The 17 best software tools to create a successful web app design

It’s easy to get caught up in the sheer number of design tools available for web applications—and choosing the right web app design software can be a major challenge. 

Check out our list of the best web app design software, and learn how and when to use each tool so you can get straight to building a web app your users will love.

3 types of web app design tools

Web app design tools are divided into 3 phases: research, prototyping, and testing. 

Research

During the research phase, use tools to explore potential markets and discover user personas and needs. The software you use during this stage helps you create your ideal customer profile (ICP) and validate early ideas before you design or develop a web app.

Prototyping

The prototyping phase involves brainstorming and designing the layout of your web app. During this phase, use tools to visualize and build the interface and functionality you want your app to have. 

Testing

During the testing phase, figure out what works and what doesn’t with your web app. In this phase, you’ll be running tests to analyze user behavior, simulate performance load, and learn how users interact with your app to make sure that everything works as it should. 

5 research tools for web app design

Research tools help you determine exactly what type of user you are designing for. Each type has a specific goal:

Feedback tools

Feedback tools help you understand your potential users more deeply. They show you what people are thinking, what they need, and what’s frustrating them, so you can create a web app design that actually connects and keeps them coming back.

1. Google Forms

Google Forms gives you survey results in helpful visual formats like charts and graphs 

With Google Forms, you can easily create surveys to send to your potential customers or current users so you can design your web app around their jobs to be done. Use these forms to ask what your users are hoping to accomplish with your web app, what types of features they’re looking for, and what types of layouts they prefer. 

Price: free for individual users and also available for businesses through G Suite, which starts at $6/month per user.

2. Contentsquare Voice of Customer (VoC)

Use Contentsquare VoC to understand what your users need at key moments in their journey—like when they explore your homepage or consider a new feature

Contentsquare’s Voice of Customer capabilities let you gather meaningful insights from real users. Add Surveys or feedback collection widgets to your pages to learn what your users love, what frustrates them, and how you can improve their experience.

Contentsquare VoC tools help you

• Effortlessly create surveys and feedback forms tailored to your goals

• Distribute customer satisfaction surveys and collect actionable feedback

• Capture real-time user opinions to understand their thoughts and motivations

• Gain context behind user behavior to improve decision-making

• Share insights easily through intuitive dashboards and integrations

With an extensive library of survey templates, Contentsquare makes it easy to ask the right questions. Whether you’re exploring product-market fit, understanding user pain points, or catching users’ thoughts before they leave, you’ll have the tools to dig deeper and deliver a better experience.

3. SurveyMonkey

Use SurveyMonkey templates to create the survey you need to design a great web app 

Hearing directly from your customers is key to understanding their experience. With SurveyMonkey, you can send out custom surveys or draw from the tool’s extensive ‘question bank’—it’s great for when you don’t know what to ask your users and prospective customers. 

Then, you can score your surveys and estimate their success rates. Paid plans allow you to analyze the data you collect and discover any statistically significant discrepancies between different groups of responders. 

User persona research tools

Persona research tools make it easier to build a clear picture of your ideal user. They help you understand who your users are, what they care about, and how they interact with your product, so you can design experiences that really match their needs and wants.

4. MakeMyPersona

HubSpot’s Make My Persona tool makes it easy to create a variety of user personas

To design a web app that meets (and even exceeds) your users’ needs, you’ve got to understand what they want to achieve and where they might run into trouble. One of the best ways to do this is by creating user personas. 

HubSpot’s Make My Persona tool is a great starting point—it helps you map out things like age, job, and education. Use these insights to identify what drives your personas, what they want to achieve, and the challenges they might face along the way. This way, you can design a solution that clicks.

5. UXPressia

Design unique user personas with UXPressia

UXPressia helps you create a customer journey map and design user personas. It’s especially great for B2C businesses that need to really understand the ecommerce journey in order to design a web app that works for their customers.

With UXPressia, you can connect it to your web analytics tools, so your customer journey maps stay updated with fresh data automatically. This makes it easier to keep your design on track and responsive to real user behavior.

