The 6 best wireframe tools in 2026

I have a small addiction to designing things. From website pages to new app ideas, the design process has always seemed like such an interesting mix of research, analysis, and creativity.

Granted, my first attempts at design took place on plain sheets of printer paper, physical whiteboards, and a very painstaking mockup in Photoshop. Then, about a decade ago, I discovered a suite of digital wireframe apps that were created specifically for the website and app design process, and I've never looked back.

With these tools, I can create digital wireframes in a matter of minutes. Another few clicks lets me share these rough design sketches with teammates and stakeholders across the globe, so they can ask questions and deliver feedback in real time.

These tools have wholly transformed the playing field when it comes to sharing those basic wireframe design ideas, whether you're a total non-designer or a celebrated design pro. 

Here, based on lots of in-depth testing and all my experiences using these apps, I'll do a deep dive into the best wireframing tools available—each with its own unique suite of features that can help you bring those early-stage concepts to life.

The best wireframe tools

• Figma for real-time collaboration

• Whimsical for quick, structured wireframing

• Balsamiq for non-designers

• UXPin for code-based design

• Axure RP for logic-heavy prototypes

• Visily for moving from lo-fi to hi-fi without switching tools

What is a wireframe?

A wireframe is a basic visual sketch of a digital product or feature that's focused on high-level layouts, flows, and functionality. It typically uses placeholder symbols (like gray squares for photos, for example, or straight lines to indicate text) that help keep everyone focused on the high-level concepts.

Once a wireframe is approved, the designer can then flesh out the ideas and create a high-fidelity design with a full color palette, typography, imagery, and even interactive elements that allow you to test a design before moving to the final stage: development.

What makes the best wireframe tool?

Let's start with a disclaimer: you don't need a dedicated app to create a wireframe. Flowchart apps, for example, provide ample structure for a basic wireframe of a website design or sitemap structure. But they aren't created with interface designers in mind, and they lack more advanced visual editing tools, like object opacity and pre-sized canvases for responsive screen sizes. 

Wireframe apps, on the other hand, assume that you're going to want to refine and improve your design before it's ready to be handed off for further development. Not only do they make space for you to create your rough sketch and UX flow, but they also include a few standout elements like:

• AI wireframing capabilities: The best AI wireframe tools can generate a starter layout from a simple text prompt, shaving significant time off the early ideation phase. I looked for tools that use AI meaningfully—not just as a gimmick—to help you move from blank canvas to testable concept faster.

• Collaboration options: Whether you're co-designing within a design team or simply need to get feedback from a peer or manager, the tools on this list all include some manner of collaboration options to get your design idea approved quickly.

• A UI component library: A component library is a collection of pre-designed UI (user interface) elements like buttons, placeholder images, text blocks, dropdowns, and toggles. Having a collection of UI elements at your fingertips can speed up your initial wireframe process.

• Export and hand-off options: Graphic designers simply export their creations as a static image file that can be uploaded to various platforms and used as needed. Web and app designers, however, rely on developers to bring their design work to life through code. Because of this, the hand-off process from design to development is incredibly important. So I looked for tools that offered at least a basic HTML/CSS export, although you'll find a few more advanced options on the list too.

• Cross-platform compatibility: Chances are high that you'll have to collaborate, co-edit, or present to someone who uses a different operating system. All the apps on this list are either web-based or have apps for Windows and Mac.

• Quick and easy to use: Wireframes by nature are meant to be action-oriented—quick to make and revise. I eliminated tools that had an overly complex interface or took a long time to learn.

Even though I've worked in web and app design and development for nearly a decade (so I walked into this research project with a good amount of experience), I committed to testing the top contenders with fresh eyes and a set of criteria that people of all backgrounds and abilities can use, whether you're allergic to design or are formally trained in it like I am. 

I researched over 40 of the top wireframe apps and tested the best ones: I went through the entire process of signing up for an account, designing a basic mobile app wireframe (login page and dashboard), testing the collaboration and export options, and taking a deeper look at how the app balanced user-friendliness. Based on all my testing, I narrowed it down to the six best wireframe tools.

