Free Mac Wireframe Software

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  1. Wireframe Mac Free
  2. Free Mac Wireframe Software Download
  3. Free Mac Wireframe Software Tutorial
  4. Best Free Wireframe Software
  5. Wireframe Software Free

This wireframe maker free online software includes various drag and drop elements. From lists to buttons each style as a hand drawing. The main of the software is to keep the design intentionally rough that can help to gain great amount of feedback. The software is basically designed for the people who are confused and under-confident. The Pencil Project product is Mac, and Windows software. Pencil Project offers a free version. Pencil Project is prototyping software, and includes features such as data import / export, drag & drop, flowchart, for developers, and templates. Alternative competitor. InVision is the digital product design platform used to make the world's best customer experiences. InVisionApp, Inc. The fast and free wireframe tool to make wireframes, websites & apps. Adobe XD is a powerful and free wireframing tool for UI/UX designers, built by the world's leader in creative technologies.

Wireframes help you quickly ideate and test your ideas. While paper wireframes are the quickest to create, digital wireframes look more polished and presentable. If you are after a pocket-friendly wireframing tool, then look no further! Depending on whether you prefer browser-based apps or offline desktop apps, how big a project you have on hand and how many people you need to collaborate and share your work with, here are a variety of free wireframing tools for you to choose from. Each has its own advantages and use cases. For the most part, you'll be able to work with the free apps; however, as your project expands, you may need to upgrade to access additional features or create more documents. If you find it hard to choose between the tools, go ahead and play around with them to get a feel for what works best for you, your team and your UX project.

Figma

All-in-one design tool

Product Type: Browser-based app
Free Tier Limitations: 3 projects & 2 editors
Upgrade: Starts at $12 per editor/month

Figma is one of the most popular design tools in the market. The all-in-one platform allows you to create everything from clickable wireframes to high-fidelity prototypes and supports 30-day version history and unlimited cloud storage – all in the free plan. Figma has both browser-based and desktop applications. You can also mirror and preview your designs on mobile devices in real time. The limit for the free plan is 3 projects and 2 editors. The Professional plan starts at $12 per editor/month and allows you to create team libraries. To implement organization-level design systems and administer plugins, you will need the Organization plan, which starts at $45 per editor/month.

Miro

Collaborative whiteboard

Product Type: Browser-based app
Free Tier Limitations: 3 boards
Upgrade: Starts at $8 per member/month

Formerly known as realtimeboard, Miro is a virtual whiteboard where teams can collaborate and design in real time. With realistic sticky notes, a built-in wireframe library as well as a mind-mapping tool, it is a supercharged whiteboard. It has several built-in templates, integrations (Slack, Dropbox, Creative Cloud, Trello and Zapier, among others) and allows unlimited users for up to 3 boards in its free version. To create more than 3 boards and get access to the Kanban framework, you can upgrade to the team plan starting at $8 per member/month.

© Miro, Fair Use

Adobe XD

All-in-one design tool

Product Type: Desktop apps for Mac and Windows
Free Tier Limitations: 1 active shared document, 1 active shared link, 2 co-editors
Upgrade: Starts at $9.99 per month

Wireframe Mac Free

A late player in tools for UX design, Adobe's XD has caught up fast with the other tools in the market. You can design, prototype and share your designs from a single application. The free version of the application has a few limitations – you get only 1 active shared document, 1 active shared link and up to 2 co-editors. If you are already a part of Adobe's creative cloud ecosystem, you will find it easy to use XD in your design workflow.

InVision Studio

All-in-one design tool

Product Type: Desktop apps for Mac and Windows
Free Tier Limitations: 3 documents, 10 users
Upgrade: Starts at $7.95 per user/month

InVision Studio is a desktop application that you can use to create screens and animations. Originally known for its browser-based prototyping application, the desktop application Studio is not as popular as the other tools listed above, partly because it came after the other tools. With the free version, you can create 3 documents and include a generous 10 active users. The Pro account lets you create unlimited documents but still limits active users to 15.

Frame Box

Basic wireframing tool

Product Type: Browser-based app
Free

Frame Box is completely free to use, which may make it the right stop for those teams on incredibly limited budgets. The downside is that it is quite basic and perhaps not the best tool for developing a detailed wireframe of a complex project. It's perfectly OK for smaller, less complex projects. We think it's unlikely that Frame Box is going to be anyone's permanent option but it will get you started and without any strain on your wallet.

