Figma vs. Adobe XD vs. Sketch: Which Instrument Is Greatest?
Choosing the best UI/UX design instrument is as important because the inventive concepts and technique behind digital experiences. As of 2024, Figma, Adobe XD, and Sketch stay common instruments, nevertheless, with platforms continuously evolving by common updates and have rollouts, it may be difficult for designers to find out which instrument greatest aligns with their workflow.
With 20 years of expertise in graphic and UI/UX design, I’ve had the chance to make use of every of those instruments for numerous design initiatives, similar to an AI-powered private assistant internet app in Figma, a automobile companion cellular app in Adobe XD, and a volunteer administration internet app in Sketch.
Under, I consider Figma, Adobe XD, and Sketch person interfaces, design techniques, responsive design capabilities, developer handoff options, and extra that will help you select the best instrument on your venture.
Figma vs. Adobe XD vs. Sketch: Characteristic Comparability
Figma is a browser-based app identified for its collaboration options and complete design techniques. Its newest launch included in depth UI updates, giving customers extra management over their workspace. Adobe XD is now not out there for buy as a standalone utility, however nonetheless helps current customers in “maintenance mode,” and continues to supply integration throughout the Adobe Artistic Cloud suite. Sketch is the appliance of alternative for a lot of designers utilizing Mac, valued for its display design focus and plugin vary. Model 100, an necessary replace launched earlier this yr, noticed necessary enhancements to its interactive prototyping capabilities.
There isn’t essentially one instrument that’s greatest for all design initiatives, however an in depth function comparability may be invaluable when deciding on the best design platform. Figma, Adobe XD, and Sketch every supply a definite set of capabilities that may cater to particular design wants—let’s discover how they evaluate.
Person Interface
Figma’s UI features a central canvas, a toolbar, and devoted panels for layers, properties, and belongings. Customers can even select between gentle and darkish modes for visible consolation. One of many fundamental goals of Figma UI3, the third redesign of the Figma interface launched earlier in 2024, was to supply a extra centered and approachable design atmosphere for customers. The UI3 updates embody a extra intuitive UI with informative labels within the properties panel (together with an evidence of what every property does and which may be turned on and off), and resizable and collapsible panels, which goal to offer customers extra management over their workspace. In contrast to its opponents, Figma is accessible fully in a browser, permitting for platform independence and lowering the barrier to entry for brand spanking new customers.
Adobe XD’s UI includes a canvas, toolbar, and customizable layers and belongings panels. This instrument might be acquainted to customers of different Adobe Creative Cloud suite merchandise because it maintains the traditional Adobe type, with a left-hand toolbar, just like Photoshop and Illustrator. I exploit Adobe suite merchandise usually, so getting began with Adobe XD was straightforward. The platform additionally has devoted workspaces inside a single doc (artboards) the place designers can create and set up person interface designs for numerous screens and units. Nonetheless, Adobe XD doesn’t help a number of pages inside a single XD file, a function that’s out there in different design instruments like Sketch. To handle giant initiatives and totally different design flows, designers should depend on duplicating artboards and utilizing the layer panel’s grouping and naming options to maintain parts organized.
Sketch’s person interface provides a spread of toolbars and panels that customers can present or disguise as they like. Designers can use artboards to create self-contained design frames for various system screens, states, and iterations, whereas pages permit them to separate and handle totally different flows or sections of their initiatives. In Could 2024, Sketch launched version 100 with some key UI updates, together with a command bar with fast entry to frequent actions within the menu bar. Designers can now pin important documents of their Workspace window. Moreover, a minimap was added to assist designers navigate a big canvas with layers outdoors their present view. Like they will in Figma, customers can select between gentle and darkish themes in Sketch. However in contrast to in Figma and Adobe XD, a important distinction of Sketch is that it’s designed solely for macOS and doesn’t natively help Home windows.
Elements and Symbols
Figma has a complete component and style library, a centralized hub for designers to retailer and handle reusable parts throughout initiatives and groups. Customers can create reusable objects referred to as elements, similar to buttons, icons, and enter fields, in addition to extra advanced gadgets like system mockups, platform OS elements, and firm logos. Moreover, the rollout of UI3 introduced customers 200 new icons hand-drawn by Figma designer Tim Van Damm. Styles and variables play a key function in making Figma a powerhouse for sustaining consistency throughout design information. Types are predefined attributes (similar to font, dimension, weight and so on.) that may be utilized to elements, whereas variables allow designers to outline and modify properties throughout a number of cases and create dynamic and simply updatable elements throughout a number of artboards.
Like Figma, Adobe XD’s design libraries are the place belongings, types, and components reside. Adobe XD additionally locations a powerful emphasis on consistency throughout designs. Designers can create reusable elements that preserve consistency all through a venture. Adobe XD’s Repeat Grid function lets designers replicate a bunch of objects horizontally or vertically, which helps create lists, galleries, and different units of repeated parts. Mixed, elements and Repeat Grid allow fast creation and uniform modification of repetitive design parts and patterns, saving designers time, particularly when coping with advanced patterns or data-heavy shows.