The best wireframe tools at a glance

Best free wireframe tool for collaboration

Figma (Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android)

Figma pros:

• Generous free plan

• Whiteboard/brainstorming tool

• Collaboration options across teams

• Access to a huge active community with free resources like UI components and icon sets

Figma cons:

• Learning curve for more advanced features

Figma has very quickly become the gold standard when it comes to wireframing and digital app design. Initially, this was due to the fact that it was web-based with collaboration features, which quickly eclipsed the usefulness of desktop-based tools like Sketch and Adobe Photoshop. But it's since grown into a robust tool that's suitable for beginners, professionals, and even non-designers. It's one of the best free wireframe tools with its robust introductory plan, though it also offers more impressive paid tiers.

You might start off your wireframe journey in FigJam, an integrated whiteboard tool that makes it easy to storyboard and create flowcharts to plan out your project with team members. From there, you can take the ideas and dive into Figma itself. 

Whether you're creating a mobile or desktop-based design, Figma includes pre-sized frames that align with common devices, from desktops to various tablets, Android phones, and iPhones (no more having to Google screen size dimensions!). From there, you can use the simplified toolbar at the bottom of the screen to access your design tools, which include shapes, lines, and a pen tool. If you don't want to design everything from scratch, you can access the plugin library on the toolbar to add things like icons, UI elements, and stock photos.

Although wireframes tend to be more simplistic, you can use Figma to create a fully polished UI, where you'll use more advanced features like column and grid overlays or constraints to make your design fully responsive. Figma accelerates this workflow with native AI tools for auto-generating prototype interactions and organizing layers. Figma also has a great MCP server: by connecting Figma directly to your AI assistant, your agents can extract design context straight into your IDE, generate code from selected frames, or even write to the Figma canvas directly from your code editor.

Where Figma truly stands out, however, is its team collaboration features. As a web-based wireframing app, you can co-design with team members simultaneously. All pricing tiers have access to the comments feature, which allows you to leave sticky note-style comments that other team members can reply to, tag each other in, and mark complete. Paid plans also have access to audio chat for more seamless collab—as well as a written annotation option via the Dev Mode feature that's extremely useful when handing off designs to the dev team.

Teams with multiple designers will also appreciate the ability to build a team library file that serves as the ultimate source of truth for each designer to refer back to. A team library typically includes master components (button styles, input forms, etc.), a color palette, and typography specs that can be easily reused among different files within your project. The great part about a design library is that all you have to do is update one of the master components—and all the other usages will automatically update across your files so everything is always up to date and fully aligned.

When you connect Figma with Zapier, you can build cross-functional workflows that automatically carry designs from concept to release. For example, when Figma designs change or a new version is published, Zapier can update linked tickets, notify the right teams with AI-generated summaries of the changes, and reflect status updates back in the design file. Discover other popular ways to automate Figma.

Figma price: Free for unlimited drafts and 150 AI credits/day (up to 500/month); paid plans start at $16/user/month for the Professional plan with unlimited projects, team libraries, and more (billed annually).

Best wireframe tool for quick, structured wireframe ideation

Whimsical (Web)

Whimsical pros:

• Fast, intuitive drag-and-drop interface

• Versatile workspace with flowcharts and mind maps

• Easy sharing and real-time collaboration options

Whimsical cons:

• Canvas performance can slow down with too many complex items

• Limited custom styling options (like restrictive color palettes)

When you need to get a structural idea out of your head and onto a screen as fast as humanly possible, Whimsical is the tool you want. It's remarkably fast and stripped of any heavy design complexities that weigh down some other wireframing apps.

I found the drag-and-drop interface to be clean and immediately understandable. Pretty much anyone on your team can start building a wireframe without a tutorial.

