Grid and Guides. Lightning fast Prototyping. Faster today. Available exclusively on the Mac for just $99. Try for Free ↓ Get a license. Different types of prototypes, with different end goals and audiences, mean the same prototyping tool won’t work for every situation. While other articles simply list out their picks for best prototyping tools, we’re factoring in how they’ll be used.
This article was written in 2009 and remains one of our most popular posts. If you’re keen to learn more about wireframing, you may find this recent article on free online wireframing tools of great interest.
In recent years the number of tools available to help you document and design your web site has just exploded. It seems that we all need a wireframing or prototyping tool at our fingertips (at least in the design arena). So in order to save you the hard work required to find one, I’ve assembled this list. It can be expanded upon, so if you use an unlisted application, please let me know and I’ll add it to the list.
The tools tend to fall into two categories:
- purpose-built applications
- multifunctional applications
Within these two groups I’ve found that usefulness can vary markedly among tools; some are only suitable for diagramming and wireframing, while others focus only on prototyping. The best are blessed with both capabilities and more.
Purpose-built Applications
1. Visio
I will state upfront that I’m not a big fan of Visio (price: from $US259, demo available); I’ve used it from time to time on various projects, but I’ve always found it fiddly and time-consuming.
Visio first started as an add-on to MS Word, filling the need for a business and technical diagramming tool and eventually graduating to separate product status. Visio’s power remains in the area of diagrammatical documentation; as a prototyping tool its functionality is limited at best. However Visio, like Omigraffle (below), is particularly suited to content map generation from CSV files. In the recent version, Visio 2007, the addition of the UML plugin has allowed for smoother importing of UML.
![Software Software](http://www.visiolike.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/moqups-wireframing-tool-mac.png)
Visio has also spawned a number of add-on tools; Swipr (which is free) is the most relevant as it allows for rapid export of wireframes and screen flows into a clickable HTML prototype. This is very handy for creating the entire prototype in one go and not having to link it together after exporting.
Visio is only available on the Windows platform.
2. OmniGraffle Pro
Yes, I’m a little biased here; I do like OmniGraffle (price: $US199, demo available), especially the latest version. OmniGraffle is best suited as a tool for wireframes, screen flows, and content maps. It can also be used as a prototyping tool, with the ability to link canvases (pages). This allows you to produce a complete HTML prototype in one operation from OmniGraffle. You can, via the use of the notes function, easily annotate and complete the specification documentation for your prototype objects as you go.
![Best Best](https://file.mockplus.com/image/2017/05/40ff7564-e2fb-4cc4-aebf-fe325ae87ec5.png)
OmniGraffle provides an extensive series of Visio import and export functions, allowing for cross-platform team compatibility. It also allows you to import your base content structure from a CSV or XML file via a fully customizable rule-based layout function; this can be especially handy for documenting large and ever changing content maps.
Support for OmniGraffle is supplemented by a large online community, as is evidenced by the resources available at Graffletopia. OmniGraffle is only available for the Mac.
3. Axure RP Pro
Axure (price: $US589, demo available) has rapidly become the darling of the user experience and information architecture communities. The application allows you to construct wireframe models, document functional specifications, and generate prototypes, all using a built-in version control system.
Axure is an extremely rapid wireframing and prototype generation system that I’ve personally found pays for itself very quickly – in terms of increased productivity – despite its mid-level price tag.
Axure allows for complete flexibility when designing an interface, from standard widgets, to custom builds, to an open-ended canvas. However, Axure’s true killer functionality is the generation of rich HTML prototypes and Ajax-like interactions between states. It’s a little like Dreamweaver and its JavaScript generation, but good.
A word of caution: if you do go looking under the hood of your HTML prototype, the code it generates is not for the fainthearted and should never be considered for use beyond a testing prototype.
The one downside for me is that it only runs on Windows. If it was available on the Mac, I would be very happy with Axure.
4. iRise Pro
iRise (price: from $US6,995, demo available) was the first product of its type to market, and has advantages and disadvantages. The iRise product suite is very Axure-like in its functionality, and as the price suggests, is clearly geared towards an enterprise-level market.
