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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Adobe XD

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/AAdobe XD is a prototyping and UX/UI option for website and mobile application design, featuring a range of UI tools and and templates, a versatile artboard and contextual layer panels, and deep integration with Adobe's creative suite of products for fast import of objects from these applications.

    $33.99

    per month per license

    Balsamiq

    Score7.2 out of 10
    N/ABalsamiq is a wireframing tool that helps lean product teams turn early ideas into clear, actionable direction. The tool helps product managers, founders, and engineers worldwide share concepts, reduce rework, and build better products.

    $12

    per month (up to 2 projects)

    Pricing
    Adobe XDBalsamiq
    Editions & Modules
    Individual
    $9.99 ($119.88)
    per month (annual, prepaid)
    Students & Teachers - All Apps
    $19.99 ($239.88)
    per month, annual plan (for the year)
    Business - Single App
    $33.99
    per month per license
    Business - All Apps
    $79.99
    per month per license
    Schools & Universities - Institution Wide
    Contact Sales
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Adobe XDBalsamiq
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Pay per project, not per user
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Adobe XDBalsamiq
    Considered Both Products
    Adobe
    Chose Adobe XD
    The biggest benefit of Adobe XD for us is how easily we can use it based on our familiarity with Adobe products and because of the product’s integration with other Adobe products. There can be extra tasks when working, say, with Adobe Photoshop and Sketch. With XD, working …
    Incentivized
    Balsamiq
    Chose Balsamiq
    While I love these other tools for many different reasons, Balsamiq is the tool I use for low-fidelity wireframing every time. It’s the most simple and easy-to-use out of the bunch, and it gets the job done without a ton of effort and time required. In the early stages of …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    85%
    Would buy again
    23 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    88%
    Delivers good value for the price
    22 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    78%
    Happy with the feature set
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    22 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    24 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Adobe XDBalsamiq
    Small Businesses
    Figma
    Score8.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Figma
    Score8.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Figma
    Score8.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Adobe XDBalsamiq
    Likelihood to Recommend
    5.5
    (34 ratings)
    8.5
    (31 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.7
    (3 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    5.5
    (3 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.3
    (16 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Adobe XDBalsamiq
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Adobe
    If its already part of your organization, and they have a license for Creative Cloud, its worth learning. It doesnt take long to get started, but compared to other software in the same field, its lacking in many ways, from quality of life features to just simply not having the option for Darkmode. Even for website design, UX/UI, and mocking up proof-of-concepts, there are much better tools like Figma.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Balsamiq
    Balsamiq is a great tool for quickly getting ideas into visual form. At first it seems like there are not that many UI assets, but this constraint actually adds to the speed. There are less things for you to fuss over, you can focus on getting your ideas down. This is a tool for lofi rough drawings not a tool for building beautiful prototypes for developers to code to. It is fantastic for ideation because you mostly just drag and drop components onto the canvas and move things around. It's great in a live workshop setting for that reason.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Adobe
    • Easy and simple animations.
    • Good tool for website mock-ups.
    • Easy user interface and tools that are like most Adobe products.
    • You can share a dev link and it displays all assets for developers to download or user like it's very own style guide.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Balsamiq
    • Easy to use
    • Produces good quality mock ups and prototypes
    • Mock ups are obviously only just mock ups (this is important as if users see mock-ups in HTML, for example, they tend to think the system is ready to use or not far off)
    • Has a good selection of standard shapes that mock real world fields / controls
    • Allows not for profit organisations use it for free
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Adobe
    • Doesn’t have image editing tools, so having to go back to Photoshop or Lightroom just to make a sight edit can be a pain.
    • Could add some text editing functionality. It feels silly that I have to draw a line under text when I should just be able to underline.
    • Would be nice to have some real-time collaboration functionality.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Balsamiq
    • The sketch-like style can be off-putting to some stakeholders, and it’s not initially very clear that there is the option to turn this “off.” While I do think there is benefit to the default style, knowing from the start that this flexibility existed would have helped us be able to use this tool more often in the past and in different situations.
