The web design industry has changed dramatically since the turn of the century. What used to be a simple process of choosing colors, fonts and images has become a complex and heavily technical field.
The new web design software can help you create beautiful websites in just a few minutes, but there are many factors that should be considered before making a decision on the best solution for your needs.
Table of Contents
New Web Design Software
The very best web design software is essential to make your work run smoothly and efficiently. As such it’s worth taking the time to review your design toolkit once in a while, to make sure you’re not missing a trick. After all, if a new web design tool can make even a small improvement to the speed you complete your work, it could save you serious time and money in the long term.
In this article, we highlight the best web design software available today that range from website builders to Adobe design apps. All are best-in-class, and should boost your productivity. To see more, also read our longer list of best web design tools, and why not check out our guides to the best web hosting and best website builders too?
01. Wix
The best web design software if you’re starting out
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2006Developers: Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora KaplanCost: Free to $18/monthPlatform: Windows, Mac OSTODAY’S BEST DEALSWix Connect Domain£3/mthWix Connect Domain£3/mth
REASONS TO BUY
+Easy to use+User-friendly +Loads of features
REASONS TO AVOID
-Empty List
This is our top pick of the web builders, and web design software in general – Wix is one of the most popular site makers in 2021, and for good reason. It offers a range of payment tiers (including ‘free’), with befitting features. With the entry level free version, you’ll have to negotiate Wix adverts and and a 500GB space cap, but pay as little as $6, and you’ll bypass the ads, have a free domain for a year, get 2GB bandwidth, and 3Gb storage space.
There’s up to 500 templates to choose from, and you can easily start personalising with animations, image editing, social media buttons and various backgrounds – with plenty of further options to change as well.
We love the intuitive design of this web builder, and with the abundance of customisations, and loads of beautiful straight-out-the-pack templates on offer, it’s a cracking website builder for all levels of ability.
02. Adobe XD
The best web design software for prototyping.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2016Developer: AdobeCost: Free to $9.99/monthPlatform: Windows, Mac OSTODAY’S BEST DEALSAdobe XD – Single App MonthlyUS$9.99/mthVISIT SITEat Adobe
REASONS TO BUY
+Feature-rich +Creative Cloud integration +Cross-platform
REASONS TO AVOID
-Full version requires subscription
The fight to become web design’s favourite UI design tool has been a close-fought one over the last decade, with Adobe XD, Sketch, Affinity Designer and others scrapping it out. But for our money, the amount of effort Adobe has put in to developing XD makes it essential web design software for creatives.
This vector-based tool is available for both Mac and (unlike Sketch) Windows. It plays nicely with other Adobe tools like Photoshop and Illustrator, and you can easily import assets like Adobe Fonts and Adobe Stock. So if you’re a Creative Cloud subscriber already, it’s kind of a slam dunk.
Even if you aren’t, though, we feel this is the best web design software for creating mockups, prototypes and wireframes. With a clean and intuitive interface, there are so many cool features including a ‘Repeat Grid’ for fast designing, auto-animation, voice triggers, good collaboration features, tons of storage for your design files, an array of plugins, and lots of integrations with other web services.
In short, XD is the complete package when it comes to prototyping, and there’s even a capable free version. The many different ways to get XD does get a bit complicated, though, so check out our guide on how to download Adobe XD to check out your options.
03. Weebly
The best web design software for e-com
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched : 2006Developer: Square, Inc.Cost: Free to $18/monthPlatform: Windows, Mac OSTODAY’S BEST DEALSWeebly Starter£4/mthWeebly Pro£9/mthWeebly Business£18/mthVISIT SITEat Weebly
REASONS TO BUY
+Looks great+Mobile-friendly +Loads of customisation
REASONS TO AVOID
Having been around for 15 years, Weebly does what it does very effectively. And that is provide user-friendly templates and e-commerce options for everyone.
If you’ve got little to no coding experience (let’s see a raise of hands!), then Weebly is a great web design option. There’s super easy drag-and-drop tools for site creation, and with its build framework options, you can also build online stores, should selling your wares be essential to the site.
Less is definitely more with Weebly, and although you get a limited number of templates and themes to select from, what there is are a good range of clean and clear options that have enough room for personalisation to keep creatives happy.
