s introduction to Adobe XD this event recording:https://www.youtube.com/embed/Iih4WC2U7Ck
Price breakdown
- 7-day free trial
- $9.99/month after the trial ends (or $99.99/year)
What’s great about Adobe XD?
As we said, this is an all-in-one when it comes to wireframing and prototyping (at any level of fidelity) and is excellent for collaboration.
Adobe XD includes tools for everything from a quick sketch to a high-fidelity wireframe, with options to create interactions so that you can more closely imitate the user flow! The tool has a auto animation feature, and it’s made things easier with it comes to layering images in 3D (great for showcasing all your hard work!). You can also work with your teammates in real time, and they’ve made it easier to iterate on content without having to practically re-design whole screens. This is helpful for teams seeking more collaboration between content and design.
Adobe products are widely appreciated across the industry, too, so being familiar with it can only help throughout your career.
What’s not so great about Adobe XD?
As many have said, the price point is certainly a factor. It’s only really free for a week, but that’s a week to test it out and see if this high-power tool is well suited for your team. If you’re working solo, it’s still worth considering simply for the high quality output and for it’s possibilities when it comes to collaborating with stakeholders or outside clients.
What other designers have to say about Adobe XD
- “Adobe XD is the best on the market, in my opinion, as far as UI/UX design is concerned. In a really simple way it is possible to create the design of websites or apps and then move on to the prototyping phase, creating the various links, interactive components, buttons, animations. The sharing phase is also excellent, which allows you to export the prototype to encourage the work of the developers, who will have the opportunity to take a look at the generated css code and can download the various assets.”
- “The pricing of this tool is quite high. It has also increased a lot of restrictions on the free plan, and this is not helpful for budding designers.”
Miro
Miro is a wildly helpful and popular tool, especially for ideation sessions, interactive presentations, design thinking workshops, and the like. But it’s uses don’t stop there! It’s an extremely versatile tool with wireframing capability!
Price breakdown
- Limited free version for unlimited team members
- Unlimited features, anywhere from $8-16/month for teams and businesses (they also have custom pricing for enterprise-level work)
Why you should use Miro for wireframing
We can’t overstate how versatile this tool is. If you want a free, easy to use tool that’s useful for all kinds of things and has collaboration superpowers, this is a great tool for you to try out. You can drop shapes, draw freeform, type, add digital sticky notes, or insert images and videos (and more) onto the infinite canvas. For teams, there are features for video chats, background music, and “summoning” (so if you need everyone to meet you somewhere on the Miro board, you can bring them to you). And that’s just scratching the surface.
If you don’t want to start from scratch, you can visit the Miroverse, where there are loads of templates (like this mobile app template) that you’ll find useful throughout the UX design process. You can download them or just use them for inspiration.
What’s not so great about Miro
Really, the possibilities are endless here, but if you’re aiming for interactivity (within the wireframe/prototype) or very high fidelity, you may hit some snags and need to find workarounds.
What other designers have to say about Miro
- “It’s intuitive to select and try out several canvas and interact and create relations between them. The design is seamless to understand. It is easy to share globally, and with several team members, of different projects in the free version.”
- “There are still some functionality improvements that can be made but I see that they are introducing new features almost daily. For example, yesterday I found myself trying to make the size of existing shapes to be identical but couldn’t do it so I put a new shape and started from scratch.”
Mockplus
Mockplus is a rapid wireframing/prototyping tool for designers to create interactive wireframes for websites and mobile apps, which enables you to share and test design ideas across PCs and mobile devices from an early stage in the design process.
Price breakdown
- Basic: Free
- Pro: 15-day free trial, $16 per month( Billed annually)
Why should you use Mockplus for faster and easier wireframing?
With a large number of ready-to-use components, icons, UIs and templates pre-installed, Mockplus goes beyond simply providing you the tools to create your wireframe and lends you a hand with your designs. A full set of interactions and animations also make it easy to create more realistic wireframes. It’s also a collaborative tool: Your entire team can work on the same project.
What’s not so good about Mockplus?
Mockplus is much suitable for you to create low- and medium-fidelity wireframes, mockups and prototypes. If you are looking for tools to create high-fidelity designs, it may not be a good option.
What users are saying about Mockplus?
- “Mockplus does what it advertises which is a great thing. No learning curve and free plans that you can check all the features for free. Using the team just an invitation away.”
- “What used to be time-consuming can now be done with the speed of thought, everything is a drag-and-drop away and with the number of components Mockplus has to offer, you will never feel the need of creating one.”
Balsamiq Wireframes
A wireframing tool for creating quick designs, running user testing, and sharing mockups with a design team.
Price breakdown
- Free 30-day trial period
- Pro (single-user license): $89
Why should you use it for wireframing?
One of the many Balsamiq Studios products, Balsamiq Wireframes is a Flash-based wireframing software with an extensive library of UI elements and templates that make wireframing a breeze.
The complexity of the Balsamiq Wireframe library can be a source of great inspiration for designers when producing desktop and mobile wires. Not only does it have many diverse elements, but it’s also easy to learn and use. Most designers describe it as being as simple as dragging, dropping, and arranging elements from the menu onto your canvas until you have the interface you desire.
Balsamiq Wireframes also has built-in presentation tools that make presenting your designs to clients a seamless process.
Where Balsamiq Wireframes falls short
Balsamiq Wireframes is not the best for building larger prototypes and lacks animations or interactive features. Designers wishing to simulate the UX of their software must be able to program interactions themselves and export as an interactive PDF.
This wireframing software is unique in style as the design elements have a hand-drawn appearance to them. This gives your designs a bit of a cartoony feel that may not be desired. Also, it’s important to note that once your free 30-day trial is up, you’ll have to purchase a license to save any of your previous designs.
What other designers are saying
- “Probably the easiest wireframing tool to use. It’s focused feature set is aimed at creating wireframes in the least amount of time possible. Very quick to learn with some depth for power users.”
- “Wireframes can look child-like and unprofessional with some settings.”
Conclusions
Prototyping is an essential part of the application design process, as it allows for quickly iterating through various app versions and testing them with live users. In this article, we present a selection of free options that you can use to build your next mobile or web app.