Differences between Figma vs Adobe XD vs Sketch

There is no denying that in recent years we have seen monumental growth in the availability of UI design tools. If you are belonging to the web designer community you all know about Figma, Adobe XD and Sketch. These three are the most popular in-demand tools in the market nowadays.

When Sketch first came out, it completely changed the course of action for all designers. Just two years after its initial release, Sketch was awarded Apple’s Design Award.

But, Sketch is not the only application of its kind that designers are paying close attention to. Figma, as well as Adobe XD, have been catching up fast, both on the scale of the features as well as global market share.

Before comparing these UX prototyping tools with each other, let’s take a look at them individually.

Sketch: Fast and intuitive

Sketch is a very popular tool within the design community that enables you to create hi-fi interfaces and prototypes and collaboration design. Sketch, developed by Bohemian Coding, is a vector graphics editor. It was first released for macOS on 7th September 2010 and won the Apple Design Award in 2012. One of the great features is Symbols, which is used to design UI assets and elements for reuse. This helps create design systems and keep your interfaces consistent. From there, you can easily export your design into a clickable prototype.

Features

• Instant design preview
• Grids and guidelines
• Pre-set exporting
• Plugin support
• Collaborative platform support

Advantages

• Designs are highly scalable and quick to produce.
• Users can build and maintain a reusable virtual design system and libraries for faster reiteration.
• Higher efficiency due to highly accurate tools, pixel-perfect designs, and automation.
• Quicker and more accurate renderings based on how it will appear on the browser.
• It enjoys sustained community support.

Disadvantage

• No free version
• Sketch only operates on Mac and is not available for Windows.
• Does not possess image editing or retouching capabilities.
• Does not contain built-in prototyping functionalities.
• Sketch experiences hand-off issues, which can be overcome through third-party plugins.

Adobe XD

Adobe XD offers the best environment for digital projects under the Adobe Creative Cloud collection of design tools. Adobe XD is the newest entrant in the UX design industry, as it was launched on 18th October 2017. It was published by Adobe Inc. XD and supports web apps, voice apps, and mobile apps for macOS and Windows. Million of a designer using Adobe XD to creating stunning products and experiences.

Features

• Web, desktop, and mobile support.
• Voice and speech triggers.
• Offline co-editing.
• Drag and drop artboard guides.
• Auto animation.
• Multi-app integration.

Advantages

• Adobe is known for creating reliable design software based on dependable infrastructure, and Adobe XD is no exception.
• It allows editing and reusability of elements with support for resizing groups and objects.
• Adobe XD supports interactive prototypes with voice prototyping, animation, gaming support, mobile previews, and flows.
• If Users have prior knowledge of Adobe products can easily use Adobe XD.
• It offers cloud saving features with linked assets along with cloud-based collaboration in view-only mode.

Disadvantages

• The shape customization feature is fairly limited, and it mainly supports basic shapes.
• Design export is simple, but users need a plugin for the CSS.
• It does not possess image editing capacity, due to which users have to use applications like Photoshop.
• Constant updates and upgrades can dilute the user experience.

Figma: Robust and browser-based

Figma is a web app; you can run it in a browser and therefore on pretty much any operating system. Figma is launched in 2016, is a UX design tool based entirely on cloud computing. It acts as a single-stop platform for designing, prototyping, and collaborating. As a result, it is one of the best UX design tools that offer end-to-end design solutions.

Features

• Cloud-based software
• Browser and desktop support
• Live collaboration
• Figma Mirror
• Multi-plugins support

Advantages

• Real-time collaboration, which provides transparency, makes it easier for teams to work together.
• Quick and easy file sharing options make the designs highly accessible without having to import/export.
• Cloud-based design availability makes your creations platform-agnostic and allows them to be accessed by everyone.
• Support for a wide range of plugins.

Disadvantages

• Users always have to be “online” to work on Figma.
• It needs a minimum of 4GB of RAM and a graphics card of the capacity of Intel HD 3000 (or above).
• Local caches can make it difficult for users to view the latest changes and design updates.
• The absence of global colors can make it difficult to enjoy consistency in design.
• Team members can access the files only when it is uploaded to the team library, which may cause delays.

Now, Let’s take a difference between Figma vs Adobe XD vs Sketch in different aspect:

At a first glance, all three are similar. These are all vector-based wireframing tools.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, all three tools are extremely well-suited for modern designer needs. I’d say that Sketch is at a big loss here because it is only available for Mac users. And as such, it’s letting tools like Figma and Adobe XD innovate beyond the basic necessities. since we have broken down the comparison on a diverse set of features and functionalities, you can make an informed choice depending on your preferences!