The tools you have in your UX Design toolbox can have a major impact when it comes to crafting an awesome user experience! In other words, equipping yourself with the 18 best UX design tools and software available can make a difference between good and great interface design. 🛠
Just think about all the diverse tasks UX work could entail. You’ve got to do competitor research and analyze their UI designs to make yours better! Building user interfaces, testing prototypes, and running usability tests, so that to ensure everyone has a positive, engaging experience with your product — all of this takes time and effort that can be cut short thanks to modern tech tools. ⌨️
You may not realize how beneficial these tools are in getting your work done efficiently, though. Whether mobile UI designs require adjustment or use voice analysis for dialog systems — there’s a real sweet outcome when you take advantage of the industry’s latest optimal tools in UX Design. People are interacting with intuitive products they love! 😊
Here are 2 great UX experts and their tweets to learn about UX
Nielsen Norman Group @NNgroup – Dec 24:
#Metaverse projects must follow the standard user-centered design process, including prototyping and #usability testing, to result in useful designs people will want to use https://nngroup.com/videos/metaverse-ux/ #UX #utility
Ginny [email protected] – Feb 25, 2020:
Content and Design: How Are They Related? I’m excited to lead this topic online for STC. 1 activity each week in March: webinar, resources to read, panel with 3 experts, case study to discuss. More and link to register from my website: http://redish.net
UX Tools for Analyzing User Behavior
With Plerdy’s design tools, you can give your users the best possible user experience. From design audits to heatmaps, our powerful tools provide you with important data and insights that are vital for ensuring a design is optimized to its full potential. Plerdy’s design tools can take your website from ordinary to extraordinary, ensuring that every user enjoys their experience on your website. With all our design facilities, Plerdy is equipped with the best tools to improve UX on your website.
Here are the Plerdy design tools that affect UX improvement:
- Heatmaps for better UX. Designers use an array of tools to design for the best UX possible. Tools such as heatmaps allow designers to track user behavior and clicks and filter them based on device type and traffic channels. Plerdy’s Google Optimize Integration capabilities help design teams segment users into groups and analyze their behavior separately. Furthermore, using the tool, they can detect which website design elements are least effective and which parts of a page are making users leave.
- Session Replay for better UX. UX design tools like Session Replay can help design teams measure the success of their design. Using session replays, they can track what users do on their website, segment visitor activity by event type (clicks, scrolling, etc.), analyze mobile/desktop customer behavior separately, and use Plerdy’s Google Optimize Integration to launch A/B tests. With this tool at their fingertips, design teams can identify areas for improvement and design the best user experience possible!
- eCommerce Tracking for better UX. Designers can use various tools to measure UX improvement by eCommerce tracking metrics. Track design elements that affect sales, such as the design of checkout forms or product pages. Figure out what buyers are more likely to interact with so designers can design cutting-edge experiences that will captivate and inspire users everywhere. Segment users based on their behavior and analyze the design elements they prefer over others. By understanding what attracts buyers and drives conversions thanks to using this tool, design teams can make informed design decisions that provide the best user experience.
Ultimately, design tools are a key piece of the puzzle when it comes to creating the best user experience possible. By determining the right metrics and leveraging design tools to their fullest potential, designers can craft UX designs that optimize user interaction and satisfaction.
The List of 5 Best UX Tools for UX Analysis
This list of the 5 best UX design tools for UX analysis comprises design-oriented companies specifically tailored to providing enhanced user experience. These tools have been carefully selected by designers and experts, making them the best in their field. From Optimal Workshop to Google Optimize, each tool offers its own unique design capabilities, enabling users and design teams alike to design better experiences.
Optimal Workshop
Optimal Workshop is a comprehensive UX research and design tool that helps businesses gain valuable insights into user behavior and preferences. From intuitive card sorting tools to powerful tree testing, the tool enables UX designers and users to analyze and optimize their content structure quickly, confidently and effectively.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Ube
- IBM
- Capital One
- General Electric
- Yelp
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
I like how simple the platform is – there are a lot of test types are offered and lots of ways to customize them to your needs. I found the first-click super valuable to my work and would recommend it!
What do you dislike?
There is a limitation on screening questions, so you have to be cognisant regarding who you want your audience to be. I also found it hard to aggregate user answers for post-test questions.
Alicia C., UX Researcher
Lookback
The Lookback UX tool makes user testing and design easier than ever by allowing businesses to connect with customers directly in a secure environment. With this UX tool, supervisors can control sessions with custom introductions, instructions, and closing messages, while users can provide their feedback using interviews and screen sharing – ensuring accurate results every time.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Square
- Lego
- Figma
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
I never had any difficulty navigating through Lookback. The UI is easy to figure out, it’s easy to integrate into other platforms, video is easy to analyze and splice.