Whimsical purposefully restricts your design choices; you're limited to their pre-defined color palettes and simplified UI elements. This might sound like a drawback, but it's actually a big plus during the early stages of a project. It prevents you from getting bogged down in visual details and forces you to focus on layout, user flow, and structure.

Whimsical also has AI features, powered by Claude's models, which allow you to generate wireframe layouts, flowcharts, and mind maps with a simple text prompt. It's not the most advanced AI wireframing out there, but it's well integrated.

And for technical teams, Whimsical's desktop app includes a built-in MCP that powers AI assistants, letting them interact with your workspace so you can generate wireframes from code or automatically map out your processes or system architecture.

Whimsical price: Free for 3 team boards, 3 teams, and 10 guests; paid plans start at $10/editor/month for unlimited team boards, 90-day version history, 1GB file uploads, and more (billed annually).

Best wireframe app for non-designers

Balsamiq (Web)

Balsamiq pros:

• Extremely minimal, simplified interface

• Pre-designed UI elements available

• Can use without an account

Balsamiq cons:

• No custom design element options

• Limited prototyping options

Balsamiq is an oldie-but-goodie that lets you create quick digital sketches even if you've never stepped foot in a design tool. You won't have to work with pixels or HEX codes, but you'll still be able to create somewhat realistic wireframes to present to clients and stakeholders, or just to communicate ideas within your team.

The interface is fairly straightforward: in the center is your design canvas; the partial left sidebar shows the various screens within your wireframe; and along the top bar, you'll find the full library of design elements available. These elements give Balsamiq its value: they're simple but effective, and they help prevent stakeholders from getting distracted by fonts or colors during early feedback rounds.

Balsamiq also features an AI assistant that you can collaborate with. You can drop in a screenshot of a competitor's app, upload a messy whiteboard sketch, or type in a text prompt, and Balsamiq AI generates an editable, sketch-style wireframe that you can tweak.

While Balsamiq does offer some prototyping ability, it's extremely limited. The prototyping also requires you to create a new wireframe design for each screen, rather than build them side-by-side in the same design canvas like the other tools on this list (in the screenshot, you'll notice that I also built mine side-by-side). This can be somewhat frustrating, since you'll have to click around quite a bit to compare and contrast your work.

Once your designs are ready, you can export to PNG or PDF, or simply use the present mode to showcase your design ideas during a meeting.

Overall, Balsamiq is a straightforward, self-explanatory tool that can help non-designers to effectively communicate and present their ideas visually, without the additional pressure of having to design elements from scratch or having to deal with a multitude of features that you'll never use.

Balsamiq pricing: 14-day free trial; paid plans start at $16/editor/month for the Starter plan with up to 10 projects with unlimited reviewers, 500 monthly AI credits, and more (billed annually).

Best wireframe tool for code-based designs

UXPin (Web, macOS, Windows)

UXPin pros:

• High-fidelity wireframing options

• Live presentation and documentation capabilities

UXPin cons:

• The interface itself isn't particularly user-friendly

• Limited pre-designed UI kit

App and website design ideas might start with a wireframe, but they'll ultimately come to life through the coding work of a developer. This is why the closer designers can work with code, the quicker they can speed up the overall development time. Not only is a code-oriented design much easier to hand off to the dev team, but it also greatly reduces the potential of a designer creating something that simply isn't possible to code, which sends the entire process back to square one.

It's a multifaceted issue, and it's the primary reason why UXPin stands out as a wireframing app.

When creating a new design in UXPin, you can choose whether to import an existing design from a tool like Figma, import code, or start from scratch. Once you're in the design canvas, you can quickly create a wireframe using a small-but-mighty built-in library of UI elements that can be dragged and dropped directly onto your canvas.

If you want to skip manual drag-and-drop entirely, UXPin features an AI Component Creator powered by OpenAI and Claude models. Same as most other apps: one simple text prompt describing the layout or form you need, and the AI will auto-generate code-backed UI elements onto your canvas.

