Free Web Design Software For Windows
The free web design software for Windows is a great program for those who are just getting started and have no experience in web design. The interface is very easy to use, and the editing functions are very simple. This program is not for those who need something powerful or advanced, but it’s perfect for anyone who wants to make their own website without paying anything.
Free Web Design Software For Mac
The free web design software for Mac is a great program for those who are just getting started and have no experience in web design. The interface is very easy to use, and the editing functions are very simple. This program is not for those who need something powerful or advanced, but it’s perfect for anyone who wants to make their own website without paying anything.
Free Web Design Software For Windows
If you’re new to web design, you probably want to know which web design software is worth the investment. You might also want to know what are the must-haves that every web designer should know?
Choosing a great web design tool comes down to its functionality and purpose. There isn’t the best all-in-one solution. Also, depending on your goal, you may need to use more than one design software to achieve the best-designed website.
We recommend testing out several types of web development software to learn which one suits your work the most.
To help you find what you’re looking for, we’ve put together a list of the 15 best web design software tools for building websites, graphic design, interface design, and prototyping.
Table of Contents
Best Design Software for Website Creation
Best Software for Interface Design & Prototyping
Best Software for Graphic Design
To Sum Up: Best Web Design Software Tools
Best Design Software for Website Creation
Code libraries, development environments, and hosting services allow developers to launch their websites and share them with the world.
Take a look at some of the best tools for this purpose.
- WordPress (Free and Paid)
WordPress.com web design software
Here at websitesetup.org, we recommend people use WordPress to create their websites.
Why?
Through our experience creating hundreds of sites, we’ve found that WordPress offers the best combination of flexibility, power, and ease-of-use necessary to build and launch content-based websites.
And it seems like the internet agrees with us! Over 35% of all websites run on WordPress. WordPress powers popular blogs, e-commerce stores, communities, and more.
To get started with WordPress, you have two options:
Set up a self-hosted WordPress site (WordPress.org)
Sign up for a free WordPress.com account
If you’re just looking to host a small personal site, WordPress.com may be a great choice. However, if you’re starting a more complex project a self-hosted WordPress site is probably a better option.
If you are already using WordPress, but looking for help creating a WordPress theme or customizing WordPress pages, we recommend checking out the Genesis Theme Framework and the Elementor Page Builder.
Visit WordPress.com
Further Reading:
How to Create a Website using WordPress (step-by-step)
How to Create a Blog using WordPress (step-by-step)
- Bootstrap (Free)
Bootstrap web design software
Originally created by the engineering team at Twitter, Bootstrap is now the world’s most popular framework for building responsive, mobile-first websites.
Put simply, Bootstrap is a free library of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that simplifies the process of coding a website from scratch. Bootstrap offers dozens of features like a grid system, responsive breakpoints, and a large library of components that make coding a website quick and easy.
The component library includes headers, navigation, buttons, forms, alerts, and more. The Bootstrap team has comprehensively documented each feature, complete with examples and suggestions for customization.
To get started with Bootstrap, simply download the latest version of the Bootstrap framework, copy one of the example templates, and start coding.
Visit GetBootstrap.com
Further Reading:
How to Use Bootstrap (step-by-step)
- Wix (Free and Paid)
Wix website builder software
Wix is an easy-to-use, affordable alternative to WordPress.
Much like WordPress, Wix can be used to create a variety of different sites, including blogs and stores. Through its drag-and-drop editor, Wix makes it simple to set up and launch your site in just a few minutes.
Wix is a fully-managed subscription service, meaning that the company handles all the details around hosting the site, backing it up, and handling security.
Wix offers a free, ad-sponsored plan that includes hundreds of templates and options to choose from. Paid plans start at $14 per month and include ad removal, increased bandwidth, and additional space for videos.
Visit Wix.com
Further Reading:
How to Use Wix (step-by-step)
- Dreamweaver (Free Trial)
Adobe Dreamweaver web design software
Dreamweaver is Adobe’s application for coding, editing, and maintaining websites. It lets you edit websites both by coding them manually and through an intuitive visual interface.
Dreamweaver includes many of the features of a traditional, text-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like syntax-highlighting, automatic code completion, and the ability to collapse and expand sections of code. You can even use Dreamweaver with Bootstrap!
Unlike a traditional IDE, however, Dreamweaver’s visual interface is what makes it really stand out. Any changes you make in your website’s code are automatically displayed in real-time in Dreamweaver’s interface, and you can also point and click to edit your website’s code visually.
