Axure RP Review: No-Code Prototype and Wireframe Tool
At Bubble, we empower entrepreneurs and venture enthusiasts to create their ideas without code. We explore and review the many app-building tools and softwares to give our readers an educated and researched review on each product.
What is Axure RP 9?
Axure RP 9 allows users to create wireframes, document for development, and create powerful prototypes for your enterprise, without writing a single line of code. You can create any blueprint, present it visually, and conduct user tests on it.
Axure RP 9 features a drag and drop user interface (UI) element where you can customize the app's wireframes and UI before publishing it to the Axure Cloud. Users have the option to choose from built-in templates or create a custom theme to support your concept. The platform features fully customizable fills, gradients, line styles, and text formats for web and mobile prototypes.
With Axure RP 9, you can annotate on your wireframes and prototypes to describe functionality, keep track of tasks, and store project information. You can also organize your notes into different fields for specific audiences. When it comes time to present, you can either present the notes in HTML or in an auto-generated Word document with screenshots.
Axure RP 9 features simple click-through diagrams or highly functional prototypes with conditional logic, adaptive content, animations, math functions, and data-driven interactions without requiring any code. Once you're ready to share your prototype visually, you can publish it to Axure Cloud and give anyone access to the link or share the link privately.
Axure RP 9 is fully integrated and eliminates the need to use different design tools. You can create user flows, personas, customer journey maps, storyboards, sitemaps, wireframes, and more, and then hand it off to developers. Once you hand off the project to developers, coders can get a better understanding of the prototype and can work more effectively with product managers to estimate the scope and assess technical feasibility.
Who is Axure RP9 For?
Axure RP 9 is used by coders, non-coders, students, teachers, and anyone who wants to build a sample model or mock UI to test the user process before handing it off to developers.
The design tool is especially helpful for UX designers, product managers, and business analysts to wireframe and prototype their enterprise for final review from stakeholders and developers. The platform targets commercial enterprises and is used by many Fortune 100 companies.
People who do not know code and are interested in creating a screen blueprint and visual skeletal framework of a website may be interested in Axure RP 9.
Axure RP 9 Cost and Pricing
(Pricing USD model evaluation: July 2020)
Axure RP 9 Pro offers three subscription and three perpetual license plans: Pro, Team, and Enterprise. Each subscription plan has a 30-day free trial and the option to pay monthly for each user. Perpetual license plans are based on a one-time payment per user.
Pro: This is the cheapest option at $29 per month per user to subscribe and $495 per user for a perpetual license. It includes access to unlimited prototypes, unlimited reviewers, 1,000 projects on Cloud, advanced prototyping, and wireframes, diagrams, and documentation.
Team: At $49 per month per user to subscribe and $895 per user for a perpetual license, it includes all of the features of RP 9 Pro and co-authoring, revision history, and team project hosting on Cloud.
Enterprise: Users who want to subscribe or purchase a perpetual license must contact Axure for security and licensing options. It includes everything in RP 9 Team, plus unlimited projects, user management and single sign-on, company domain for internal member use, and private or on-premise security.
Axure RP 9 vs. Bubble: A Comparison
How does Axure RP 9 compare to Bubble?
Similarities between Axure RP 9 and Bubble:
Both feature a highly customizable, drag and drop user interface builder.
Both allow users to customize the user interface mobile apps and of other devices using a drag and drop editor.
Both platforms allow teammates to collaborate while viewing edits and modifications live.
Both allow password protection to protect the project’s public links and to control sharing.
The key differences between Axure RP 9 and Bubble are:
App Development: With Axure RP 9, you can build a prototype and test solutions to gather user feedback. Once you're satisfied with the prototype that is built, you can publish it to Axure Cloud to present the prototype visually as part of the process to develop the actual app (but will need to use other platforms to publish or deploy your app) . Bubble users can create, build, and publish your app through the Bubble platform, gather customer feedback, and launch the actual product.
Developer Involvement: Axure RP 9 users must download the application design tool to start. You can then create a mock UX/UI design and hand it off to developers to deliver a product that matches the design. With Bubble, there is no need for you to hand off to developers or for you to know how to code. You can build-from-scratch, create interactive, multi-user apps for desktop and mobile web browsers, customize a responsive website and launch within minutes. Bubble includes all the tools you need to build a site like Facebook or Airbnb.