Price aside, the one thing that I dislike about iRise is the user interface. Now this may be a personal preference, but you would think that if you’re going to be producing a tool for user experience professionals that you would at least make sure the UI is right. iRise suffers from a legacy interface that uses older GUI methods and techniques. I believe it’s in real need of an overhaul.
Still, if you’re looking at working with very large teams and need a comprehensive suite of products to span your entire prototype development life cycle, then iRise is worth a look.
5. Pencil
Pencil (free) is a Firefox plugin that professes to enable you to build wireframes and prototypes. As a prototyping tool it’s quite good, allowing you to quickly put together a reasonably high fidelity mockup. However, be aware you’ll still need to produce the visual design elements for Pencil, as it relies on dragging and dropping pre-made graphical elements.
The output wireframe elements that ship with Pencil do tend to be based on the look and feel of a Windows desktop application. This really is undesirable for a web application, however you could modify this with your own page elements.
Another downside of Pencil is that its export functionality provides only a few image formats. This means that Pencil falls short of being a real interactive prototype development tool.
6. SmartDraw
SmartDraw (price: from $US297, demo available) is marketed at the business diagramming sector, it’s not really a dedicated wireframing and prototyping application, but that doesn’t mean that it should be dismissed completely.
It’s at the lower end of the market so you would expect a reduced functionality set compared to Axure. SmartDraw is aimed at the same market as Visio or OmniGraffle, with a standard template suite and few auto generation features. For prototyping SmartDraw allows you to add simple dynamic elements to a page, with the final output being a PDF file. There is no allowance for the representation of the transition between states on prototypes.
SmartDraw is only available for Windows, offering a degree of MS-Office Suite integration.
7. MockupScreens
MockupScreens (price: from $US79, demo available) is a Windows-only application. It focuses primarily on the building of simple prototypes from a series of wireframes based around common screen elements.
The prototyping functionality is limited, and only available within the MockupScreens application. I do note that you can export the screens as image files or as a very limited HTML rendering. This product is very much at the bottom end of the market in terms of cost and functionality, however this may suit your needs.
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Looking for the best free mockup tool for Mac to turn your ideas into high-fidelity prototypes so that you can show them to other product managers and designers easily as a UX/UI designer? Or merely want to get a free download of Mac mockup software to upgrade your wireframe to the next level, which let you get more practical feedback from users or designers? No worry! Top 4 free Mockup tools for Mac UX/UI designers will be covered here:
Firstly, What’s a Mockup in UX/UI Design?
A mockup in UX/UI design often indicates a high-fidelity model that includes the main parts and functions of a web/mobile application. In comparison with a raw hand-drawn draft, a mockup has been added with more photos, layouts, colors, visual effects and farther details. So, it is more beautiful and often used as a final design of an app to collect the feedback from different users or designers. However, since it is not clickable and operable, it is also not as real as a prototype.
What’s the Difference between Wireframe, Mockup and Prototype?
When it comes to UX/UI design, designers often have inevitably mentioned or heard about three important terms, such as “wireframe”, “mockup” and “prototype”. However, do you exactly know the differences between wireframe, mockup and prototype? Honestly, from my point of view, the three terms actually indicate three stages of an iterative design process.
*The first stage: Draw a wireframe
At the very early stage, when UX/UI designers just get ideas about a web/mobile app, they will often sketch them out as soon as possible for later testing and improving. And that hand-drawn app draft with no colors, no interactions and no farther details is called “wireframe”.
*The second stage: Create a mockup with more details
And then, after discussing their ideas with other designers, product managers and developers, they often will also edit and add more colors, layouts, layers, visual effects and details there so that the app model could be more practical and real. And at this stage, this colorful and high-fidelity model is called “mockup”.
*The third stage: Build a prototype with smart interactions, animations or transitions
And then, in order to make these mockups more operable and clickable, designers will often add interactions, animations and transitions to these high-fidelity models. And in the moment, these clickable and interactive mockup models are called “prototype”.
Therefore, a wireframe is often a roughly drawn design to include the main flows and functions of a web/mobile app.
A mockup is a more realistic presentation of what an app will look like, except that it is not able to be clicked or cannot be used as a real one.
And a prototype is a more elaborate model that allows you to click, preview and test whether your design is operable.