If you’d like more power than a simple drag-and-drop editor, but need something simpler than a code-only IDE, Dreamweaver is a fantastic option.
You can subscribe to Dreamweaver on its own for $20.99 per month or choose a subscription to Adobe’s full Creative Suite for $52.99 per month. Adobe offers 7-day free trials for both options, and discounts for students are frequently available.
Visit adobe.com
Further Reading:
How to Use Dreamweaver (step-by-step)
- Squarespace (Paid)
Squarespace web design software
Squarespace is another good website builder that serves as a third alternative to Wix and WordPress.
Much like Wix, Squarespace offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface for creating your website. Squarespace also offers a huge variety of different themes and color customizations and includes many of the standards you’d expect like SSL encryption and the ability to build an online store.
Squarespace’s personal plan starts at $14 per month with limits of 20 pages and two contributors. The business plan lifts these limitations and costs $23 per month.
Visit Squarespace.com
Further Reading:
How to Use Squarespace (step-by-step)
Best Software for Interface Design & Prototyping
Interface design apps and prototyping tools help designers envision and communicate how websites will look and behave before they’re launched. Here are a few great candidates to consider.
- Figma (Free and Paid)
Figma interface design software
Despite being one of the newest tools on this list, Figma is also one of the most powerful. If you’re looking for a feature-loaded tool for interface design and prototyping, Figma may be the perfect fit.
Much like Sketch, the next app on this list, Figma features an intuitive, vector-based interface that makes designing websites simple. Anything you can do with Sketch or Adobe XD, you can also do with Figma.
What makes Figma really shine, however, is its collaborative, cloud-based approach. With Figma, multiple team members can edit a design file simultaneously. Business stakeholders can also leave comments, and developers can copy code snippets to simplify the process of turning your design into a real site.
Figma offers a free plan that includes up to 3 projects. Paid plans start at $12 per month and include advanced options like custom user permissions.
Visit Figma.com
- Sketch 3 (Free Trial)
Sketch3 interface design software
Sketch is an extremely popular interface design tool focused on simplifying the process of creating beautiful, high-fidelity mockups. Sketch gained popularity in the early 2010s when it won a design award from Apple.
Designers love Sketch because its uncluttered and intuitive interface makes it easy to create beautiful designs quickly, without the steep learning curve often associated with other design tools. Sketch also has a comprehensive ecosystem of plugins and integrations that bring added power and make it simple to integrate Sketch into your workflow.
While Sketch has recently added some features focused on prototyping and collaboration, the program isn’t as advanced in these areas as some of the other tools on this list.
Sketch is available for macOS and costs $9 per editor, monthly (or $99 per editor, annually). Sketch comes with a 30-day trial.
Visit Sketch.com
- Adobe XD (Free Trial)
Adobe XD interface design software
Tired of being beaten out by simpler tools that were better-suited to interface design and prototyping, Adobe released XD in 2019 as its answer to the other tools on this list.
XD is a powerful, vector-based tool that also supports prototyping animations. If you like Adobe’s other products like Photoshop and Illustrator, chances are you’ll also like XD.
The program also supports opening and editing files from Sketch, making it a popular choice for Windows users who need to collaborate with other designers who use Sketch. That said, novices may find XD’s learning curve a bit steep, and even many professionals prefer other tools on this list.
You can subscribe to XD on its own for $9.99 per month or choose a subscription to Adobe’s full Creative Suite for $52.99 per month. Adobe offers 7-day free trials for both options.
Visit adobe.com/products/xd
- InVision Studio (Free and Paid)
InVision Studio interface design software
While InVision got its start offering a cloud-based prototype service that integrates with tools like Sketch and Photoshop, it now offers its own full-featured interface design and prototyping tool called Studio.
Think of InVision Studio like an advanced version of Sketch, complete with advanced motion animations, collaboration tools, and options to create and share prototypes.
InVision Studio is currently in free beta. To share prototypes using its cloud service, you can opt for a free plan or upgrade to one of InVision’s paid offerings, which allows for more collaborators and projects.
Visit InVisionapp.com
- Framer X (Free Trial)
Framer X interface design software
Framer originally started as a JavaScript library and toolset for prototyping, but it’s evolved into the most powerful tool on this list.
Framer X is a rapid prototyping tool that supports complex animations and generates the code for React components on the fly. At first glance, Framer’s vector-based interface looks extremely similar to Sketch, but there’s far more power under the hood.