As is the way, you can try out a free version of Weebly for restricted use of its features, which is perfect for seeing if this is the right choice for you. If you feel it is, there are further tiered options available, depending of what you want.
04. Webflow
Another great website builder for starters
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched : 2013Developer: WebflowCost: Free to $36/monthPlatform: Browser
REASONS TO BUY
+Cross-platform+Easy drag and drop
REASONS TO AVOID
-There are better interfaces
Yet another web-based option that is perfect for beginners wanting to create a quality website with minimal fuss. As is common with the best web design software, there’s a super-easy-to-use drag and drop approach to building a Webflow website, using many of their well-thought out templates. Advertisementhttps://4ab09c5bd883454520b757fd76eb3d41.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
You can start creating a website with Webflow with zero coding experience, but there’s room to move if you want to get to know a bit more about coding. There’s also a handy, free demonstration of all Webflow’s features at the click of a button, so you can head over to the site and see if what it has to offer is for you, without spending any money. From there you can create two sites for free to see the features in action, and then it’ll cost you to build more.
05. Pattern Lab
The best web design software for building design systems.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2013Developer: Dave OIsen and Brad FrostCost: FreePlatform: Browser
REASONS TO BUY
+Free +Clear focus +Intuitive interface
REASONS TO AVOID
-Not a website builder
Building a design system for your web work? Pattern Lab is a frontend workshop environment that can serve as your hub, and it helps you build, view, test, and showcase your UI components. And it’s totally free.Advertisementhttps://4ab09c5bd883454520b757fd76eb3d41.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
It’s all based on the concept of Atomic Design, which involves breaking a website down into its basic components and then working up from there to create a site. That mental model is baked into its interface and feature set, making it remarkably intuitive and easy to get started with.
Understand, though, that this is not a production-ready framework. You don’t actually build websites with Pattern Lab; you build components and design systems, which will in turn allow you to create prototypes and finished websites much more quickly and consistently.
06. Bootstrap
The best framework for web designers.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2010Developer: Open sourceCost: FreePlatform: Browser
REASONS TO BUY
+Excellent documentation+Responsive-first+Promotes best practice
REASONS TO AVOID
-Sites can look samey
The time when web designers were expected to write every piece of code, time after time, are now long behind us. There are countless frameworks out there helping you to avoid continuing reinventing the wheel, and instead build sites quickly and consistency. And one of the oldest and best is Bootstrap. Advertisement
Originally created by designers at Twitter to create consistency among their internal tools, Bootstrap is a free and open-source framework directed at responsive, mobile-first front-end web development.
Now maintained by a small team of developers on GitHub, Bootstrap allows you use HTML and CSS templates for web-based content such as forms, buttons, navigation and more. You can also use JavaScript plugins.
Bootstrap comes with excellent documentation, which is not all that surprising. Because ultimately, Bootstrap is not so much a framework as a methodology, and so is a great way to stay on course with best practices and accessibility. Check out our selection of the best Bootstrap themes.
07. Sublime Text 3
A super-strong web design software choice.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2008Developer: Sublime HQCost: $80Platform: Windows, Mac OS, Linux.
REASONS TO BUY
+Fast +Lightweight +Extendable
REASONS TO AVOID
-Not freeAdvertisementhttps://4ab09c5bd883454520b757fd76eb3d41.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
To write code, you need a decent code editor, and our pick of the bunch is Sublime Text 3. With a streamlined and easy to use interface, it’s fast, lightweight and responsive. And the lack of even tiny, fraction-of-a-second delays in its operation makes a difference when it comes to getting into the flow of programming.
Developed by a former Google engineer, Sublime Text 3 is very flexible too, with a huge range of plugins available. Which basically means it’s suitable for any kind of web design project and any level of web designer, from novice to veteran.
There’s a free trial, but beyond that you’ll have to pay an $80 licence. You may balk at that when there are so many free code editors available. But let’s be real: time is money, and if it makes you more productive, the best code editor will pay for itself many times over.