If you’re using Contentsquare

Contentsquare makes creating customer journey maps and designing user personas way easier and more dynamic. 

• The Journey Analysis capability pulls in real-time data automatically, so your journey maps are always up to date. See exactly how users move through your app, where they’re getting stuck, and which paths are working well—no extra work needed.

• With advanced user segmentation features, you can filter journeys by channel, campaign, or persona, and get a much clearer picture of how different groups interact with your app. This makes it easier to create personas based on actual behavior, not just assumptions.

• Session Replay and Heatmaps let you watch how users interact with your web app, seeing exactly where they’re clicking, scrolling, or getting frustrated. This gives you the kind of detailed insight that helps you design a smoother, more intuitive web app.

Contentsquare helps you see how customer journeys vary across different channels and personas

8 tools for the web app design prototyping phase

The web app prototyping phase is where you start shaping the core of your app—its structure, interface, and functionality. This is where you map out the user flow, ensuring every step is easy to follow and intuitive to complete. It’s about thinking ahead to how each element on the screen guides users to the next step, so they don’t have to guess what to do next.

Shivani Prasad, a UX designer at Morgan Stanley who has worked on the design of multiple web apps, shares her favorite tools for this phase: 

“Figma and Miro have so many features and offerings to support creating great designs. There’s a lot of thinking and information processing that UX designers do prior to even getting to the drawing board, and a key feature among these tools are their collaborative capabilities! Collaboration is crucial to design, and these tools allow design teams to design and communicate in real-time.”

Shivani Prasad

UX Designer @Morgan Stanley

Wireframing tools

Wireframing tools help you sketch out the basic layout and structure of your web app before diving into the finer details, setting the foundation for a smooth user experience. The goal is to define key elements—like buttons, menus, and content blocks—so you can visualize how users will move through the app.

6. Adobe XD

Use Adobe XD to create a wireframe for your web app

Adobe XD is a great tool for creating low-fidelity (simple and low-tech) mockups and wireframes. Its built-in UI kits and icon libraries can help even the most basic users design a wireframe for their web app. 

Plus, wireframes can be easily shared with other members of your team, as well as external designers and developers. When your mockup is done, the software helps you turn it into a prototype and map out the user flow. 

7. Sketch

Sketch is another excellent web app wireframing solution, as it allows everyone on your team to collaborate in the creation of your web app mockup. 

Hundreds of plugins and integrations let you customize your tech stack and continue using all the UX research tools that work best for your workflow. Whether it’s user feedback, analytics, or design systems, Sketch lets you seamlessly integrate everything into your design process, so your team stays connected and efficient.

8. Miro

Map out the user flow of your web app with Miro’s helpful templates

Miro is another great tool that allows your whole team to get involved in creating the web app mock-up. One of Miro’s most interesting features is its user flow template, which is incredibly useful for web app UX analysis.  

Miro is packed with other functions like product roadmapping, project planning, and marketing campaign design tools, which can keep your web app design process organized and on track. 

9. Balsamiq

Balsamiq could be used to design a web app for music streaming

Balsamiq is a trusted wireframing solution that stands out for its simplicity and ease of use. Whether you're a project manager or an experienced designer, anyone can jump in and start designing a web app mockup. 

The tool focuses on low-fidelity wireframes, which are simple, straightforward layouts that help you quickly sketch out ideas. Because of its simplicity, Balsamiq is best used in the early stages of your design process, allowing you to rapidly prototype and focus on the big picture—without getting bogged down in details.

Prototyping tools

Prototyping tools are where you bring your web app ideas to life in the form of an early working model. These tools allow you to build interactive prototypes that mimic how the final app will function, even though it's not fully developed yet. It’s a chance to test out user flows, interactions, and basic functionality before committing to the full build.

10. Figma

Create a realistic prototype for your web app with Figma

Figma lets you transform your design from static to interactive. The no-coding platform is easy to use so anyone can create a feature-rich web app.

ith Figma, you can add advanced transitions and dynamic overlays to your prototype, making it easy to showcase how your app will function in real life. Sharing your prototype is just as simple—generate a link, and anyone can view or interact with your design. Plus, Figma integrates with popular tools like Notion, Pendo, Slack, and Asana, streamlining your workflow and keeping everything in sync across your team.