Designers like Framer for its responsive design features, an array of premade components, and support for advanced animations. Developers love it because it simplifies the process of turning a design into production-ready code.
If you’re already part of the React ecosystem, or if you simply want a powerful interface capable of creating high-fidelity prototypes with realistic interactions and animations, Framer X is a fantastic option.
Framer X offers a free plan for up to two editors. Framer’s paid plans start from $20/month.
Visit Framer.com
Best Software for Graphic Design
Photo-editing and graphic design tools allow designers to manipulate images and create graphics. Here’s our top pick of the best graphic design tools.
- Adobe Photoshop (Free Trial)
Adobe Photoshop graphic design software
If you’re looking for a powerful, do-it-all graphic design tool, Adobe’s Photoshop has been the leader for decades.
While originally released purely for photo editing, Photoshop has evolved to support a variety of use cases, including interface design, video editing, and more, while remaining true to its photo-editing use.
While many designers prefer to work exclusively in Photoshop because of its flexibility, others prefer more specialized tools. Like Adobe’s other products, the learning curve is a bit steeper because of the vast array of tools and options Photoshop offers.
You can subscribe to Photoshop on its own for $20.99 per month or choose a subscription to Adobe’s full Creative Suite for $52.99 per month. Adobe offers 7-day free trials for both options.
Visit adobe.com
- Canva (Free and Paid)
Canva graphic design software
If you need a simple tool for creating graphics for social media posts, flyers, or business cards, Canva is a fantastic option.
Users love Canva for its easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface. With thousands of templates and hundreds of design types, marketers and hobbyists can produce beautiful imagery in just a few clicks.
Canva offers a free plan with over 8000 templates. Pro plans start at $9.99 per month (up to five people) and include advanced features like the ability to export transparent PNGs and the option to resize a graphic for multiple use cases in just one click.
Visit Canva.com
- Vectr (Free)
Vectr graphic design software
Vectr is a free, cloud-based illustration tool with features similar to Sketch and Adobe Illustrator.
If you want to create complex illustrations, or simply design a website or mobile app, Vectr offers everything you need to get started.
Vectr’s drag-and-drop editor is easy to learn, and since it’s cloud-based, it’s easy to share designs with others for feedback and collaboration.
Visit Vectr.com
- Pixelmator (Free trial)
Pixelmator graphic design software
Much like Photoshop, Pixelmator is a feature-rich photo editor for macOS.
While you can use Pixelmator for illustration or interface design, it works best as a tool for editing and retouching photos, with features for color correction, retouching, and applying filters.
Pixelmator costs $39.99 and is available on the macOS app store. Pixelmator also offers a free, 15-day trial on its website.
Visit Pixelmator.com
- GIMP (Free)
GIMP graphic design software
GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program), is a popular, open-source photo editor that supports Windows, Linux, and macOS.
While the interface feels a bit dated, don’t let that fool you. GIMP packs quite a bit of power and is capable of nearly everything that Photoshop can do.
While the free price point is certainly appealing, GIMP isn’t the easiest tool on this list to learn or use day-to-day. Still, it’s a great choice for budget-conscious designers who need to edit photos or design interfaces.
Visit Gimp.org
To Sum Up: Best Web Design Software Tools
And you’ve reached the end of this list!
All of the abovementioned tools can help you be more productive and creative at the same time. However, it’s still important to check the software’s features to see if it fulfills your web design project requirements.
best web design software
The best web design software makes it simple and easy to build a website, either by offering a coding platform, or a drag-and-drop interface.
It used to be the case that the only option was to code a website directing, using HTML & CSS and even JavaScript. However, these days drag-and-drop editors have become much more commonplace, making it a breeze for anyone to customize or even build their own website.
Whichever option you prefer, all of them make it easier to build in the elements you require on your website, and can work with additional tools such as form builders, image hosting, and even content delivery networks (CDN).
In this guide we have focused on the best web design tools currently available on the market. Similar to the best website builder services, when weighing up which to include, we focus on ease of use, supported web languages, cost, and how easy the tools make it to upload the finished project once you are done.
These are the best web design software services of 2022
Website screenshot for Wix
(Image credit: Wix)
- Wix
The best web design software for beginners
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
Wix Pro
$23/mth
Wix Connect Domain
$3.54/mth
VISIT SITE
at Wix
REASONS TO BUY
+Very easy to use
+No coding required
+Huge range of powerful features
+Yet still highly user-friendly
Wix is more of a website builder than a coding platform, but it is one of the most popular online website creators, offering a range of plans and products. The free version has Wix branding, limited storage space and bandwidth, but move up to the most popular plan (unlimited) and there’s no Wix ads.
