Sketch is a visual design tool of use for application prototyping, coming with a wide variety of extensions, plugins, and an active user community.
$10
per month billed yearly per editor
Zeplin
Score 6.8 out of 10
N/A
Zeplin, from the company of the same name, is a platform supporting collaboration in application development by engineers and designers by providing an API with popular collaboration, development and prototyping tools and creating a space where productions can be shared and reviewed.
$0
up to 1 project
Pricing
Sketch
Zeplin
Editions & Modules
Standard Subscription
$10
per month billed yearly per editor
Standard Subscription
$12
per month per editor
Mac-only license
$12
per seat
Business Subscription
$22
per month billed yearly per editor
Free
$0
up to 1 project
Advanced
$15
per month per seat (up to 50 projects)
Basic
$15
per month per project
Enterprise
Contact sales team
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Sketch
Zeplin
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
—
—
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Sketch
Zeplin
Considered Both Products
Sketch
Verified User
Anonymous
Chose Sketch
In terms of comparing Sketch with some of it's competitors, I would say that Sketch falls behind Figma due to the fact that it doesn't not have the power of inline collaboration that Figma has developed. It's also not quite as powerful as Axure in terms of providing a usable …
I constantly use various tools, selecting the right one for each task based on my experience and understanding of their strengths. This allows me to combine the advantages of each tool to complete tasks more efficiently and achieve better results. For example, I primarily use …
Figma and Adobe XD provide features surpassing Sketch in key areas, such as collaboration, cross-platform support, and advanced prototyping. For those who need these capabilities, either Figma or Adobe XD is likely the better choice over Sketch, depending on whether integration …
I think Sketch it better than Illustrator in a lot of respects. I feel like Sketch allows for more accuracy and precision. I do think it lacks in its collaboration. Unlike Figma it doesn't allow live collaboration.
I would say that it's different enough from the others that it has its place right alongside them. Nothing beats Sketch in terms of its ability to quickly wireframe.
Sketch's approachable UI allowed those using outdated technologies to transition efficiently. Among its peers, Sketch performs comparably with most prototyping tools. It falls behind compared to those that can better handle movement, like Invision Studio, which combines …
Freelance Handlettering Chalkboard Artist & Graphic Desinger
Chose Sketch
The interfaces of Adobe and Figma are very similar, but I would say that Figma's collaboration tool is great with onboard live collaboration. For Sketch, that is a separate payment. XD is great for free usage and for Windows collaboration, but some parts of the collaboration …
Sketch works in a similar way to programs like Figma and InVision. Sketch is a mac only program so it works well in a mac environment. Tools like Figma and InVision have better collaboration tools and are both cross-platform. Sketch is easier to use and more intuitive for most …
Sketch is great for creating digital assets quickly and easily. It is simple to figure out and easy to use. It has a very clean user interface and isn't a resource hog like Adobe products tend to be. Its export feature is fantastic, generating multiple asset sizes/resolutions …
At the time of evaluation, Sketch provided a full feature design tool at the cost we needed. We also had required integration with Abstract, Zeplin, and InVision. Our design team already had familiarity with the Sketch interface. these considerations made it an easy decision to …
We went from designing websites in Photoshop to designing in Sketch, and it is certainly much quicker and easier to design in Sketch, and you're more easily able to make sure that our designs are exact in Sketch, as far as spacing exact pixels. I have never used AdobeXD and …
Sketch works perfectly well with Adobe Illustrator, you can seamlessly copy and paste vector artworks and open PDF files. It also [works] very well with prototyping tools such as proto.io and Bravo App. At ExMachina we also selected Sketch for its handover capabilities and …
Sketch is much better for web design than Adobe products. It's easier to learn and use, and it's a much more efficient way to hand off design files to developers. However, given a choice between Figma and Sketch, I'd choose Figma because of its cloud file storage and …
We use Sketch for its clarity. While Figma and InVision Studio have some "google-doc-escrow" collaboration tools, I've found them hard to make pixel-perfect designs, which is necessary while working with IT and clients.
Illustrator may have been the first of these vector-based …
Sketch eliminates all the complexity of Photoshop and it simplifies the screen design process for web, UI, UX designers. It is also much faster software with capabilities to make responsive design quickly.