    • There are very limited collaborative functionalities. When it’s early in the design process, it’s often really helpful to have a number of people in the design to offer in-app feedback so the designer doesn’t have the burden of collecting feedback from many disparate sources in order to incorporate the feedback.
    • There are limited UI elements. As design evolves, there are more and more UI elements to consider, and many to stop using. Our Balsamiq wireframes would be a lot more effective in communicating design ideas to stakeholders if there was a wider range of UI elements to choose from.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Adobe
    We utilize many of the applications in the Adobe CC suite and our usage of this application came about simply because it was the one that was already paid for. Bearing that in mind we will definitely be renewing the software upon the expiration of the licensing. I am not sure if this is the solution we would go with were it not already included, we would have to evaluate all other options
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Balsamiq
    I'm not sure how else we would be able to complete our work without Balsamiq or another similar tool. All of my experience with Balsamiq has been positive and they continue to develop new features so that my job gets easier. I would be very surprised if we didn't renew Balsamiq
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Adobe
    Adobe XD is basically on life-support now, there are much better software out there that do everything XD can do, and a few that you don't even have to pay a monthly subscription fee on. While Adobe XD is great as shortcuts that are used in other CC software works, and its integration with CC is great. But it still lacks compared to its closest competitor.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Balsamiq
    Very intuitive and easy to understand. It only takes minutes to get the hang of it and get back to work. For new analysts (like, brand new, fresh out of school) it's not difficult and they need minimal to no hand-holding. The training content that is embedded is easy to find and use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Adobe
    I have not had a need to connect with the Adobe XD support team as of yet, but from past experience when dealing with the other products, the support has been very very good, and I would have no reason to think that this product would be any different. There are a good number of training videos on the Adobe site for this product as well as on other social media sites so a quick search should let you find the answers in several different ways.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Balsamiq
    We haven't had to use the support feature yet
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Adobe
    Implementation was a snap
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Balsamiq
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Adobe
    Before XD came to the company, screens were designed in Illustrator or Photoshop and a PDF presentation was generated, which was extremely time-consuming. XD saved us a lot of time (and money) by generating interactive prototypes, which are much more tangible for the client than a PDF. The "fight" with Figma is frequent. Both have features in which they are better than their competition. And, while I still choose Adobe XD, don't rule out moving to Figma with its multiple updates.
    Read full review
    Balsamiq
    Creating digital wireframes in Photoshop is a nightmare. Photoshop was not really designed for this purpose. It doesn't have good collaboration options and it doesn't allow pattern libraries, which are essential for consistency and efficiency. We use UXPin and Axure for some time, but found that these platforms were a bit bloated. Balsamiq is much simpler than any of these options. It's a perfect wireframing platform for non-designers or for designers that want to focus on content and element-placement prior to design
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Adobe
    • Ease of use means we are up and running in no time.
    • Integrates and is a part of the Adobe CC platform (which we already subscribe to) so there was no additional cost.
    • Online proofing and developer handoff links are the icing on the cake. Keeps everything in one place.
    • Handles all our assets (mostly created in Illustrator) like a dream. Even imports native Photoshop docs, too, so that saves us so much time round tripping.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Balsamiq
    • The product works very well for showing product owners and developers design ideas for purposes of discussion, debate and refinement.
    • The products also works very well for specifying new designs for developers. This is best done in a series of screens that show various screen states and user interactions.
    • I also use the products to document bugs in software products and websites we have developed. This includes outlining and documenting bugs and changes to user interactions and refinements to the usability of completed interfaces and user experiences.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Balsamiq Screenshots

    Screenshot of the Balsamiq user interfaceScreenshot of the commenting feature, which supports collaborationScreenshot of where to export wireframes to PDF and PNGScreenshot of where to add wireframes to Confluence pages to clarify ideas, make specs visual, and align teamsScreenshot of where to add wireframes to Jira issues to clarify specs, reduce rework, and help teams build the right thing