19 Best UX Tools To Optimize Digital Interfaces In 2024
10 Best UX Tools Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 20 tools reviewed.
Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.
With so many different user experience solutions out there, figuring out which one is right for you is tough. You know you want to enhance collaboration among design teams and have the ability to gather and incorporate user feedback to create more user-friendly and intuitive interfaces but need to figure out which tool is best. I've got you! In this post I'll help make your choice easy, making use of my personal experiences using dozens of different tools with larger teams and diverse products, with my curated list of the best UX tools.
What are UX tools?
A UX tool is a software application that helps UX designers create, prototype, and test user interfaces. These tools are instrumental in the UX design process, providing the necessary features and functionalities to ensure a user-centric approach to digital product development. These features include wireframing capabilities, prototyping functionalities, user flow mapping, usability testing integration, and collaboration features.
UX tools play a crucial role in translating design ideas into tangible and functional prototypes, fostering a user-centric approach to digital product development.
Overviews Of The 10 Best UX Tools
Here’s a brief description of each UX tool that showcases the best use case and standout features.
Sprig
Best for capturing and analyzing user experience insights at scale with AI
Sprig is an all-in-one product experience platform that provides businesses with a variety of tools, including surveys, session replay, heatmaps, feedback collection, and AI analysis, to enhance their understanding and optimization of user experience.
Why I picked Sprig: Sprig offers an advanced platform for analyzing user behavior and feedback, integrating AI-powered insights, and providing solutions for product optimization. What makes Sprig stand out is its ability to capture targeted session clips, collect continuous user feedback, and visualize user behavior at scale using AI analysis.
Additionally, the software allows for the continuous optimization of user experience, the identification and resolution of user pain points, and the improvement of conversion rates through AI-powered feedback and behavior analysis. These features make Sprig an all-in-one product experience platform that helps companies continuously optimize their products, improve user sentiment, and save time and resources.
Sprig Standout Features and Integrations
Features include user research, in-product surveys, session replay, heatmaps and clickmaps, video interviews, insights repository, real-time feedback, sentiment analysis, user journey mapping, and automated reports.
Integrations include Google Calendar, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Ability to conduct longitudinal studies
- Multi-language support
- AI-driven analysis
Cons:
- Occasional delay in real-time feedback processing
- Limited customization
Miro is an online collaboration tool that helps teams ideate, visualize, and brainstorm ideas.
Why I picked Miro: Miro has a large library of pre-built templates and widgets, which can help users to jump-start their creative process and create professional-looking diagrams and charts. So whether you're creating user flows, flowcharts, or mind maps, Miro's templates provide a starting point that you can customize to fit your specific needs.
Miro offers several features that help with collaboration and ideation. For example, digital notes help capture ideas, feedback, and insights from diverse stakeholders. Voting sessions are another helpful feature, which allows team members to vote on ideas, ensuring everyone's opinions are heard.
Miro Standout Features and Integrations
Features include visual brainstorming, journey mapping, user research, design workshops, sticky notes, timer, frames, spreadsheet import features, templates, and others.
Integrations include Asana Cards, Atlassian, Azure Cards, Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Images, Google Workspace, Jira Cards, Microsoft 365, Notion, SpellChecker, and others.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Vast library of pre-built templates and widgets
- Offers several real-time collaboration features
Cons:
- Limited customizations
- Not ideal for building high-fidelity prototypes
Figma is a popular UX design tool well-suited for collaborative work and high-fidelity wireframes.
Why I picked Figma: A remarkable aspect of Figma is FigJam, which is an online whiteboard tool. FigJam can help you sketch your ideas, map your user journey, and collaborate with other team members. In addition, its audio chat feature enables users to communicate with each other through voice chat while working on the whiteboard.
Figma is ideal for individual designers, design teams, and product teams. One of the standout features of Figma is its collaborative capabilities, which allow multiple team members to work on the same project simultaneously without the need for any additional software or plugins.
Another key feature of Figma is its vector editing capabilities, which allow designers to create and manipulate complex shapes and illustrations.
Figma Standout Features and Integrations
Features include version history, team libraries, audio conversations, plugins and widgets, advanced drawing tools, prototyping, Figma editor, design system management, Sketch import, content management, overlays, automated provisioning, and advanced animations.