What do you dislike?
Lookback is a remote user interview tool does what it’s supposed to do well.
When we were using it, they didn’t offer a transcription tool would have been valuable to have, but they may have upgraded it since we used it a couple years ago.
S Y., UX Researcher
UserTesting
UserTesting is the leading UX tool for getting customer feedback on almost any customer experience, from website and mobile app designs to prototypes and real-world experiences. Detailed insights into user behavior help UX designers quickly identify opportunities and validate ideas to improve their designs.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Canva
- GoDaddy
- Alaska Airlines
- HP
- Subway
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
Extremely sleek looking and easy to navigate UI – emphasis on discoverability and ample cognitive affordances to allow non-research professionals to launch studies glean meaningful insights. The engaged user community, dedicated support, and fantastic gamification of learning UX Research in UT University/Community are all things that will keep me a strong promoter of UserTesting.
What do you dislike?
More users who are clearly not fitting the demographics they set on their profiles are slipping through into studies regardless of the amount or quality of screener requirements set. This is a struggle that all companies with participant databases deal with.
Kevin B., UX Researcher II
Maze
Maze provides robust solutions for participant recruitment, collecting user insights, and industry-standard reporting that make product design and discovery continuous and autonomous. The UX tool offers usability tests, surveys, card sorts, and more to allow designers and users to get in-context product feedback and quickly validate concepts.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Cloudflare
- Braze
- Telenor
- Accenture
- Glovo
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
Maze helps me put my user research on autopilot. As a Product Manager at an early-stage startup, I don’t have the time to talk to as many users as I would like, so a tool like Maze allows me to get data from my users as if I were observing them in person.
The seamless integration with prototyping tools like Figma and Adobe XD makes the process of creating usability tests so easy and straightforward.
What do you dislike?
I don’t like it only works with lightweight prototypes. If you want to test high-fidelity prototypes, you need to put extra consideration into your components and compress images and icons beforehand.
Federico C., Director of Product
Google Optimize
Google Optimize is a free tool that helps UX designers to test different variations of their websites and deliver personalized experiences and designs for each customer and business. This UX design tool provides easy-to-use features, such as statistical analysis and A/B testing, allowing users to optimize their websites and get insights into how visitors interact with them. As a result, designers and users are able to make more informed decisions on how to best improve the user experience.
Top clients that use this tool:
- ChromaDex
- Frontend
- Tech Stack
- Taylor Stitch
- Web
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
The ability to A/B test landing pages is fantastic. If you are a digital marketer, this is the tool for you.
What do you dislike?
It can be challenging to set up. When you think you have set it up correctly, there is often an error message.
Dani D., Fulfillment Director
As a UX analyst, having the right tools to support your workflow and quickly analyze user interactions can drastically improve efficiency and performance. The five tools mentioned in this chapter – Optimal Workshop, Lookback, UserTesting, Maze, and Google Optimize – are great choices for tackling your UX analysis needs. Whether it be recording user sessions, heatmaps, visitor notifications, or click-tracking features that help you deepen insight into user behavior and optimize website design for better functionality and scalability – these five recommended UX tools can serve as useful options to supplement a UX analyst’s workflow.
The List of 13 Best UX Tools for Creating UI/UX
Now I suggest that you consider another 13 best UX design tools that can be used for creating stunning applications and websites. With these helpful tools at your disposal, there’s no limit to how creative and innovative you can be with your website design projects. So get ready – because it’s time to build something beautiful for you and your users! 😉
Miro
Miro is an online collaboration tool designed to unlock creativity and accelerate innovation among teams of all kinds. The platform’s infinite canvas allows teams to hold engaging workshops, design products, collaborate on ideas, and more. Its Developer Platform enables users to connect with essential tools used by organizations every day while delivering a single shared workspace that supports all work models. With this tool, UX designers and different users can easily create visual representations of their design projects with increased efficiency and collaboration opportunities.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Walmart
- Cisco
- Volvo
- Deloitte
- Okta
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
Miro is a more robust and technologically advanced whiteboard solution than other board options, as it has many CMS integration options. It can be used for collaboration, drawing your ideas on the canvas, and long looped brainstorming sessions with teams across the board without the need to be physically available at the same place. I like Miro because the functions are beneficial and engaging for running a successful hybrid work model.
What do you dislike?
Delay while sharing your board with other members while brainstorming sessions and virtual meetings are the only issues I observed in Miro; although it’s the tiniest time, it could be great if it can be fixed.
