The Best Free Alternatives to Adobe XD
Adobe XD is three jobs in one: drawing interface screens, linking them into a clickable prototype, and sharing the result with a team. The free options split those jobs, and the right pick depends on which one you actually do.
Illustration generated by Nexulab
- Figma is the safest default: its free tier is a complete interface design tool and the industry's shared vocabulary, so help is everywhere.
- Penpot is the genuine open-source alternative, self-hostable and file-format friendly, and it is the right call if you refuse the cloud.
- If your real job is clickable prototypes, a focused prototyping tool is faster than a full design suite.
- Nothing free opens Adobe XD's .xd project files, so export what you need before you stop paying.
- The switch is mostly a learning-curve cost, not a money cost, so budget a week before judging any of these.
The free alternatives to Adobe XD do not come as a single drop-in replacement, because XD is really three jobs bundled into one subscription. It is a vector tool for drawing interface screens. It is a prototyping tool for linking those screens into something you can click. And it is a sharing tool for getting the result in front of a client or a developer.
Free options split those jobs cleanly. Some are full design suites that also prototype. Some are prototyping tools that barely design at all. Some are neither, and that is fine, because a surprising amount of interface work does not need a dedicated design app in the first place.
The right question is not “which is best” but “which of those three jobs am I actually doing”. A product designer shipping screens to developers needs something very different from a solo founder who just wants to test an idea on their phone.
The safe default: Figma
Figma is the name most people land on, and for most people it is the right landing spot. Its free tier is a complete interface design tool: full vector editing, reusable components, layout constraints, and prototype links that work in a browser on any device.
The deciding advantage is momentum. Figma became the industry’s shared vocabulary, which means almost every tutorial, template, plugin and forum answer assumes you are using it. When a layout will not behave or a prototype will not flow, the answer for Figma already exists and is one search away. That support network is a genuine feature, and no other free tool in this category matches it.
The trade is ownership. Figma is not open source, your work lives in the cloud tied to an account, and offline design is awkward at best. For most solo designers that trade is acceptable — the free plan has carried countless side projects to launch. But if you refuse to keep your files on someone else’s server, the next option is the one built for you.
The open-source option: Penpot
Penpot is the honest answer for anyone who wants a free alternative without the cloud strings attached. It is open source, it runs in a browser, and it can be self-hosted, so your files stay where you decide they stay.
Its deepest design choice is the file format. Penpot stores designs natively in open SVG, which means your work is not locked to a proprietary structure the way a Figma or XD file is. Open the file outside Penpot and it is still meaningful, still readable, still yours. That is the feature a vendor-controlled format can never offer, and it matters more the longer a project lives.
The cost is maturity. Penpot is younger and its community is smaller, so there is less written guidance and fewer ready-made resources than the Figma ecosystem offers. Its feature set is genuinely capable for interface work, but if you are the kind of designer who leans on other people’s files and tutorials to get unstuck, expect a little more friction. For a designer who values ownership over momentum, it is the right trade.
When you only need a prototype
A full design suite is a lot of machinery if your real job is testing an idea quickly. If you already have screens as images, or you can sketch them on paper and photograph them, a focused prototyping tool gets you to a clickable result faster than learning a whole design application.
The logic here is worth stating plainly: the expensive part of a prototype is the linking and the flow, not the drawing. A tool that specialises in turning a stack of images into a clickable, shareable flow removes everything else. It will not design your screens for you, but if the screens already exist — exported from XD, drawn in a vector editor, or even photographed sketches — it is the shortest path from idea to “here, tap through it”.
The honest boundary: these tools are not substitutes for a design suite if you also need to draw and iterate on the screens themselves. They are the answer to the prototyping-and-sharing job, not the drawing job, and treating them as more than that leads to frustration.
The local, offline fallback: Inkscape and Vectr
Two general-purpose vector editors fill a gap the cloud tools leave open, and they deserve a mention even though neither is a UI design tool.
Inkscape is a free, open-source vector editor that runs locally on Windows, macOS and Linux. It is not built for interface design — no components, no prototype linking — but it is an excellent drawing tool, and for someone who works offline or refuses cloud storage entirely, it handles the screen-drawing half of the job. You draw and export screens, then assemble the prototype elsewhere.