App Deployment: Once you publish your project to Axure Cloud, you can transfer Axure RP files to the cloud and present a complete picture with documentation, prototypes, and visual design with automated redlines and code export. Bubble allows you to access your app from any device, without downloading anything. Once an application is built on Bubble, there is no need to deploy the application to a cloud solution; Bubble securely handles deployment and hosting for you, with no hard limits on the number of users, volume of traffic, or data storage.
After publishing the prototype, users can launch online usability testing. Bubble users can launch and collect customer feedback to improve the app.
Growth: Axure RP 9 is used for designing the prototype, before the final product. You can test how the system would work and make edits to create a better user experience, before the developer builds the actual app. Bubble allows you to build the app and grow your enterprise all without code. The platform features growth tools, like email, SEO, Google Analytics, and more to help users expand, engage, and measure. You can manage and grow your enterprise with custom URL text and titles, site maps, and metatags. You can also implement complex payment features and third-party transactions for your enterprise.
Plugins: Once you publish your Axure RP 9 project to Axure Cloud, you can add plugins by adding custom HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to your Cloud-hosted RP project. Bubble features more than 1,073 plugins that can be installed on your apps without any code. You also have the option of building and publishing your own plugin.
You can install plugins on your Axure Cloud-hosted RP project using HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Bubble features plugins that can be installed directly to your apps.
Tutorials: Axure RP 9 offers a blog, video tutorials, and support from 9 AM to 6PM Pacific time, to help you design a prototype using the platform. Axure has a steep learning curve and can be somewhat complex when starting out. Bubble's e-book manual, short video tutorials, step-by-step instructions, and How to Build series allows you to build any kind of application using the no-code platform. The Bubble forum is another great tool for users to interact with and learn from each other. Bubble is easy to use and can be quickly picked up by coders and non-coders.
Cost: Bubble offers a free plan under the Hobby subscription. Bubble also offers a personal, professional, and production subscription plan to meet your needs. The most expensive plan is the Production plan at $529 per month, which includes an editor and live site, up to 20 multiple development versions, 15 application editors, logs, up to 50 GBs of file storage, plug-ins and widgets, scheduled workflows, branding and SEO, the ability to add up to 40 collaborators, unlimited updates, and much more. Axure only offers students and teachers the Pro plan for free. If you want to have your team on Axure RP 9, the platform allows one subscription per user.
Alternatives to Axure RP 9:
Top alternative no-code platforms or tools that allow you to build a user interface and prototype include:
Balsamiq if you're looking for a rapid, low-fidelity tool with greater focus on the blueprint of a web page to build a quick UI wireframe.
If you're looking for a more collaborative, low-cost prototyping tool that features private and public plugins, more design features, auto-layouts, and the ability to access files anywhere with internet access, consider Figma's interface design tool or Framer's prototyping tool.
If you're looking for a no-code digital product design platform that features more collaboration, a lower price-point, and heavy focus on user testing, look into InVision Enterprise.
Unqork if you’re looking to build a large enterprise that offers API integration, allows users to build and integrate front-end and back-end components, and provide a visual workflow editor.
If you want to build a robust web app with complete design customization, scalable infrastructure, content and design templates, access to over 1,000 plugins, and support from an active user community, consider Bubble's no-code platform.
About Bubble
Bubble is a leader in the no-code movement. Bubble offers a powerful point-and-click web editor and cloud hosting platform that allows users to build fully customizable web applications and workflows, ranging from simple prototypes to complex marketplaces, SaaS products, and more. Over 400,000 users are currently building and launching businesses on Bubble - some have gone on to participate in top accelerator programs, such as Y Combinator, and even raised $365M in venture funding. Bubble is more than just a product. We are a strong community of builders and entrepreneurs that are united by the belief that everyone should be able to create technology.
Join the no-code movement today.
Disclaimer: The goal of these reviews is to provide an honest, practical, differentiated comparison of features and educate readers on tools in the no- code ecosystem so that you can evaluate how these services fit together and serve your needs.