Sketch initially gained recognition inside the UI design group for its robust vector drawing capabilities. It has since advanced, with reusable symbols, textual content and layer types, and shade variables that designers can use throughout totally different Sketch paperwork or libraries. Serving because the grasp templates for UI elements like buttons, icons, headers, and extra, symbols permit designers to reuse these parts persistently all through a venture. When modifications are made to the unique image, these modifications are robotically mirrored throughout all cases of the image within the design information. Designers can use Sketch’s Symbol Override feature to customise particular image cases with out affecting any others.
Sketch’s symbols saved me plenty of time when engaged on a dashboard UI with a number of playing cards. As a substitute of manually updating every card when a change was wanted, I solely modified the grasp image, and it up to date on all screens instantly. This functionality allowed me to deal with the finer particulars of every card.
Responsive Design
Past a sturdy system of responsive grids and layouts, designers can even create responsive designs utilizing Figma’s Auto layout function and constraints. These options allow parts to adapt flexibly to varied display sizes and layouts. With Auto format, designers can simply organize and resize elements inside frames, guaranteeing that designs modify with out handbook resizing. It requires customers to arrange parts, margins, and padding rigorously, however the outcomes are flawless and straightforward to duplicate. This function modified the way in which I design extra structured and good layouts like data-intensive dashboards for shoppers within the HR and actual property industries. Constraints in Figma allow designers to set guidelines for the way parts behave when the mother or father body is resized, offering management over positioning and alignment in responsive layouts.
In 2021, Adobe XD announced the launch of its Responsive Resizing function. This function permits designers to regulate and resize design parts simply, sustaining correct spacing and alignment whereas guaranteeing that elements adapt easily to totally different display sizes and layouts for a constant and responsive design. Nonetheless, this function doesn’t all the time precisely predict how parts ought to adapt when scaling, which may require handbook changes, notably with advanced designs or nonstandard layouts.
Though Sketch was not initially constructed for responsive design, the introduction of resizing constraints and smart layouts in current updates has enhanced its capabilities in addressing the wants of designers engaged on responsive layouts. Resizing constraints in Sketch allow designers to outline how particular person parts behave when the mother or father container (e.g., an artboard) is resized, offering extra management over how elements modify to totally different display sizes. Sketch’s Good Format function automates the resizing and alignment of design parts based mostly on content material updates, simplifying the method of making adaptable and constant layouts in response to modifications in textual content, photographs, or different parts inside a design.
Sharing and Collaboration
Figma stands out for its browser-based real-time editing and collaborative features, permitting a number of customers to concurrently work on and share design information, libraries, and prototypes. It consists of instruments like FigJam for reside brainstorming, and Figma Slides for creating shows. In Figma Organization (geared toward a number of groups), teams are collaborative teams that may share and work on design information and initiatives collectively inside a devoted shared house. Every group has entry to shared information, libraries, and design techniques, permitting for structured administration and streamlined workflows tailor-made to group wants and roles. To share work with others, customers can ship a view or edit hyperlink to the file, which exterior collaborators can entry of their internet browser or Figma app. Any modifications are robotically accessible to all viewers with an Web connection.
Adobe XD customers can share their work for assessment by sending a hyperlink to stakeholders, who can then present suggestions immediately on the designs. Its co-editing capabilities allow a number of group members to work on the identical doc in actual time, fostering a very collaborative design course of. The Artistic Cloud Libraries additionally allow the sharing and synchronizing of belongings and design parts throughout initiatives and group members. When designing a video gaming e-commerce platform with Adobe XD, I used to be in a position to sync my UI libraries with Adobe Illustrator, the place I designed the platform’s branding and enterprise playing cards. This helped me preserve constant types, fonts, and colours when working throughout apps.
Like Figma, Sketch provides real-time collaboration, permitting designers to share their work with different team members and stakeholders by saving their information to a shared Workspace. Anybody from that Workspace can view that file, depart feedback, and examine parts as a viewer. Subscribed customers with the most recent Mac app model will have the ability to make modifications. Moreover, Sketch customers can entry model management options with third-party companies like Summary, which permits group members to trace modifications, discover totally different iterations, and be certain that everyone seems to be all the time working with the most recent design model. One draw back to Sketch, for my part, is that customers with no subscription can not instantly see your updates; you need to manually republish your design for them to watch the most recent modifications, whereas this step is computerized in different instruments.
Prototyping and Animations
Figma’s interactions and animations are easy however more and more highly effective with every replace. With transitions, animations, sizzling spots, and overlays, designers can simulate person interactions and flows inside their designs. Figma’s prototyping mode permits seamless transitions between design screens, offering a practical preview of the ultimate product’s look and performance. For instance, I used Figma’s Smart Animate function and interactive components in a cellular app venture to create interactive flows for person testing. Good Animate detects variations in objects throughout frames and easily animates these modifications, offering a extra real looking and polished transition expertise in cellular prototypes.
