22 Best Graphic Design Software & Wireframing Tools in 2024 (Free & Paid)

As a growth marketer working across eCommerce and SaaS for years, I can say one of the best personal investments I made was learning graphic design and wireframing. 

It’s a skill I use most days for my job across clients and my own projects. In fact, I even designed this website from scratch all by myself.

For those starting a career in design, to founders and marketers with no design skills, and even mid-level designers, it’s never been a better time to learn what I believe is one of the most important skills in modern digital. 

It’s also never been easier to create professional images and designs in just minutes, thanks to these incredible software providers which I talk about in this guide. 

I’ve used all of these software tools to some degree, and many I frequently use as part of my growth marketing workflow. 

Okie dokie, let’s dive into my top recommendations in this design software guide. 

Graphic Design Tools

Just before we get into these top graphic design tools, here’s a recommended checklist of what I would be looking out for when testing them out. 

• Do they have an array of templates available so you can quickly pick up how the platform works?
• What do their educational guides and tutorials look like? The better they are usually is a good sign. 
• Which companies use it? Do they have case studies?
• What types of content can you create? Infographics? Presentations? Social posts?
• Which is the best value for money in terms of features and collaboration/sharing?
• What do they specialise in? Do they have integrations with your favourite platforms or at least a Zapier option?

The list can continue of course depending on what you’re trying to achieve.

1. Canva 

Canva is easily one of the most well-known design tools out there, and there’s a reason why it’s an immediate mention for every similar list. You can design just about anything using Canva, from social media graphics to posters to websites to presentation slides. This makes it great for business owners, designers, students, and professionals alike. 

This is likely why it has over 75 million active monthly users in nearly 200 countries.

Pros and benefits:

• It can be used by both beginners and experts in design
• Easy to set up and navigate
• Accessible via web browser and app on different devices. The desktop app is also very good.

Cool awesome features:

• It has amazing image editing tools including effects that enhance and animate your photos and tools such as background remover and duotone.
• Provides you access to over 400,000 templates, which you can use to create your designs and posters. There are also 75 million photos that you can freely add to your Canva creations and a font library that contains individual fonts and font pairs
• Lets you share your designs directly to social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can also schedule them ahead of time!

Getting the most out of it:

• Make sure to use the content planner, which lets you view all scheduled images in one place
• Don’t forget to save your preferred font, colours, and logos on your brand kit
• Upload your own assets to the platform

Pricing

The free plan comes with 250,000 free templates, 100 design types, and 5 GB of cloud storage. The Pro Plan is worth $12.99 a month, can be used by up to 5 people and has over 100 million stock images and graphics, 600,000 free templates, and 100 GB of storage. The enterprise plan is worth $30 per month per user, requires a minimum of 25 users, and has unlimited storage.

2. Snappa 

Snappa is an online graphics platform that highlights its efficiency and ease of use. Its tagline is “create online graphics in a snap,” and users will attest that it helps them create professional-standard designs in as fast as 5 minutes. Accordingly, it has been featured in Forbes, Hubspot, and Shopify.

Pros and benefits:

• It basically requires no learning curve, as it has an incredibly user-friendly interface and functionality
• All the photos and graphics that are on Snappa are royalty-free, which means that you can use them freely
• Designed for speed and frees up your time so you can focus on other creative aspects of your project

Cool awesome features:

• Includes image dimensions as presets, so you just have to choose what layout and platform to go with. You can also resize an image and scale it for other platforms
• Gives you access to over 5 million high-resolution stock photos for no additional cost and has over 200 fonts and 100,000 vectors and shapes
• Has a background remover tool that rivals Photoshop results with just one click. You can then add backgrounds, text, and graphics accordingly

Getting the most out of it:

• You can save images as web-optimised with transparent backgrounds
• Share your graphics and designs to different social websites without leaving the platform
• Create social media banners and headers using Snappa. You can even create Wattpad book covers!

