What are the best tools for web app UX/UI prototyping?

I've used a lot of prototyping tools over the years, starting off the with popular program Sketch when that was the leader for designers and anyone wanting to create prototypes. Now in 2022, there are many options for UX/UI prototyping, and these are my favourites I use often; Figma - I use it daily for so many things. Invision - the product suite has grown. Lots of awesome features. Balsamiq - amazing for rapid prototyping. Perfect for low-fidelity wireframes to pass to designers. Marvel App - great for collaboration and analytics tracking for people testing/trialling prototypes. Principle - bring your wireframes to life with interactions.

Are there any free prototyping tools for marketers and UI designers?

Yep there is and it's a tool that I'm addicted too. Meet Figma. As mentioned in this article already, I use Figma for everything. Designing this website and resource, to client landing pages, email designs and lots more. It's free to share your designs and even invite users who don't have an account.

What rapid prototyping tools do you recommend?

I've talked about Figma as a tool which gives you so much versatility, but Balsamiq remains the OG for me. The tool has many components already there for you (headers, menu navigation, etc) and it forces you to quickly build variations of landing pages, websites or apps, without the need for a designer. It forces marketers like me to focus on copy first, before moving into high-fidelity designs.

11 Best UX and UI Prototyping Design Tools for Startups (2024)

Favourite

Figma

About:

Shoutout to my favourite tool I use everyday. Figma, where would I be without you?

Top Features:

You can pretty much do anything with this too. Design landing pages, create wireframes, develop mindmaps, post-it notes, sitemaps and loads more. It's extremely versatile.

Another feature I just love is the ability to invite team members and share designs with absolute ease.

Lastly, what really makes this platform amazing is the surrounding community. Templates, plugins, articles/content, videos and loads more. Even if you're not a designer, you will just fall in love with Figma.

Templates

Community

Figma

Pricing:

The free version of Figma is epic itself, but for doing more designs with extra team members, definitely get the Professional or Organisation plans. Professional is $15 per editor, per month and Organisations $45 per editor, per month.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$

Learn more

Favourite

Invision

About:

When it comes to bringing your designs to life, Invision is a fantastic tool to add to your design arsenal.

Top Features:

Create wireframes, mockups, prototypes and more, and recieve and collaborate on designs with your team.

Use the whiteboard feature to write post-it notes, brainstorm ideas for improved designs, draw out UX flows and loads more. You can pretty much do anything.

The templates library is amazing, helping you kickstart brainstorm sessions, customer journey maps, strategy templates, mood boards, project plans and more. They've done a really great job with this.

Integrations

Projects

Collaboration

Pricing:

There's a few versions of the product, so you will need to check pricing and which is best for you. With Freehand, there's a free version and then pricing begins at $4 per month. The other tools to check out as part of Invision include Cloud, Studio, DSM and Enterprise.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Balsamiq

About:

Ask any designer, product manager or marketer and there's a good chance they've used Balsamiq. This tool has been around for a long time, and still one of my favs.

Top Features:

This platform is perfect for rapid prototyping and great for mockup low-fidelity wireframes that can be used especially for non-designers, to communicate layouts and designs for developers and experienced high-fid designers.

It's one of the best tools to get rapid feedback, and make changes on the fly. You can re-use components across your mockups to generate multiple versions for feedback, interactive prototypes and more.

What makes to tool really quick to pickup and produce prototypes so quickly is the drag-and-drop editor. You'll find pre-built components which speeds up the process. Of course, you can edit copy and do exports.

Rapid prototyping

Low-fidelity

Drag/Drop

Pricing:

Pricing is really affordable. For 2 projects per year, it costs just $9 per month or $90 per year. Or if yo plan on having more projects, you can upgrade to the $49 per month plan. There's also a larger plan for teams.

Web/App

Paid

$-$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Flinto

About:

Another popular option for designers and Mac users for interactive prototyping is Flinto.

Top Features:

Create animated transitions, interactions, flow behaviours and loads more.

You can export videos and gifs, as well as drag video and gif files right into your designs.

You can even create 3D rotations for your prototypes, alongside sound effects to take it to the next level.

Interaction design

Figma/sketch import

sound effects

Pricing:

Flinto costs $99 which includes one year worth of updates.

Web/App

Paid

$-$$

Learn more

Favourite

Sketch

About:

A very popular tool on the market which everyone from designers, UX, entrepreneurs, product managers and marketers use is Sketch.

Top Features:

Similar to the other tools, you can create anything with Sketch. The interface is super simple to use, no matter your skill level, you'll love this tool.

Share and collaborate on your designs with teammates, clients, founders and more. Simply share links and invite via email.

Take advantage of the libraries available, as well as a supportive community.

Native Mac App

Real-time collaboration

Workflows

Pricing:

Pricing begins at $9.99 per month, per editor. Or pay yearly per editor for just $99. There's also a business plan available.

