There are a lot of tools for designing products and it can be hard to choose those that are the best for you. That's why I've compiled this ultimate list of the best product design tools and software to help you create mind-blowing products in record time. 🚀
7 Best Product Design Tools at a Glance
- Figma — Best UI/UX design and collaboration tool
- Webflow — Best no-code tool for designers
- Linear — Best project management tool for designers
- Maze — Best tool for usability testing
- Fathom Analytics — Best tool for analyzing user behavior
- Zeplin — Best design-to-development handoff tool
- Make — Best automation tool
What Is a Product Design Tool?
Product design tool are software that empower product teams to build better products. These tools serve at every stage of the product development stage, from product discovery, wireframing, prototyping, all the way through the development of the MVP and the subsequent iterations. These tools are indispensable companions for designers, developers, and product managers.
Also, these tools help teams work better together. They bring everything into one place - like planning, managing tasks, talking with the team, and sharing documents. This way, everyone knows what's going on and feels included in the design process.
With the right tool, you can streamline you workflow and be more efficient, hence the importance of choosing the right ones.
How to Choose The Best Product Design Tool For Me?
Choosing the best product design tools depends on your specific needs, team size, and the complexity of your projects. Consider tools that offer a blend of functionality, ease of use, and collaborative features to support your design process from start to finish.
Best UI and UX Design Tool
Figma
Figma revolutionizes UI/UX design with its cloud-based, collaborative approach. It's perfect for teams that value real-time cooperation and feedback loops, offering features like vector networks for complex designs and a plugin ecosystem for extended functionality.
Best features
- Real-time collaboration
- Vector networks
- Plugin ecosystem
Pricing
Figma offers a free starter plan, with professional plans starting at $12/month per editor.
Why should you choose Figma
Figma is ideal for teams seeking a unified platform that supports both design and prototyping. Its collaborative nature accelerates the design process, making it a top choice for dynamic teams aiming for high efficiency and innovation.
Best No Code and Low Code Tools
Webflow
Webflow is a no-code platform that empowers designers to build and launch responsive websites visually. It combines design, animation, and content management features, making it a comprehensive tool for web projects.
Best features
- Visual design and coding
- CMS and E-commerce integration
- Responsive design
Pricing
Starting from $14/month for a marketing website, you will have to pay $23/month if you want to have a blog.
Why should you choose Webflow
Choose Webflow for its ability to translate design into live websites without coding. It's great for designers who want to maintain creative control while ensuring a seamless handoff to development.
Bubble
Bubble is a powerful no-code tool for creating web applications. It offers a drag-and-drop interface and custom workflows, making app development accessible to designers without coding skills.
Best features
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Custom workflows
- Extensive plugin library
Pricing
Bubble offers a free plan, with paid plans starting at $29/month.
Why should you choose Bubble
Bubble is the go-to for entrepreneurs and designers looking to quickly turn ideas into functional apps without having to learn how to code. It's a very powerful tool that doesn't require you to learn how to code, but if you know how to code, you can take full advantage of its tremendous power.
Best Prototyping Tools
Framer
Framer offers a blend of design and prototyping for high-fidelity interactive designs. Its focus on motion and interaction makes it stand out, ideal for creating engaging user experiences. It also has a powerful AI that enables you to create amazing designs in seconds and even export the code if you later need to continue the development with a developer.
Best features
- Interactive components
- High-fidelity prototypes
- Integration with design tools
Pricing
Framer offers a free plan, with pro plans starting at $5/month for a landing page and $15/month for a basic website.
Why should you choose Framer
Framer is perfect for designers focused on interaction and animation, offering tools that bring prototypes closer to real, functional products. It's a bridge between design and development.
Marvel
Marvel simplifies the prototyping process with its user-friendly platform. It supports design, testing, and collaboration, making it a versatile tool for quick iterations and user feedback gathering.
Marvel best features
- User testing
- Design handoff
- Integration with popular tools
Marvel pricing
Marvel's plans start at $9/month, with options for teams and enterprises.
Why should you choose Marvel
Marvel is suited for teams that prioritize speed and simplicity in their design process. Its ease of use and comprehensive set of features make it a solid choice for rapid prototyping and testing.
Best Project Management Tool
Linear
Linear revolutionized the world of project management with its radical and opinionated approach to project management. It's a tool built by designers who prioritize speed of execution above anything else and push you to strip all the unnecessary processes in your project management workflow.
Best features
- Issue tracking
- Automated workflows
- Integration with version control
Pricing
Linear’s offers a free plan, with paid plans starting at $8/month per user.
Why should you choose Linear
Choose Linear if you're looking for a sleek, efficient way to manage software projects. Its focus on automation and integration makes project tracking and collaboration seamless.
Best Tools for Usability Testing
Maze
Maze turns prototypes into actionable insights through rapid user testing. It's designed for quick feedback loops, offering usability metrics and analytics to inform design decisions.
Best features
- Usability metrics
- User testing analytics
- Integration with design tools
Pricing
Maze offers a free plan, with paid plans starting at $99/month.
Why should you choose Maze
Maze is ideal for designers and teams eager to validate ideas quickly. Its strength lies in turning user feedback into clear, actionable data to refine designs efficiently.
Best Analytics Tools
Fathom Analytics
Fathom Analytics offers privacy-focused web analytics, providing simple, actionable insights without compromising user privacy. It's GDPR-compliant and easy to use.
