13 Best Online Tools for Mockups, UI Prototyping and Wireframing
Creating mockups, prototypes and wireframes can often take a long time if you’re looking for the perfect layout for your site. Photoshop and Illustrator are often the go-to pieces of software for website designers as it allows for easy moving of shapes around the page. However, it is not the simplest and there are other and easier ways to accomplish this task.
The web has a large list of sites that offer you software and online services that enable you to quickly and easily create wireframes, prototypes and mockups for your sites. We have gone and scoured the web for a list of the 13 best tools for mockups, UI prototyping and wireframing on the internet. We hope you find the website that is going to help you most and we hope you find one that suits your needs!
Moqups
Moqups claims to be able to do it all and in an incredibly easy and efficient way. As you can see from the image shown, it offers up a simple and easily learnable user interface that allows you to pick up the basic techniques quickly without much of a learning process. It has plenty of preset stencils that you can simply drag into the user interface and then drag around to resize, reposition and more. You can also add in icons, change the colour of these and plenty more when it comes to trying to add in plenty of content to show exactly what you want.
inVision
Invision is a mockup, wireframing and prototyping service that can really do it all. Invision allows you to create really detailed and high-quality working wireframes and prototypes of your website. It also makes sharing and working together a dream with some really intuitive collaborative features.
Balsamiq
Balsamiq is one of the more recognised entries on this list with an already rather large following as one of the more popular offerings. Balsamiq offers it’s legendary sketched look and as a result gets the UI out of the way and allows you to concentrate on getting the mockups and wireframes that you want done correctly and efficiently.
Creately
Creately is a web-based service that allows you to create a wireframe very simply using some minimal and intuitive techniques. The interface allows you to drag and drop some pre-set elements for quick wireframing. They refer to themselves as having an extensive set of objects to create exact mockups which suggests positivity.
Creately also allows you to share and collaborate in real-time allowing you to share work with others but also work with them at the same time on the same mockup which is a really nice feature as it increases productivity and makes it easier to communicate ideas between co-workers/clients/users and more.
Mockingbird
Mockingbird is another popular web-based wireframing application, with some great functionality baked in for linking and sharing your mockups. Mockingbird offers a large and easy-to-use drag and drop feature which allows you to easily add and move items within your mockup around.
You can then link multiple pages together which gives the client a better idea of how your application/website will navigate.
Fluid
Fluid is a very modernised prototype manager that allows you to do many things when attempting to build a prototype for either desktop or mobile. With Fluid you have access to 3,500 mobile, tablet, desktop & wearable widgets or you have the option upload your own images to “get that pixel perfect look.” Fluid also offers apps for iOS and Android which allows you to preview your prototype right on the screen in front of you, this is also an option to do on desktops as well.
Fluid prides itself on its ability to then share the prototype with clients, stakeholders and users to allow them to preview the site/app/mobile site you had in mind before actually writing a single line of code. It’s something that makes the whole idea of a pitch much easier as you don’t have to worry about writing any code.
Mockup Builder
Mockup Builder is another excellent alternative. It offers a wide range of different elements for you to play around within your wireframe however there are few of each style so it is more for a general look than a precise look.
Once you’ve completed your project and it looks and feels how you want it to you can share the project by PDF or PNG either directly to the client for them to view on the site or via other sharing means.
Axure
Pidoco
Pidoco offers the ability to create wireframes that are easy to add links into making the tool a really good one if you have many buttons, pages or general links on your site that you’re planning on making. Pidoco offers a large range of mobile elements allowing you to experiment with your final wireframe. You have the choice to choose between two different appearances depending on which you favour.
Another great feature of Pidoco is that you can test your mockups and wireframes on iPads and iPhones too which makes things a lot easier.
MockFlow
MockFlow describes itself as providing “a high quality platform for designers to Plan, Build and Share work.” This is a good representation of a brilliant mockup tool.
MockFlow offers an application for all platforms which makes it easier to edit it from wherever you are or whichever platform you choose to use. MockFlow also supports a free mobile application which allows for portability when possibly showing your final wireframe to a client on the go.
HotGloo
HotGloo is another well-respected and rightfully earned mockup and wireframing tool on the internet. It has over 26,000 projects and rightfully so with a huge library of different elements to use and a easy-to-use drap and drop feature.
The User Interface of HotGloo is a pleasure to use and arguably one of the best on this list. HotGloo also allows you to create complete user interactions as opposed to just linking buttons o other pages. You can constantly test and review your wireframe as you go through too speeding up the creation progress vastly.
UXPin
UXPin is a wireframing web application with a few features we haven’t seen in other products. Like many similar offerings, UXPin has a large library of wireframe elements and widgets, accessible via a simple drag-and-drop interface. However, there are a few other key features that set UXPin apart from the crowd.
Not only can you share projects via a single share link, UXPin also enables you to collaborate in real-time with other designers, chat with clients and collaborators, and keep a history of all chat communication. With UXPin, you can create fully featured, interactive wireframes in real-time and then gather instant feedback.
Proto.io
Proto.io is a mockup tool specifically for making mobile sites and mobile applications for all the popular platforms. It offers some great font, colour and icon style choices perfect for the mobile platform.
Being built with mobile devices in mind, Proto.io allows you to preview and test your mockups on your mobile device allowing you to see how responsive and generally how they feel on the device you’re intending them for. Finally, you can collaborate and share your prototypes similarly to other items on this list easily which makes working on a project with others far easier.
