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
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Sketch
Zeplin
Features
Sketch
Zeplin
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Sketch
-
Ratings
Zeplin
5.2
Ratings
39% below category average
Search
00 Ratings
5.20 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Sketch
-
Ratings
Zeplin
8.0
Ratings
1% above category average
Notifications
00 Ratings
8.00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
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