Matthew B., Software Engineer
Figma
Figma is a powerful design tool built for teams who make products together. From rapid ideation to high-fidelity prototypes, Figma helps everyone involved in product development stay connected and productive with its collaborative tools and easy-to-use interface. With this tool, designers and other users can work together in real time and maintain version control, speed up feedback cycles with stakeholders, and ensure everyone is on the same page.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Zoom
- Notion
- GitHub
- Kimberley-Clark
- Coinbase
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
Figma is the best tool for designers who work remotely. I love how collaboration works well and that all your work is saved on the cloud. Also, Figma is a complete tool turns your job easy by allowing you to develop the design process—starting with ideation on Figma Jam until prototyping with the prototype tool and Smart Animate.
What do you dislike?
There are some points I’d like to be better on Figma. First, I have a bug with zooming the screens, so sometimes it stops working, and I have to reset the computer to work again.
Another point is Figma could improve the Fonts/Typography; because fonts differ from when you code.
Laura M., Product Designer
InVision
The leading visual collaboration tool, InVision, enables teams to collaborate on designs and prototypes in real time, improving the speed and accuracy of their design process. With features like design version control and live presentation mode, the UX tool helps product teams and users stay organized and on the same page throughout their user experience design journey.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Advisor Engine
- Credit Suisse
- IBM
- The Economist
- Adidas
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
I’ve used Invision a couple of times to hand off design projects for developers. My overall experience was great; the software is easy to use and simple to learn.
What do you dislike?
I think that is a problem on the cache system on InVision, because a couple of times when I was uploading images it took a while to show them on the screen or it just did not load.
Alanis M., User Experience Designer
Balsamiq
Balsamiq is a rapid wireframing tool that helps user experience designers quickly create mockups and prototypes of their user interfaces. It’s intuitive, easy-to-use software with a powerful digital medium that allows for quick sharing and modifications. This “zenware” tool helps users stay focused on the important aspects of the design.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Skype
- eBay
- Tesla
- Adobe
- CISCO
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
I am a great fan of Balsamiq. I have been using it since my college days, and it’s simple to use, with endless options for several iterations. As a product manager, it makes my job incredibly easy and makes my wireframes look classy!
What do you dislike?
When I first started out with my onboarding there were no proper instructions given to use the product however I see they have changed their onboarding process much more customer friendly.
Aadhya C., Product Management Intern
Wireframe.cc
Wireframe.cc is a free online UX tool for creating super simple wireframes of website and mobile app designs. It is an incredibly useful tool to help UX designers visualize how their user interfaces will look and feel before they start coding or designing them in earnest. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface of the user experience tool makes for speedy prototyping, allowing users to iterate on their designs until they reach perfection rapidly.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Mashable
- Smashing Magazine
- The Guardian
- CSS-Tricks
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
It provides a grid-based canvas to create a basic low-fidelity wireframe or draw some basic things. It is easy to use for any customer/user. You don’t need to learn too much about wireframe.cc
What do you dislike?
There were lot of limitations; there are no pre-made templates compare to their other competitor.
Durgesh D., UI/UX and web designer
Justinmind
An intuitive prototyping UX tool that enables UX designers and other users to create realistic prototypes of web and mobile apps without any coding, making the process of design and testing easier and faster. The user experience tool also offers collaborative tools to support a better design process.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Amazon Kindle
- Mangoman
- Philips
- Sei
- Virtina
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
The interactive prototyping capability from different pages, as well as how easy to simulate different states of each UI element and component.
What do you dislike?
Still have to create HiFi UI design mocks in another tool.
Emm P., Director of Product Design
Sketch
A powerful vector editor tool designed to help UX designers take their designs from ideation through realization. Offering robust features such as prototyping, free UI elements, and collaboration tools, it allows user experience designers and other users to transform their ideas into incredible product designs quickly and efficiently easily.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Pok Pok
- HCSC
- XBOX
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
For me, the best benefit of using the Sketch for design is the way you create components, and you can reuse those components across all the pages and other features.
What do you dislike?
For me is a great tool, but I’ll like to have some improvements for collaborations and more information or documentation regarding how to build a plugin for Sketch.
Juan L., Designer
Adobe XD
The Adobe XD tool is the perfect solution for any UX designer looking to create and prototype intuitive user experiences with ease. With a range of powerful built-in design tools, as well as breakthrough precision and performance capabilities, the user experience tool Adobe XD ensures that the tasks are solved effortlessly and efficiently. Additionally, its intuitive design lets users quickly design a user experience from start to finish without leaving the app.
Top clients that use this tool:
- McCann Central
- Sanofi
- Posterscope
- Microsoft
- Stink Studios
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
I love how all of the Adobe products work together seamlessly. The shared library keeps all your assets in one place and is accessible across various software. Very helpful with maintaining consistent branding!