Pricing

The free plan comes with over 6,000 templates and lets you download up to 3 designs per month. The pro plan at $10 monthly which gives you access to social media integrations and even unlimited downloads which is super awesome. The team plan at $20 per month includes team collaboration capabilities, which lets you share designs, folders, and assets.

3. Artboard Studio 

Artboard Studio claims to be the best online mockup generator, and it probably is given that it’s trusted by some of the world’s biggest brands including Microsoft, Dropbox, Fiverr, Deloitte, and Panasonic. With it, you can easily create product presentation images without having to download heavy software.

Pros and benefits:

• Lets you build mockups for any product you’re trying to promote
• Works in your browser, no downloads are required
• Assets are optimised for a 5000 px canvas, which means high-resolution results

Cool awesome features:

• Has an extensive template library that was exclusively created for Artboard Studio and is continuously updated and improved. Also has thousands of customisable shapes and illustrations, a collection of background textures, hundreds of free fonts, and a multitude of stock images
• Let's you create branding design systems and templates including fonts, colours, and logos. This would make it easier for you to maintain brand components across different designs
• Shows you what your designs would look like when warped to objects and mockup items

Getting the most out of it:

• Use the preset sizes from the get-go so you don’t have to reshape your canvas along the way
• Enhance your photos by using image filters
• Customise the item shadows and make your mockups appear more realistic

Pricing

The free plan lets you use free assets and templates, allows for up to three projects, and can only be used for personal projects. The professional plan at $15 a month includes all the aforementioned, plus a commercial license and priority support.

4. Adobe Express

Adobe Express (was previously known as Adobe Spark) is an app that centers on creating graphics for images, websites, and videos. As it is a part of the Adobe system, it can be used alongside Photoshop, Creative Cloud, and more. This means that you can use Photoshop fonts on Express, upload images on Creative Cloud, and edit PDF documents powered by Acrobat.

Pros and benefits:

• Has an easy-to-use interface
• Accessible via the website but was also released through companion mobile apps and can be used on Android and iOS
• Does not require an app or software to be installed

Cool awesome features:

• Includes access to thousands of templates, assets, fonts, and stock images 
• Lets you remove backgrounds, animate text, add branding elements, and include Photoshop-level effects in just a few clicks
• The mobile apps allows you to talk to add text. This means that you just have to dictate what text you want to add, and the app will respond accordingly
• Can be used for video editing and has tools such as crop, trim, resize, and convert

Getting the most out of it:

• Take advantage of the built-in planning, scheduling, and publishing tool
• Upload your brand elements to the platform and apply them to designs with just one click
• Use the file converter to convert JPEGs to PNGs or short videos to GIFs

Pricing

Access to Adobe Express requires a membership, but this could be done by just logging in with an email. It is free to use otherwise. There are, however, premium assets that can be purchased.

5. VistaCreate (formerly Crello) 

VistaCreate (previously known as Crello) has arguably found the balance between simplicity and great, powerful creativity. It is an online design and automation platform that can be used for creating both digital and visual assets.

Pros and benefits:

• The entire platform aims to be efficient and to save time for the user
• Created to be used for absolute beginners without any graphic design experience
• Lets you prepare the image and video content under one platform

Cool awesome features:

• Includes thousands of templates that you can choose from, use, and customise according to your brand purposes and content intent. Their dimensions are preset, depending on the platform you’re going to publish on and are kept up to date with the requirements of social media
• Has millions of visual assets and stock photos, videos, and illustrations that you can freely access and utilise
• Lets you remove backgrounds and add outlines on images, change colour styles and font combinations as you wish, and apply animated effects and filters
• Allows you to publish directly to Facebook and Instagram from the platform

Getting the most out of it:

• Don’t forget to create brand kits that you can easily apply to content
• Scale your content and immediately create posts of different dimensions and formats by choosing the relevant presets
• Regularly check the platform as they frequently update their libraries and templates

Pricing

VistaCreate has a free plan that gives you access to 75,000 design templates, 1 million stock images, videos, and vectors, and 10 GB of storage. Meanwhile, the paid plan at $10 a month gives you access to over 70 million stock images, videos, and vectors, unlimited storage, and a team account.