08. WordPress.org
The best content management system for web designers.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2003Developer: AutomatticCost: FreePlatform: Windows, Mac, LinuxTODAY’S BEST DEALS
REASONS TO BUY
+Free+Scalable +Extensible
REASONS TO AVOID
-Learning curve
Once you’ve built a website for a client, you don’t want them ringing you up every time they want to update the information on it. So you want it to be built on a flexible and customisable CMS (content management system), and WordPress is far and away the most popular of these, for good reason. Advertisementhttps://4ab09c5bd883454520b757fd76eb3d41.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
One of the best web builders around, WordPress.org is free, open source, well documented, and supported by an enthusiastic worldwide community. (Note that WordPress.org is separate and distinct from WordPress.com, which is a paid-for web builder service.)
WordPress sites are SEO friendly, and well protected against security vulnerabilities. You can speed up website creation by using either free or paid-for themes. And there are thousands of plugins to help you add virtually anything to your sites that you want. No wonder WordPress powers almost 40 per cent of the internet in 2021.
09. PageSpeed Insights
The best web design software for testing performance.
SPECIFICATIONS
Launched: 2013Developer: GoogleCost: FreePlatform: Chrome browserTODAY’S BEST DEALS
REASONS TO BUY
+Detailed reports+Easy to understand+Useful suggestions
REASONS TO AVOID
-Sometimes a little vague
It doesn’t matter how fancy your website is: if it doesn’t load quickly, visitors will go elsewhere, particularly if they’re on smartphones running on slow or dodgy connections. So every web designer in 2021 needs to have website speed test tool in their armory, and our favourite has to be PageSpeed Insights.Advertisementhttps://4ab09c5bd883454520b757fd76eb3d41.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
PageSpeed Insights was created by Google, which has a direct interest in making sites run faster, so they’ve put a lot of effort into making this useful and efficent. Built into the Chrome browser’s developer tools, It basically analyses your web page for you, provides a detailed report on how it performs on different platforms, and makes suggestions about how to make it run faster.
You just type in the appropriate URL and the software does the rest. These suggestions can occasionally be a little vague, but even then they at least send you in the right direction.
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open source web design software
1 GIMP (free and open source)
GIMP is a free and open source software that provides original artwork creation. The artists can have the power and flexibility to transform images into truly unique creations. This free website design tool can provide high-quality image manipulation. GIMP manages the tasks related to photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring.
Graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, and other artistic people can create design elements, icons, and scripted images with the help of GIMP.
(Source: GIMP)
Core functionalities:
- Photo Manipulation
- The full suite of painting tools
- File Handling
- Animation
- Customizable Interface
- Photo Enhancement
- Digital Retouching
- Hardware Support
- File Formats (JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF)
- Filtering
- Image Editor
- Templates
- Artwork Creation
- Graphic design elements
- Programming Algorithms
- Desktop publishing Workflow
- Extensibility and flexibility
2 Brackets (open source)
Brackets is an open source tool that can design in the browser effortlessly. Brackets software is crafted for web designers and front-end developers. You will find this open source website design tool light-in-weight yet compelling.
The software helps in creating new pages or sites and provides a simple interface to web designers. With live preview functionality, the user can connect to the web browser in real-time. It is an excellent tool for coding exercises.
(Source: Brackets)
Core functionalities
- Inline Editors
- Live Preview
- Preprocessor Support
- Front-end editor
- Simple user interface
- Effortlessly switch between the tabs or pages
- Multiple Cursors
- Open Source Text Editor
3 openElement –free
openElement is free software for creative professionals. This powerful and intuitive web authoring program provides tools to build a reliable, compliant website. This software supports all the latest technology (like HTML5, CSS3).
This free web design tool can maximize productivity by simplifying tasks and optimizing workflow. This tool helps in providing efficiency in the web creating process. Custom elements can be effortlessly modified and created with openElement. OpenElement can optimize your site for a better user experience and a higher position in search results.
(Source: openElement)
Core Functionalities:
- Intuitive Interface
- Responsive design
- Drag-and-drop facility
- SEO Management
- Element Editor
- Image and Code optimization
- Easy integration of scripts
- Cross-browser
- Reusable styles and element packs
- Manage Codes
4 Adobe Dreamweaver (open source)(free trial)
Adobe Dreamweaver is an open source software that is fast and responsive. The developers can create websites and web applications for any device with the help of this tool.
