A digital product’s aesthetic experience is the main focus of user interface (UI) design. It comprises all of the colors, fonts, and visuals you see on the screen, as well as the UI components you use to move around the interface, such as buttons, scrollbars, and swiping gestures.
Besides, a satisfying user experience can only be produced with good UI design. So, if you’re a digital designer of any type, you’ll need to stock your toolkit with some trustworthy UI design tools. You may imagine these tools as your helpers, organizing your work and turning your ideas into real things on screens. But remember, you don’t need every tool out there; you only need the ones that fit your needs and improve your work.
In this guide, we’ve rounded up the 10 best UI design tools for 2023. These tools are the secret sauce for creating digital products that look awesome and feel just right.
Top UI Design Tools in 2023
Let’s dive into the features and pricing of the 10 best user interface (UI) design tools.
1. Sketch
Sketch is a versatile vector graphics editor that is an all-in-one solution for drawing, wireframing, prototyping, and design handoff, making it a vital tool for turning your creative visions into reality. Sketch is highly regarded as a robust and flexible UX and UI design platform catering to beginners and seasoned designers, but it’s exclusive to macOS users.
Key Features
- Easy-to-use vector editing tools for flexible design
- Infinite design canvas with customizable grids and resizing for any screen
- Speedy design shortcuts
- Precise typography control with variable and OpenType fonts
- Collaborative tools for real-time teamwork and developer handoff
Price
You can test Sketch with a 30-day free trial. After that, it’s priced at $9 per month or a discounted annual rate of $99 per editor when paid upfront.
2. Adobe XD
Another user interface design software on our list is Adobe XD, a versatile vector-based tool from Adobe known for its comprehensive features and collaborative design capabilities. It is well-known for its speed and power, making it suitable for every UX and UI design stage, from initial ideation to polished animations and lifelike prototypes. Unlike Sketch, Adobe XD is compatible with Windows and Mac, giving it broader accessibility.
Key Features
- Vector-based drag-and-drop editor with unlimited artboards and smart guides for precise alignment
- UI kits for Apple Design, Google Material Design, Amazon Alexa, and more
- 3D Transforms for simulating object depth and perspective
- Components and states for scalable and iterative design
- Animation functionality, such as video and Lottie playback, micro-animations, and motion effects
- Voice prototyping for creating voice commands, speech playback, and voice-enabled features
- Design Specs feature for streamlined handoffs to developers, allowing for sharing interactive prototypes, CSS code snippets, and downloadable assets
Price
Adobe XD offers a free XD Starter plan. For access to all features, you can opt for the standalone tool at $9.99/month or subscribe to the comprehensive Creative Cloud suite, including Adobe XD and 20+ other apps, for $52.99 per month.
3. UXPin
A popular UX/UI tool that lets you create polished and interactive prototypes without requiring any coding skills. If you’re familiar with popular UI tools for designers like Sketch or Photoshop, you’ll find UXPin’s interface user-friendly. It offers a vast library of ready-to-use design components and robust support for creating and managing design systems. It is compatible with Mac and Windows OS and works directly in your web browser.
Key Features
- In-built libraries for iOS, Google Material Design, Bootstrap, and User Flows, containing ready-to-use interactive elements, colors, text styles, and icons
- Interactive components that you can easily drag into your designs to create high-fidelity interactions
- Embedded user flow capabilities to help you narrate the story of your design work
- Integrated contrast checker and color blindness simulator to ensure your designs are accessible
- Smooth developer handoff with downloadable design specifications
Price
UXPin has a free version that allows the creation of up to 2 prototypes with limited functionality. For more innovative features, you can select from the following paid plans:
- Basic plan at $19 per editor per month
- Advanced plan at $29 per editor per month
- Professional plan at $69 per editor per month
4. Marvel
Marvel is a web-based UX/UI design software that covers the essential functions needed for designing and constructing digital products, including wireframing, prototyping, and design specs for seamless handoff to developers. It is user-friendly, making it a brilliant choice for beginners. It emphasizes simplicity and speed in design and integrates seamlessly with other popular design tools to enhance your workflow.