6. Picmonkey 

Picmonkey is a beginner-friendly photo editing software that lets you create social media posts, ads, and even logos. It leans into the marketing side of things, as it aims to strengthen your brand identity and add value to your persona.

Hence, it is used by some of the world’s biggest brands, including Google, Hilton, Amazon, Dell, and L’oreal.

Pros and benefits:

• Lets users create content using templates or from scratch
• Works just by using your desktop or mobile browser but also has a mobile app for Android and iOS
• Automatically saves content to cloud storage so you can pick up on designs as you wish, using different devices 

Cool awesome features:

• Lets you edit images for maximum impact via filters, crop, adjust colours, background eraser, resize, and lighting tweaks
• Has a seemingly endless supply of graphics, fonts, vectors, templates and textures that you could use on your designs. It also gives you access to millions of stock images 
• Removes red eye, whitens teeth, airbrushes your complexion, and touches up portraits to be used in your content. You can even use the eye colour changer, add blush, lipstick, and eyeliner, and contour your face using the tool

Getting the most out of it:

• Choose specific templates for Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube to ensure cohesiveness and accuracy to platform. You can also use the carousel templates
• Use the step-by-step instructions on the website to maximise use of tools
• Create brand boards, colour palettes, and logos that are true to your brand identity

Picmonkey has a basic plan at $7.99 monthly, which includes 1 GB storage, access to touch-up tools and primo effects, and the font library. The pro plan at $12.99 a month includes unlimited cloud storage, the ability to reformat and remove backgrounds with one click, and access to the premium stock library. The business plan billed at $23 monthly allows for multiple brand kits, searchable tags, and real-time co-editing for more than two people.

7. Infogram 

Infogram, as the name implies, is used for creating visual and engaging reports and infographics. It is basically a data visualisation software designed for businesses and marketers, but it can also be used by students, other professionals, and strategists.

It is used by over 30,000 companies, including Good Year, LinkedIn, Skyscanner, and MSN.

Pros and benefits:

• Makes data easy to digest and engage with
• Good for marketing, online publishing, educational purposes, and reporting for businesses and non-profit organisations
• Accessible via desktop and mobile

Cool awesome features:

• Has ready-to-use templates that are sure to impress your audience but also lets you create custom templates based on your branding
• Allows for animations that zoom, bounce, slide, fade, and flip to make your reports more interactive for the audience
• Lets a team create, edit, and publish reports together in real-time, and you can just set the permissions for each member depending on their role
• Saves the version history so you can just edit and add data without having to worry about losing old ideas. You can just restore an earlier version of the report as you wish

Getting the most out of it:

• View the reports so you can see your viewer demographics and how many people interacted with your content
• Create individual tracking links to share with others, and see which parts of the report they engage the most with
• Use the Infogram WordPress plugin for easy and seamless publishing

Pricing

Infogram has a free plan that gives you access to 37 chart types, 13 map types, and will let you create up to 10 projects. The pro plan at $19 a month will let you work on up to 100 projects, and gives you access to over 100 premium templates and 550 map types. The business plan at $67 a month lets you work on up to 1,000 projects with an unlimited number of pages per project and will let you add your own logo. The team plan at $149 a month lets you work on up to 3,000 projects and collaborate with at least 2 other users.

8. Visually 

Visually is a premium content creator software that connects you to the marketplace. Here’s how it works: you sign up for the platform, fill out a creative brief of your requirements, and then someone from Visually’s team will send back an output that you are free to comment on. It’s basically content creation on demand.

It is used by over 1,100 leading brands, including Visa, Johnson and Johnson, National Geographic, and Verizon.

