10 Useful Free Tools and Online Services for Web Designers

• 38% of people would stop engaging with a website if its content or layout isn’t attractive.
• 75% of people judge a company’s credibility based on their website’s design.
• If given 15 minutes of time to consume content over 66% of people would prefer something beautifully designed over something plain.

That was a quick summary of why you, as a web designer, are extremely valuable to any business. You can help businesses engage customers, make a credible impression, and catch the audience’s eye in a crowd of websites competing for their attention.

But none of it is possible without your arsenal of tools. From ideating to prototyping and finalizing the design, you need multiple tools and services to finish off your job with perfection.

Now, multiple tools mean two things:

• A lot of bills and charges to pay for the services you avail, which will bite into your earnings.
• A lot of software and tools are downloaded on your laptop/PC, which will inevitably slow down your device.

And at some point, this is sure to have made you wonder, “What is the best web design software?”

Looking for a single software/tool that would help you in all your website designing tasks?

Well, unfortunately, a tool potent enough to help you perform all web design tasks is yet to grace the market.

So, what do you do then?
Keep paying for a multiplicity of software and tools and drain a major chunk of your hard-earned money?
Keep struggling with a device that gets slower by the minute with all the apps and tools?

Absolutely not.

We tried and tested hundreds of tools and have now curated a list of the 10 best free web design software and tools. These software solutions are available online at no cost and yet they fare exceptionally when put to a practical test.

Take a look:

1. Wix – Best free website builder

Wix is the simplest and the most easy-to-use website builder, suitable for beginners and experts alike. According to many website builder ratings, Wix is the leader among online website builders, far ahead of its peers in terms of the number of developed websites.

Even if are artistically challenged, with Wix, it is impossible to create anything that is less than designer-quality. It comes bundled with the following features:

• 500+ expert-made design templates with options for several industry niches let you create a beautiful website in no time.
• An innovative drag-and-drop editor that removes any need for you to know how to code
• SEO tools and features that make your website not just good looking but well ranking
• Mobile responsive templates so that you get a great website on every device and screen size
• The Wix App Market gives you access to a variety of additional apps to make your website well-rounded in terms of functionality

2. Figma – Collaborative wireframing

When working with a bunch of people involved in the creative design process, Figma is a tool that comes in handy. An interface design tool, it lets you collaborate with multiple designers in real-time. The free version comes with the following features:

• 1 team project
• Up to 30 days of historical changes are tracked
• Unlimited editors
• Unlimited commenters
• Unlimited drafts
• Web app that doesn’t need to be downloaded.

3. Lunacy – User interface design tool (for Windows)

Sketch is a popular interface designing tool for Mac users. To bridge the gap for Windows users, we have Lunacy. The tool was originally launched as an alternative to Sketch but now has quickly evolved into a feature-loaded web design software free. Lunacy boasts of the following features:

• Several high-quality graphic assets available in a free library
• Full support for Sketch files
• Available in 16 languages
• Ample of tutorials, resources, and community support
• Lunacy cloud for sharing work and keeping it accessible irrespective of devices

4. Origami – One-stop animation solution

Coming from the designers of Facebook, Origami is a free UI designer that lets you create high-fidelity UI and prototypes. Designed to primarily build mobile prototypes, Origami shines with the following set of features:

• Supports popular mobile interactions and gestures
• Allows micro-interaction settings while adding screen interactivity
• Lets you fine-tune animations, triggers, timing, and spacing
• Works in sync with Figma and Sketch
• Photo Library and Audio Metering – two of the newest features of Origami let users use photos from camera rolls and measure volume and frequency of audio from a source like a microphone.

5. InVision Studio – Mobile-responsive prototyping

Living in a mobile-first world, it is hard to skip mobile responsiveness when prototyping. That’s where InVision Studio comes in. One of the best web designsoftware,it lets you design layouts for multiple screen sizes. Its core set of features include:

• An AppStore to expand its basic functionality
• Free UI kits to build screens immediately
• No coding required to design mobile responsive prototypes
• Mirror and test prototypes on your phone by simply scanning a QR code
• Global sync and real-time updates for seamless collaboration with your team

6. FluidUI – Quick UI building and Prototyping

A smart prototyping and UI building tool, FluidUI’s primary focus is on simplicity. It takes the ‘tough’ out of the design process and lets you design with ease. And that is made possible with the following array of features:

• Pre-built Android, iOS, and wireframing component libraries
• Team collaboration using commenting, chat, and video calling
• Over 2000 built-in widgets
• Dedicated player to let you preview designs on mobile screens
• Testing, data import/export, and several third-party integrations

7. Vectr – Vector Drawing

From simple to complex illustrations and complete websites and mobile applications, Vectr lets you design anything and everything. With ease. The free, cloud-based tool comes with the following benefits:

• A simple and straightforward tool that is easy to learn and use
• An assortment of basic and advanced design features like clipart design and customization capabilities
• Allows integration with WordPress and Slack for a seamless workflow.
• Minimalistic and clean UI
• Available on cloud, and on Mac and Windows devices to ensure cross-platform use

8. GIMP – Photo Editing

The GNU Image Manipulation Program simply referred to as GIMP is a free photo editing tool that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux devices. Don’t be fooled by its outdated appearance as it packs a powerful punch with the following functionalities:

• Color adjustment, noise reduction, cropping, and more features for basic photo editing
• Advanced features like layer masks and filters are available
• An open-source architecture that lets coders use it to the fullest
• An active community of developers who keep developing new plugins and more for feature enhancement

9. Marvel – User testing tool

Marvel is a marvelous web page design software that lets you design pages exactly as you want them to look and it lets you stimulate designs through a prototype. But it is not just prototyping that Marvel offers. It combines prototyping with user testing through the following features:

• Minutely analyze your designs using a heatmap to capture all touches, taps, clicks, and scrolls
• Useful knowledge base, responsive email/helpdesk support, and ample video tutorials and documentation to help newcomers get started
• What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) drag and drop editor that makes it effortless to use
• Reporting, analytics, and statistics to help you stay on top of your progress
• Collaboration tools and offline access to make your work accessible to the entire team at any time.

10. Framer X – Web App Designing

Framer X started out as a simple JavaScript library and prototyping tool. But today, it is no less than the top web design tools free. With Framer X, even beginners can create React code and prototype fast. And that’s possible with the following set of features:

• Ability to use Smart components in code
• NPM support, though still available in Beta mode
• Ability to share your code with the team with just a link
• Webcam competent that allows adding camera feed to your prototype without coding
• Cursor chat, a real-time chat option that lets you share feedback, ideas, and more on the canvas itself.

With that, it is a wrap on our list of the 10 free web design software and tools. Now it is time for you to quickly start working on these web design software and showing your clients some awesome results.

Know of any more free web design tools that you have used and loved? Tell us in the comments section below!