Adobe XD’s Auto Animate function provides movement to prototypes, bridging the hole between static designs and dynamic person experiences. With Auto Animate, designers can create clean transitions between artboard states by animating the variations in properties similar to place, scale, rotation, and opacity. Once you duplicate an artboard and make modifications to that duplicate, Auto Animate intelligently interpolates the variations and animates the objects, simulating lifelike animations with minimal effort. This function helped me showcase button presses and slide transitions to offer the consumer a greater understanding of the product movement. Lastly, Adobe XD is the one instrument that at present provides a native Voice Prototyping feature for creating interactive voice instructions and speech playback inside prototypes.

Sketch’s new Smart Animate function permits designers to create clean, subtle animations between artboards with minimal effort. Customers can even create hyperlinks between artboards to simulate person flows, and set fastened headers and footers for scrolling designs and sizzling spots for creating contact factors. Sketch’s prototyping capabilities may be prolonged by leveraging third-party plugins like Principle and Anima, in addition to Craft by InVision, which integrates prototyping and syncing with actual knowledge.
Plugins, Extensions, and AI Capabilities
Figma’s plugin providing is rising. Two of its most potent plugins embody Sizzy for responsive design testing, and Stark, which is designed for accessibility. Sizzy permits designers to preview their designs concurrently on a number of units facet by facet, serving to guarantee constant layouts throughout numerous display sizes. Stark is an all-in-one suite of accessibility instruments permitting designers to examine shade distinction, simulate shade blindness, and guarantee their designs are visually accessible to all customers. A Figma plugin that ended up saving me plenty of time is Font Awesome. With it, I used to be in a position to seek for the best icon to make use of with out leaving the canvas.
In 2023, Figma acquired the AI plugin Diagram, and because of the acquisition, the corporate is now nicely forward of its opponents by way of AI potential. Its AI features permit customers to seek for and entry mandatory belongings rapidly, robotically generate preliminary mockups, and make the most of AI for clever textual content rewriting and layer auto renaming.
Adobe XD helps quite a lot of plugins, which may be accessed by the Artistic Cloud market. Generally accessed extensions embody Repetor, which permits fast duplication of things similar to lists and galleries whereas sustaining uniformity in type and spacing. Plugins like Zeplin and ProtoPie facilitate seamless handoff and superior prototyping. Adobe XD additionally leverages the AI capabilities of Adobe Sensei for fast, content-aware format changes.
Plugins, as soon as the holy grail of Sketch, now play a lesser function because the design instrument’s native options mature. However, Sketch nonetheless has a well-established group of plugins and integrations. Sketch Runner helps customers velocity up their workflow through the use of a fast command bar for looking and executing instructions and plugins. One in every of my go-to Sketch plugins is Abstract, designed to facilitate model management and collaborative workflows by permitting groups to handle and doc their Sketch information and design processes extra effectively.
Developer Handoff
Figma’s built-in Dev Mode is one in every of its standout options. Designers can share hyperlinks with builders, who can then examine parts, view CSS, iOS, and Android code, and export belongings immediately inside the platform. Dev Mode robotically generates design specs and documentation that builders can reference to make sure they construct to the design specs. Figma’s handoff options considerably improved my communication with shoppers and builders. For instance, its Ready for Dev View function helped me set up the standing of all belongings in order that builders knew which of them had been prepared for them. Moreover, Code Connect allowed me to transform design parts into production-ready code snippets. This resulted in a clean transition to builders, with minimal back-and-forth and fewer misinterpretations of my unique design.
Adobe XD simplifies handoff by offering builders with a shareable hyperlink to the XD prototype the place they will examine and retrieve design specs, belongings, and code snippets. Customers can go for both public or private hyperlinks, relying on the character of the venture. This method ensures that builders have quick access to measurements, colours, fonts, and icons required to translate design to code precisely. Adobe XD additionally permits designers to export design belongings to PNG, SVG, JPG, and PDF file codecs, catering to the totally different wants of internet, iOS, or Android platforms. Its integration with instruments like Zeplin and Sympli additional enhances this handoff with extra particular developer preferences, similar to producing code snippets from design information.
Sketch’s shared libraries, export belongings, and code snippet technology options allow builders to know the design intent and construct precisely to specification. Invited developers can even examine designs in a browser without having to obtain the Mac desktop app. Past this, designers working in Sketch can use its plugins and built-in instruments for clean developer handoff. Sketch can also be suitable with plugins like Zeplin and Summary, which provide extra layers of collaboration.
All three instruments are constructed that will help you design successfully. Figma stands out for its user-friendly interface, strong collaborative options, and built-in Dev Mode, making it a wise alternative for team-focused design workflows. Adobe XD could also be extra accessible for these accustomed to the Adobe Artistic Cloud interface, providing a smoother onboarding expertise. Nonetheless, its reusable elements and voice prototyping capabilities have the potential to reinforce any designer’s workflow. In the event you’re in search of a local Mac desktop app with a wealthy number of plugins, Sketch is for you.
Finally, selecting the most effective design instrument includes assessing your venture’s particular targets, the extent of collaboration required in your group, and the way nicely the instrument integrates along with your present tech stack and workflows.