Pros and benefits:

• Hands over your brief and content to vetted professionals so you don’t have to navigate graphic design on your own
• Lets you produce and receive infographics, presentations, videos, reports, ebooks, and even interactive web microsites! It can fulfil all your graphic design needs
• Makes it very simple to coordinate with professionals for your marketing campaigns without the need for an in-house team

Cool awesome features:

• Employs over 1,000 creative professionals who have been vetted and handpicked to meet your design needs
• Provides you with a full creative service that includes content strategy, collaboration, and a streamlined process for better content creation and release
• Lets your brand take all the credit for content, files, and campaigns

Getting the most out of it:

• Be as detailed as possible in your creative brief to ensure that the team will work towards your vision and goals
• Honour the process set up by Visually, for easier collaboration with your assigned designers
• Include pegs or ideas that may serve as an inspiration

Pricing

Visually individually quotes the price of projects and campaigns, depending on the needs and requirements.

9. Piktochart 

Piktochart is an excellent tool for creating infographics, presentations, and videos. It positions itself as a visual storytelling solution and is used by over 11 million users, including Disney, the United Nations, Verizon, and Accenture.

Pros and benefits:

• The platform was created for simplicity, and you can confidently navigate the interface in less than an hour
• Easily integrates with your current workflow
• Turns complex data into engaging and beautiful visuals that are sure to capture your audience’s attention

Cool awesome features:

• You can just copy and paste your data into their graph makers or upload a file, or link with a Google sheet. The platform will then create the visuals for you
• Lets you edit and trim your videos like a text document. The subtitles and transcription will appear as follows on the video, then you just edit out the text, and the video will respond accordingly
• Helps you create stunning presentations such as pitch decks and sales decks

Getting the most out of it:

• You can use Piktochart to create next-level presentations for work or school
• Use poster templates to create graphics that are sure to be well received
• Repurpose your zoom videos or webinars into bite-sized videos that would work great with social media

Pricing

Piktochart’s free plan covers up to 5 projects and 100 MB of cloud storage. The pro plan at $14 per member per month can work with an unlimited number of projects, custom team templates and fonts, and up to 100 GB of cloud storage.

10. Adobe Photoshop 

Who hasn’t heard of Adobe Photoshop? It is usually hailed as the holy grail for designers and is the go-to for just about anything that is related to visuals. It isn’t as beginner friendly as many of the others on this list, but it certainly has made a name for itself as the professional standard. In fact, it is arguably the most used and most famous photo editing software out there.

Pros and benefits:

• It contains a plethora of professional tools that can do just about anything
• It’s a one-stop solution for graphic designers, even at an advanced level
• Allows you to purchase plugins, filters, and brushes on the market, which can help enhance the way you use Photoshop

Cool awesome features:

• Has a layers palette, which lets you draw and illustrate on different layers then merge them together depending on your desired order of display
• Includes the famed pen tool, which is one of the seemingly most basic yet critical tools on Photoshop. It helps you draw different paths along the anchor points, draw any shape you desire, and get more control by placing your anchor points properly
• Features Photoshop 3D, which allows you to import 3D objects and draw textures on the canvas. You can also edit animations and facial expressions accordingly
• Lets you include dynamic, high-quality effects and graphics to your designs. Also enables you to create simple graphics animations

Getting the most out of it:

• Maximise the colour grading abilities of the platform
• Edit your personal photos using Photoshop by using the touch-up features
• Download the mobile app for easy editing even while on the go

Pricing

Photoshop is currently priced at $29.99 per month, which lets you have Photoshop for desktop and iPad, along with Adobe Express, Adobe Fresco, and 100 GB of cloud storage.

11. Pablo by Buffer 

Pablo is an image creation and editing tool by Buffer, which is a social media management platform. Accordingly, it functions as a means to help users easily create engaging graphics and social media posts.

Pros and benefits:

• Very minimal and simple to use
• Integrates well with social media platforms, as it is created by a social media management company
• Created specifically for social networks, which means that it would work best for social media engagement

Cool awesome features:

• Lets you choose from over 25 fonts, 600,000 stock images, and thousands of presets and templates
• Will resize your initial image or graphic to the optimal dimensions that would work with different social media platforms
• Shuffle the stock images appearing on your screen to help you jog up your creativity and ideas

Getting the most out of it:

• Use the filters and basic image tools for quick and easy editing
• Connect with Buffer for more immediate social media scheduling
• You can utilise the platform alongside Canva, as we could say that both software complement each other to an extent

Pricing

The best part about Pablo by Buffer is that it is completely free to use!