Key Features
- Quick wireframing with drag-and-drop templates for early-stage designs
- A comprehensive library of pre-made assets, images, and icons to visualize your ideas
- The ability to import static designs from other tools, such as Sketch
- Interactive prototyping with features like hotspots, interactions, and layers
- Built-in user testing capabilities for gathering feedback and validating designs
- Design handoff tools to instantly convert designs into code, specifications, and assets for developers
- Integrations with tools like Jira, Maze, Confluence, Lookback, and more
Pricing
Marvel offers a free plan that allows you to create one project. For unlimited projects and multiple users, you can consider the Pro plan for €9 per month (for 1 user) or the Team plan for €27 per month (for 3+ users).
5. Figma
Figma, like Sketch and Adobe XD, is a vector graphics editor with the added convenience of being browser-based. It is one of the best UI design tools, covering everything from creativity to interactive prototyping within an intuitive interface. Additionally, Figma offers FigJam, an online whiteboard tool for collaborative ideation, brainstorming, and workshops.
Key Features
- A modern pen tool with Vector Networks for versatile drawing
- Auto Layout for effortless, responsive design
- Flexible styles that can be applied across all your UI projects
- Accessible libraries with ready-made assets for easy drag-and-drop
- Code snippets for CSS, iOS, and Android to facilitate developer handoff
- An array of plugins for automating and enhancing design workflows
- Interactive prototyping capabilities, including advanced transitions, dynamic overlays, and animated GIFs
- Embedded commenting functionality to facilitate collaborative design processes
Pricing
Figma offers a robust free plan with up to 3 Figma and FigJam files and limitless collaborators. For unrestricted files and additional functionality, you can opt for the Professional plan at $12 per editor per month or the Organization plan at $45 per month.
6. InVision Studio
InVision Studio is a software UX design tool that claims to be the most potent screen design tool globally, offering an all-inclusive solution for drawing, wireframing, prototyping, and animating to perfection. As part of the InVision suite of collaborative design tools, it provides a user-friendly vector-based drawing tool, an expansive canvas, impressive rapid prototyping features, and built-in animations. This versatile tool is compatible with MacOS and Windows, making it a top choice among professional designers in the UX/UI field.
Key features
- Lightning-fast screen design with a vector-drawing tool
- Adaptive layout for swift adjustments and scaling to fit various screen sizes, ensuring responsive design
- Rapid prototyping capabilities with fluid interactions, mobile device mirroring, and instant playback
- Built-in animation tools, including smart-swipe transitions, timeline editing, and auto-layer linking.
- Shared component libraries with global synchronization and real-time updates to maintain design consistency.
- The Inspect tool, which generates pixel-perfect specifications for developers
Price
InVision Studio offers a free download with the ability to create one prototype and three boards. For expanded capabilities, you can consider the InVision Starter plan at $13 per month (offering three prototypes and three boards) or the Professional plan at $22 per month, providing unlimited prototypes and boards.
7. Origami Studio
It is a free design tool developed by Facebook, primarily focused on prototyping. It empowers designers to construct and share interactive interfaces rapidly. While initially created for Facebook’s own design needs, Origami Studio is now freely available to macOS users. The tool has a steep learning curve, so it may not be ideal for novices. However, Origami Studio is a compelling option for advanced designers seeking to craft lifelike prototypes.
Key features
Origami Studio comprises six main panels:
- The drag-and-drop canvas for drawing and editing shape layers, text, and images, which you can import from Sketch or Figma
- The Patch Editor, where you can add interactions and animations to your prototype using blocks known as “patches”
- Layer List, displaying all layers in your prototype, where you can add new layers and define interactions
- Inspector, allowing you to select a layer and adjust its properties
- Viewer panel for viewing, interacting with, and recording your prototype
- Patch Library, containing a list of accessible patches and their descriptions
Price
Origami Studio is entirely free to download and use.