Front-End Web Developer, Office of Mediated Education
Chose Sketch
I was a big Fireworks user when it was discontinued by Adobe. At the time most people used Photoshop, but I've never liked Photoshop for web designs because it was built for photo editing, not vector graphics. I've heard Illustrator might be a pretty good alternative now, but …
Again, I would say that Sketch stacks up very well against similar Adobe products in the field. I get the sense, just from the little bit I've used it, that It may not be as robust as some of the Adobe products. However, for my needs (fundamental to the middle of the road use), …
I think they are both similar and different. I can generally choose an Adobe product when I'm looking for a specific end result. I use Sketch a lot for layout, UI and UX design cause it just takes all the frills out of the equation while giving me an equal end product. They are …
Although there's a lot of overlap, we use these different platforms for different purposes. InVision allows us to create more robust prototypes, Zeplin is a better tool for design/dev handoffs, and Marvel is great for basic wireframes. None of these tools beat Sketch when it …
Sketch had been great and improved a lot in the past, but so has Adobe. If you are going to start new, it's better to plan long term and based on needs see what suits more. Figma is relying a lot on new technologies which are not bug-free, but that may be the future of design.
Sketch is the industry leader when it comes to visual design for mobile apps and websites. However, its competitors are catching up very quickly and starting to offer features that Sketch doesn't have. While I think Sketch is still the best visual design software out there for …
Zeplin is used for us purely as a handoff tool. It keeps it clean and clear for devs and product managers what is completed. It has some good labels and other organizing features. The different levels of access are also super helpful to give the correct people the view they …
As our project is large and there are many modules and they should be consistent. So, Zeplin's style guide can be shared globally across different projects and we can easily ensure consistency across all modules. Zeplin automatically exports assets in multiple file formats like …
Actually, we didn't select Zeplin. After a long time of internal discussions, the majority of the team decided that we want to move to Figma. We still use Zeplin as a legacy, but we don't use it for new features. In my opinion, it's less flexible than Figma, which allows …
We went without a tool like Zeplin for a long time, but as we grew we needed to get a better handle on the design process and handoff to engineering. We went straight to Zeplin off of numerous recommendations and didn't look back. We have had a great experience with Zeplin.
Zeplin is more focused on the handoff than in the creation itself. The other alternatives can do both, but Zeplin is an awesome tool for the handoff part. It depends in how big is your team and how the workflow is organized to understand whats the best tool for your team.
It was a business need from different departments. From an IT point of view, we have been a part of purchasing and setting up. However, the decision to go with Zeplin was not ours.
Out of all of the products that I have used to support design-to-development handoffs, Zeplin is my favorite. It’s pretty lightweight and easy to use (once you get the hang of it). Zeplin also has a smooth interface and is, generally, clearer to use than other tools, such as …
These other tools are really helpful products for creating and sharing wireframes / prototypes. However, Zeplin is the best tool for the actual hand off between the design and development teams once the design is actually ready to share. Zeplin fills this gap and improves the …
Zeplin is simpler. Zeplin lacks prototyping on par with Invision. Zeplin doesn't give a direct code for Android and iOS like Figma does. Zeplin doesn't have a lot of advanced features like Invision, for example, whiteboard. But Zeplin is good for at its job which is to share …
Zeplin is a really nice lightweight app, that is easier to use than Invision for sharing purposes. Invision does primarily handle prototyping, which Zeplin does not do. Abstract is my product of choice but is also a slightly different tool — almost a Github for design. It …
We chose Zeplin because it allowed our product and design teams to collaborate more effectively, while providing the rest of the organization an easily accessible location to access up-to-date assets. While InVision's interface can be more intuitive, we prefer Zeplin because it …
Marvel is a pretty expensive application for what it gives you, it is a pretty good tool but I think the handoff is not as good as Zeplin's. I think the style of Zeplin is more oriented to developers and Marvel is more oriented to the designers. I like the way Zeplin is …
Zeplin is great to inspect and share user interfaces, specifications and assets, perfect for developers. Tools like Invision and Marvel are much better to create prototypes for both developers, coworkers and even stakeholders, but they don't have this kind of feature …
For my company needs, Zeplin comes as the best tool in its category. Zeplin's competitors are great tools but they either offer way too many features or are priced above Zeplin with the same features.
Zeplin is in the right spot for both pricing and features.
I know there are other products out there but Zeplin has been so effective that I haven't even bothered to look elsewhere. The whole experience of Zeplin has been excellent. However, once Adobe XD is more built out Zeplin will finally have a formidable competitor as it will be …
Zeplin is much better when it comes to seeing the properties and CSS code of the design elements. Our developers love it when they get all that info from the Zeplin file.
Zeplin is the only solution tailored for this common use case. Previously we just shared files in dropbox but that was messy and didn't allow for specific comments, etc.