12. Design Cap 

Design Cap is a great graphics design tool that centres on the creation of flyers, posters, infographics, and social media posts. It currently supports 7 languages, namely: English, German, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Chinese.

Pros and benefits:

• The overall program is user friendly, and the site is straightforward enough to navigate without prior experience
• Recommends templates to you depending on your indicated profession and purpose for the software
• It can be used to create virtually anything for design, including email headers, logos, and business cards

Cool awesome features:

• Has over 220,000 illustrations and templates that you are free to modify and customise for your brand and purpose
• Lets you create infographics with charts, columns, diagrams, pies, and even a SWOT analysis with nearly 300 relevant templates
• Includes a plethora of icons and elements that you could add to your design, and you can include colours and change the opacity while you’re at it

Getting the most out of it:

• Use the instructions and manuals listed on the website to make sure that you are able to optimise the platform
• Upload your own images and graphics for easy use with your projects
• Create your class or business presentations using the templates

Pricing

The free plan gives you access to a limited number of templates and stock media choices, whereas the basic plan at $4.99 a month allows you to use unlimited templates and stock icons. Then there is the plus plan at $5.99 a month, which gives you the added bonus of uploading up to 1,000 of your own images and graphics to add to your designs.

13. Spiritapp.io 

Spirit app is an interactive tool that allows designers and the general public alike to generate incredible animations without having to do any coding. It can give you the output you desire within a matter of minutes, thereby freeing your mind to focus on the creative side of things.

Pros and benefits:

• Easy to use and navigate, especially for what it does
• Lets you edit animations in real-time on your web page without having to tinker with heavy software
• Almost like plug and play as you just have to connect Spiritapp to your web pages

Cool awesome features:

• Uses keyframes like other industry-standard animation software but in this case, all you have to do is change the element attribute in order to set the desired keyframe
• Immediately reflect the animation changes on your web page when you do live editing, which helps as you ideate and check whether certain things work together or not. This also gives you the power to fine-tune your animations any time you wish
• The JSON animation data can be saved, copied, or used directly
• Lets you do 3D animation and has a 3D video library

Getting the most out of it:

• Don’t forget to download the Google Chrome extension to connect your web pages
• Use the Spirit Studio web players to immediately watch and control your animations

Pricing

Spiritapp.io charges $15 a month for access to all features.

UI Design & Wireframing Tools

Similar to what I mentioned above for the graphic design tools, it’s good to have a little checklist of what to consider when exploring these wireframing software providers. 

• Do they have a supportive community forum for beginners and advanced designers?
• Do they have quality templates available within the app? Or can you find some open source projects which you can use for your own?
• How many users can you collaborate with at once?
• Can you upload your own custom web fonts?
• What premium features do they offer on top of their free account options?
• Can you edit vector graphics?

Again, this is just a small list of what I would take into consideration and be evaluating when trialling these options out.

14. Figma 

Figma is a top-rated UI design tool that can simply be accessed on the web. It can be used individually or with a team and is compatible with FigJam, an online whiteboard that post-sticks your ideas and your team’s comments on an online whiteboard.

The platform is used by companies such as Airbnb, Dropbox, Netflix, Twitter, GitHub, and Notion.

Pros and benefits:

• Becomes a place of design for you and your team, from ideation to execution
• Rids of you the need to download software
• Is constantly being updated with new features to keep it on top of competitors

Cool awesome features:

• Let's you select what frame and platform you’ll be creating a wireframe for, such as mobile, tablet, or desktop. Corresponding dimensions and resolutions are then executed accordingly
• Has a seamless animated prototyping tool, which lets you test designs early on in the process.
• Allows you to collaborate in real-time with team members, even on the same project. You can also set the permissions according to the requirements
• Includes frames, text layers, shape layers, and even intuitive keyboard shortcuts to help create your UI design. There is also an auto layout option, which is set against intelligent alignment and padding

Getting the most out of it:

• You are free to use different browsers and devices to access your project in real-time
• Utilise the dark mode when you feel like your eyes are being strained
• Use in tandem with FigJam

Pricing

The free plan lets users have 3 Figma and 3 FigJam files, with an unlimited number of personal files. Then there’s the professional plan at $12 per editor per month which lets you access the file’s version history, team libraries and have audio conversations. 