Best features
- GDPR compliance
- Simple and intuitive dashboard
- Unlimited websites
Pricing
Plans start at $12.5/month, offering a 30-day free trial.
Why should you choose Fathom Analytics
Fathom is the choice for those prioritizing user privacy and simplicity in analytics. It offers a clear, concise dashboard for tracking website performance without the clutter.
Hotjar
Hotjar is a data analytics tool for user research and conversion rate optimization (CTR) that shows how users interact with your site through heatmaps and visitor recordings. It's invaluable for understanding user behavior and optimizing your UX.
Best features
- Heatmaps
- Visitor recordings
- Conversion funnels
Pricing
Hotjar offers a free plan, with plus plans starting at $32/month.
Why should you choose Hotjar
Hotjar is for teams who want to deeply understand user behavior. Its visual tools and feedback features provide insights that are almost vital for conversion rate optimization and UX researchers.
Best Handoff Tool
Zeplin
Zeplin is one of the best product design tools that help you hand off design to developers smoothly. It bridges the gap between design and development, providing style guides, asset exporting, and integration with popular design tools in order to facilitate a carbon copy implementation of the design, as imagined by the designer.
Best features
- Style guides
- Asset exporting
- Integration with design and development tools
Pricing
Zeplin offers a free plan, with team plans starting at $8/month per user.
Why should you choose Zeplin
Zeplin is essential for teams that value efficient, accurate design-to-development workflows. It minimizes confusion and ensures that designs are implemented correctly.
Best Automation Tool
Make
Make is the most powerful automation tool. It helps you automate pretty much anything, at the cost of a steeper learning curve as compared to its rival Zapier. Its purpose is to help you save time on repetitive tasks without needing to code.
Best features
- Visual workflow builder
- Hundreds of app integrations
- Custom logic and filters
Pricing
Make offers a free plan, with paid plans starting at $9/month.
Why should you choose Make
Make is for people looking for a complete and affordable automation app to automate parts of their workflow. It's versatile, supporting a wide range of apps and custom logic for tailored automations.
n8n
n8n is an open-source low-code tool that gives you endless automation possibilities. It's like Make, but with even more flexibility and customization options.
Best features
- Open-source and possibility to self-host it
- Possibility to directly talk to APIs
- Powerful editors for custom logic
Pricing
n8n is completely free and open-source, with optional paid plans for hosted versions and enterprise support. The plans start at 20€ but you can host it on a cheap hosting like Contabo’s for as low as 4.5€.
Why should you choose n8n
If you find yourself being limited by what Make offers, you can transition to n8n. However, it’s a more advanced tool and requires a steeper learning curve than Make and product designers will rarely exploit all its power.
Honorable Mentions
While the tools above are my top picks, there are a few other product design tools worth mentioning:
Bubble
Bubble is another powerful no-code tool that lets you build web apps without writing a single line of code. Its drag-and-drop interface and pre-built templates make it easy to create complex applications quickly.
Marvel
Marvel is a user-friendly prototyping tool that's perfect for designers who are just getting started. Its simple interface and collaboration features make it a great choice for small teams.
Userflow
Userflow is a user onboarding tool that helps you create personalized product tours and in-app guides. Its code-free builder and analytics features make it easy to improve user activation and retention.
Final Thoughts
Equipping yourself with the best product design tools is crucial for enhancing productivity and using your full creative potential. Whether you're building the next big app or designing a user-friendly website, the right tools can streamline your workflow and help you achieve outstanding results.
By the way, we are Realistack, a product design and low-code development studio that exclusively works with tech startups. If you want to launch your startup and need help with the building an MVP or designing a digital product, don’t hesitate to reach out and book a 30-minute discovery call.
FAQs
What are the key benefits of using a dedicated design-to-development handoff tool?
Design-to-development handoff tools like Zeplin streamline the process of translating designs into code. They automatically generate style guides, assets, and code snippets, ensuring accuracy and saving time on manual handoffs.
What are the benefits of using no-code tools for product design?
No-code tools like Webflow and Bubble empower designers to create fully functional websites and apps without writing code. This allows for faster iteration, more control over the final product, and easier collaboration with stakeholders.
How can workflow automation tools benefit product designers?
Workflow automation tools like Make and n8n allow designers to automate repetitive tasks and connect their favorite apps and services. It usually makes sense to automate a task you would do many times over and over again. You don't need to automate all the task though, you can also partially automate a task and have manual inputs where it makes most sense. For instance, you can automate the synchronisation of tasks between project management tools (e.g., Asana, Jira) and design tools.
What is the best software to design products?
The best product design tools vary based on your specific needs. However, Figma and Webflow are great starting points for UI/UX and web design, respectively.
Can AI design a product for me?
AI can assist in the design process. It can generate initial concepts to and automate repetitive tasks. However, the core of product design which is understanding user needs, empathising with those needs, and creatively solving problems; remains a distinctly human endeavour. The best product design tools incorporate AI to streamline certain aspects of the design process. But they are used to augment the designer’s capabilities.
Is product design easy?
Product design is a challenging yet immensely rewarding profession. It requires good taste, great problem-solving abilities, and a lot of empathy. While the best product design tools can simplify and streamline the design process, the journey from concept to a fully realised product is complex and iterative. Success in product design comes from continuous learning, experimentation, and a deep understanding of your users' needs and the problem you are trying to solve.
What are the must-haves for a product designer?
A product designer must have a keen eye for design, an understanding of user needs, and proficiency in the best product design tools to bring their ideas to life.
