Web developers are always on the lookout for free tools available on the Web. The Web is changing rapidly and new challenges are emerging; therefore, it is not surprising that some of the best tools are created to meet these challenges.
Every web developer needs a collection of useful, time saving and innovative tools to help speed their work and improve the quality of their deliverables. To get you started on your quest of finding such tools, we’ve compiled an ultimate list of application and website development tools for you. We hope this list will be of great value to every software developer, regardless if you are new to the web building industry or a proficient veteran.
CMS Hub: Best All-in-One Web Design Software for Beginners
Free Trial
CMS Hub is a website builder and content management system that includes a visual drag-and-drop editor, a collection of templates, and an SSL certificate. Because it requires zero coding and includes everything you need to launch a website, it comes out on top as the best all-in-one design software for beginners.
CMS Hub is also integrated with all other products in the HubSpot platform, including our CRM, marketing software, sales software, and service software.
CMS Hub Core Functionalities
- Web Design
- Collaboration
- Wireframing
- Content Management
- Website Structure
- URL Mapping
- Analytics Reporting
- Security
Figma: Best Free Collaborative Wireframing Tool for Beginners
Free
Best defined as an interface design tool, Figma enables multiple designers to collaborate in real time. As such, it’s ideal if you have various project stakeholders involved in the design process. Figma is a web application, so you won’t need to download a tool to your desktop.
The free version includes unlimited drafts, unlimited commenters, and unlimited editors. You can have up to 1 team project, so if you’re all working together on one website only, this is a great choice for your team. The one limitation is that it only includes up to 30 days of historical changes.
If you upgrade to the Professional tier, you’ll get unlimited projects and unlimited history, while the Organization tier gives you access to advanced security and analytics.
Figma Core Functionalities
- User Interface Design
- Collaboration
- Wireframing
- Prototyping
Lunacy: Best Free User Interface Design Tool for Windows Users
Free
Launched as a free alternative to Sketch for Windows, Lunacy is now a fully functional graphic design software that’s rich in features. A couple of years ago, all it could do was open Sketch files on Windows. Today, it offers all the standard features of a UI and screen design tool and a library of free, high-quality graphic assets.
It includes full support for Sketch files, so if you ever switch from Windows to Mac or vice versa, you can edit your Sketch design without a problem.
Lunacy Core Functionalities
- User Interface Design
- Collaboration
- Wireframing
- Prototyping
Zyro
Zyro is more than just a website builder – They also come with a Free Logo Maker and web-base Image Resizer. Click here to try them out for free (no credit card needed).
Coolors
Create color palette on the go or get inspired by beautiful color schemes at Coolors.
Mockplus – An all-in-one web prototyping tool
Pricing: Individual – $199/yr, Team (10 users) – $1999/yr, Enterprise (30 users) -$9999/yr
Editorial ratings: ★★★★★
As an all-inclusive design tool for designers and developers, Mockplus can be used to create faster, smarter and easier website prototypes with simple drag-and-drop, supporting mobile and desktop apps prototyping too. With a singular mission to keep users focused on design itself rather than the tool, the software has offered a number of incomparable features to make better design and development.
Main features:
- A set of ready-made components (3000) and icons (200) are included for your rapid prototyping.
- It offers not a few features to improve the design efficiency of making repetitive webpage elements and layouts, such as the Repeater, Auto Data Fill, Format Painter and Paste Style.
- The most comprehensive way to preview and test out your project, including Export to the image, Export to demo package, publish to online and offline HTML, view on a mobile app using QR code, etc.
- The MindMap and UI Flow design mode can help quickly reflect design ideas and layout project structure.
Weebly – The easiest web builder among the newbies and professional designers
Pricing: Basic – Free, Connect – $4/mo, Starter – $8/mo, Pro- $12/mo, Business – $25/mo
Editorial ratings: ★★★★
As one of the most popular website development tools among people who want to start their own sites, Weebly is very easy-to-use and aimed at personal, business and professional websites. Above all, it enables you to make site-building work without any coding experience, meanwhile you can choose to edit the HTML/CSS if you have the coding background.
Main features:
- More than 40 layout designs, including website maps and portfolios to help you spark in web design and development.
- Lots of info buttons, pop-ups, lists and email sequences to take good care of your workflow.
- Easy switch between responsive and trendy templates/themes available on the application.
Bootstrap – The most popular HTML, CSS, and JS library in the world
Pricing: Free, Pro – $15/mo, Enterprise – $29
Editorial ratings: ★★★★
Bootstrap is a free and open-source CSS framework directed at responsive, mobile-first front-end web development. It contains CSS-based and JavaScript-based design templates for typography, forms, buttons, navigation, and other interface components.
As a popular and powerful framework, Bootstrap is designed for front-end developers to make beautiful designs for websites with HTML, CSS, and JS. With the most advanced development features, Boostrap is well-received by discerning technical users around the world.
Main features:
- A great example library of free Bootstrap form templates & examples available, including custom components, frameworks, navbars, and experiments.
- It’s built with default Bootstrap components and utilities with little customization.
- Team features and multiple support options provided.
Conclusion
Finding the right tools is always a challenge, especially if you are a developer who works solo. As developers, we are always looking out for ways to improve our productivity. The reality is, there are tons of free tools that can help us do just that.