In short, these three terms are different and have their own features.
However, in these days, in order to improve the competitiveness, these prototyping tools are not completely pure wireframe/mockup/prototyping tools. For example, some wireframe tools also allow you to create simple interactions. Some mockup tools also enable you to sketch drafts on a whiteboard, like Balsamiq(which is able to be used as a wireframe tool or a mockup tool ). Overall, merely choose one that suits you best no matter whether it is a wireframe, mockup or prototype tool.
4 Best Free Mockup Tools for Mac UX/UI Designer
Since many app model tools are not pure wireframe/mockup/prototype tools, here we will illustrate 4 best free mockup tools for UX/UI designers to build an excellent mockup on a Mac computer:
1). Balsamiq Mockup
Balsamiq is a simple and free mockup tool for Mac, and allows users to sketch out the interface of a web/iOS/Android app on a whiteboard with Mac OS computer/laptops. Its Quick Add function also enables designers to search and drag components to complete mockups interfaces quickly.
Moreover, with a hand-drawn look, it is more likely to give designers a feeling that they are seamlessly drawing their mockups with real pen and paper. And its team collaboration function that allows different clients and customers to describe their needs or suggestions online are also worth trying.
However, since it is a mockup tool that needs designers to sketch everything out, it is not so proper for users to complete a Mockup or prototype with super details.
2). Mockplus
Mockplus is an easy, fast and all-in-one prototyping tool that allows you to create a wireframe, mockup or prototype as you wish. It offers many easy and fast functions:
* Offer more than 3000 icons and 200 components to rapidly build a wireframe/mockup/prototype.
*Enable designers to create interactions in a visual way with simple drag-and-drop.
*Introduce a Repeater function that allows designers to make repetitive elements effortlessly.
*Offer 8 methods for designers to preview and share prototypes/mockups easily.
*Support team collaboration that enables designers to improve, comment or mark up a project collaboratively.
*Offer various types of pre-designed templates that could be easily imported and used to save your time, like social, music, tourism and learning app templates.
In short, no matter whether you are trying to build a wireframe, mockup or prototype project, Mockplus could be a nice choice.
3). Pencil Project
Pencil project is a simple and open-source GUI prototyping tool for Mac UX/UI designers to create mockups. It offers various built-in shapes and components for designers to draw different types of app interfaces. And you can also use it to export the mockup drawings to different formats, like PNG, PDF, SVG and ODT formats, etc. Moreover, if necessary, add some inner-page links with this tool for your mockups.
So, in this aspect, it is a good choice for UX/UI designers to draw a mockup with no complicated colors, layouts and details.
4).Mockplus iDoc
Mockplus iDoc is a handy design collaboration and handoff tool for designers, developers and product managers to upload, prototype, comment, test, iterate and handoff designs online collaboratively and effortlessly. The automatically-generated specs, assets and code snippets help designers and developers save at least 50% of work time.
Everything (such as Syncing designs/specs from Sketch/PS/Adobe XD, commenting designs, creating UI flows and interactive prototypes, checking and downloading design specs/assets, uploading prototypes from Axure/Justinmind/Mockplus and product documents, and design handoff, etc) can be done with simple clicks and drag-and-drop.
Everyone gets 5 projects and 5 team members for free.Everyone registered can create 5 projects and invite 4 team members for free as well as unlimited collaborators.
5). InVision
InVision is a web-based tool for UX/UI designers to edit, share and test an interactive mockup online. It features for its team collaboration that enables users to import a wireframe, add or edit interactions/animations there collaboratively. Moreover, since it is web-based and supports most web browsers, it is also able to be used on both of a Mac and Windows computer.
So, it is better for designers who want to edit and improve a clickable mockup online or get feedback and suggestions soon from other designers, users, clients, product managers and more participants.
Conclusion
Overall, Balsamiq will be nice for you if you do love drawing everything out with your pen. And Mockplus could be perfect for you to easily and rapidly create and build a mockup with rich colors, super details, distinctive layouts and vivid interactions. And Pencil project will also be a good choice to draw a mockup with no complicated details. Of course, if you have worked out a wireframe and wanted to edit and improve it collaboratively online, both of Mockplus and InVison are worth a try. Have a nice day!
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