15. UX Pin 

UX Pin is an app that allows teams to do prototyping, wireframing, and collaboration on one platform. It is also ideal for design systems and communication, with a leaning towards code-based design.

It is utilised by companies such as PayPal, Amazon, T Mobile, and Johnson and Johnson.

Pros and benefits:

• No extensive training is required before use
• Based on HTML, CSS, and js code, which means that whatever you create on the app will always be made to match your website
• Prides itself in providing one of the best user experiences by merging design and engineering in one platform

Cool awesome features:

• Has the revolutionary Merge technology, which helps users create consistent interfaces through the use of the same building blocks
• Helps you build prototypes via use of the design tool or the utilisation of built-in UI elements and test them with a contrast checker and colour blindness simulator. You can integrate UX Pin with Storybook or Git repo and thus use code components straight from your website or app
• Previews of your work will be presented via HTML code, and not immediately converted to images or graphics. This is of advantage to experienced designers

Getting the most out of it:

• Know that you can password protect prototypes for your security
• Watch the video tutorials that are available on the website
• Customise the user interface once you become more familiar with the platform

The basic plan is priced at $19 a month, and lets you do an unlimited amount of prototypes, whereas the advanced plan at $29 a month also allows for contextual documentation, expressions, and variables. The professional plan at $69 per editor per month lets you control roles and permissions and provides you with the capability to design systems.

16. Sketch 

Sketch is a first-class tool that is great for UI and UX designers. While it generally appears to be minimal in design, it can do a lot of heavy lifting when such performance is required. You can use it to create everything, from wireframes to prototypes.

Over one million users utilise the platform, which is trusted by companies such as Google, HSBC, and Xbox.

Pros and benefits:

• It provides a smooth user experience with a very natural learning curve
• Leverages the MacOS framework to create an organic workflow (though this makes it incompatible with desktops that are not OS)
• Lets you export a variety of graphics in multiple formats for different purposes

Cool awesome features:

• It offers flexible vector editing so you can easily iterate on your work whenever you want and artboards so you can design however you want
• Lets you zoom in at pixel level so you can keep adjusting your layers with snapping and smart guides until they fit perfectly
• Have variable fonts support, which basically lets you have complete control over your fonts, through which you can unlock additional characters and ligatures
• Allows you to define colour variables, text, layers styles, UI elements, and their interactions so you can just keep reusing them in your designs. This keeps your designs more consistent while making things easier for you

Getting the most out of it:

• Pin elements as headers and footers so you can simulate scrolling content
• Utilise A/B testing to know what design would work best
• Download sketch assistants to help add details to your designs

Pricing

The standard plan is worth $9 per editor per month, which provides you access to all the features.

17. Invision 

Invision helps people design user interfaces, as it is a visual tool and workspace that helps teams work together and produce better output. It is used by brands such as IBM, American Express, Capital One, and Target.

Pros and benefits:

• Could help you create low-fidelity mockups within minutes
• Centralises your entire workflow so you and your team can collaborate on every process
• Keeps your team up to speed as you become more efficient

Cool awesome features:

• Has over a hundred templates that were created and set by companies such as Microsoft, American Express, and Monday.com
• Let’s you embed editable Google Sheets, Kanban boards, and Mode dashboards to your workspace, letting you access all you need from one platform. It can also integrate with Zoom and Microsoft Teams for better real-time collaboration with your team
• Includes Smart Widgets which help in managing your workflow, journey mapping, brainstorming, goal setting, and creating diagrams 

Getting the most out of it:

• Remember to use the comment functionality for your projects
• It can be used for prototyping small CRO changes on the fly

Pricing

The free plan basically gives you access to all the individual features, except that it only allows you to create a maximum of three freehands. The pro plan at $4 per user per month allows for an unlimited number of freehands.