Free Mac Wireframe Software Download

Wireframe.CC

Wireframing tool

Cad software logo. Product Type: Browser-based app
Free Tier Limitations: Single-page wireframes only, no export or interaction features
Upgrade: Starts at $16 per user/month

If you're into ultra-minimal and sleek interfaces, you will love Wireframe.cc. You can use the free version without any user accounts to create single-page wireframes. To create clickable wireframes, or to export to PNG and PDF formats, you'll need a premium account. The premium licenses run from $16 to $99 a month depending on your needs, with the top of the range allowing unlimited users and projects. Unlike the other design tools listed here, the interface of this application does not have any immediately apparent tools. Instead, you get context-sensitive tools that appear only when you click on an element or drag the mouse.

Cacoo

Diagramming tool

Product Type: Browser-based app
Free Tier Limitations: 6 sheets
Upgrade: Starts at $5 per user/month

Cacoo is a diagramming application that allows you to present your ideas visually. One of the few products that support unlimited users in its free plan, Cacoo offers templates, including wireframes, and integrates with several applications – Google docs, Adobe Creative Cloud, AWS, Slack and Dropbox, just to name a few. However, you can create only 6 sheets and export projects only in PNG format in the free forever plan. With the $5 / month Pro plans, you get multiple export options, unlimited sheets and revision history.

© Cacoo, Fair Use.

Jumpchart

Website planning and project management tool

Product Type: Browser-based app
Free tier limitations: 1 project, 10 pages, 2 users & 10Mb storage
Upgrade: Starts at $5 per month

If you are planning a website, Jumpchart will help you create sitemaps, manage content and manage the project. One of the nice features is that you can export your project to WordPress, Drupal or HTML. Its free plan is rather limited, allowing 1 project (up to 10 pages), 2 users and 10 Mb storage. However, it has one of the most cost-effective premium plans. You can get 5 projects (up to 25 pages each), 5 users per project and 1Gb storage for just $5 per month.

MockFlow

UI / screen design tool

Product Type: Browser-based app (desktop apps for Mac and Windows available only with paid plans)
Free Tier Limitations: 1 project, 3 pages
Upgrade: Starts at $12 per editor/month

MockFlow allows you to collaboratively create user interfaces. Its free version is good for a single project and limited to 3 pages, so you are almost certainly going to have to upgrade to get all the functionality that you need. That starts at $12 per editor/month, in which you get access to UI templates and desktop applications for you to work offline, along with unlimited UI projects, team component libraries and business app integrations.

Wirefy

Functional wireframes

Product Type: Browser-based app
Free

Wirefy helps you build functional wireframes. Unlike the other tools here, you will need to download and install it from the GitHub repository. The philosophy behind Wirefy is to focus on content and speed up the development process. You will need to know basic HTML and CSS to create the wireframes. The advantage of this tool is that once you've settled on the wireframes, the journey to the final deliverable is much faster. Your base UI structure and content are ready for you to add the visual layer. Being an open-source project, it gets updated frequently.

More Tools

This list is by no means exhaustive. While we are certain that one of the tools above will fit your requirements, here are a few more that you can explore:

  • Draw.io is an open-source, browser-based diagramming application. It has a large library of shapes and supports layers. You can save your files in XML format on Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or GitHub.
  • Mydraft.cc is an open-source wireframing tool that runs in a browser and does not require you to create an account. Your files live online, and you will need to save the URL of your projects to retrieve them.
  • Whimsical is a browser-based collaborative brainstorming application.

You may have noticed that some major names are missing from this list (Balsamiq, Axure, Gliffy, UXPin, Moqups – to name a few). This round-up looked at 10 free wireframing tools. If budget isn't a constraint, then you can certainly give one of the paid applications a shot – each has a limited-duration free trial so that you can evaluate the product before you purchase it.

If you think there are any others we've missed, please let us know on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. We'd love to know what you're using at the moment.

Images

Hero Image: Aurimas, CC BY-ND 2.0

A website wireframe is also known as screen blueprint or a page schematic. It is a visual guide for getting a gist of the skeletal framework of a website. It helps to arrange elements in the best manner possible for achieving the desired purpose. The purpose is often ruled by the business objective or a creative idea. It involves every aspect of website design from the website's content, to navigational systems and how they would work together. Generally, not much attention is given to colors, graphics or styles during wireframe creation, as the primary purpose of a wireframe is to understand the functionality aspect. Many free website wireframe tool are readily available on the market.