What do you dislike?
I miss the days when you owned the software and CDs, but it is always nice to have the most up-to-date versions of the software. The price point might seem high for the casual designer, but it’s a must-have for a professional.
Shannon R., Visual Designer
UXPin
UXPin is an ideal UX design tool for those who wish to optimize their UX analysis process. It offers a variety of features for users, such as variables, interactive states, conditional interactions, expressions, the data generator (integrated with Unsplash), and more – all enabling you to craft the perfect UX design. What’s more, you don’t need extensive training or coding knowledge to get started as the tool has an intuitive and modern editor that can help users design quickly and efficiently.
Top clients that use this tool:
- PayPal
- Amazon
- Johnson
- Caterpillar
- T-mobile
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
The ease with which I can share my designs with any number of stakeholders is incredible! It’s something I find myself taking for granted now, and I am yet to find another tool does this better.
What do you dislike?
The support for UXPin is a little more limited than what you may find with Figma or Adobe XD, and the documentation for specific workflow issues can be a little tricky to come by.
Varun P., UI & Graphic Designer
Pidoco
With the Pidoco user experience tool, UX designers can easily create interactive wireframes for web, mobile, and enterprise applications. It is a powerful prototyping UX tool that helps reduce development time and costs by allowing users to quickly create clickable design mockups, while its drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to understand and use even for beginners.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Zimory
- Sanofi
- Arvato
- Finnlabs
- Unimall
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
With Pidoco, you can create professional prototypes with great ease; you can even create your own logos and have real-time collaboration with other designers. It has a free trial gives you all the necessary tools showing you from the beginning how fast and effective this powerful software is
What do you dislike?
There are some limited options, and at the beginning it may seem cumbersome, but it clarifies as you use it, custom templates are difficult to make. In some cases there are no options to rotate the images.
Daniel A., Chief Digital Officer (CDO)
MockFlow
This online wireframe tool helps UX designers bring together teams, assets, and tools in order to design complete products and user experiences. Its convenient drag-and-drop interface allows users to easily create software or website design mockups with a few clicks of the mouse. Moreover, users can collaborate with other members of their team in real time, making it an extremely efficient UX tool for creating user experience designs.
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
What I like about mock flow is the drag-and-drop system, such as the different mockup assets on the system. Mockflow has all the features you will need to wireframe.
What do you dislike?
Right now, I can only think about one thing bored me while I was doing the wireframe: sometimes it is kinda hard to select multiple components or resize multiple layers.
Alanis M., User Experience Designer
Marvel
Marvel is a powerful and intuitive design and prototyping tool that helps UX designers create stunning visuals with no coding knowledge needed. It provides an easy-to-use platform for low- and high-fidelity wireframing, prototyping, designing, and more. The UX tool also features integrations that power up workflow, making it incredibly simple to generate the user experience design specs quickly.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Buzzfeed
- Monzo
- Cabify
- Stripe
- Typeform
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
it’s very fast and can be integrated with other designing tools like Figma and Sketch
What do you dislike?
The last time I used it, it didn’t have animation support and did not support integration with tools like Jira, etc.
Parth S., SDE
Proto.io
Proto.io is the perfect user experience tool for UX designers who want to create fully-interactive and animated web or mobile prototypes without writing any code. The intuitive platform allows users to cover the entire design process from mockups to high-fidelity prototypes. Plus, the UX tool has user experience features such as review and test capabilities for enhanced accuracy and quality assurance.
Top clients that use this tool:
- Ideo
- PayPal
- Burger King
- Showtime
- Nordstrom
Reviews from G2 on how the company’s tools helped or did not help to solve UX problems
What do you like best?
The best, most accessible tool for prototyping HMIs used with physical commands.
What do you dislike?
There is no way to access an “overview” of the prototype and its interactions.
Magda P., UX Designer
After understanding the tools mentioned in this chapter, it is essential to know when and why each of them should be used for UX Analysis. Putting these tools into practice can prove invaluable to UX research. And having a clear understanding of the consequences and decisions based on their use can help develop the most effective product. Ultimately, the combinations of knowledge, skills, techniques and tools outlined here will help build more successful, user-friendly products that meet user needs.
Conclusion about UX Tools & Software
If you’re interested in UX design, it’s important to have the right tools at your disposal. Luckily, there are plenty of great options to choose from, and I’ve gathered some of the best ones here. With these UX tools, you’ll be able to take your work to the next level and create amazing user experiences for your clients or employer. Do you have any favorite UX tools that I didn’t mention? Let me know in the comments!