Integrations include Asana, Dropbox, Flinto, Maze, Microsoft Teams, Notion, Slack, Sprig, Trello, Zeplin, and others.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- The free version provides several features
- Cloud-based software
- Good interface
Cons:
- Occasional downtimes
- Requires a powerful computer
Omniconvert is a conversion rate optimization platform that enables businesses to create personalized experiences for their website visitors, leading to increased engagement, conversions, and customer loyalty.
Why I picked Omniconvert: Omniconvert offers a robust A/B testing feature that allows businesses to test different website versions and identify the most effective design and messaging. It also includes advanced segmentation and targeting options, which enable users to test different variations of their website pages for specific user groups.
It also offers a range of features, including A/B testing, web personalization, surveys, and more, that work together to improve website performance and drive revenue growth. The easy-to-use visual editor and advanced targeting options make it simple for users to create and test different variations of their website pages, allowing businesses to optimize their websites for maximum performance.
Omniconvert Standout Features and Integrations
Features include web personalizations, surveys, multi-device website testing, advanced segmentation and targeting, advanced tracking and reporting, data audit, and UI/UX audit.
Integrations include Campaign Monitor, FreshMail, GetResponse, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Hotjar, HubSpot, Inspectlet, Kissmetrics, Mailchimp, and others.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy to set up
- Excellent customer support and resources
- Comprehensive analytics and reporting features
Cons:
- Limited integrations
- The UI needs improvement
Marvel is a design platform that allows you to create wireframes, mockups, and website or app prototypes for any device right from your browser.
Why I picked Marvel: The best part about Marvel is the 'Handoff' feature, which helps developers extract design specifications, assets, and CSS code directly from the prototype. This makes the handover process much smoother and reduces the risk of errors.
It works well for creating high-fidelity interactive prototypes that closely resemble the final product, allowing designers to test and validate their designs with users or stakeholders. Marvel also natively integrates with other design tools, such as Sketch, which makes importing designs and prototypes easy.
Additionally, it aids collaboration among team members through features like comments, feedback, and version control.
Marvel Standout Features and Integrations
Features include team libraries, animations, drag-and-drop design interface, UI kit library, version history, commenting, responsive web design, and feedback.
Integrations include Ballpark, Confluence, Dropbox Paper, Jira, Keynote, Microsoft, Sketch, Smartmockups, YouTube, Zeroheight, and others.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Compatible with Windows, Linux, Android, and Apple
- Automatic backups
- Easy to use
Cons:
- Lacks organization
- The free plan has limited features
Balsamiq is a design tool that helps users create low-fidelity wireframes. Its simplicity makes it an excellent tool for non-technical users.
Why I picked Balsamiq: A cool feature of Balsamiq is its Quick Add feature. It lets users quickly add UI elements to their wireframes by typing the element's name in the search box. Moreover, it supports many UI elements, such as text boxes, CTA buttons, and more.
Balsamiq is an ideal design solution for product managers, designers, and developers who need to sketch out design ideas quickly. Its pre-built library of UI elements helps designers create wireframes quickly. In addition, its collaborative features enable team members to share and review wireframes with ease.
Balsamiq Standout Features and Integrations
Features include built-in UI components, wireframes, project history, collaboration tools, data import and export, drag and drop editor, feedback management, UX prototyping, user management, and whiteboards.
Integrations include Bubbles, Confluence, Google Drive, Google Workspace, Jira, Shift, and Trello.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy to learn
- Affordable pricing plans
- Offers real-time collaboration features
Cons:
- Limited export options
- Limited customizations options
Adobe XD is an all-in-one UX/UI design and prototyping tool ideal for UX designers, UI designers, and app developers. Its native integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud tools enables designers to work more efficiently on design projects.
Why I picked Adobe XD: Adobe XD is suitable for both individual designers and entire teams because it offers a range of features and capabilities that support both individual design workflows and collaborative design projects. For individual designers, Adobe XD offers a wide range of tools for designing and prototyping while also providing native integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud tools.
It offers powerful collaboration and sharing capabilities for teams, including real-time co-editing, version control, and commenting features. These features enable teams to work together seamlessly on UX design projects, share feedback, and deliver better user experiences faster.
In addition, it also provides powerful prototyping tools, collaboration, and sharing capabilities.