With your frames ready, you can use the preview mode to present your work, include relevant specs and documentation, and collect feedback. The preview mode includes built-in access control, so you can decide whether you want viewers to just see the design or also be able to view comments, documentation, and all that. All final review, approvals, and design documentation can be handed off within this space so your entire team can easily stay up to date without needing to have access to the design canvas.

Up to this point, most of the features and design elements are similar to what we've already seen in many of the other tools. But the UXPin Merge feature lets you import and synchronize your design library components from tools like Git, Storybook, and npm. This allows you to essentially "design with code," since you can fully sync your code-based system within UXPin, whether that's built with React, Bootstrap, or Carbon, or anything else.

Since these components are backed by real code, your wireframes can natively include highly complex, interactive states and logic—like fully functional text inputs, functional variables, and conditional rules—that standard vector and UX mockup tools can't match without tedious prototyping work.

Ultimately, the value of moving into a world of code-based design makes UXPin a strong option for competitive teams that rely on quick iterations and a reduced amount of time-to-code. 

UXPin pricing: Free for up to 2 prototypes and 50 lifetime AI credits; from $29/month for the Core plan that includes unlimited prototypes, built-in coded libraries, 200 monthly AI credits for Basic AI models, and more (billed annually).

Best wireframe tool for complex, logic-heavy UX prototypes

Axure RP (Web, macOS, Windows)

Axure RP pros:

• Highly customizable widgets and interactions

• Robust hand-off and enterprise-level documentation features

Axure RP cons:

• Steeper learning curve than standard vector tools

• Expensive licensing, especially for larger teams

Axure RP is the complete opposite of wireframe tools that are just for quick, simple ideation. It's the tool to pick when you need your wireframe to evolve into a highly complex, logic-driven prototype that accurately mimics a final product.

The tool is widely considered the go-to platform for enterprise teams and UX architects building intricate platforms. Axure RP lets you program conditional logic, variable interactions, and dynamic data states directly into your wireframes. For example, you can build a working shopping cart or a functional multi-step form with error validation without writing any actual code.

While it's always been a powerhouse for technical prototyping, Axure RP recently introduced AI capabilities to assist with documentation and planning in UX design. Within Axure Cloud's whiteboard and document features, you can use interactive AI chats to generate project context, such as business value summaries and feature descriptions. You can also create custom AI buttons with unique prompts to speed up Agile spec creation.

All this power comes with quite a steep learning curve. Axure RP isn't a tool you can fully grasp in an afternoon. Its desktop-first interface also feels noticeably heavier than browser-based apps. And it's one of the pricier options on the market. But it's a top choice if you're tackling a complex project and you need to test exact, logic-heavy user interactions before handing off to development.

Axure RP pricing: 30-day free trial; paid plans start at $29/user/month for Pro with unlimited prototypes and reviewers, advanced prototyping, and more (billed annually).

Best wireframe tool for moving from lo-fi to hi-fi without switching tools

Visily (Web)

Visily pros:

• Fast and effective text-to-image AI-assisted wireframing

• Easy-to-use interface

• Import screenshots of other apps and sites and turn them into editable wireframes

• Import and export designs directly to and from Figma

Visily cons:

• Limited manual design customization options

• AI-generated designs are fairly simple

I'm never quite sure where I stand when it comes to AI-assisted creative tools, but I have to admit that Visily stands out as a really fun and powerful design aid.

The interface and UX of the tool is clean and almost minimal, which can give the immediate impression that it's too simple. But the more I used the tool, the more impressed I was with the overall experience.

I started my design with an AI prompt, requesting a reading app with a login screen, library dashboard, and reading wishlist. Within less than a minute, Visily generated five screens and—most impressive to me—included relevant prototyping to indicate how the navigation should work. The initial prompt I submitted resulted in a strong, usable lo-fi design with good visual hierarchy, consistent spacing, and a UX-friendly layout.

