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  1. Stackups
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  5. Figma vs Zeplin

Figma vs Zeplin

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Zeplin
Zeplin
Stacks977
Followers633
Votes22
Figma
Figma
Stacks4.2K
Followers2.5K
Votes102

Figma vs Zeplin: What are the differences?

Introduction

Figma and Zeplin are two popular tools used in the design industry. While both serve the purpose of helping designers and developers collaborate on design projects, they have significant differences in terms of features and functionality. In this article, we will explore and outline the key differences between Figma and Zeplin.

  1. Design Interface: Figma provides a complete design interface, allowing designers to create and edit designs directly within the tool. On the other hand, Zeplin focuses more on the collaboration and handoff aspect, providing tools specifically tailored for developers to inspect and implement designs created in other design tools.

  2. Real-time Collaboration: Figma excels in real-time collaboration, allowing multiple designers to work on the same project simultaneously. It enables seamless collaboration, making it easy for designers to share feedback and iterate quickly. Zeplin, on the other hand, focuses more on providing a platform for designers to hand off designs to developers, with less emphasis on real-time collaboration.

  3. Prototyping and Animation: Figma provides robust prototyping capabilities, allowing designers to create interactive prototypes within the tool itself. It offers a wide range of animation options and interactions, making it a powerful tool for creating dynamic experiences. Zeplin, on the other hand, does not have built-in prototyping capabilities, focusing more on design handoff and implementation.

  4. Design Components: Figma has a strong emphasis on reusable design components. It allows designers to create and manage design components that can be used across different projects, ensuring consistency and efficiency. Zeplin, while it supports design components to some extent, does not have the same level of flexibility and control over design systems as Figma.

  5. Developer Handoff: Zeplin is designed specifically for developer handoff, providing a platform for developers to inspect designs, generate code snippets, and export assets. It offers detailed information on design specs, making it easier for developers to understand and implement designs. Figma also provides developer handoff features, but Zeplin's focus on this aspect makes it a preferred choice for many developers.

  6. Platform and Integration: Figma is a cloud-based tool that can be accessed from any browser, making it highly accessible and platform-agnostic. It also offers integrations with popular design and development tools, expanding its functionality and compatibility. Zeplin, on the other hand, is a desktop application available for macOS and Windows, with limited access compared to Figma. However, Zeplin offers deep integrations with popular design tools, making it a seamless part of the design workflow.

In summary, Figma and Zeplin are both valuable tools in the design industry, but they have distinct differences in terms of design interface, collaboration capabilities, prototyping, design components, developer handoff, and platform integration. The choice between the two depends on the specific needs and preferences of the design team, whether the focus is on real-time collaboration and prototyping (Figma) or seamless design handoff to developers (Zeplin).

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Advice on Zeplin, Figma

Marte
Marte

Digital Designer

Feb 11, 2021

Needs adviceonZeplinZeplinAvocodeAvocode

Hey,

We are a diverse group of in-house UX/UI-designers who currently work in different software; XD/Sketch/InVision and so on. We need an efficient way to manage our workflow to build, share, and maintain a consistent yet dynamic design library and a smooth, less time-consuming developer hand-off.
There are lots of things to consider, and where we're at the moment, it's "design in your preferred program, but joint library and handoffs should happen through Zeplin or Avocode." Which one of these two should we go for? Any other solutions?

Thanks!

182k views182k
Comments
Bobby
Bobby

Feb 14, 2020

Needs advice

Hello, I want to start an unlimited graphic design service. (yes, yet another one, but bear with me)

It’s the second week that I’m working on this project, my goal is to test the market as soon as possible.

One element that is missing is the solution to handle communication between the clients and the designers.

• Mandatory: it needs to communicate instructions, progress/status, and design files (exported from Adobe Illustrator or similar). • Optionally it would also display the design inside the app so the files don’t need to be opened. • Optionally it would let the client easily mark the design where he wants revision.

• Mandatory: it needs to have unlimited clients and unlimited projects (I’ll have hundreds of clients and each will have at least one project) • Optionally it would auto-assign a new project to the first available designer, or let the designers choose themselves which project they want to work on • Optionally it would have groups (corresponding to a subscription plan) with different clients and different designers in each • Optionally it would communicate with other apps so that client and designer management tasks (access, payment, etc) can be automated

I’m open to all suggestions, not just the selection above. Ultimately I guess I’ll have a custom app developed on a no-code platform, but to begin with I need something simple and ready.

Reminder: it is only for graphic design, between my designers and my clients

169k views169k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Zeplin
Zeplin
Figma
Figma

Collaboration app for designers & developers. Supports Sketch and Photoshop (on beta!).

Figma is the first interface design tool with real-time collaboration. It keeps everyone on the same page. Focus on the work instead of fighting your tools.

Connected Components; Bring development context to designs
Online Sketch alternative; Free for small teams; Easy to use
Statistics
Stacks
977
Stacks
4.2K
Followers
633
Followers
2.5K
Votes
22
Votes
102
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 7
    Free
  • 7
    Avoid the insanity of extract this info from Photoshop
  • 2
    HTML
  • 2
    Works with lots of devices
  • 2
    CSS
Cons
  • 8
    SVG
Pros
  • 19
    Web-based application
  • 11
    Intuitive interface and perfect collaboration
  • 9
    Free software
  • 8
    Works on both Mac and Windows
  • 8
    Highly Collaborative
Cons
  • 6
    Limited Export options
Integrations
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Sketch
Sketch
Slack
Slack
Trello
Trello
Coda
Coda
ProtoPie
ProtoPie
Principle
Principle
Dropbox
Dropbox
Slack
Slack
Storybook
Storybook
Notion
Notion
Pendo
Pendo
Avocode
Avocode

What are some alternatives to Zeplin, Figma?

Sketch

Sketch

Easily create complex shapes with our state-of-the-art vector boolean operations and take advantage of our extensive layer styles.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop

It is the best in the world of graphic design and image processing software that will realize any of your ideas. Create and enhance photos, illustrations and 3D graphic objects.

Adobe XD

Adobe XD

A vector-based tool developed and published by Adobe Inc for designing and prototyping user experience for web and mobile apps.

Blender

Blender

It is the free and open source 3D creation suite. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, even video editing and game creation.

ProtoPie

ProtoPie

It is the easiest tool used to turn your UI/UX design ideas into highly interactive prototypes for mobile, desktop, web, all the way to IoT. ProtoPie runs on macOS & Windows and the player app is on iOS and Android.

Readymag

Readymag

Readymag—an online platform for website creation focused on design & creativity. Advanced typography. Powerful animations. Code injection & third-party tool integrations.

Inkscape

Inkscape

It is professional quality vector graphics software which runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. This software can be used to create or edit vector graphics such as illustrations, diagrams, line arts, charts, logos and complex paintings.

Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer

No bloat, no gimmicks, just all the tools you need, implemented how you always dreamed. It is a stripped back, pro-end workhorse that will always get your job done. It was created to thrive on the electric pace of the latest computing hardware. Live, responsive and incredibly fluid, it’s simply a joy to use.

Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo

It is born to work hand-in-hand with the latest powerful computer technology, it’s fully-loaded photo editor integrated across macOS, Windows and iOS.

Overflow.io

Overflow.io

Create interactive user flows and stunning design presentations to engage your audience in synchronous or asynchronous design critique.

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