18. Balsamiq 

Balsamiq is all about creating great websites, user interfaces, and web apps. Both beginners and UX professionals alike make use of the platform, as it claims to be the fastest, most focused low fidelity wireframing tool in the market.

Pros and benefits:

• Incredibly easy to use with its simple and straightforward tools, but follows industry standards
• The company is committed to open source and supports several charities
• Designs can be exported in a PDF file

Cool awesome features:

• Offers a drag-and-drop setup with sketch-like controls, so users just have to pick and choose their elements and arrange them however they want. 
• Lets you depict nearly every element possible in web design, including menus, text boxes, pop-ups, and forms.
• Allows you to generate prototypes for demos or testing via linking

Getting the most out of it:

• Customise your own templates and masters for quick reuse
• Quick add elements via keyboard shortcuts
• Switch skins depending on how you need to present your work

Pricing

The web app is priced at $9 per month for those who only need it for up to two projects at a time. 20 projects will cost $49 every month, and 200 projects will cost $199 a month. Desktop use will require an additional $89 per user for the license.

19. Marvel App 

Marvel app is mainly a prototyping app, but it also has functionalities for wireframing and designing. Its clean interface makes it easy to navigate, and it is known for being great for absolute beginners. Still, companies like Buzzfeed, Stripe, and Type Form use it for professional and commercial projects.

Pros and benefits:

• Great for low to high-fidelity projects
• Has a simple user interface that requires almost no learning curve
• Works well on both desktop and mobile

Cool awesome features:

• Lets you create realistic, interactive prototypes without the need for coding. You just need to pull in designs using Marvel’s design tool or upload your own images, and you can add as many layers and interactions as you want
• Offers user testing, from which you can gain feedback on your design from your audience, customers, and stakeholders
• Does designer developer handoff from just a single URL, and generates CSS, Swift, and Android XML, which can be exported

Getting the most out of it:

• Use Sketch for your designs, which is the drawing and design tool for Marvel App
• Add plug-ins and integrate with tools such as Maze, Jira, and Microsoft
• Specify the target device for your creations, as there are specific dimensions even for smartwatches

Pricing

The pro plan is priced at $12 a month and lets you do unlimited projects with three active user tests. The team plan is at $42 a month, starts at three users, and lets you do up to 10 active user tests.

20. Framer App 

Framer App is a powerful UI design tool that anchors itself on this branding: Design, Publish, Done. It is arguably one of the easiest UI tools out there, yet it houses a ton of advanced features that are a force to be reckoned with.

Pros and benefits:

• No complicated workflows
• Lets you simplify your stack and publish websites in a matter of minutes
• Fully responsive on every device

Cool awesome features:

• Has advanced features such as magic motion animation, advanced interactions, and interactive components, including inputs, sliders, and loaders
• Lets you adjust the easing, spring, or damping of animations and get a preview of what they will look like
• It can be integrated with some of the most important platforms, including Spotify, Trust Pilot, Shopify, Youtube, Instagram, and Twitter

Getting the most out of it:

• Utilise and optimise the plug-ins available, as relevant to your design
• Use the platform to collaborate with team members

Pricing

The free plan covers your site for up to 1,000 visitors and has 1 GB bandwidth and 100 CMS items. The basic plan at $15 a month has 15 GB of bandwidth, 1,000 CMS items, and can handle up to 10,000 visitors. The pro plan at $25 per month has 100 GB bandwidth, 10,000 CMS items, and can accommodate up to 100,000 visitors.

21. Spline Design 

Spline Design is a tool for 3D web experiences, but it sets itself apart by not just catering to big corporations. This is because 3D animations are otherwise expensive to do for smaller-scale businesses and projects, as they can cost up to thousands of dollars.

This is where Spline Design comes in.