An excellent collection of 500 plus templates gets the design process off to a quick start. The drag-and-drop editor gives you all kinds of tools and features to explore – an image editor, video backgrounds, animations, social buttons, an integrated site blog – and just about everything can be tweaked, tuned and restyled. Furthermore, as of recently, Wix introduced Wix Turbo, which increases the speed and performance of websites substantially.
All the core editing functions are really smartly designed, and operate more like a native app than your average website builder. Wix does have some weaknesses, with tech support seeming a little sluggish and limited in some respects. But there’s no denying that the superb editor and range of top-notch templates make it easy for web building novices to create something impressive.
Read our full Wix review to find out why it’s the best web design software on the market.
Website screenshot for Adobe Dreamweaver
(Image credit: Adobe)
- Adobe Dreamweaver
The best web design software for professionals
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Customize your design
+Build a responsive design
+HTML5 support
REASONS TO AVOID
-Not cheap
Adobe Dreamweaver is a long-established app that allows you to code your website design directly, without having to know too much about programming. The software works through a mix of visual editing and HTML editing, which means it shouldn’t have too steep a learning curve for most users.
Additionally, while coding your own website design requires you to put in more effort than simply using an existing ready made template, at least you have the chance to ensure you get the look you actually want, rather than trying to work around someone else’s design specifications.
A particularly good feature of Dreamweaver is that it allows you to produce a responsive design, which means your website can be optimized to display on desktops as well as mobile devices, without limiting the user experience.
However, if you are a more advanced user you may be pleased to note that Dreamweaver provides multi-monitor support for Windows. It also supports the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) to work with HTML5 elements and CSS grids. Additionally, there’s also support for Git to allow you to edit source code directly from within Dreamweaver.
Dreamweaver is available as part of Adobe’s mid-range packaged app subscription service, Creative Cloud, which also includes Photoshop.
Read our full Adobe Dreamweaver review
Website screenshot for WordPress
(Image credit: WordPress)
- WordPress
The best custom option for beginners
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Easy to install and use
+Many available features
+Pre-built website templates
REASONS TO AVOID
-Watch out for spam
WordPress is an alternative way to set up and design your website, being rather different to the other offerings we’ve highlighted here because it’s actually a content management system (CMS). The power here is that it is a simple matter to set up a website in minutes. Indeed, many web hosting packages include a one-click install of WordPress from their Control Panel, but even without that, WordPress is relatively easy to install.
Once installed, the backend for administration and management is very user-friendly. You can use the existing WordPress design templates for your website, but more likely you will want to download and install an existing free or premium WordPress template – all of which can be done with just a few clicks.
Even if you would prefer to work with your own design, you can often do so using drag-and-drop functions, usually from a downloaded design with an in-built framework. This can allow you to create a professional-looking website without having to learn programming or coding at all.
Better still, there are so many free add-ons available to download and install, often requiring nothing more than a few clicks. This makes the whole process of customizing your website very simple, and it does not require any professional skills.
Overall, WordPress is a very easy CMS to use, and can provide a very quick way to get any form of website online fast. The huge variety of template designs and additional community supported features mean that getting something which is near the mark of what you want isn’t hard at all. Just ensure that in the settings you select to turn off comments so as to avoid spam.
Read our full WordPress review
Website screenshot for Weebly
(Image credit: Weebly)
- Weebly
The DIY e-commerce website
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
Weebly Starter
$5/mth
Weebly Pro
$12/mth
Weebly Business
$25/mth
VISIT SITE
at Weebly
REASONS TO BUY
+Professional look
+Mobile-friendly
+Easy to personalize
Weebly is another online CMS, this time targeted at people with little or no coding experience, by providing easy to use drag and drop tools for creating a website. Weebly also provides the ability for users to create online stores using existing templates to work with their simply website-building framework.
The number of themes available for Weebly is somewhat limited, but the designs are clean and professional-looking, plus there are options to personalize accordingly. Additionally, the themes are responsive, which means they are optimized to work with mobile devices, plus they have in built SEO, analytics, and even a feature for posting ads directly to Facebook.