2. Features and functionality:
1. Pencil Project:
2. Mockplus:
3. Wireframe CC:
4. Framebox:
5. Wirefy:
6. inVision Freehand:
7. Pidoco:
8. Canva:
9. Figma:

Wireframes are essential for website design as opposed to directly designing a website as it gives an architectural hierarchy and visualization of how the site would look like. Wireframes can bridge the gap between technical terms and clients who don't know much about them. Having a visual reference point for hero images or Google map integration would help them understand what you're talking about much better than verbal communication.

Creating a wireframe also allows prioritizing usability on the front. It helps accommodate for future changes in the website design by carefully planning the entire website design. Though using wireframes might look like added time and step to creating a website, overall, it saves on the time in the later stages. Once you have the basic skeleton ready, you'd be able to make modifications around it with more ease as you'd have planned alternatives to use.

Before we get started with the best free website wireframe tools, let's quickly understand the criteria one should check for judging software upon: How to take a screenshot on my macbook pro.

1. User Interface:

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You need to see how well the tool's user interface is. How easy it is to navigate. The display should be clear and precise.

2. Features and functionality:

There are crucial specific website and app design functions and features that a good website wireframe tool must provide. Certain elements that add credibility to such tools are:

1. Drag and Drop:

There should be ease of adding and moving design elements with simplicity using Drag and Drop feature.

2. Interactive Elements:

This element ensures that the tool you're using has the capability of letting you make an interactive wireframe. This is essential to check the clickable prototypes for their functionality and efficiency.

3. Revision History:

This is very crucial. You should be able to access your revision history in case you need to go back and use some edit you did back in time. This helps you have an option to revert to some edit if the current edit goes out of hand. This also saves time and effort of having to repeat the same job as it gets saved real-time over time.

4. Presentation Tools:

Wireframes are essential in the initial phase of the business. Hence you need to be able to convert the wireframes to beautifully designed presentation quickly and with ease.

5. Feedback and collaboration tools:

Feedbacks are crucial on wireframes for effective communication. Hence leaving comments, attaching files and other such features should be in-built to any efficient wireframe tool.

3. Usability:

Generally, wireframe tools should be such that they are easy to use. However, if the software is complicated, but worth the effort of learning, there should be efficient and enough tutorials to learn it.

4. Integrations:

The wireframe software should have support for integrations with popular website platforms or other plug-ins to increase its efficiency and functioning.

Best Tools for Creating Website Wireframes

And here are the 9 best tools for creating website wireframes to ease the process and complete it as efficiently as possible:

1. Pencil Project:

Pencil Project is a great free website wireframe tool. It is available as an extension on Firefox; however, it can also be used as a standalone application in multiple platforms such as Windows and Linux. There is support for sketching; hence you would be able to feature hand-drawings as mockups as well.

Free Mac Wireframe Software Tutorial

The process:

Firstly the connector of the Pencil Project is capable of quickly linking all shapes of a picture together. It can also work with a flow chart. Secondly, it also supports diagrams and allows the user to add links to the graphic elements. It allows you to quickly design a layout of your website, moreover also test its functionality in terms of UI. Pencil Project allows you to create sprites by modifying existing projects. The main advantage of this free website wireframe tool is that it is available as an add-on on Firefox. That eliminates the need of having to download and install it as separate software on your desktop.

Best Free Wireframe Software

2. Mockplus:

Mockplus comes with two variants: iDoc and RP. iDoc is for collaborative team effort whereas RP is a more general take on the same software:

1. iDoc:

iDoc has some powerful features for a free website wireframe tool. It has two variants, one is free, and the other is Pro that comes for $9/month. It can be used for creating a great website or app design effortlessly and collaboratively with other developers and designers. You can import designs, make interactions, download and handoff designs as well as comment on the wireframes created efficiently.

The process:

iDoc allows you to import designs from software and formats like XD, PS and sketch. For this iDoc has special plug-ins. This allows the user to sync design details accurately, including asset and spec information. It also features an easy to use drag and drop interface that allows to test, share and demonstrate the wireframe designs more clearly and vividly. Many interaction commands help improve your design. The software makes it easy for various designers working on a project to comment, discuss, test and share designs in real-time.

2. Mockplus RP:

Mockplus is a simple tool that allows the user to focus more on design without having to learn it from scratch. It is created to speed up the design process and make it smarter and more comfortable. This software is a quick free website wireframe tool. It allows you to do prototype and interactive wireframe in the least possible time. It allows you to create mockups for desktop and mobile platforms as well. Since it has automatically generated specifications, designers and developers can save half of the work time.