Vectr is a lighter, friendlier vector editor aimed at people who find full design suites overwhelming. It is free, runs in a browser, and is quick for simple graphics and layouts. Like Inkscape it stops at drawing; it will not link screens or manage a design system. Its place is the same: a simple, approachable drawing tool when the heavyweight suites are more than the task needs.
The pattern across both is the same one this guide keeps returning to. The free ecosystem does not bundle XD’s three jobs into one app; it hands you the right tool for the job you actually have and expects you to pick.
Comparison table
| Tool | Type | Open source | Best for | Real cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Figma | Full design suite + prototyping | No | Solo UI/UX design, shared prototypes | Free tier, cloud storage |
| Penpot | Full design suite + prototyping | Yes | Open-format, self-hosted design work | Free, self-host if desired |
| Focused prototyping tools | Prototyping and sharing | Varies | Turning existing screens into clickable flows | Free tiers |
| Inkscape | Vector editor | Yes | Local, offline screen drawing | Free |
| Vectr | Vector editor | No | Simple, approachable graphics | Free, cloud-based |
What free does not get you
A few things genuinely stay behind, and naming them early prevents a week of wasted effort.
The first is project compatibility. No free tool opens Adobe XD’s native .xd files, and that is a hard wall. If you have a library of existing XD projects a client expects you to update, that is the strongest argument for keeping the subscription. If you are leaving anyway, export your screens as PNG, SVG or PDF first, because those move anywhere while the project structure does not.
The second is team collaboration at scale. Free tiers are generous for one person but tighten the moment a team shares component libraries, permissions and version history across an organisation. Solo work is well served; a growing studio eventually hits the paid plans of whatever tool it chose.
The third is plugin and template depth. The mature ecosystems around the paid tools carry an enormous tail of ready-made kits, icon sets and extensions that a younger open-source project simply has not accumulated yet. None of this stops you designing; it just means more of the groundwork is yours to do.
How to choose without overthinking it
Start from the job, not the tool. If you are a designer shipping interface work and collaborating, begin with Figma and stop there unless the cloud ownership bothers you. If ownership is the point, Penpot is the open-source answer and it costs nothing to try. If your only task is turning existing screens into a clickable prototype, a focused prototyping tool is faster than any design suite. And if you work offline, Inkscape and Vectr cover the drawing while you assemble elsewhere.
The switch from XD is mostly a learning-curve cost, not a money cost, so give whichever tool you pick a full week before judging it. Unlearning one app’s shortcuts always feels worse than it is.
For the wider picture, see our guide to free alternatives to Adobe Photoshop for the image-editing side of the same problem, and the rest of the software & tools guides for the other Adobe applications you might be replacing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free alternative to Adobe XD?
Figma is the most complete answer for most people. Its free plan includes unlimited drafts, the full vector and layout toolset, and prototype links you can share. It is not open source and it stores your work in the cloud, which is the main reason to look elsewhere. If that trade is unacceptable, Penpot is the strong open-source option, and it can be self-hosted.
Can I open Adobe XD files in a free tool?
No. The .xd project format is specific to Adobe XD, and no free application reads it directly. The practical path is to export your screens as PNG, SVG or PDF before your subscription ends, then rebuild or import the assets into your new tool. Once they are plain image or vector files, they move anywhere; it is only the native project structure that is locked.
Is Figma actually free?
Yes, with real limits. The free tier includes unlimited personal files and unlimited editors on those files, which covers individual designers and small side projects. What costs money is team-level collaboration: shared libraries, organisation-wide permissions and larger file limits sit behind the paid plans. For one person designing and sharing prototypes, the free tier is genuinely enough.
Which free alternative to Adobe XD is open source?
Penpot is the clear answer. It is open source, can run in a browser or be self-hosted, and its native file format is built on open SVG. That means your work is not locked to a vendor's servers. It is younger than Figma and its community is smaller, so there is less written guidance, but for someone who wants ownership of their files it is the honest choice.
Does Figma work offline?
Not reliably for new design work. Figma is a browser-first, cloud-first application, and while it can be installed as a desktop app, it still syncs through your account and expects a connection. If you routinely work somewhere without internet, a local vector editor like Inkscape or a self-hosted Penpot instance is the more dependable route.