This tool is apt for everything from single page design to the development of dynamic pages. It is a powerful and fully-featured web designing software tool. The software can build beautiful sites for any browser or device. In a few easy steps, you can set up your website. The software can provide a dynamic display on every device.
(Source: Adobe Dreamweaver)
Core Functionalities:
- Multi-device products
- Dynamic Code editor
- Regular Updates
- Quick Publishing
- Code Themes and Introspection
- Real-Time Browser Preview
- Syntax Checking
- Fast and flexible coding
- Creative cloud
- Seamless live view editing
- Multi-monitor support
5 Mobirise (free)
Mobirise is free software that can efficiently create a mobile-friendly website. The software can create landing pages, online resumes, and portfolios effortlessly. Without HTML/CSS skills, the professionals can create a stunning site in a few minutes with the help of this free software.
This free web designing tool can effortlessly set up a stunning personal site or a fully functioning landing page for the business. The software is a downloadable offline web builder that can be supported on Win, Mac, and Android Operating systems.
(Source: Mobirise)
Core Functionalities:
- Mobile-friendliness
- Latest website blocks and techniques
- Drag-and-drop website builder
- Website builder
- Themes and Templates
- Extensions
- Bootstrap and AMP (accelerated mobile page) pages
6 Webflow (free)
Webflow is free software that can translate the design into clean and semantic code, which can be quickly published to the web. The pre-built pieces can be used for complex elements like tabs, sliders, and background videos. The software can create reusable symbols and can effortlessly keep the items organized.
It is easy to build the site with real content by employing this free website design software. The software can create responsive sites and can create reusable CSS classes. The user has complete control over the layout. The software allows the building of website interactions and animations visually.
(Source: Webflow)
Core Functionalities:
- Build CSS (Cascading style sheets) grid-powered layouts visually
- Add CSS filters
- Clean, compliant, exportable client
- Responsive Images
- Flexible and responsive layouts
- Reusable and editable symbols
- Creative Control
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Customizable forms
- Marketing & SEO
- Website animations and interactions visually
- Custom Branding
- Fine-tune typography
- Global color swatches
- Integrations
- Motion design
7 Webydo (free trial of 30 days)
Webydo is a cloud-based software that can create beautiful websites without handling any code. The software is apt for businesses and design agencies. With the help of intuitive tools, it is effortless to have an excellent website-building experience.
The software is easy-to-use that allows for building responsive SEO-friendly websites along with a powerful content management facility. Users can efficiently create interactive and attractive sites.
(Source: Webydo)
Core Functionalities:
- SEO-friendly websites
- Content Management
- Client Billing
- White label branding
- Customizable Templates
- Hosting
- Web Analytics
- Social Integration
- Mobile styling
- eCommerce
- Drag and drop elements
- Responsive websites
- Parallax Scrolling Animator
- Professional design tool
Although the list mentioned above of free and open-source web designing tools is of top-notch quality that can provide amazing results to the users. Along with it, there is also one more web design software- Google web designer, which is gaining popularity. Below you can explore the core functionalities of Google web designer:
Google Web Designer- Popular
Google Web Designer is remarkable software that can create engaging and interactive HTML5-based designs and motion graphics. The software allows seamless integration with other Google products like Google Drive, display and video 360, and Google ads.
The software provides a full design suite and can edit HTML, CSS, and JavaScript directly. Across the advertising platforms, this web designing tool can support a wide range of display and video ad formats.
(Source: Google Web Designer)
Core Functionalities:
- Drag-and-drop component
- Flexible
- Interactive
- Dynamic workflow
- Animation-3D content
- Content Creation Tools
- Display and Video ad formats
- Google Integrations
- Responsive Ads
Conclusive statement
In the digital marketplace, your website defines your online presence. It is essential to make your website appealing to the audience. If the design of your website is attractive, then it will surely hold the attention of the people, which in turn allows them in completing a visit to the website.
Web design software enables designers to experience drastic growth in the designing arena. The software can effortlessly and creatively build an excellent website for the viewers. With the help of free and open-source web design tools, it is effortless to have a fully-functional and professionally-designed website for business use.
If you are looking for more advanced features of web design tools, then you can explore the GoodFirms platform where you will find the top web design software available in the market. In case you have come across any of the free and open-source software mentioned above, then feel free to share your valuable reviews on the same.
Conclusion
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