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Sketchvs.Adobe XD

Sketch is the designer’s design platform

We built Sketch because tools like Photoshop and Illustrator couldn’t match the needs of digital product designers. Today, with true-to-life colors and robust Design System controls that you won’t find anywhere else, we’re still leading the pack.

Try Sketch today, you’ll feel the difference.

Get started for free!

How does Sketch compare with Adobe XD?

Feature Sketch Adobe XD
Real-time collaboration
Shareable prototype links
Developer handoff
Extensive plugin library
View documents on iPhone and iPad app
Follows MacOS native design patterns
Strict Design System control
Advanced color management
The complete platform for a $12/monthly payment
No credit card required for 30 day free trial
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Why do designers feel so at home with Sketch?

Designers tell us that Adobe XD’s tools and controls can be confusing and frustrating. Our processes just make sense so you can do better work, faster.

With Sketch you can trust your instincts

You won’t find a UI this intuitive to Mac users anywhere else. Apple set the standard for great creative software — and our goal was to make a design app as easy to use as Keynote. Our Mac app makes perfect sense, so you can spend more time on Bezier curves, and less on learning curves.

Daniel Schwarz

“Sketch delivers the smoothest user experience of any UI tool on the market today.”

Daniel Schwarz

Creative Bloq

Why are Sketch's Symbols superior?

Symbols that match the components developers work with makes handoff a breeze. Having a single source of truth for your elements isn’t only great for designing, it makes developers’ lives easier too.

To make Symbols truly work for your design system (and your developers), you need to be able to control which parts of a Symbol designers can change, and which parts stay consistent. Only Sketch gives you that level of control.

Make Symbols work for your design system as well as your developers

Let’s take a Primary Button as an example. If the corresponding component was never coded to contain an image, with Sketch you’re free to give your Symbol that same restriction so everything matches up.

Dovetail with your developers for less feedback, fewer questions, and more time saved for everybody.

What makes Sketch’s Design System control so robust?

Some rules are made to be broken, but which rules everyone follows should be in your control. Symbol override controls make Sketch the only design platform that gives full control over when designers can (and can’t) deviate from your established Design Systems.

Manage Overrides

Always maintain consistent styles across your designs by deciding which aspects of your Symbols can be overridden by you and your collaborators, and which ones can’t.

If you want to allow free rein to change everything, that’s an option too. The choice is yours!

On or offline? Either’s fine.

You don’t need to have an internet connection to do your design work.

The freedom to work online and offline in our Mac app is right here. Grab it!

You can create new documents, keep existing projects moving and even access Libraries.

Design while going through a tunnel, sitting on a beach or taking a break from the newsfeed with zero worries about syncing up. Wherever you work, Sketch works.

Are colors true-to-life in Sketch?

Yes they are! Adobe XD, on the other hand, isn’t color managed. If you want to know for certain what your end users will see, before they see it, then don’t let your designs down with a limited, inaccurate color gamut.

With Sketch, you can assign P3 or sRGB color profiles to all of your assets and documents.

Is Sketch more than just a design tool?

It’s 2024, you don’t need to choose between native and web apps. Get the best of both worlds with your Sketch subscription: A native Mac app for design and a browser-based web app for collaboration.

Truly native

Our native Mac app is built on top of Apple’s tried-and-tested frameworks, improving everything from battery life to accessibility with super-fast performance on Apple silicon, RTL text support, native font rendering, dark mode and vibrant colors with P3 color profiles.

Adobe XD’s UI doesn’t follow those same established guidelines. That can lead to some serious confusion with your workflow.

With the power of the browser

Share your designs with our powerful web app. Invite collaborators to your documents, then give and get feedback in any browser, on any operating system.

Developers, project managers and other team members get the tools they need. A focussed environment for every stakeholder means Sketch is easier to learn and easier to use, with less distractions. Keep your workflow simple.

Do I need plugins for prototyping or developer handoff in Sketch?

No, you don’t! Whether you’re designing, collaborating, prototyping or handing off to developers, the tools are all baked into Sketch. A Sketch subscription is like getting InVision, Zeplin and Abstract bundled into one platform — with all the powerful editing functionality you know and love.

It’s time to wake up from platform fatigue, all the tools are here.

Built-in prototyping

You don’t need to leave our Mac app to create prototypes. You can even share a link for anyone to test them, in any web browser. No plugins needed.

Easy developer handoff

Developers can inspect your designs and download ready-to-go assets from any browser — for free. All you need to do is share.

Does Sketch have more plugins available than Adobe XD?

Yeah! You won’t need them for the day-to-day functionality you expect from a design platform. But if you want to do a little extra, Sketch opens the door to an extensive library of useful plugins that you won’t have access to with Adobe XD.

Luca Rager

“Sketch’s Libraries, compatibility with industry tools, and community of plugins let our team build and scale a design system across multiple brands and platforms — which gives our users a better, more cohesive experience.”

Luca Rager

Senior Software Engineer & Designer — Xbox R&D

Can Sketch do real-time collaboration?

Yes! Design side-by-side in the same space and watch your team’s best ideas come to life in real-time, in a native Mac app.

Sketch subscriptions come with a shared Workspace, making collaborative documents easy, along with a full version history (with unique links for each and every step along the way).

Sketch keeps everyone on the same page, literally.

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Join designers across the globe!

Whether you’re new to Sketch or back to see what’s new, we’ll have you set up and ready to do your best work in minutes.