Pros and benefits:

• Makes 3D design affordable and within reach, and what used to take days can be created within hours
• Does not require sophisticated coding or rendering
• Has an easy-to-use interface which has similar layouts to the likes of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Cool awesome features:

• Lets you do 3D modelling and create parametric objects, polygonal editing, and organic shapes
• All the designs you create or edit via Spline Design can be exported as interactive graphics
• Allows you to include your 3D designs on your web pages via simple embed code or snippets

Getting the most out of it:

• Keep your assets and preferred textures and colours in a kit
• Make use of the vector tool, except in 3D
• Use cameras to control your scene composition

Pricing

The best part about spline design is that it is currently completely free!

22. Moqups 

Moqups is an online mockup tool that can be used to also create wireframes, diagrams, and prototypes. It is a full ecosystem of tools that lets you switch between the different use cases in just one design environment.

It is used by thousands of brands, including Sony, Cisco, and Oracle.

Pros and benefits:

• Helps companies create visuals and streamline their processes
• Lets you navigate between projects and team members with ease
• It is a flexible design solution that adapts to your workflow, with scalable features

Cool awesome features:

• Lets you work remotely with your team on the cloud, with real-time syncing and collaboration, and can keep all of your stakeholders within the loop - from employees to analysis to designers to managers
• Has an extensive library of widgets, stencils, and smart shapes, which you can drag and drop according to what you seek to create. Also includes thousands of icon sets and fonts
• It gives you the capacity to build diagrams and flowcharts with drag and drop shapes, arrows, and connectors

Getting the most out of it:

• Choose from the templates available to simplify your design process
• When collaborating with team members, make use of the sticky notes and annotations

Pricing

The solo plan is priced at $13 a month, which gives you access to all the design features. The team plan at $23 a month adds to this the collaboration features.

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⚡ Frequently Asked Questions ⚡

What are the best graphic design tools that have free plans?

The good news is that most of the tools discussed have awesome freemium plans that give you access to decent features to help you design epic graphics and assets. If I had to choose my top three, they would have to be Figma, Canva, and Adobe Photoshop.

Which graphic design software tools do you recommend for eCommerce marketers and founders to get really good at?

I believe marketers in the modern day of digital should have a solid foundation when it comes to design. I also believe there needs to be a decent skill level of graphic design as well for startup founders and eCommerce store owners. For me personally, there are three particular software programs to get really good at. First, Figma for wireframing landing pages, emails, and lots more. Second, Balsamiq for fast prototyping. This is particularly important for time-poor people to communicate effective low-fidelity mockups faster to pass on to experienced designers. Then third, it would have to be Canva. Really useful to learn, especially for eCommerce marketers, so you can spit out multiple design variants for ads and campaigns.

What wireframing tools are best for beginner and professional designers?

For beginners, it would have to be Figma and Sketch. Both are epic collaboration tools, have great community forums, templates available from around the web, awesome plugins, lots of video tutorials, and much more. Then for professional designers to take wireframes to the next level with interactions, you have to go with Marvel App, Framer or UXPin. Each of them are feature-rich and makes the process of interaction design a pleasant experience. Marvel is particularly great if you’re doing work for clients, as it has analytics capabilities.

Which graphic design tools let you design across multiple devices?

Many of the graphic design tools mentioned in this guide give consumers and users access to their software across multiple devices. You can design via the browser across devices, but many have native apps for tablets and mobile phones, providing a better user experience. Two of the top providers that have great tablet and mobile apps are Adobe Photoshop and Canva.

What's your top tip for busy founders who want to outsource graphic design to freelancers?

My top tip is to learn graphic design as a great skill if you’re an entrepreneur, founder or marketer. Do you need to become an expert with designing vector graphics, to image editing, and building high-fidelity landing pages from scratch? No, this isn’t expected. However, I believe understanding the key foundations is critical, especially when working with freelancers/contractors or even agencies. Suppose you want faster iterations for testing designs and lower friction barriers between parties. In that case, learning graphic design and the ability to wireframe prototypes will go a long way as a skill. From experience, it’s been one of the best personal investments I’ve made as an entrepreneur and marketer.