Axure RP vs. Whimsical

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

For planning purposes, ideation process and content organization in general, Whimsical is an awesome tool in our workflow. It can be used by management teams as well by Creative and Development. Also, if you need to explain a more complex idea or process, it's perfect since you can use visual tools to describe it better. It's very easy to use and has a great set of tools even on the free plan.

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

• Simple to use
• Tons of uses
• Can be customized with themeing
• Can organize all your boards pretty much however you want

Incentivized

• 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

• It can be a little frustrating trying to line things up exactly right but that's probably more user error than anything

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

Whimsical is overall very easy to learn and remember. One issue with the usability occurs when you attempt to move connected boxes around the workspace. Frequently connections break or do not add easily, causing further disconnects. You can manually fix these issues, but it's a oprobem that seems would have an easy fix

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

I reached out to support, as I was interested in possibly investing in the organization, and they quickly and happily informed me they are a bootstrap organization and do not take on investors at this time. The swift response and information readily available for my consumption was extremely helpful and shows how solid the team behind it is.

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

Whimsical nails early stage project exploration. Whether it’s mapping, wire-framing, or simply whiteboard collaboration, Whimsical provide a flexible toolset that puts you and your team in the correct mindset to explore ideas without feeling committed to a specific direction. Giant projects do not have much impact on performance and copy/paste in between projects works without issue.

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

• We've been using free version, so it's a no brainer.
• As it helps us focus on the information organization process, we don't lose time redoing work due to the lack of planning before doing design or code.
• We can collaborate on the same project, so it's easier to get things done as we're working from home as well.

Incentivized