The 5 Best Tools For Wireframing Websites

By Bob Kruse, Executive Producer at 2440 Media

As a website designer you will spend a considerable amount of time wireframing websites. A website’s wireframe is basically its blueprint and creating detailed wireframes will help you create highly interactive and successful website. Why wouldn’t you want to make this process easier on yourself?

Wireframing tools can help make the process of creating website easier and more efficient by allowing you to focus on each individual element on its own. In addition, many of these tools provide you with a means of collaboration to get feedback on your projects. Wireframing tools can also help you communicate the layout and functionality of your websites to your clients by providing them with a visual representation of what their site will look like.

There are so many wireframing tools out there which makes picking just one very difficult. The good news is that many of the programs we are about to mention offer free trials, so you can determine which tool works the best for your individual needs.

We are about to uncover five of the most powerful programs for wireframing websites. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you will have a better idea of which tool would best suit your purposes.

Fluid UI

If you’re looking for one of the most powerful programs for wireframing websites, look no further than Fluid UI. Fluid UI is a web-based solution that includes multiple built-in libraries for mobile, desktop, wearables, and tablets. With Fluid UI, you can create real gestures and transitions to create a real mobile or website prototype.

One great feature of Fluid UI is the ability to map out your projects visually to aid in your overall design. All you have to do is draw links to join various screens. Best of all, you are able to easily change a transition by simply hovering over the link.

Fluid UI helps you bring your design to life. To ensure you create the best product possible, Fluid UI allows you to collaborate with teammates and clients by sharing your prototypes or an entire project. In addition, Fluid UI stores every one of your prototypes in your history so you never lose any of your best work.

Fluid UI provides additional great features such as instant previewing, flexible archiving, reusable symbols, customized widgets, export options, and cloning ability. You are able to sign up for a Fluid UI account for free; however, your access will be limited to one project, 10 pages, and zero uploads.

Fluid UI offers three monthly plans; however, you are able to save money if you commit to an entire year. With the monthly Solo Plan that starts at $15 per month, you get three projects, unlimited pages, unlimited uploads, and access to all of the built-in libraries. If you wish to work on more projects and gain access to additional features, you may opt to upgrade to the Pro Plan starting at $25 a month.

Fluid UI is so confident in their product they offer a 30-day money back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied. Head on over to Fluid UI today to start your free trial. You won’t be disappointed.

Axure RP

Axure RP may be one of the best wireframing programs on the market. According to the company’s website, it is used by over 87 percent of Fortune 100 companies to wireframe and prototype their important technological assets. With Axure RP you are able to create diagrams, prototypes, animations, and more without writing a single line of code.

Like Fluid UI, Axure RP allows you to easily share your projects, but on a much larger scale. If you wish to get some feedback from others in the web design community, all you have to do is click a single button within Axure RP to share your diagrams and prototypes on the Axure RP cloud or on-premises. You also have the option to share your work via a link that can be opened in a browser, or on mobile devices.

Axure RP is a very in-depth tool which could take some time to learn, though it does provide you with simple drag and drop features to aid in placement. You are able to create your diagrams using: dynamic content, animations, conditional flow, data driven functionality, adaptive views, and math functions.

Axure RP offers a free 30-day trial and is available for both Mac and PC. After your free trail has expired, you will be required to purchase a paid subscription to continue using Axure RP.

Axure RP offers a variety of options when you are ready to purchase. You can purchase Axure RP’s pro edition for $495 per user, or upgrade to the Team plan for $895 per user. There is also an Enterprise option starts at $99 per month, per user, and is perfect if your company desires an on-going solution for publishing and co-authoring prototypes.

The price may seem a bit high when compared to other solutions, but you would be hard-pressed to find another solution on the market that offers such a comprehensive solution.

UXPin

UXPin is another web-based solution that will help you build wireframes via easy drag and drop features. UXPin prides itself on efficiency and provides you with thousands of built-in elements for mobile, desktop, and web. UXPin even allows you to bring in your interactive designs from Sketch and Photoshop.

In addition, UXPin has its own scalable design systems to help you standardize your designs, create contextual documentation, and eliminate manual work by allowing you to make updates to many elements at the same time. Like the other editors mentioned, UXPin also provides you with the ability to collaborate and receive feedback on your projects, helping you create the best sites possible.

One of the more unique features of UXPin is the project tracker and developer handoff tool. This tool allows you to assign certain roles to teammates, track the status of your projects in one easy-to-use dashboard, and removes the time-consuming task of redlining mockups.

UXPin does offer a free trial membership to get you started with the program, but as most other products on the market, you will be required to upgrade to a paid plan once your trial subscription is over. Plans start at just $19 per month for the basic plan, which is perfect for basic wireframing functionality.

UXPin provides you with a great tool for an extremely affordable price, and it should definitely make the top of your consideration list.

Balsamiq Mockups

Balsamiq Mockups boasts being one of the most simple, powerful programs on the market for wireframing websites. Your first impression of the program may be that it is bland and lacks many of the features that other solutions offer. Before you shy away, think twice.

One of the best features of Balsamiq Mockups is the simplicity of the program. The program does include very powerful tools; however, they are only visible when you need them. This makes it one of the most user-friendly wireframing programs out there.

Another great feature of Balsamiq Mockups is the lack of dialogue windows that pop up in other programs. With Balsamiq Mockups you will experience distraction-free wireframing to boost your productivity. Plus, did we mention that Balsamiq Mockups makes wireframing fast? Like super-fast?

Over 300,000 major corporations such as Apple, Cisco, Zappos, Adobe, Ebay, Sony, and Skype use Balsamiq Mockups for their wireframing needs. It has been labeled as a favorite among many in the web design industry.

Like many other wireframing programs, Balsamiq Mockups offers a free 30-day trial. After that 30-day trial expires, you must purchase a license to continue using the solution. Licenses start at just $89 for a single user. There are zero maintenance costs associated with your license, and your license is based upon the person, not the device.

Mockplus

The whole premise of Mockplus is to help you create fast designs with absolutely zero coding. With Mockplus you can use intuitive drag-and-drop features to build your prototypes with little to no effort. You will also have access to many pre-designed features to help you create interactions and animations with ease.

Take advantages of Mockplus’ 3,000 plus pre-designed icons and components. Simply utilize these icons and components by dragging them onto the canvas. This allows you to spend more time on design and less time on the details of your components.

Another great feature of Mockplus is the ability to test on all devices instantly. Simply scan the QR code that is generated to preview your prototypes on actual devices, or generate a sharable URL to send to your co-workers and clients for feedback on your work.

One of the best aspects of Mockplus is its commitment to you as a web designer. Mockplus created the tool to be highly intuitive, which allows you as the designer to spend more time doing what you do best.

You can get the basic version of Mockplus free on Windows, Mac, Android, and IOS. There is the option to upgrade to the Pro version to unlock useful features that are not available with the free version of the program. The pro version could be yours for $129 per year, per user.

With such amazing functionality, at a very reasonable price, you just can’t go wrong with Mockplus. We highly suggest trying out the free version as soon as possible. Get ready to be amazed.

Which Tool Should You Choose?

I have just provided you with five of the most powerful tools for wireframing websites that are available on the market today. Your first step is to try a free trial with each of these programs, taking special note of the features that you like and dislike about each of them. Then choose the tool that is right for you.

Remember, being a highly efficient and successful web designer will require you to invest time and money into your craft. In some cases you are able to get away with using completely free products; however, as your skill level advances, you will more than likely need to pay to get a tool to match your advanced skill set.

So what are you waiting for? Start your free trial on one or more of these programs today!

Let me know in the comments which one you like best!