Web/App

Paid

$-$$$

Learn more

Favourite

UXPin

About:

Product teams and UX designers love using UXPin. From my experience, it's a really nice tool.

Top Features:

You can do everything with the platform, from creating mockups, wireframes, design systems, prototyping and plenty more.

Create pixel-perfect designs with existing designs systems your team has created. Get code components which you can then pass onto developers, as well as making sure your designs have good accessibility standards.

Collaboration makes enjoying this tool really enjoyable. Share links to recieve feedback and comments about your designs.

Prototyping

Wireframing

Mockups

Pricing:

There are two main packages, one being UXPin merge which includes code components. Then there's UXPin standard which is just your prototyping and mockup tools. Merge starts from $112 per editor, per month whilst standard starts from $24 per editor, per month.

Web/App

Paid

$-$$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Marvel App

About:

Marvel App is another wonderful option for rapid prototyping, creating designs, wireframes and more all within the one platform.

Top Features:

This is a tool really great for teams wanting to develop designs fast through collaboration and feedback.

A key feature they have part of the platform which is really cool is the ability to get analytics when doing user testing. You can record sessions and see analytics of how people interact with your prototypes.

Build design systems and see your designs come to life, across various placements so you can see how it looks. There's a mobile app and even an Apple watch app, so you can access your designs anytime, anywhere. Pretty awesome.

Rapid prototyping

All-in-one

User Research

Pricing:

There's a free version of Marvel for one user, then pricing begins at $16 per month for one user. Then for teams, there's the Team plan which costs $48 per month for 3 users. There's also an enterprise plan too.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Spline designs

About:

If you want to be creating 3D experiences, then you need to try Spline designs.

Top Features:

This platform can help you create 3D experiences for the web in your browser. No complex software, just a clean interface which any skilled person can pick up.

Work with 2D and 3D objects, turn them into interactions and export as images, gifs and even videos. You can even import designs into Webflow and Notion.

Make sure to check out their docs as well as the community to see what others have created as well as ideas to get the most put of the platform.

Animation

Interactive

Pricing:

Spline is currently free to download. Note: This may change in the future from the time I've written this.

Web/App

Free

Learn more

Favourite

Framer App

About:

Framer App is an epic prototyping tool whcih you can use across Windows or Mac.

Top Features:

The real power of Framer comes in the ability to build interactive prototypes, which is great to recieve feedback on how the app looks, feels and works, even before being developed.

You can build real experiences really fast thanks to the component library. Explore components such as buttons, audio, avatars, utilities (e.g. progress bars, etc), graphics and more.

Make sure to check out the showcase section on the website, to get inspiration for what people have been able to create using the platform.

Interactions

great UI

Components

Pricing:

Enjoy the free version with up to 2 editors and 3 projects. Or for teams, it's $37 per editor per month and you can create unlimited projects and more.

Web/App

Freemium

$-$$$

Learn more

Favourite

Moqups

About:

A platform used by over 2mil+ users worldwide, as well as household tech brands, is Moqups.

Top Features:

Everything from designing prototypes and mockups, planning ideas and projects, interactive prototyping and collaboration, Moqups is very much your end-to-end suite.

In the editor, you'll find pre-built components, guidelines and more to help you create prototypes fast.

There are also icon sets, fonts, images, stencils and more that you can use as part of your designs.

Mockups

Quick wireframes

planning

Pricing:

Solo pricing starts at $13 per month. Then the team plan which includes 3 years is $23 per month. There's also an unlimited plan for $67 per month.

Web/App

Paid

$-$$

Learn more

Favourite

Principle

About:

Principle is a beautiful animation and interactive prototyping tool for Mac.

Top Features:

If you use Figma or Sketch, simply import your designs into Principle to turn your designs into interactive experiences. Perfect to take your prototypes to the next level.

The tool is nice to use and really fast. You can export designs as videos and gifs.

Check out the tutorials and documentation so you can quickly pickup how this tool works. From experience I can certainly say it's worth learning.

Interaction design

Animation

easy editor

Pricing:

You can buy it for $129.

Web/App

Paid

$-$$$

Learn more

No results found.

11 Best UX and UI Prototyping Design Tools I recommend for startups (2024)

Figma

Top Features:

Invision

Top Features:

Balsamiq

Top Features:

Flinto

Top Features:

Sketch

Top Features:

UXPin

Top Features:

Marvel App

Top Features:

Spline designs

Top Features:

Framer App

Top Features:

Moqups

Top Features:

Principle

Top Features:

Platform

Pricing

Plans

⚡ Frequently Asked Questions ⚡

What are the best tools for web app UX/UI prototyping?

Are there any free prototyping tools for marketers and UI designers?

What rapid prototyping tools do you recommend?