UI and UX are two of the top popular terms that are mentioned in the design process frequently. This is the reason why there are many tools available today that help you create UX/UI designs easily and conveniently. No matter if you don't work as a professional designer, you can also utilize them to make your design great. Your product development team may build a successful app, website, or program even without hiring a designer. Here are the top 10 tools to help anyone develop the ideal UI design.

Top 10 UI design tools

1. Sketch

Image source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2020/06/10-tools-i-cant-design-without/

Sketch is known as the best UI design tool for prototyping on Mac. First launched in 2010, Sketch is a digital design tool based on vector graphics. It enables users to create all forms of user interfaces, wireframes, and prototypes. You also resize anything that you draw without its losing sharpness, then instantly preview them on mobile devices. The download size is about 20 megabytes so export time is shorter.

Sketch offers only a paid version. You just pay for the app once and need to renew the license every year to get updates. One of the main cons is that Sketch is a Mac-only app, so only Mac users can use this app.

2. Adobe XD

Image source: https://buildfire.com/tools-for-mobile-app-designers/

When designing on Windows, Adobe XD is one of the best UI design tools. Launched in 2016, Adobe XD has become the direct competitor of Sketch in the industry of digital prototyping. However, its big attraction over Sketch is that it works on Windows as well as Mac.

XD is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud collection of design tools. Adobe XD offers vector-based user interface tools and plays as an all-in-one designing and prototyping platform for wireframe building, immersive prototypes, website designs, mockups, smartphone apps, and even voice interfaces. Moreover, it allows real-time collaboration. Teams can work together between platforms in real-time while receiving valuable comments and feedback directly from clients.

Adobe XD offers two versions including free and paid versions, the fee is $9.99/month. It supports Windows 10 and macOS and is also available as a mobile app for both Android and iOS.

3. Proto.io

Image source: https://webflow.com/blog/ui-ux-design-tools

Proto.io is one of the top UI design tools for prototyping in the browser.

Proto.io allows you to create lifelike and high-fidelity prototypes in real time. You can design a screen interface for Smart TVs, digital cameras, cars, airplanes, or even gaming consoles. You also can directly test your design before building.

It's easy to use when it doesn't require any code as well as download any software. Moreover, you can seamlessly synchronize your UI components with other tools such as Sketch or Photoshop. This helps you simplify your workflow.

Proto.io is available for the paid version but you can try it after signing up for a 15-day free trial.

4. Figma

Image source: https://webflow.com/blog/ui-ux-design-tools

Figma is another great browser-based UI design tool for collaborative prototyping.

Figma allows teams to compose, design interfaces, and collaborate in real-time quickly. This tool is suitable for a live project that requires all of the members to work on a project at the same time.

Designers can build dynamic prototypes and mockups, test them for usability, and sync up all of the progress. Its interactive prototyping capabilities also support you in creating vector illustrations and designing apps, and screens.

Figma offers two versions including free and paid versions with a trial of 7 days. It also has desktop apps for Windows and Mac along with mobile apps for iOS and Android.

5. Marvel

Image source: https://buildfire.com/tools-for-mobile-app-designers/

If you are interested in speed, Marvel is the best UI design tool for rapid prototyping based on the web. Marvel allows you to create fidelity and hi-fi wireframes, interactive prototypes, build pages, test, and simulate design through an intuitive interface.

Because of its great integration availability, you can easily synchronize your designs from other tools such as Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator, or even cloud storage like Dropbox or Google Drive. It's an excellent tool for collaboration.

Marvel is available for web and mobile iOS and Android applications. It offers two versions including a free and paid version with a 30 days free trial.

6. Invision Studio

Image source: https://webflow.com/blog/ui-ux-design-tools

Invision Studio is an advanced prototyping and animation web app. inVision allows you to upload static design files and add animations, gestures and turns them into interactive and high-fidelity prototypes. You can test your designs, and make any changes before developing.

Once InVision is integrated with Sketch, you can import files from Sketch into InVision easily. The efficiency of collaboration increases significantly because of its features for prototyping, integrating, sharing, and receiving feedback in real-time quickly.

InVision Studio works on both Mac and Windows. It’s free to download and use.

7. Origami Studio

Image source: https://webflow.com/blog/ui-ux-design-tools

Origami Studio is a macOS desktop application, a standalone user interface design tool developed by Facebook. Launched in 2013, it’s used for designing Facebook apps such as Facebook Messenger and Instagram for the first time.

Origami Studio offers great functionalities to help you build complete prototypes that are supported by a sophisticated patch editor. Designers can easily integrate advanced functionality. Preview or even record prototypes by capturing, trimming, and exporting video directly in Origami (Android, iOS). Moreover, it also integrates well with Sketch and Figma to make design sync easier on different platforms.

Origami Studio is available on macOS only but you can view your prototypes on Apple or Android mobile devices. And now, it is free for you.

8. Axure

Image source: https://webflow.com/blog/ui-ux-design-tools

Axure is a great tool for technical UI designs. Axure provides many functions in prototyping to build complex prototypes. You can keep track of the workflow, test functionality, and combine everything together for an easy developer handoff. Everyone who works on the same project keeps up to date with all information in real-time. Especially for the required technical and dynamic data projects, Axure is the best choice.

Axure offers only a paid version with a 30-day free trial. It’s available for Mac and Windows but no web version.

9. Balsamiq

Image source: https://www.creativebloq.com/how-to/20-best-ui-design-tools

Balsamiq is one of the best UI design tools for fast wireframes.

Balsamiq makes the development of structure and layouts quickly and easily. You can create wireframe sketches, make clean wireframe designs, link buttons to other pages, and use drag-and-drop elements. A user-friendly interface along with its fast is the best thing for any designer.

Balsamiq offers only a paid version with a 30-day free trial. It’s available for Mac, Windows, and web.

10. Framer

Image source: https://builtin.com/design-ux/ux-ui-prototyping-tools

Framer is a flexible and interactive design tool for prototyping. Farmer has become famous for its versatility, immersive interface, functional designs and intuitive templates.

Using Coffeescript, it allows building mobile or desktop prototypes. You can code or use their visual editing tool, preview your prototype, easily import your designs from Sketch, Figma, and Photoshop, and collaborate with your team members.

Farmer app for desktop is available on Windows and Mac for free.

Conclusion

The top 10 UI design tools mentioned above may be helpful for you when creating your design. Each tool has its own characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. Depending on your requirements and objectives, you need to choose the best tool for your project. Note that the importance of a good UX design is endless, so you need to utilize this to get the success of developing your product.