Sketching up the frames of your app is a great way to make it a bit more realistic. This is a step that can’t be avoided when building any kind of application.
But, you can take this to the next level.
Using some of the mockup tools mentioned below, you can create even interactive mockups that can be exported and run on any device working like a real application.
This is an efficient way to test your assumptions about your app; it also provides detailed instructions for developers, making their job much easier and faster. Mockups are also extremely important when you work with an external software development company.
We collected 20 paid and free mockup tools you can use when working on your next mobile or web application.
Source: Moqups
Moqups is a full ecosystem of tools within a single design environment. It allows you to create diagrams, wireframes and prototypes without switching apps or updating across platforms.
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Free trial: Yes
A simple drag-and-drop prototyping tool for creating interactive prototypes of desktop, mobile and web apps in a faster way.
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Bonus: Mockplus iDoc is a powerful product design collaboration tool for designers and engineers. It helps connect the entire product design workflow. It facilitates handoff by taking designs from PS, Sketch, Adobe XD and exporting into a format that can generate code snippets, specs, and assets.
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Pricing: Free
Source: Balsamiq
Balsamiq Wireframes is the industry standard low-fidelity wireframing software that reproduces the experience of sketching on a whiteboard but using a computer. It’s more like a tool to boost creativity to generate more ideas.
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Free trial: Yes
A web-based mockup app designed for rapid prototyping. Mockingbird lets you create interfaces quickly with its drag-and-drop editor.
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Free trial: yes
π Read this:The Ultimate Guide for Creating Kickass User Stories (With Templates)πππ
Mockup builder is a prototyping, mockup and wireframing tool that makes it easy to share your work with your clients or coworkers. You can create prototypes for mobile (iOS, Android) and web applications.
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Enables you to create and collaborate on complex interactive wireframes and UI prototypes for your websites and applications. Mockflow offers a complete solution for prototyping design.
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Source: HotGloo.com
HotGloo is a wireframing and prototyping tool designed to build wireframes for web, mobile and wearables. It helps visualize planning processes, build and test drive interactions very easily.
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Free trial: Yes
Source: Ninjamock.com
NinjaMock is more like a digital canvas for prototyping that imitates hand-drawn images by offering icons, stencils and vector graphics.
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Free version with limited functionality is available.
Source: Onextrapixel.com
Invision is a prototyping tool, that facilitates collaboration between your team to transform your ideas into clickable prototypes.
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Free plan available.
Source: UXPin.com
UXPin is a full-stack UX design platform. You can easily create interactive wireframes and user flows and build static or interactive designs.
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Source: Proto.io
With Proto.io mockup software, you can create fully-interactive prototypes that look and work exactly like your app should. You can share your prototypes with anyone.
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Free trial: Yes
Fluid helps you create web and mobile prototypes, making it easy to communicate look, feel, interactivity and animations.
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Axure is a wireframing and prototyping tool, making it easy to share your prototypes with your team members.
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Free trial: No
Source: Pidoco.com
Pidoco lets you quickly create click-through wireframes and fully interactive UX prototypes.
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Source: Alternativeto.net
Mockup.io is a mockup tool that handles the complexity of creating mockups and prototypes in a single tool.
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Pricing: Free forever
Source: Cooper.com
Justinmind is an all-in-one prototyping tool for web and mobile apps. It allows you to share and test designs that run on real devices and make your mobile wireframe look and feel like the finished application.
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A really simple mockup tool for iPhone applications that lets you create black and white app UI sketches.
Pricing: Free
Source: Crozdesk.com
Savahapp is a prototyping tool, that lets you build quick interactive high-fidelity prototypes for any device without writing a single line of code.
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Free trial: Yes
Source: Powermockup.com
A mockup and wireframe toolkit for PowerPoint, providing a large collection of user interface elements and icons made entirely out of PowerPoint shapes.
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Source: imeocdn.com
Keynotopia is not a mockup software but a mockup toolkit for PowerPoint. The website offers different design bundles depending on what platforms you’re building and what presentation software (PowerPoint or Keynote) you use.
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Creating even a basic mockup involves some design work. Years ago you asked your designer to do this for you or you installed Photoshop and watched Youtube tutorials to perform even the simplest design modifications. Luckily, we have plenty of tools that are able to perform mockup-saving design actions within a couple of seconds. Here is our growing list of life-saving tools:
Trace - instantly remove the background from any images.
Upscale - Increase the resolution of any graphic or photo.
Redraw - Upgrade any image to a high resolution.
This is it. 20 cool mockup tools you can use right away to design your next app or website. Creating a mockup is a great way to test an early version of your app and also helps developers when it comes to coding. Now, you have an updated list of mockup tools you can choose from.
If you have any tool suggestions, feel free to shoot us a mail and I will add it to the post. ;-)
π Comprehensive Guide to Code Quality: Best Practices and Tools