11. Webflow

Build an ecommerce web app using Webflow’s prototyping tools

Webflow makes it easy for just about anyone to create a custom prototype for their web app. You can start with pre-designed templates, customizing them to build the app your users dream of. It’s a great way to see how your ideas come to life in a working prototype, without needing any coding skills. 

Once you’ve designed your app, Webflow lets you export the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, so you can take your design further without ever writing code. However, keep in mind that Webflow only works in Chrome, so if you're a fan of another browser, this might not be the right fit for you.

12. InVision

Design your web app prototype in InVision, which lets you include interactions, transitions, overlays, and other dynamic elements. You can also use the tool to collaborate with other members of your team and collect feedback directly within your prototypes on the software.  

InVision integrates with Sketch, so if that’s the web app design software you’re using for your wireframes, this is probably the best prototyping tool for you. 

Price: there is a free plan available, which allows for up to 100 users, and paid plans start at $4/month per active user for up to 200 users. 

12. Proto.io

You can easily design the prototype of your ecommerce web app with Proto.io

Proto.io rounds out our list of web app design platforms for prototyping. This tool allows you to design everything from user actions and sequential interactions to interactive UI elements for your web app prototype. It comes with a variety of UI component libraries, templates, icons, and UX design patterns to get you started, but you can also create your own custom components if you need something unique. 

Once you're done, Proto.io makes it easy to share and export your prototype with team members or stakeholders, so you can get the feedback and buy-in you need.

Testing tools for web app design

Web app design testing tools are essential for creating a seamless and enjoyable experience for your users. These tools help you spot any bumps in the road—like confusing navigation or slow-loading elements—before they become a problem. 

By testing your app’s design, you can ensure that every interaction feels smooth, intuitive, and frustration-free, giving your users the confidence to explore and engage without hesitation.

"Keeping your decision-making data-informed and user-centric is the best thing you can do for your business. There are several tools you can implement on a web app, such as Google Analytics or Hotjar, to do so. These tools allow you to keep an eye on user behavior while helping you stay in contact with those users."

Marco D'Emilia

Product Design Lead @Hotjar

User behavior tools

User behavior tools give you a front-row seat to see how people are interacting with your web app—where users click, how they navigate, and what might be causing them to leave.

They help you and your team understand user actions, identify areas for improvement, and make changes that create a smoother, more engaging experience.

13. Contentsquare Experience Analytics

Use Session Replay to discover how users interact with your web app

Contentsquare’s Experience Analytics capabilities give you valuable insights into how your users experience your web app. Use Journey Analysis to map out exactly how users navigate your app, from their first click to their last. 

Want to know why some users convert while others leave? Contentsquare helps you spot the moments where they get stuck, drop off, or lose interest, so you can clear the path.

Heatmaps show you the parts that catch users’ attention, and the areas they completely ignore—ideal for finding the hidden opportunities to make your app more engaging. Pair this capability with Session Replay, and you’ll get an up-close look at how users interact with your interface—clicks, scrolls, and all—allowing you to compare the journeys of users who convert versus those who leave.

With this mix of qualitative and quantitative user research, you’ll create an app that feels effortless to use because you truly understand what your users need.

💡Pro tip: use Contentsquare to compare web app usage patterns between different devices. That way, if Android users in a specific region are having trouble with a new feature, you’ll know about it—and be ready to fix it—before it becomes a widespread issue.

Remember, user habits can vary significantly between desktop, smartphone, and tablets, and you need to design for all of these cases.

14. Google Analytics

Use Google Analytics to discover how your users are finding and interacting with your web app

Google Analytics (GA) is a comprehensive tool that gives you an overview of important user insights. Not only can you analyze how your users are interacting with your web app now, but Google machine learning allows you to anticipate future user actions as well. 

