Like with any tool, as soon as a new one comes out it is being adjusted, standardized and used by web designers. Prototyping & wireframing tools are available online to will help you enhance your product or application. Prototyping before designing is one of the fundamental steps in creating an effective design.
In this article we have made a list of Prototyping tools that have been giving users a lot of help lately. So let’s take a look at them and see what they do.
Balsamiq
Balsamiq is another most popular mobile app prototyping tools available. It is easy to use thanks to its drag-and-drop functionality. The tool has a sketch mode for brainstorming and a clean prototype mode for presentation and you can easily switch between the two. Balsamiq is easy to use and enables designers to create prototypes very quickly. If you are looking for a flexible, convenient, quick app prototype tool, this is it.
Pros
30-day free trial
Easy to use
Quickly create beautiful prototypes
Share your prototypes with team and clients
Cons
Limited canvas size
No support on interactive prototyping
Compatibility
Web, OS X, and Windows
Figma
All-in-one design tool
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Product Type: Browser-based app
Free Tier Limitations: 3 projects & 2 editors
Upgrade: Starts at $12 per editor/month
Figma is one of the most popular design tools in the market. The all-in-one platform allows you to create everything from clickable wireframes to high-fidelity prototypes and supports 30-day version history and unlimited cloud storage – all in the free plan. Figma has both browser-based and desktop applications. You can also mirror and preview your designs on mobile devices in real time. The limit for the free plan is 3 projects and 2 editors. The Professional plan starts at $12 per editor/month and allows you to create team libraries. To implement organization-level design systems and administer plugins, you will need the Organization plan, which starts at $45 per editor/month.
Cacoo
Diagramming tool
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Product Type: Browser-based app
Free Tier Limitations: 6 sheets
Upgrade: Starts at $5 per user/month
Cacoo is a diagramming application that allows you to present your ideas visually. One of the few products that support unlimited users in its free plan, Cacoo offers templates, including wireframes, and integrates with several applications – Google docs, Adobe Creative Cloud, AWS, Slack and Dropbox, just to name a few. However, you can create only 6 sheets and export projects only in PNG format in the free forever plan. With the $5 / month Pro plans, you get multiple export options, unlimited sheets and revision history.
Jumpchart
Website planning and project management tool
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Product Type: Browser-based app
Free tier limitations: 1 project, 10 pages, 2 users & 10Mb storage
Upgrade: Starts at $5 per month
If you are planning a website, Jumpchart will help you create sitemaps, manage content and manage the project. One of the nice features is that you can export your project to WordPress, Drupal or HTML. Its free plan is rather limited, allowing 1 project (up to 10 pages), 2 users and 10 Mb storage. However, it has one of the most cost-effective premium plans. You can get 5 projects (up to 25 pages each), 5 users per project and 1Gb storage for just $5 per month.
MockFlow
UI / screen design tool
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Product Type: Browser-based app (desktop apps for Mac and Windows available only with paid plans)
Free Tier Limitations: 1 project, 3 pages
Upgrade: Starts at $12 per editor/month
MockFlow allows you to collaboratively create user interfaces. Its free version is good for a single project and limited to 3 pages, so you are almost certainly going to have to upgrade to get all the functionality that you need. That starts at $12 per editor/month, in which you get access to UI templates and desktop applications for you to work offline, along with unlimited UI projects, team component libraries and business app integrations.
Wirefy
Functional wireframes
Product Type: Browser-based app
Free
Wirefy helps you build functional wireframes. Unlike the other tools here, you will need to download and install it from the GitHub repository. The philosophy behind Wirefy is to focus on content and speed up the development process. You will need to know basic HTML and CSS to create the wireframes. The advantage of this tool is that once you’ve settled on the wireframes, the journey to the final deliverable is much faster. Your base UI structure and content are ready for you to add the visual layer. Being an open-source project, it gets updated frequently.
