Design An App-like Website With Xd

Top 10 Free Adobe XD Alternatives in 2021

David

Searching for an Adobe XD alternative is not an easy task, simply because the tool has so many rich features and capabilities. However, if you search hard enough, you can even find an Adobe XD free alternative for both Mac and Windows, and even Linux, in some cases. The only catch is that any software like Adobe XD should be capable of creating stunning designs that you can easily convert into rich prototypes with interactions, transitions, animation, and other effects. As such, you'll find a lot of tools that don't offer the same width of features as Adobe XD. That's why we've curated a list of the top 10 Adobe XD alternatives that you can use for designing, prototyping, and the final handoff to developers.

#Wondershare Mockitt
#UXPin
#Zeplin
#Abstract
#Draftium
#Moqups
#InVision Studio
#Figma
#Proto.io
#Pencil Project

Top 10 Alternatives for Adobe XD

#1: Wondershare Mockitt

The comprehensive capabilities of Wondershare Mockitt make it the perfect free alternative to Adobe XD. You can upgrade from the free version to access advanced and powerful features that can stand toe-to-toe with any top design and prototype software. Top features include an extensive and easily manageable asset library, UI design tools that are user-friendly, easy-to-create prototypes that are richly interactive, automated code generation for CSS/Android/Swift, one-click multi-magnification slice file creation, URL-based real-time inspect, and robust handoffs to developers.

One of the important features is the ability to access your designs from anywhere, which allows for multi-user collaboration and faster turnaround times for you and your clients. Cloud collaboration and link sharing are made very easy, so all stakeholders, including clients, developers, designers, and project managers always have a clear view of what they need to see.

Pros

Comprehensive UI and UX design creation features
Large asset library, with upcoming support for a shared team library
Online access from any Internet-connected device
A large bank of transition and gesture effects to animate your prototypes
Drag to import images from other sources and make them interactive
Easy handoff with convenient code inspect and automated style code generation for multiple platforms
Online commenting for quick feedback loops

Cons

Free version limited to 1 user, 3 projects, 20 screens, and 100MB of assets.

System Compatibility

Supports all major platforms: Web-based (Online), Windows, Mac, Linux

#2: UXPin

This robust design and prototyping application is yet another capable Adobe XD-similar software. It takes the unique approach of designing from the code end. In other words, code components are used to build the design the way you want, which makes prototypes far more dynamic than merely being simple transition links between screens or artboards. As opposed to Wondershare Mockitt, however, this is an installable application for Windows and Mac, with mirror apps for Android and iOS devices where prototypes can be previewed offline by just scanning a QR code.

Pros

Advanced prototyping
Built-in libraries for Bootstrap, Material Design, and iOS
Interactive elements for forms, such as radio buttons and text fields
Multiple states for elements avoid duplication of work
Flexible interactions to mimic the actual end product

Cons

No free plan, only a free trial
Features like conditional logic are not included in the Basic plan
Need to download and install the desktop app - no web access

System Compatibility

Mac, Windows, with mirrors for Android and iOS

#3: Zeplin

One of the top alternatives to Adobe XD is Zeplin, a code-based design tool where your components can be sourced from GitHub, Storybook, and other repositories so they're always code-ready. You can view summaries of your components within your designs and easily see code snippets for how to initialize them. There are also extensive integrations with project management and team collaboration tools like Jira, Trello, and Slack, as well as integrations for other design platforms including Adobe XD, Figma, Photoshop, and Sketch.

Pros

Connect your codebases and use code-ready components for your design work
Available as a desktop utility as well as a browser-based application
Highly customizable with APIs and tailor-made plugins
Extensions to share code snippets with other Zeplin users

Cons

Free version limited to 1 project
Lack of comprehensive tutorials and other resources
Doesn't have a prototyping feature or version history

System Compatibility

Windows, Mac, and web app

#4: Abstract

Abstract focuses heavily on the collaborative aspects of the design process with features like always-updated links, on-the-go documentation, version control, artboard merging, and so on. It allows different designs to be compared and finalized, then merged into the master file, with a full virtual paper trail of who made what changes and when. The benefit is that it offers greater visibility for stakeholders, without having to wait for formal design reviews for your work to be accepted and moved to the development stage.

Pros

Robust version control
High visibility of status and progress
File-sharing within individual workspaces
Create design variations without affecting the original, then merge with Master
All commits are recorded so new team members can get up to speed quickly
Adobe XD file support (currently in beta)

Cons

No free version, only 14-day free trial
Starter version lacks inspect and assets, as well as CSS
Data is deleted after 90 days past the end of the free trial

System Compatibility

macOS, web app

#5: Draftium

As a free alternative to Adobe XD, Draftium checks most of the boxes in terms of functionality and design capability. It comes with a set of 300+ prototype templates, 200+ blocks, responsive prototypes for any device, a free asset library, and real-time cloud collaboration. The simple interface makes it easy to create a prototype by picking a template, modifying the content, adding elements, reviewing, collaborating, and ultimately doing a handoff to the development team.

