Top 5 Free Best UI Prototyping Tools
Designing a website is not an easy task. It requires a lot of inputs from the customers and users. If these changes in design are too often, it may be difficult to address everything on the go. Whenever something needs to be changed, before publishing the website it has to be thoroughly tested to avoid bugs and inconvenience to the users. Hence, preparing a sample or prototype of it is the best way to test the concept or process. A prototype is worth several meetings. There are many UI prototyping tools available in the market. These tools allow clients and designers to collaborate in a better way to come up with a quality product.
Top 5 UI Prototyping tools
Prototyping can help you in defending your designs with customer feedback. It also saves your money and time by considering changes before the final development. Once you decide the prototypes, the best UI prototyping tools make all the difference for your project. Some of the best free UI prototyping tools are explained with their pros, cons, and compatibility below.
1. Wondershare Mockitt
Wondershare Mockitt is an America based collaborative prototyping tool for UI designers that offers multi-platform prototyping i.e., platforms like android, iPhone, Pad, Watch, etc. Design size can be customized based on the platform. It offers plenty of options for widgets, texts, templates, and icons. Prototyping is made easier with simple drag and drops features which makes the work faster. It offers a variety of gestures and animations for design implementation. It is mainly used for creating wireframes and interactive designs for mobile and websites
Pros
- Supports exporting HTML, PNG, APK offline files, and hence the presenting the prototype is easy on any platform.
- Provides a shareable URL and QR code with which preview and sharing are easier.
- It offers customization of widgets and reusability of them in other projects.
Cons
- It may be difficult for an inexperienced person to use widgets as it may be confusing.
- Watching tutorials is a must for a beginner.
Compatibility -iPhone, Android, Pad
2. InVision
InVision provides a project management page wherein you can create a to-do list, progress, review, done, and approved columns in the workflow status. It is a good ui prototyping tools. This also provides a drag and drop feature for designing. Static images, animations, and interactions can be added as well. IT supports uploading multiple file types such as JPG, PSD, AI, GIF, and PSD. It has a push and pulls integration with Dropbox, Slack, JIRA, and many more. It helps in collaborative designs and tools for presentations. Guided tours and meetings with clients can also be conducted using this tool.
Pros
- An intuitive tool which allows users to upload their designs
- Clickable and interactive prototypes with animations and gestures can be created with rapid iterations
- Easy sharing option for collaborative designs
Cons
- Supports only existing mockups and hence you can't edit them
- Switching screens and timeouts can affect your interactivity level with the tool
Compatibility- Android, IOS, Web
3. Adobe Experience Design
Adobe experience design is an all-in-one free ui prototyping tool for you where you can create wireframes, designs, and prototypes. After that, you can also have an option to present and share as well. All your assets can be accessed in one place by eliminating tiresome manual tasks. It can be integrated easily with user testing platforms. Switch from design to prototype is just a click away. Files from the tools of adobe can be easily imported and hence it enhances the productivity of the designers. Real-time viewing of designs on actual devices can be possible.
Pros
- Comments can be added to the prototype when shared directly.
- Integration with other Adobe products like Photoshop and others.
- Real-time commenting and sharing capabilities.
Cons
- Live Smartphone prototyping only works on Mac OS but not on others.
- Customization of the shapes is not possible and CSS cannot be exported to adobe.
Compatibility- Android, IOS, OS X, Windows
4. Origami Studio
Origami is another ui prototyping tool. It is created by Facebook helps designers in building and designing products. Mockup live can be previewed on the mobile using origami live in real-time. Prototypes can be presented on different devices in full screen. Layers in the projects can be preserved even after importing designs from Photoshop and Sketch. Prototypes can be readily linked, animated, and changed as per the requirements. Exporting is made so easy that engineers can just copy and paste prototype into the project.
Pros
- The ability to create prototypes for apple watch is the biggest advantage.
- Best for high fidelity and highly interactive apps and websites.
- Two sections in the working window allow the user to preview the progress constantly.
Cons
- It lacks features for collaboration.
- Requires a lot of time to become aware of the basic features.
Compatibility- Android, IOS
5. Sketch
This allows you to edit and manipulate photos similar to Photoshop. Vector shapes in sketch easily get adapted to changing styles, designs, sizes, and layouts. This vector-based workflow makes it easier to create high quality and beautiful artwork end to end. Repeating elements are the most common thing in UI design like buttons, bubbles, bars, etc. These can be automatically copied and pasted using the sketch.
Pros
- Sketch community is so big that new plug-ins and features are launched very often.
- The development team is continuously taking feedback from users to incorporate more and more advanced features.
Cons
- Since it is a new ui prototyping tool, it can slow down the older machines which hamper the overall performance of the machine.
- Very basic actions also rely on the third-party code.
Compatibility - iOS, OS X, Web
How to choose the Best UI prototyping tool?
Implementing your ideas and collaboration with clients is easier when you choose the right prototyping tool. There are many tools available online but few factors need to be considered while choosing the best one. The first and foremost thing is to consider the time it takes to learn and get hands-on the tool. Ideally, this should not take much time and should be easy to adopt. Since all the tools have different features and are differently designed from each other, it may take some time to get used to the tool.
UI tools should be suitable for collaborative teamwork. The ability of the tool for collaboration for multiple people is the best feature. The tool should be able to suit your design process and should be interactive with other tools that you use regularly.
The best recommendation with all the above features and qualities is the Wondershare Mockitt UI prototyping tool with free basic features. However, if you need advanced features, you can choose the plan which best suits your business requirements.