I then used the AI prompt to edit one of the existing sections to make it a little flashier and more vibrant. It took only two prompts to deliver a promising if somewhat basic result. I was then able to transform it into a high-fidelity mockup right on the canvas. Visily's powerful theming capabilities allow you to apply pre-built or custom design systems to your lo-fi wireframes with one click, updating the color palette, typography, and UI components.

Although it's possible to manually customize individual elements, the available options are extremely limited. The purpose for this limitation is clear: Visily is intended to be an ideation tool. Fine-tuning and polishing an approved idea isn't something that it strives to do. Fortunately, Visily offers a plugin that lets you export your designs directly into Figma, which makes it easy to move forward from the initial ideation stage with minimal effort.

Visily is definitely a great option if you're looking for some support planning out a wireframe and want to cycle through a few ideas quickly, and then easily pass the idea into a more design-serious app like Figma for refinement.

Visily pricing: Free for 300 AI credits/month and limited boards and elements. Paid plans start at $11/editor/month for Pro with 3,000 AI credits/month, unlimited boards, Figma export and import, and more (billed annually).

Which wireframe app should I use?

Figma and UXPin might be the two most well-known names on this list, but that shouldn't be a deciding factor when it comes to choosing your own wireframing software. After all, everyone's design style and process is different. 

When choosing the best wireframe software for you and your team, start by considering your design process and your goal for the wireframes themselves. Do you need to include responsive elements? Will you be collaborating in real-time with teammates? Do you need to turn your wireframe into an interactive prototype for testing purposes?

Smaller and one-person teams might choose a single all-in-one tool for wireframing to high-fi design and prototyping. Others might choose to use multiple tools on this list. For example, you might choose to start a design in Balsamiq for its distraction-free environment, then switch to Figma for high-fi UI design and prototyping. Or if you're part of a larger team, you might prefer to start in Figma for its real-time collaboration. It all depends on what you need to accomplish with your wireframe—and where you need to go from there.

And once you've chosen the wireframe design software that works best for you, you can connect it to the rest of your tech stack using Zapier's 9,000+ pre-built integrations. Build workflows in Zapier's visual editor or access OAuth-managed connections straight from your favorite AI tools.

Glossary of terms

• Vector graphic: A vector graphic is an image that's made up of points, lines, and curves that are based on mathematical points. Because of this, it can scale infinitely without becoming "fuzzy." Most icon and logo graphics are initially created with vector graphic design tools.

• Raster (pixel) graphic: Raster images are made up of bitmaps, or grids of individual, tiny square pixels. If a small raster image is magnified (or scaled to fit a large canvas), the quality of the image will decrease and cause it to look fuzzy. Photographs are a common form of raster image.

• UI components: Commonly used user interface (UI) components are buttons, checkboxes, progress bars, and navigation menus. When starting a design, you may prefer utilizing a kit of ready-made UI components to make the initial wireframe process go more quickly.

• Artboard: Many design apps allow you to create one or more artboards in the same design file. Think of each artboard as an individual canvas or paper. They're helpful when you need to create multiple separate designs but don't want to switch files each time.

• Mockup: Whereas a wireframe typically consists of basic text and shapes to serve as placeholders, a mockup is a fully designed interface that includes colors and images.

• Prototype: A prototype is an interactive wireframe or mockup that allows users to click through and "use" the design even before it's been translated into code by developers. This is useful when your design requires UX testing data before it's implemented.

• Low-fidelity: Rough and simplified designs (like a wireframe) are considered low-fidelity.

• High-fidelity: Fine-tuned and polished designs that appear similar or identical to the finished product are considered high-fidelity.

• UI: UI stands for User Interface and pertains to how an app or design appears to users (think: color and type scale).

• UX: UX stands for User Experience and pertains to how a user will interact with an app or design, such as optimal button placement or logical flow from one section to another.

Related reading:

• How to hire your first designer—full-time or freelance

• 4 skills designers need to help companies succeed

• The 5-day sprint: How to jumpstart a new app, website, or project

This article was originally published in December 2018 and has also had contributions from Nicole Replogle and Mike Floeck. The most recent update was in May 2026.