There are a lot of prototyping tools on the market and it is easy to be confused about which of them will work for you the best. That's why we've taken a look at the most popular prototyping workflows and highlighted pros and cons for each of them.
We chose Figma, Sketch, Marvel, Invision (web), Invision Studio, Protopie and Framer and linked a couple of demo screens from Platforma iOS Wireframs using the aforementioned software.
Figma is a rising star among modern design tools and it definitely has a big future. One of its main advantages is that it provides realtime online collaboration for your team. This allows you to quickly fix and iterate your prototypes in no time. Moreover, Figma is cross-platform and has iOS and Android apps to demonstrate your design.
Figma works out of the box and has a relevant functionality for design and prototyping so you don't need to integrate anything additional, though you can connect it to Principle on Mac.
However, you should keep in mind that you could only open Figma when you have the internet connection, since its a browser app.
For the last couple of years, Sketch remains a standard classic as a user experience design tool. You can connect screens with hotspots and test your prototype on an Apple device or upload the project to the web using a web platform called Sketch Cloud.
The downside is quite drastic: every time you update your prototype online, you have to sync the whole project or use side services such as Invison or Marvel.
Also, you are able to work with prototypes locally and monitor them in a window or Apple device. It is important to carefully control all the hotspots to avoid broken links.
Principle is a powerful yet simple keyframe-animation tool for Mac OS. It is quite popular among designers. It fits well if you use Mac and want to record a demo video or show a prototype locally on your Mac or iPhone.
Unfortunately, Principle doesn't allow to upload the prototype online, though it allows you to save a transition as a video or GIF.
Sketch supports plug-ins which allow you to integrate it with side applications like InVision. It is a widely popular web-platform where you can upload your design.
On one hand, it is better then uploading the whole project to Sketch Cloud. On the other hand, you have to use Craft plugin to sync screens, which literally runs a whole browser inside Sketch. Craft has a Prototype mode which allows you to use layers from your design as hotspots. It saves time as you don't need to draw hotspots manually.
Unfortunately, the screens should be uploaded manually which is very time consuming for a designer. When I used Craft in 2017, it was a disaster. It was heavy, slow and updated every few days. That's why I decided to stop using InVision completely and moved to Marvel.
Marvel is a web service like Invision, but it is more stable, syncs faster and has a lightweight plug-in. If you use Sketch, tired of Craft and need to make a quick web-prototype, Marvel is for you.
Like Invision, it allows you to upload screens and make hotspots between them.
Downsides: You still have to upload the updated screens manually and check the links. Marvel supports import of your native hotspots from Sketch. This workflow seems to be clunky nowadays in comparison to, for example, Figma.
Let's imagine you use InVision Studio to create your design. Like Principle, it allows to set precise keyframe animations inside the product which is similar to Sketch. Sure, you are able to upload the screens to Invision.
Xd is a fast-growing product by Adobe which is similar to Sketch. So far, it allows you to make prototypes and use them on mobile devices. If you need to make a web-prototype, you still have to upload screens to Adobe Cloud. However, soon XD is going to allow real-time collaboration and it will make web-prototyping a lot easier.
Downsides: No Sketch and Figma export.
Protopie is a new promising prototyping tool which is available for Mac OS and Windows. It is similar to Principle and allows importing your design from Sketch, Figma and XD. It fits for prototyping micro-interactions and animated transitions between screens.
It is a Mac-only tool for UX designers which is similar to Sketch. Overflow could be useful if you need to create a user flow or mindmap. All links in it are visual and it makes Overflow a good presentational tool which puts it up there with InVision and Marvel. You can work locally or upload your project to Overflow web platform.
The downside is the same: you need to sync your every edit manually.
As opposed to other tools, Framer has no limits in terms of screen interaction and allows you to go as deep and crazy as you need.
For the last few years, Framer was used mainly for animation prototyping, but Framer X aims to provide tools which enable users to work with it as a primary design tool. Framer allows you to do everything that Javascript does. The only limit is your time.
All these ways to prototype are good and it's up to you which way to choose. There are no strict rules on how to prototype and we encourage you to experiment and find the best workflow for you.