You don’t need me to tell you the importance of mockups. Establishing a baseline for your project is likely to speed up development substantially, but creating mockups doesn’t have to be expensive. There are tons of free tools available that will allow you to create beautiful mockups without spending a dime.
Finding the right mockup tool for your project can be extremely difficult. The number of applications out there is daunting and you often don’t know which tools will help you create a high-quality, professional product. If you’re looking for the best mockup software and tools to help improve and streamline your design process, then check out our compilation of the best free mockup software and tools.
Using some of the mockup tools mentioned below, you can create even interactive mockups that can be exported and run on any device working like a real application.
This is an efficient way to test your assumptions about your app; it also provides detailed instructions for developers, making their job much easier and faster. Mockups are also extremely important when you work with an external software development company.
We collected 20 paid and free mockup tools you can use when working on your next mobile or web application.
HERE IS AN EXTENSIVE LIST OF MOCKUP TOOLS:
MOQUPS
Source: Moqups
Moqups is a full ecosystem of tools within a single design environment. It allows you to create diagrams, wireframes and prototypes without switching apps or updating across platforms.
Main features:
- Wireframing and prototyping in one tool
- Mobile and web app design
- Team collaboration
- Built-in library with thousands of popular icon sets, fonts and styling options
Pricing:
- Basic: 19 EUR/mo
- Creative Team: 39 EUR/mo
- Enterprise plan available
Free trial: Yes
MOCKPLUS
A simple drag-and-drop prototyping tool for creating interactive prototypes of desktop, mobile and web apps in a faster way.
Main features:
- Fast drag and drop editor
- Interactive prototypes
- Pre-designed components
- Testing on native devices
- Team collaboration
Pricing:
- Individual: $199/user/year
- Team: $1999/team/year
- Enterprise: $9999/enterprise/year
Bonus: Mockplus iDoc is a powerful product design collaboration tool for designers and engineers. It helps connect the entire product design workflow. It facilitates handoff by taking designs from PS, Sketch, Adobe XD and exporting into a format that can generate code snippets, specs, and assets.
Main features:
- Export designs in one click from Sketch, XD and PS
- Generate accurate specs, assets, code snippets automatically
- Show design tasks and workflow in full-view storyboard
- Comment right on designs to give instant feedback
- Build hi-fi interactive prototypes with real design files
Pricing: Free
BALSAMIQ
Source: Balsamiq
Balsamiq Wireframes is the industry standard low-fidelity wireframing software that reproduces the experience of sketching on a whiteboard but using a computer. It’s more like a tool to boost creativity to generate more ideas.
Main features:
- Hundreds of built-in and community-generated UI controls and icons.
- Drag and drop Simplicity
- Interactive Prototypes
- Team collaboration
Pricing:
- For solo developers: $9/mo
- For teams and companies: $49/mo
- For Big teams: $199/mo
Free trial: Yes
MOCKINGBIRD
A web-based mockup app designed for rapid prototyping. Mockingbird lets you create interfaces quickly with its drag-and-drop editor.
Main features:
- Team collaboration
- Link multiple mockups together
- Interactive mockups for demo and usability tests
Pricing:
- 3 projects: $12/mo
- 10 projects: $20/mo
- 25 projects: $40/mo
- Unlimited projects: $85/mo
Free trial: yes
👉 Read this:The Ultimate Guide for Creating Kickass User Stories (With Templates)📗📘📙
MOCKUP BUILDER
Mockup builder is a prototyping, mockup and wireframing tool that makes it easy to share your work with your clients or coworkers. You can create prototypes for mobile (iOS, Android) and web applications.
Main features:
- Diverse library of design elements
- Project sharing, PNG and PDF export
- Free wireframe templates
Pricing:
- Solo: $7/mo
- Premium Light: $14/mo
- Premium Pro: $27/mo
- Team Pro: $99/mo
MOCKFLOW
Enables you to create and collaborate on complex interactive wireframes and UI prototypes for your websites and applications. Mockflow offers a complete solution for prototyping design.
Main features:
- Team collaboration
- Visually plan the architecture of your app
- Craft brand pages and create design guidelines
Pricing:
- Basic: Free
- Premium: $19/mo
- Team pack: $39/mo
- Business: $89/mo
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.
Conclusion
Mockups are classified as a wireframe design and can be achieved using basic methods. There is also a handful of free mockup tools and programs which help greatly in this process.