8. Uizard
Uizard is a comprehensive UX and UI design platform tailored for those who want to create digital products without requiring advanced design expertise. It covers ideation, low-fidelity wireframing, rapid prototyping, and UI styling and supports real-time collaboration. One of its standout features is an exceptionally low learning curve. Using tools like Google Slides, Keynote, or PowerPoint, you can easily navigate Uizard.
Key features
- Drag-and-drop components and templates for efficient mobile and web design
- Wireframe mode, which enables rendering projects in low fidelity, is ideal for assessing the user experience
- The ability to import hand-drawn paper wireframes or wireframes from other tools, which Uizard transforms into customizable digital screens
Price
With the Uizard free plan, you can generate 3 projects with up to 10 themes for infinite users. For additional projects, consider the Pro plan at $12 per creator per month, offering access to all templates and supporting up to 100 projects. Alternatively, the Enterprise plan, priced at $39 per creator per month, provides unlimited access to all Uizard features.
9. Mockplus
Another of the best UI/UX design tools, Mockplus is a prototyping and UI mockup design platform designed to simplify creating interactive UI designs for web, mobile, and desktop applications. It caters to designers who may not have coding skills, making it an excellent choice for UI beginners. With Mockplus, you can quickly and easily build prototypes and mockups for your web and app designs.
Key features
- Abundance of ready-made components, a UI library, and reusable assets to expedite web and app design.
- Intuitive drag-and-drop builder for effortlessly adding pre-built UI components, animations, and interaction effects
- Collaborative capabilities, enabling design teams to work together seamlessly and accelerate project development.
- Cloud synchronization to involve all stakeholders and keep them updated on project progress
- Integration with popular design tools like Figma, Adobe XD, Photoshop, Sketch, and Axure
- Auto-generation of design assets and visual specifications (CSS) for developer handoff
- Prototyping preview and early-stage design testing
Price
Mockplus offers a basic free plan that includes most of its exclusive features. With this plan, you can create up to 3 projects, have up to 10 pages per prototype project, and collaborate with 10 team members. For more advanced functionality, paid plans start at $10.95 per monthly user.
10. Zeplin
Zeplin is a cloud-based software that facilitates collaboration between UX/UI designers and front-end developers during the design and development process of websites and mobile applications. It bridges these two teams, streamlining the workflow and improving communication by providing a centralized platform to publish designs and generate specs, assets, and code snippets.
Key Features
- Flows for mapping user journeys and documenting designs
- Global Styleguides for centralized design system management
- Integrations with Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch, Photoshop, Slack, and more
- Extensions for HTML, CSS, Swift, XML, React Native, and more
Price
Zeplin offers a free plan with which you can create one project. For up to 12 projects, you’ll need to buy the Team plan for $6/seat per month and $12/seat per month for unlimited projects with the Organization plan.
It’s Time to Update Your UI Toolkit!
To create a product that viewers resonate with, you must update your toolkit with the best UI design tools in 2023. It is a crucial step that involves grasping your user’s experiences and your product’s essence. Besides whether you’re sketching initial ideas or crafting interactive prototypes, each phase contributes to forming a design that truly connects. It’s important to remember that UI design represents just one facet of the broader product design journey – UX design is equally important. Explore the UI/UX design differences here.
The UI design tools discussed in this guide serve as all-in-one design solutions. However, it’s worth noting that numerous other specialized tools are available, each catering to specific tasks and stages within the design workflow. Stay ahead in the ever-changing design world by exploring tools that align with your evolving design needs.
Besides, if you’re a beginner and want an outstanding product, you may consider outsourcing web design to a professional. A top UI/UX agency like Codment can offer you the best UI/UX services in 2023 and beyond.
