Top UI Design Tools for 2025

Designing a website is about more than choosing colours and layouts — it’s about creating an interface people can actually use and enjoy. The User Interface (UI) is the layer of controls, visuals, and interactive elements that shape how visitors experience your site. This includes typography, colour palettes, images, buttons, scrollbars, gestures like swipes, and the overall navigation structure.

A strong UI is more than aesthetic. It reduces friction, improves accessibility, and helps visitors accomplish tasks quickly and confidently. When the interface is clear and intuitive, users are more likely to stay, engage, and convert.

In this guide, we’ll highlight the best UI design tools in 2025, outlining their key features, strengths, and ideal use cases. Whether you’re a professional designer, a developer, or just starting out, you’ll find practical insights to help you choose the right software for your workflow.

Sketch

Platform: macOS only

Strengths: A fast, vector-based design tool that feels lightweight but powerful. It’s long been trusted by UI and product designers for its clean workflow and flexible plugin ecosystem.

Key Features:

• Artboards and customisable grids for structured layouts
• Responsive resizing to adapt designs across devices
• Extensive third-party plugin library for wireframing, prototyping, and collaboration
• Shared libraries and symbols to maintain design consistency across projects

Best For: Designers fully embedded in the Apple ecosystem who want precision, scalability, and a tool that integrates smoothly into established workflows.

Proto.io

Platform: Browser-based

Strengths: Built for speed and simplicity, Proto.io lets you create fully interactive prototypes without writing a single line of code. It’s ideal for showcasing ideas quickly and gathering feedback before development starts.

Key Features:

• Intuitive drag-and-drop editor for rapid prototyping
• Reusable UI components and ready-made templates
• Asset libraries including icons, images, and animations
• Integrations with design tools like Sketch and Photoshop
• Realistic preview and testing on actual devices

Best For: Product managers, marketers, and non-developers who need to build clickable prototypes for client presentations, stakeholder reviews, or usability testing without investing in a complex design suite.

Adobe XD (Phasing Out)

Platform: Windows and macOS

Strengths: Once valued for its seamless integration with Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe XD offered a smooth workflow for designers already using Photoshop and Illustrator.

Key Features:

• Auto-animate for creating smooth transitions and micro-interactions
• Repeat grids for quickly building lists, galleries, or UI patterns
• Direct reuse of assets from Photoshop and Illustrator
• Collaboration features for design sharing and feedback

Note: Adobe announced that XD is no longer being actively developed and is encouraging users to transition to Figma (pending final acquisition approval). While still functional, support is limited and adoption is declining.

Best For: Teams already locked into Adobe Creative Cloud who need to maintain legacy projects or ensure short-term compatibility before migrating to newer tools.

UXPin

Platform: Browser and desktop apps

Strengths: UXPin stands out by bridging the gap between design and development, allowing teams to work with code-based components instead of static mockups. This makes prototypes more realistic and reduces surprises during handoff.

Key Features:

• Interactive prototyping with no coding required
• Support for design systems and reusable components
• Accessibility tools, including colour contrast checkers and a colour-blindness simulator
• Conditional logic and states for more advanced, real-world prototypes
• Smooth handoff with developer-friendly specs

Best For: Design and development teams who need pixel-perfect accuracy, accessibility validation, and production-ready prototypes that behave more like real apps than static screens.

Marvel

Platform: Browser-based

Strengths: Marvel is known for its simplicity and ease of use, making it a go-to choice for quick design projects and prototypes. With a low learning curve, it’s accessible even for people with little or no design background.

Key Features:

• Wireframing and interactive prototyping
• Design specs for smooth developer handoff
• Built-in user testing tools for gathering feedback
• Integrations with tools like Sketch and Slack
• Cloud-based access for collaboration anywhere

Best For: Beginners, marketers, and design teams who need to create fast, shareable prototypes without the complexity of advanced design suites.

Figma

Platform: Browser + desktop apps (Windows, macOS, Linux via browser)

Strengths: Figma has become the industry standard for collaborative design, offering a cloud-first approach that lets teams design, prototype, and review work together in real time—no file transfers needed.

Key Features:

• Real-time collaboration with multi-user editing
• Component libraries and design systems for consistency at scale
• Vector-based editing for precision and flexibility
• Interactive prototyping with advanced transitions and overlays
• Built-in commenting and version history for streamlined reviews

Plugins & Extensions: A rich plugin ecosystem extends functionality. For example, Detachless lets you publish live websites directly from Figma designs, bridging design and deployment.

Best For: Teams of all sizes who need a scalable, cloud-based design platform with robust collaboration, cross-platform accessibility, and enterprise-level features.

Zeplin

Platform: Cloud-based

Strengths: Zeplin specialises in bridging the gap between design and development, ensuring that design intent is translated into accurate, production-ready assets. It simplifies collaboration and reduces miscommunication during handoff.

Key Features:

• Generates developer-friendly specs, code snippets, and assets from Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD files
• Organised project spaces with version control and documentation
• Style guides to keep design systems consistent across teams
• Integrations with Jira, Slack, Trello, and other workflow tools
• Permissions and role management for larger organisations

Best For: Mid-to-large teams where design-to-development collaboration requires structure, accountability, and reliable handoff workflows.

Origami Studio

Platform: macOS (free)

Strengths: Developed by Meta, Origami Studio is geared toward advanced prototyping, allowing designers to simulate highly realistic interactions and flows that go beyond what most browser-based tools offer.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop canvas for assembling layers and UI components
• Patch editor for adding logic, animations, and advanced interactions
• Live preview on connected devices for real-world testing
• Integration with Sketch and Figma for importing designs
• Fine-grained control for micro-interactions and conditional behaviours

Best For: Experienced designers and interaction specialists who need to prototype complex, high-fidelity user flows that behave like production-ready apps.

Conclusion

Choosing the right design tool depends on your team, workflow, and goals — whether it’s Sketch for Apple-focused designers, Figma for cloud-first collaboration, or Proto.io for quick prototyping. Each platform brings unique strengths to the table.

Beyond the tools themselves, remember that great design also relies on strong assets and ready-to-use templates. Resources like Mailmodo’s library of 1,000+ customisable email templates and 6,000+ digital assets (images, icons, animations) can help teams save time and maintain consistency across projects.

In short: pair the right design tool with the right resources, and you’ll create a workflow that’s both efficient and inspiring.

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