Sketch may still be a solid tool, especially for Mac-based designers focused on high-precision design and creating static design systems. However, Figma excels in real-time collaboration, cross-platform support, and interactive prototyping. If you need features beyond simple vector design—like collaborative prototyping or working across different operating systems—Figma is a more comprehensive solution.
I still have some issues, especially with color integration between the style guide and also project. When we update the colors, it's not automatically sync to every project. Aside from that, zeplin solves my problem for hand-off design from design to developer. I set zeplin is source of truth design file
The Sketch interface can feel a bit clumsy when you're working with a document that has many pages. As an example, I regularly work in a document that captures 10 different aspects of a product. Sketch doesn't allow me to organize all those pages into any type of folder hierarchy. I have to scroll through the complete list of pages to try and find the page I want. You can drag pages into a different order in Sketch, but that doesn't remove the lengthy list or provide visual demarcation between groups of related pages.
Nested symbols are extremely useful, but the interface available on the right panel of the screen to manipulate a nested symbol in a canvas is not clearly organized to find what you're looking for quickly. It displays as a list of items in your nested symbol with no visual delineation between objects, so it can be a bit of guesswork to make sure you're making changes to the correct element.
It would be nice if Sketch offered the ability to create a workflow with automatic connection of objects via lines and arrows, like a sitemap or process flow. I use Sketch to create all my screens, but still need to leave the app to create my visual diagrams in a separate app.
A fresh take on the UI to better delineate things visually would be a great help. As mentioned, pages can't be organized, nested symbols are cumbersome to read through, etc. Separating the main central area of the app where canvases are displayed visually from the tools on the left and right would make for a cleaner work environment.
Sketch is a core tool for us and the cost to keep it going with our teams is low. It provides a good alternative to other screen design tools for our team members who prefer to use it.
At the end of the day, it's just simple. This goes a long way in design and goes even further when your talking productivity, intuitive design and turnover rate. It's not difficult to figure something out even if it's not something your directly familiar with, i.e. if you want to export in certain file formats or change the size of the canvas, you don't have to delay your end product trying to figure it out. Similar situations took me less than 30 seconds to solve without a Google search. That's Usability.
Zeplin's component management and style guide help us to be consistent across whole product and it so easy to use for non-technical person. It is now easy to collaboration for designes between different teams like stackholders, product owner, UI/UX, developers and testers. Now there is only one point of reference is Zeplin so it is so easy to get details without asking designer or developer again and again.
The support is relatively decent, and they are quick to respond. However, their releases are not great. Sketch could use more robust testing of their software before releases. Over the last four years, I have had many days lost while waiting for Sketch to patch issues with their releases. It's actually a running joke in our office. So, support, good. Releases in the first place? Not great.
Zeplin has classic support with a chat from the website. It's working fine, and we're also getting the support needed when needed. However, Zeplin is very good at closing the incidents and moving on. It was a while ago we had a case with their support so that it might have improved since then.
I constantly use various tools, selecting the right one for each task based on my experience and understanding of their strengths. This allows me to combine the advantages of each tool to complete tasks more efficiently and achieve better results. For example, I primarily use Figma at work, but if I need to draw an icon quickly, I prefer Sketch and then export it to Figma.
Out of all of the products that I have used to support design-to-development handoffs, Zeplin is my favorite. It’s pretty lightweight and easy to use (once you get the hang of it). Zeplin also has a smooth interface and is, generally, clearer to use than other tools, such as InVision. Plus, all of the plug-ins that you can use with Zeplin have supported the design-development relationship and workflows in which I’ve been involved in more efficient, clear, and effective ways than I’ve seen with any other product.
Saved time -- Intuitive interface saves us lots of time/money because it is reliable and easy to use. Other programs have caused serious confusion, leading to project delays.
More captivating wireframes -- Stakeholders have been finding it easier to visualize potential “final products” with vector-based Sketch designs. Because of this, we’ve been able to have more targeted, focused discussions that lead to improved final products (with fewer immediate post-launch revisions!).
Increased productivity -- Because Sketch is so easy to use, our designers have had more time to do more work. Rather than finagling difficult tools in previously used products, our designers feel no hesitation with Sketch, and are producing more often and more creatively.
We're using the free plan, so it fits in our needs, although we're limited to create only one project at a time
Sketch has some plugins that offers exactly what Zeplin does, for free
The integration with design apps (Sketch, Photoshop, XD) and collaboration (Slack and Trello) helps our team to better communicate and be notified on every update