With the data GA provides on how users are finding and navigating your web app, you can create reports and analyze trends to put these findings into action and continually optimize your web app. 

If you’re using Contentsquare

Get a helpful breakdown of what happens after users leave your web app with Exit Analysis.

While Google Analytics gives you a big-picture view of how users find and navigate your app, Contentsquare shows you what happens when they leave. For example, if users frequently drop off after reaching a pricing page, Exit Analysis can reveal whether the issue lies in unclear messaging, a missing call-to-action, or something else entirely.

By combining these insights, you can optimize critical touch points—like making your pricing details clearer or simplifying the sign-up process—so users stay engaged and are more likely to complete their journey.

Contentsquare helps you figure out what happens after users leave so you can better assist them on their journeys

Web app performance tools 

Web app functionality relies on great features, but a big part of it is actually about reliability. Your app can look amazing and offer groundbreaking tools, but if it’s slow, glitchy, or unreliable, users won’t stick around to see what it’s capable of. 

Web app performance tools help you ensure your app works exactly as it should, even under pressure. They provide real-time alerts if something isn’t working as expected, so you can fix issues before they affect your users.

15. Selenium

Test across multiple browsers with Selenium web app testing

Selenium's main objective is to automate web applications for testing purposes: it shows you how your web app works on various browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. 

Selenium isn’t as straightforward a tool as the previous web app design software we’ve suggested. There’s a learning curve, so your team may need help from developers and programmers to actually start testing your web app. 

16. Contentsquare Experience Monitoring

Use Contentsquare to monitor your app and make sure it works exactly how users expect it to

Contentsquare’s Experience Monitoring capabilities give you a detailed view of how your web app performs for real users. Instead of relying solely on simulations, you can identify issues like slow load times, unresponsive elements, or frustrating navigation paths—all through actual user behavior.

For example, Core Web Vitals tracking tells you if your app feels fast and responsive—or if it’s leaving users frustrated. For example, if your login page takes too long to load, users might abandon your app before they even get started. Contentsquare highlights issues like these, so you can address them quickly.

17. WebLOAD

Use WebLOAD to check for errors and prevent performance bottlenecks

WebLOAD is a performance and load testing tool that helps you make product changes to prevent loading issues and performance bottlenecks. Once you run your performance tests, you’ll get helpful insights on hundreds of metrics. 

Web apps are designed to be interacted with, with plenty of responsive features, so if you have many users on your app at one time, WebLOAD helps you ensure the experience lives up to user expectations.  

Let’s say you’re an ecommerce business that runs an annual sale. You need to make sure your web app will perform well even with an increased number of users and avoid crashes or delays. Tools like WebLOAD are the way to do it. 

If you’re using Contentsquare

Need to know what happens during outages or disruptions? Error Analysis reveals how issues like broken links or failed APIs affect user behavior, helping you understand the full impact on the customer journey. 

Meanwhile, watching session replays complements these insights by showing you exactly what your users saw, from error messages to failed clicks, so you can understand their frustration and design better solutions.

Session Replay helps you see exactly what any user saw on-screen during their journey

How to choose the right web app design software

Selecting the right tools can help you design a powerful, user-friendly interface that will turn your web app visitors into loyal users. 

The type of web app design software you’ll need depends on which design phase you find yourself in:

• If you’re just getting started, be sure to make the most of the research phase tools we listed above to collect user feedback and design user personas

• Once you know who you’re designing for, prototyping tools help you build the wireframes, mockups, and prototypes of your web app

• Finally, once you’ve built your web app and want to make sure it’s working as well as it can, use testing software like user behavior tools and performance testing tools to see if everything is running smoothly

Make sure to keep your team’s level of expertise in mind when deciding on your tech stack. While some web app design tools are simple to use, others require more experience and background knowledge, so be sure to choose software everyone on your team can make the most of. 

Once your tool is live, keep using web app software to make modifications and optimizations users will love. Remember, optimization isn’t a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process. With Contentsquare, you’ll have the tools to keep your web app evolving and delivering an experience your users will love.

FAQs about web app design software