Adobe XD Standout Features and Integrations
Features include prototype design tools, 3D transforms, animations and transition designs, repeat grids, document storage, feedback management, pre-built templates, usability testing, version control, wireframe creation, mockup creation, and data synchronization.
Integrations include CloudApp, Crowdin, Frontify, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Miro, RoboHead, Slack, Sisense, Zeplin, and others.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Regular updates and new feature releases
- Native integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud tools
- Powerful prototyping tools with interactive elements and animations
Cons:
- Requires a powerful computer
- Steep learning curve for new users
Maze is a user testing and design validation platform for UX designers, product managers, and researchers who want to build user-centered products and services.
Why I picked Maze: The software enables users to create and run tests on prototypes, which simulate real-world user experiences. This helps designers identify usability issues and improve the user experience.
Maze also has an A/B testing feature that helps designers compare the performance of different design iterations and make data-driven decisions. This helps designers optimize their designs for usability, engagement, and conversion, ensuring that the final product meets the needs of users and stakeholders.
Maze is a great tool for gathering user feedback and testing design iterations.
Maze Standout Features and Integrations
Features include prototype testing, live website testing, in-product prompts, team management, open card sorting, custom templates, amplitude targeting, and enterprise-grade security.
Integrations include AdobeXD, Figma, InVision, Marvel, Sketch, and Slack.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Integrates with popular design tools
- Generates quick results from user tests
- Simple interface
Cons:
- The email campaign manager needs improvement
- Limited collaboration features
Sketch is a digital design tool that helps users create high-fidelity designs and prototypes for digital products such as websites, mobile apps, and icons.
Why I picked Sketch: The tool's vector editing capabilities help designers easily create vector graphics. The vector editing tools also offer advanced features such as Boolean operations, path editing, and shape manipulation, allowing designers to create complex and detailed vector graphics.
Additionally, Sketch supports the creation of reusable design components, which saves time and improves consistency across designs. Overall, Sketch's intuitive interface, vector editing capabilities, and extensive library of plugins and integrations make it a powerful and efficient tool for the entire design process.
Sketch Standout Features and Integrations
Features include vector-based graphics, design libraries, artboard templates, plugins, collaboration tools, Boolean tools, tools for high-precision, Smart Guides, pixel perfection, color picker, and Artboard presets.
Integrations include Abstract, Avocode, Crystal, Drafta, Droplr, Flinto, Flow, Framer, Maze, ProtoPie, and others.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Comprehensive text styling options
- Wide range of plugins and integrations
- Advanced vector editing tools
Cons:
- Limited support for non-screen-based design
- Only available for Mac users
Framer is a robust design and prototyping tool that combines design and coding workflows in a single platform.
Why I picked Framer: Framer's Magic Motion feature allows designers to create smooth and sophisticated animations between different layers of their design. You can use this feature to create dynamic and interactive effects, such as scrolling, transitions, and overlays, without complex coding.
Framer is well-suited for designing complex user interfaces and interactions, such as mobile apps, web apps, and other digital products. It also offers an in-tool commenting feature that lets users add comments directly to specific design elements, making it easy to provide feedback and input.
This feature is particularly useful for copywriters and developers, who can use it to provide input on content and functionality and ensure that designs are optimized for both user experience and technical requirements.
Framer Standout Features and Integrations
Features include interactive prototyping, real-time collaboration features, layouts, code components, UI kit library, design previews, responsive design, and templates.
Integrations include HubSpot, Intercom, Integromat, Logo, LottieFiles, Mailchimp, Slack, Typeform, YouTube, Zapier, and others.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Real-time collaboration features
- Powerful animation capabilities
- Comprehensive library of design and interaction components
Cons:
- Limited vector and image editing capabilities
- Limited integrations with other design tools
The Best UX Tools Comparison Chart
Here is a table you can use to compare the software we just covered in the overviews.
| Tools | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Sprig | From $175/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Miro | From $8/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Figma | From $15/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Omniconvert | Plans start at $390/month | Website |
| Marvel | From $16/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Balsamiq | From $9/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Adobe XD | From $9.99/user/month | Website |
| Maze | From $99/month | Website |
| Sketch | From $9/user/month | Website |
| Framer | From $5/month (billed annually) | Website |
Compare Software Specs Side by Side
Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.
Compare SoftwareOther Options
Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best UX tools list but are worth your consideration.