Pros

Convenient template library to get started
Interactive prototypes
Easy link-based sharing and review
Developers get redline measurements with version control
Enhanced design-developer coordination with annotations, comments, and commit history

Cons

Free version limited to 3 prototypes
Comes with Draftium branding
No installable software

System Compatibility

All major OS platforms with a modern browser - Web app

#6: Moqups

Moqups is an online tool for creating wireframes, mockups, and prototypes of UI designs. The collaborative element is brought upfront with this access-from-anywhere application that you can try for free (1 project, 200 objects, 5MB storage) before purchasing one of the premium plans. The platform is a web-based application that offers end-to-end solutions that take you from diagrams to fully-interactive prototypes without needing other third-party tools. The large built-in stencils and icon library make it an appealing choice, as do the extensive design editing tools.

Pros

Strong collaboration features
Easy to get started
Integrated with popular cloud storage services
Rapid wireframing and mockups for early-stage client reviews
Feedback system integrated with design view

Cons

Limited free version capabilities
Poor customer service has been reported
User flows might not be user-friendly

System Compatibility

All major OS platforms with modern browsers - Web app

#7: InVision Studio

InVision is very easy to design on and create responsive and interactive prototypes. The app comes with advanced design tools like vector editing. It supports multi-user collaboration and delivers efficient handoffs to the development team. Used by a lot of Fortune companies, it is now one of the most well-known Adobe XD alternatives for Mac and Windows. It also comes with iOS and Android mirrors where prototypes can be reviewed for the purpose of providing feedback to the design team. Some unique features include the ability to style layers to create eye-catching designs and access to robust asset libraries to create unique and stand-out UI designs.

Pros

Workflows are synchronized automatically for more responsive creation of prototypes
Multi-user collaboration is smooth and speeds up the design process
Advanced tools to add transitions, animation, and other dynamic effects
Vector editing is superior to many other premium UI/UX design applications
Layer-styling allows for rich designs to be created easily
Widely used application with a large community of users for knowledge sharing

Cons

High level of customization and workaround possibilities makes it hard for new team members to catch up on the progress
The free version is limited to three prototypes or boards
The web app requires a robust Internet connection

System Compatibility

InVision Studio: Mac, Windows, Android, iOS - web app (InVision) is only for feedback and sharing

#8: Figma

Figma is one of the top UI design and prototyping apps that compete with Adobe XD. It has many advantages over Adobe's product because of the collaboration-focused approach to the application. Rather than struggle with version control and manual syncing to the cloud, Figma users can easily access the latest design updates from their browser, making this a compelling reason to switch from XD to this versatile product. The key aspect of this software is that the collaborative features speed up the design workflow; turnaround times can be in hours or minutes instead of 'business days' because collaborators can access designs and provide feedback on their own devices whether they're in the office, at home, or traveling.

Pros

Highly collaborative platform
Automatic update syncing to the cloud
Easy sharing for review and feedback
Unlimited cloud storage even with the free version
Shareable asset libraries with the Professional plan

Cons

Version history in the free plan is limited to 30 days
Free version limited to 2 editors and 3 projects
No private projects in the free plan

System Compatibility

All major OS platforms with modern browsers - Web app

#9: Proto.io

Proto is a web-based application for designing and prototyping geared toward mobile applications. It includes a lot of components and design elements to enrich your UI creations, and interactive functions to give life to your prototypes. The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to pull rich icons and components directly on to your designs and create them faster. Additionally, you can create realistic prototypes to test them on target mobile devices, which clients are bound to love. The one area it lags behind other utilities like Wondershare Mockitt and Figma is the lack of robust developer resources such as efficient handoffs and other cross-team collaborative tools.

Pros

Users can use existing asset libraries or create custom ones
Mobile app to test the prototype on a mobile device
Includes audio library
Content blocks can be reused
Allows design imports from other applications

Cons

Collaboration limited to commenting
Inability to create custom buttons and other design elements
Prototypes are meant to work only on the target platform
15-day free trial converts to a limited-feature free version

System Compatibility

All major OS platforms with modern browsers - Web app

#10: Pencil Project

This is an excellent Adobe XD open-source alternative that's completely free. The developers are actively working on new versions that keep adding useful features. For example, version 2.0.2 brought in iOS and Android stencils. The latest version 3.1.0 offers a rich collection of shapes and drawing tools, and the community of users creates and shares its own collections on a regular basis, so you'll rarely ever be frustrated to find that what you need is not available.

Pros

Easy creation of wireframes and mockups with existing libraries
Convenient page linking feature that converts to hyperlinks when taking a web-based output
Access vector images from OpenClipart.org with built-in integration and drag-and-drop feature
Range of output formats including web page
Easy to draw diagrams to show UI flow
Support for Ubuntu and Fedora on Linux

Cons

Primitive prototypes that use links for interaction
Lack of rich transitions and animation effects for a richer prototype experience
No integrated tools for annotations or feedback
No cloud integration
No prototype-sharing via links

System Compatibility

Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit), macOS, Linux (Fedora and Ubuntu)

Summary:

Depending on whether you need an Adobe XD alternative that's open-source, free to use, or premium with advanced features, this list has you covered. Of the premium and free-use or free-trial tools listed here, Wondershare Mockitt comes up as the winner in terms of affordability, versatility, collaborative features, and efficiency of handoffs to developers. While Figma and InVision might be better-known in the market, Wondershare Mockitt is rapidly emerging as a serious contender for anyone looking for an optimal mix of robust cross-platform capabilities, enhanced collaboration, ease-of-use, affordability, rich feature-set, extensive libraries, and fully interactive elements to breathe life into your prototypes.

David