The process:

It has over 200 components and 3000 SVG icons to make use of. Some pre-installed templates and demos allow the user to make use of massive resources. It also has support for exporting an MP file directly from Sketch. Mockplus is excellent for interactive design as the layout is entirely visualized. You don't need to know coding, have the training and know about parameters. Using drag and drop, you can create fantastic mockup wireframes. It comes with Auto recovery, which can be crucial at times of emergencies.

3. Wireframe CC:

Wireframe CC is an online, free website wireframe tool. It has a simple UI that allows you to sketch all your wireframes quickly. Wireframe can also reduce the general toolbars and icons of any drawing app. The software has a minimal interface and easy click and drag process to draw. It intentionally limits the color palette, so you don't deviate much from your exact color schematics; hence this works as an advantage. The best part is you can see and set your website layout for three templates; browser, mobile phone and tablets.

The process:

Use the mouse to build what you want. It is as close to how you'd sketch with a pen on paper. There is no limitation or hindrance. It can be shared using a simple URL. It only focuses on the bare basics, hence doesn't come with any interactions or animations. This makes the software very responsive but at times, limited by its features.

4. Framebox:

Framebox is an entirely free website wireframe tool which works great for people who are on minimal budgets. Though it is an essential tool, it has many functionality options to get decent work done. It has a straightforward and minimal UI. Framebox has the feature to drag and drop and resizing the canvas. It comes with three modes; edit, preview and comment. You can add title and description of the project as well.

The Process:

It follows an easy three-step process where first you sketch the frame using UI units. Second, you save it and get a link for the created frame. Lastly, you can share it with your partner or client. It might not be the best go-to software for extensive websites, but it is ideal for smaller projects as well for those who are getting introduced to website wireframes for the first time.

5. Wirefy:

Unlike most software on this list, Wirefy is a free website wireframe tool that needs to be installed on the desktop. It is not web-hosted. The software has been built by developers and designers and is a bit complex to comprehend. Though it is a bit more complicated to understand, once you do, it is also much more customizable and flexible than most tools in terms of functionality. You can control much more elements more freely using Wirefy.

The process:

Wireframe Software Free

Install the software and run through the installation process and download the software. Make use of the software by understanding its functionality by taking the aid of tutorial videos readily available on the net.

6. inVision Freehand:

It is one of the essential free website wireframe tools in the market. However, it has excellent functionality. inVision is especially great for creating a wireframe where you want every member to contribute and revise the layout. The software allows you to draw some basic shapes or even draw the wireframe using your mouse cursor. It has cloud storage capabilities which makes real-time viewing and editing easy.

The process:

It is a simple wireframe tool like any whiteboard app. In addition to this, it allows real-time syncing with Sketch and Photoshop. This allows you to draw directly on polished prototypes. This makes the design process much more comfortable. The sketches and working prototypes are stored alongside mood boards for quick referencing. It works best for designers who are seeking collaborative efforts, on a predesigned wireframe sketch.

7. Pidoco:

Pidoco is a free website wireframe tool that has a library of drag and drop interface elements. It also allows you to add multiple pages and layers. It allows you to share your prototypes with clients online and also has all features for collaboration and feedback. There is a mobile app for this too that makes viewing all content on phone easy.

The process:

It is an interactive tool that allows you to use clicks, touch gestures, keyboard entries and much more triggers to configure reactions in the prototype. It allows real-time editing and allows you to check comment history and issue tracking as well.

8. Canva:

Canva makes generating a useful web wireframe easy. It has powerful tools for development and also an extensive collection of drag and drop widgets. Canva allows you to put together an impressive web wireframe as quickly as possible. This is available in free and pro version both.

The process:

It allows you to create flat designs in no time. It saves time as the user interface is fairly simple to use. You can also share and allow others to edit and comment on the wireframe with ease.

9. Figma:

Figma is an easy to use free website wireframe tool. It makes communicating ideas and getting feedback easy. Id software quake 4. It is a browser-based software. Figma works across Mac, Window and Linux. The software allows real-time editing and saving. Hence you need not worry about overriding any one's work.

The process:

It allows you to transform your workflow. It is pretty simple to use and learn and generally is pushed for beginners. You don't need any coding knowledge, and everything can be edited visually.

These are the 9 best tools for creating website wireframes you should use today. Make the best use of the software that suit your needs and create powerful wireframes in no time.

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