Figma vs Sketch: Better Prototyping Apps for Beginners

It’s always a good habit to stay up to speed with the latest tools of the trade, whether you’re a novice designer or a seasoned master. Figma and Sketch are two vector-based design and prototyping apps that allow you to quickly create beautiful prototypes, app interfaces, and more. I’ve been attempting to improve my design skills and have decided to upgrade from Photoshop. However, choosing between these two design and prototype tools is difficult because they appear to be identical on the surface. My findings on Figma vs Sketch should help you understand how they vary.

Figma Vs Sketch

Sketch has been around for a decade, whereas Figma has only been around for a few years. In this comparison, I would cover the basics and explain which app is intended for whom.

1. Availability

This is one of Figma’s most prominent selling points. It’s a web-based utility that also has Mac and Windows versions. With a good internet connection and a desktop web browser, you can get up and running quickly. What’s more, Figma has companion apps for Android and iOS that provide real-time design updates while you’re on the go. You may access your or your team’s design updates from anywhere in the globe because everything is in the cloud.

Sketch, on the other hand, is a Mac-specific application that can only be installed on a MacBook. You can acquire a Sketch Mirror for Mac, even if there isn’t an official companion software for cellphones. To be honest, Figma does a better job than Sketch at being a real-time online application with superior cross-platform interoperability.

Figma: 1

Sketch: 0

2. User Interface

Both Figma and Sketch have a similar interface and tool placement (sidebars), making comparisons easier because you can concentrate on the tools and other features that are relevant to your workflow. A working space or canvas is in the center of both programs, with layers and asset attributes on the left, a toolbar at the top, and a properties pane on the right. The single UI feature in Sketch is the dark mode, which is quite easy on the eyes and merges in well with the macOS theme.

Apart from a few cosmetic differences, Figma and Sketch feature a similar user interface.

Figma: 1

Sketch: 1

3. Create a design

Figma and Sketch both have a wide range of common shape tools and design resources to help you create your first design project and all that follows. Figma’s tool implementation, on the other hand, is superior. To begin, every shape tool, including rectangle, oval, star, and polygon, has a simple way to round corners. Any hard edge can be softened by simply clicking and dragging a corner. It’s a fantastic design vibe, and I’m grateful that Figma makes it so simple.

While Sketch has many useful tools, you’ll need to learn how to use them. It’s not logical. To round the corners of a triangle, for example, you would first build a conventional triangle, then go into edit mode, click all the vertices, and then apply the rounding value to make an object with rounded corners. Figma is easier to use than Sketch.

Figma: 2

Sketch: 1

4. Prototyping

After you’ve completed the design stage of your project, you’ll need to prototype it. Figma and Sketch both have sophisticated prototyping tools that let you add taps and button pushes into your design and test it as if it were in real life.

Figma provides interaction gestures in an easy-to-understand and used manner. Simply choose an action and its result, then point the button to a different property, and you’re done. You may even use your custom animation to animate all the subtle gestures. However, one minor issue that the entire Figma community encounters is the inability to connect several pages efficiently.

Note: In prototyping, you can link pages of a project with links, but this is wasteful because it merely opens that page in a new tab, which isn’t particularly cohesive.

Sketch, on the other hand, allows you to create linkages across pages in a buttery smooth manner. Although Sketch refers to them as Artboards rather than Pages, the concept is the same and the implementation is superior. It all comes down to your needs in the end. Figma offers superior prototyping if your idea has few pages but requires extensive animations. Sketch, on the other hand, is great for creating a cohesive prototype for clients to get a sense of the project with various sections. It’s essentially a stalemate.

Figma: 2

Sketch: 1

5. Plugins

Both Sketch and Figma contain a lot of features, but if you need something specific, there’s a plugin for it. Sketch has a larger collection of plugins because it has been around longer. Popular plugins like Zeplin, ProtoPie, and Avocado, on the other hand, are available on both Sketch and Figma. Both apps have APIs that you can use to construct your own workflow plugins.

One thing to keep in mind is that because Figma is an online application, all of the plugins are always available and function together flawlessly. Despite the fact that Sketch supports more plugins, you must download the digital copy and paste it into the plugins folder. At most, this is a minor annoyance, and Sketch still has greater plugin support.

Figma: 2

Sketch: 2

6. Real-Time Collaboration

Figma is the king of real-time collaboration, while Sketch’s cloud sync functionality comes nowhere close. Figma allows an unlimited number of viewers and commentators to see the project’s progress in real-time. Sketch, on the other hand, allows you to save and sync your work to the cloud, and viewers can see the updated design files once they’ve been saved. Figma, in summary, employs a cloud-first approach, which is one of the reasons for its rapid growth.

Figma: 3

Sketch: 2

7. Price: Figma Vs Sketch

Individual artists can choose from three subscription tiers, two of which are paid and one of which is free. The free plan allows you to work on one team project at a time and has an unlimited number of editors. Unlimited editors, version history, and projects are included in the premium plan, which starts at $12/month/editor.

A 30-day free trial is included with Sketch. Following that, you’ll be charged $9 per month per editor for all features. When you acquire the subscription plan, Figma is obviously pricey, but if you only need to work on one project at a time, Figma allows you to do it for free.

Check out Figma (free, $12/month)

Check out Sketch (free-trial, $9/month)

You may also like to have a look at the 5 Best Adobe XD Alternatives to Work in 2022.

Final Verdict: Figma vs Sketch

There’s no doubting that Figma and Sketch are fantastic prototyping and design tools. Figma vs Sketch tells that Figma is excellent for online collaboration because it is cloud-first. The sketch is more affordable for teams and has more plugins, but it only works within the Apple ecosystem.

I hope the preceding comparison helped you make a better selection, and if I had to choose, I’d go with Figma. Because my use-case is learning to design prototypes, and I won’t be working on numerous projects at the same time, I claim that. What are your thoughts? Which tool is more suitable for you? Please notify me via Twitter.