Miro
Collaborative whiteboard
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Product Type: Browser-based app
Free Tier Limitations: 3 boards
Upgrade: Starts at $8 per member/month
Formerly known as realtimeboard, Miro is a virtual whiteboard where teams can collaborate and design in real time. With realistic sticky notes, a built-in wireframe library as well as a mind-mapping tool, it is a supercharged whiteboard. It has several built-in templates, integrations (Slack, Dropbox, Creative Cloud, Trello and Zapier, among others) and allows unlimited users for up to 3 boards in its free version. To create more than 3 boards and get access to the Kanban framework, you can upgrade to the team plan starting at $8 per member/month.
Adobe XD
All-in-one design tool
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Product Type: Desktop apps for Mac and Windows
Free Tier Limitations: 1 active shared document, 1 active shared link, 2 co-editors
Upgrade: Starts at $9.99 per month
A late player in tools for UX design, Adobe’s XD has caught up fast with the other tools in the market. You can design, prototype and share your designs from a single application. The free version of the application has a few limitations – you get only 1 active shared document, 1 active shared link and up to 2 co-editors. If you are already a part of Adobe’s creative cloud ecosystem, you will find it easy to use XD in your design workflow.
InVision Studio
All-in-one design tool
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Product Type: Desktop apps for Mac and Windows
Free Tier Limitations: 3 documents, 10 users
Upgrade: Starts at $7.95 per user/month
InVision Studio is a desktop application that you can use to create screens and animations. Originally known for its browser-based prototyping application, the desktop application Studio is not as popular as the other tools listed above, partly because it came after the other tools. With the free version, you can create 3 documents and include a generous 10 active users. The Pro account lets you create unlimited documents but still limits active users to 15.
Price: Free version (1 prototype); $15 for a one-month license
Platform: Mac & Windows
Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
InVision is a popular prototyping tool that focuses more on design collaboration. While using, you can easily import your designs from Sketch or PS, and add transitions/animations to create interactive prototypes. And then, other team members can comment on screens and leave feedback.
Pros:
- Provide advanced transitions and animations
- Share prototype links to get feedback
- Comment and leave feedback rightly on design pages
- Integrate with Sketch and PS
Cons:
- Lack tools to create interface details
- A little bit difficult to get started at first time
Wireframe.CC
Wireframing tool
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Product Type: Browser-based app
Free Tier Limitations: Single-page wireframes only, no export or interaction features
Upgrade: Starts at $16 per user/month
If you’re into ultra-minimal and sleek interfaces, you will love Wireframe.cc. You can use the free version without any user accounts to create single-page wireframes. To create clickable wireframes, or to export to PNG and PDF formats, you’ll need a premium account. The premium licenses run from $16 to $99 a month depending on your needs, with the top of the range allowing unlimited users and projects. Unlike the other design tools listed here, the interface of this application does not have any immediately apparent tools. Instead, you get context-sensitive tools that appear only when you click on an element or drag the mouse.
Zeplin – Create interactions, collaborate and handoff online
Price: Free version (1 prototype); $17 for a one-month license
Platform: Mac & Windows
Make prototypes for: Mobiles & Websites
Zeplin is a design tool that allows you to upload web/app designs, add simple interactions, collaborate and handoff designs online with your team. In comparison with the above mentioned prototyping tools, Zeplin focuses more on design collaboration and handoff process between designers and developers.
So, if you or your team mean to create prototypes, iterate, test, collaborate and handoff them to developers online, this tool is ideal for you.
Pros:
- Easy to import images and link them as you wish
- Automatically generate design resources, like specs and assets
- Comment on designs and leave feedback
- Unify and reuse design systems online
- Download assets in one click
- Inspect and export code snippets with ease
Cons:
- It does not offer any tools to create prototypes from scratch. You need to use other design tools, like PS or Sketch, to make interface details and import them for later collaboration and handoff.
Claritee
Claritee is a smart wireframing tool that allows you to transfer your thoughts into visual wireframes and collaborate with your team in real time. It’s a pretty easy-to-use program for designers and project managers, but also marketers and anyone else on your team who needs to provide input.
Conclusion
Prototyping is an important step in the design process which can help you test if your idea works before you get to building the product. There are many prototyping tools available online which help you easily create prototypes without any coding involved. Make sure to check out the tools I’ve found helpful when creating wireframes, clickable wireframes, mockups, interactive prototypes and much more.