There’s a free tier available for basic use, and allows you to get used to the service. However, to use your own domain and get rid of ads, you’ll need the Professional plan.
Read our full Weebly review
Website screenshot for Webflow
(Image credit: Webflow)
- Webflow
Cloud-based offering that needs no coding knowledge
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Drag and drop GUI
+Truly cross-platform
REASONS TO AVOID
-Interface takes time to master
Webflow is a cloud-based service which has been created specifically to allow people with no coding knowledge to get started with web design.
Aside from being truly cross-platform, as it’s web-based, Webflow emphasizes the concept of ‘smart codelessness’. In the first instance this means a crisp drag and drop interface allowing you to drop elements such as text and images seamlessly onto a page using one of the freely available templates.
Unlike many WYSIWYG editors, the code produced is very clean and well-written even if you choose the ‘I have no coding experience’ option during setup. Webflow’s automation tool will create the necessary HTML/CSS code for you. You can make granular changes to individual elements using the panels on the right.
Webflow offers a free demonstration of its features via the website, and you can also subscribe for a free Starter package which allows you to create up to two projects.
Read our full Webflow review
Website screenshot for Bluefish
(Image credit: Bluefish)
- Bluefish
Lightweight and easy to use web coding platform
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Lightweight and quick
+Use advanced code via wizards
REASONS TO AVOID
-No visual interface
Bluefish is among the smallest web design tools available today. The tiny installer takes only a few moments to setup. While the interface is text-only, it’s clearly designed with novices in mind as it employs clear-cut toolbars, user customizable menus and syntax highlighting.
While the main focus is on HTML, Bluefish supports a huge range of other languages including PHP, Java, JavaScript, SQL, XML and CSS. Unlike visual WYSIWYG web design tools, the text interface makes for much cleaner code.
Bluefish has an excellent search function, allowing you to find text across multiple projects. The tool also has no trouble juggling hundreds of documents at the same time. Although Bluefish supports working with remote files, the varied and useful dialogs and wizards don’t currently support direct upload of web pages via FTP.
Despite the best efforts of the developers, Bluefish may take some time to get used to. The tool is available free of charge, however, so you have nothing to lose by giving it a try.
Website screenshot for Visual Studio Code
(Image credit: Microsoft)
- Visual Studio Code
A text editor from Microsoft
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Customizable
+Loads of integrations
+Source control tools
Visual Studio Code (or VScode) has become popular among developers – the ones who aren’t put off by the fact that it’s a Microsoft product, anyway. It offers a variety of packages and free extensions that can be downloaded from its marketplace to add additional features – and the code editor itself can be customized.
While a lot of people may be intimated by the idea of coding if they have no programming experience, at some point in the web design process it can be important to be able to edit code directly. This is particularly helpful if you want to customize code for existing software add-ons in order to get the features you want for your website. Visual Studio Code can help make the process less painful by providing a dedicated platform for coding.
Visual Studio Code sports its own terminal and debugger, supports linting, and has integration with all manner of source control tools. It especially offers good support for Javascript and Python, making it potentially useful not just for coding the frontend of a website but also potentially some backend functions as well.
Read our full Virtual Studio Code review
Other web design tools you might find useful
If you’re involved in web design, the chances are you’ll also need some graphic design skills and assets. Here we’ll look at a couple of other resources and assets you’ll properly need to help with your website design process:
- Graphics program
You don’t need anything too expensive or fancy unless you’re chasing a career in graphic design or illustration. However, you’ll probably find yourself wanting to create simple logos, headings, text features, as well as manipulate photos, all as part of your website design.
There are a lot of different packages out there, from GIMP which is a completely free software platform, to older software such as Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro which remains a competent program that can be bought on the cheap at Amazon.
Alternatively, check out these other features for the latest in best, and sometimes free, software you might want to use:
Best drawing and painting software
Best graphic design software
The best free photo editor
- Stock photos
On top of creating your own graphics, there’s also a good chance you’ll want to use stock photos to really give your website a professional look.
Stock photos are available on almost any subject matter, and on top of that there are also an increasing number of stock video websites, in case you want to add video media.
Even better is that there are a number of free stock image and video websites, but be advised that these tend to be much more limited than paid-for stock image sites.
Here you can check out some of our features on these, to help you choose the best ones:
The best free stock photo sites
The best free stock video sites
Round up of today’s best deals
Wix
Wix Pro
$23/mth
VIEW
Weebly
Weebly Starter
$5/mth
VIEW
Conclusion
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