Axure RP vs. Marvel

Axure is a robust tool for teams who seek a reliable, proven, and powerful prototyping tool (and have the budget for it!). Because it has been around for a longer time than some similar products, it includes a ton of features to make incredibly realistic and interactive prototypes. Teams who use Axure will likely benefit from how the tool enables users to create master designs that designers can share and reuse, saving time that may otherwise have been spent building a design from the ground up. However, this tool can be very difficult for new users to learn, so it’s not a great solution for teams who don’t have a lot of wiggle room between adopting the tool and using it to create designs on a deadline. Also, the tool is less intuitive than some of its other competitors, which can make it more time-consuming to whip up a design. For teams who often need to iterate on prototypes quickly, Axure is likely not to be the most efficient solution.

Incentivized

Marvel is a very strong tool in scenarios where designers seek to quickly create simple prototypes on their desktops using a simple, intuitive interface. It offers “just enough” functionality to create somewhat realistic designs to present to stakeholders and other designers. However, there’s a limit to how “realistic” those designs can be, given that Marvel has somewhat limited functionality around animations. Marvel is not a strong option for those who want to create very complex prototypes with many animations, or for those who want to edit prototypes on their tablet or phone. Marvel is a jewel for simplicity but starts to be difficult to use when creating complicated designs. For creating more complicated prototypes, I would recommend a more robust tool, such as Axure.

Incentivized

• Axure RP allows you to use adaptive views which is great for responsive design and development.
• Axure RP is a very robust prototyping tool that has the ability to add realistic interactions.
• There are numerous templates and formats available for wires, user flows, etc.
• Master styles make it easy to update design features across numerous project pages, taking out the monotonous work.

Incentivized

• Easy to use with a fast learning curve
• The handoff option allows developers to extract CSS code to copy design styles

• Sharing and versioning of the prototypes when working with multiple designers. It uses Subversion to checkout pages and components while they are being worked on, but issues and errors occur frequently.
• The functions that allow interactions can be basic and cumbersome so when it comes to complex animations or transitions, Axure could really use improvements. . Collision can happen with interactions causing unintended results. Workarounds have to be made to create a complex interaction to describe how the interaction should function.
• Too many interactions or a large prototype can cause slow performance. So its better to keep the prototype small. However, a larger project would need a different solution or approach to manage features. Can be difficult when aiming for consistency within the interactive wire.

Incentivized

• I really miss being able to duplicate, make a copy of the prototype I'm working on. Sometimes, I want to make a comparison with detail changes and without being able to duplicate it is difficult.
• Compared to other similar services, I feel the animations could be more fluid and smoother.
• It could have more free sophisticated icons and images.

Incentivized

Axure feels like a tool that started with a simple interface that wasn't redesigned over time. Simple tasks sometimes require clicking through multiple layers. Crucial pieces of functionality are hidden under text links, or just flatly aren't discoverable. Much of the quirks of the interface only come from having screwed up numerous times, and knowing that certain things are just difficult to accomplish.

Incentivized

I've never used the support for Axure but they do have an online community that can be helpful when you're unsure how to accomplish a specific bit of interactivity. Overall the community for Axure is a great benefit for the software. There are also a lot of shared library assets which can help reduce the time you spend on projects.

Incentivized

Axure is more full features than most of its competitors. We needed the interactivity that Axure provides and that others were lacking in. We also had some individuals on the team that were familiar with Axure from their prior experience and we wanted to take advantage of that knowledge to quickly roll it out.

Incentivized

Ultimately, InVision was just a better fit for our company's needs. It's probably faster to create prototypes using Marvel, but InVision's collaboration features (comments, notes, etc.) are much more robust, which was helpful for our large team spread across multiple continents. InVision also offers more advanced features, and Marvel felt a little too limited for our overall business needs.

Incentivized

• Putting designs to paper makes it easier for those on the business side to evaluate the cost of the project beyond just looking at written requirements.
• Axure licenses are very expensive and may not be well suited for small businesses or individuals.
• Axure licenses are permanent rather than being subscription based which saves money in the long run.

Incentivized

• It helped me improve my productivity. It took me lot of time to manually design mockups earlier when I used Adobe Photoshop to do it.
• Because of quickly creating mockups, now I provide my clients with more than 4-5 options which is welcomed by clients and make them happy.
• Definitely the ROI and improved, because of time saved and happy clients.

Incentivized