Axure RP is a software prototyping tool used by UX designers, from Axure Software Solutions in San Diego.
N/A
Zeplin
Score 8.4 out of 10
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Zeplin, from the company of the same name, is a platform supporting collaboration in application development by engineers and designers by providing an API with popular collaboration, development and prototyping tools and creating a space where productions can be shared and reviewed.
$0
per user per month
Pricing
Axure RP
Zeplin
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0
per user per month
Team
$6
per user per month
Organization
$12
per user per month
Enterprise
Contact sales team
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Axure RP
Zeplin
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Axure RP
Zeplin
Considered Both Products
Axure RP
Verified User
Professional
Chose Axure RP
Axure stacks up pretty nicely against other tools, in terms of available functionality and support for users. It’s probably the best tool I have used to create the most realistic and complex prototypes for sales purposes. However, its interface is outdated compared to other …
Overall, Axure RP is a reliable prototyping and wireframing tool that has been around for a while. Due to its longevity, it has a large number of features and a large base of help documentation. Contrary, Axure RP does not always feel as thought out as some of its competitors, …
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.
Zeplin is, overall, really great for what it’s known for: design handoffs to development teams. Thus, it’s an excellent tool for scenarios in which the design and development teams do not work very closely. Because it allows users to use the tool on various platforms, it’s also great for teams in which there are in-house and remote (or contract) staff working on a single project. The tool is pretty lightweight once users are on-boarded, so it’s also great for larger teams. However, it can take significant time to onboard people to it, so it might not be great for more rushed projects. It also doesn’t have a ton of functionality beyond supporting design handoffs, so one might choose a more inclusive tool, such as Figma, to support more steps in the design process. Finally, Zeplin is costly and its rates are pretty inflexible, so this might not be the most ideal tool for more cash-strapped teams who want to use Zeplin for more than one project at a time.
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.
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.
Zeplin is not a fully functional prototyping software system, but having the ability to add notes to help explain what actions are expected allows me to rate it high.
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.
Zeplin has classic support with a chat from the website. It's working fine, and we're also getting the support needed when needed. However, Zeplin is very good at closing the incidents and moving on. It was a while ago we had a case with their support so that it might have improved since then.
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.
Zeplin is great to inspect and share user interfaces, specifications and assets, perfect for developers. Tools like InVision and Marvel are much better to create prototypes for both developers, coworkers and even stakeholders, but they don't have this kind of feature (inspection) as Zeplin does. So each of them can be used for different purposes, offering different approaches to share and interact with layouts for apps and websites.
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.
Development time has reduced as the design updates are communicated in real time to developers and they don't have to write the boilerplate code as it's already generated.
Employee engagement has improved as every stakeholder is aware about the design changes from the beginning and can give their inputs.
Designers save a lot of time as they don't to explicitly communicate when the update or publish their designs and also it just takes a couple of clicks to publish their designs. Also, lot of rework is saved as every stakeholder is involved right from the beginning.