- Flowmapp
UX tool for creating visual representations of website and app architecture
- Axure
UX tool for creating interactive prototypes of websites and mobile applications
- Survicate
Survey tool for collecting contextual UX feedback
- UXPin
UX tool for creating high-fidelity prototypes that emulate the final digital product
- Justinmind
UX tool for designing and testing interactive prototypes of web and mobile apps
- MockFlow
UX tool for creating wireframes, user flows, and sitemaps for websites and mobile apps
- Invision
UX tool for collaborative design reviews and feedback
- Webflow
UX tool for designing responsive websites without coding skills
- Origami Studio
UX tool for creating mockups, designs, and animations
- ProtoPie
UX tool for creating interactive prototypes without code
How I Picked The Best UX Tools
Here’s a breakdown of how I selected the best UX tools. First, I researched UX tools with high user ratings. Then, I combed through reviews of users to understand their experience with the software.
I used my years of experience in product management and product design to set parameters against which I evaluated each tool. Below are the selection criteria I used to review the tools in this article.
Selection Criteria
Here’s a short summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best UX tools for this article:
Usability
Is the software easy to use? Does it have a short learning curve? Is the interface easy to navigate or clunky? How is the customer support service?
Standout Features
UX tools that stand out have unique features that solve specific problems in the design process. These features can range from collaboration tools to advanced prototyping features and user testing capabilities. The best UX tools should offer innovative features that make the design process more efficient and effective.
Software Integrations
Teams use multiple software for an efficient workflow. A good UX tool offers built-in integration with other design software and third-party tools.
Pricing
Does it offer flexible pricing plans? Is the pricing clear and transparent? Does it offer adequate features for the price? I considered all of these options as I created this list.
Best UX Tools FAQs
Find answers to common questions other people ask about this topic.
What are UX tools?
UX tools are software applications or platforms that help designers and researchers create and evaluate user experiences for digital products, such as websites and mobile apps. These tools offer features that support various aspects of the design process, including wireframing, prototyping, user testing, UX design, and analytics.
The right UX tools can help your team streamline the design and development process and deliver higher-quality products so it’s important to pick the best options available.
What are the benefits of UX tools?
Research shows that slow-loading websites cost $2 billion in sales every year. This shows that neglecting the user experience results in huge losses.
However, incorporating UX tools in your product management workflow will reap several benefits and might save you from lost sales. Let’s look at 6 key benefits:
- Increased efficiency: UX tools automate many design tasks and offer features such as reusable design components, pre-designed templates, and drag-and-drop interfaces that save time and streamline the design process.
- Collaboration: UX tools provide real-time collaboration features that enable designers, researchers, and stakeholders to work together on a project, share feedback, and make updates in real-time.
- Early identification of issues: Features such as user testing and prototyping enable designers to identify potential usability issues early in the design process, reducing the risk of costly redesigns.
- Better design consistency: UX tools provide design libraries, style guides, and design systems that help maintain consistency in the design and ensure a unified brand identity across all touchpoints.
- Actional user feedback: They offer features such as surveys, heat maps, and click tracking that provide accurate and actionable feedback from users, enabling designers to make more informed decisions.
- Improved user engagement and satisfaction: Features like user testing and analytics help designers understand user behavior, preferences, and pain points, allowing them to create more engaging and satisfying experiences.
What are the 6 types of UX tools?
The main types of UX tools include the following:
- Prototyping tools: These are software that help users create interactive, clickable visual representations of a website or application, which represents how the design will look and feel.
- Wireframing tools: Wireframes are basic sketches or outlines of a website or application that show the layout and structure of the user interface. Wireframing tools allow designers to create and iterate on these sketches quickly.
- Design tools: These tools help create high-fidelity designs and mockups of a website or application using graphical elements such as icons, typography, and images.
- Usability testing tools: These tools help test the usability of a website or application, which can include actions like completing a task or providing feedback on the design.
- UX research tools: These tools help gather data and insights about users that inform the design and development of digital products.
- UX documentation tools: These tools help document all the UX and product design steps.
Conclusion
I hope you found this list of the best UX tools helpful. Keeping with the design side of product management, I recommend you read our article on how product managers should use wireframes. You will also benefit from learning how to create the perfect product requirements document.
Related tool lists:
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