Best Figma alternatives for mobile app design in 2027

Figma is the standard tool for mobile app design, and most teams looking for an alternative should probably keep it. The real alternatives depend on why you're looking. Sketch is the closest match if you're on a Mac and want a native app. Penpot is the one to try if you want open source or self-hosting. If the slow part is drawing the first version of every screen, an AI tool such as Outclass does that step, and since Outclass copies its screens into Figma, the two work together.

The picks here are our editorial view, and Outclass is our product.

What you'd be leaving

Figma's design tool has auto layout for frames that resize with their content, reusable components, variables for color, spacing and text, multiplayer files with comments, and Dev Mode for developers. It also has a free Starter plan. Any alternative needs to match the parts of that list you use. Our guide to Figma mobile app design covers the setup if you stay. Sources: Figma Design and Figma's pricing page.

The alternatives at a glance

AI tools that draw the first version

These generate the screens you would otherwise draw, and the better ones hand the result back as editable layers.

Outclass

Outclass designs every screen of an app from a sentence, in one design system, and can recreate screens from a screenshot or a screen recording. You refine in chat or in a visual editor where you click an element to change its text, size, spacing or color, and a Theme panel restyles every screen at once. Then Copy to Figma pastes each screen as frames, text, vector icons and auto layout with named layers. It also exports PNG and HTML, so a team without Figma can still use the result.

It complements Figma. It has no component library manager, variables or developer mode of its own, so a team with a mature design system will finish the work in Figma. The MCP server does the same handoff for screens a coding agent wrote, which we compare in Figma MCP vs Outclass MCP. Plans are on the pricing page.

Sleek

Sleek designs iOS and Android screens from a sentence, a spec or a screenshot. Screens land in Figma as native, editable layers without a plugin, and it exports React with Tailwind or plain HTML. Its site covers phone apps only. It's free to start. See Outclass vs Sleek. Source: sleek.design.

Google Stitch

Stitch is Google's AI design tool. Its own summary lists UI designs, editable Figma files and HTML and CSS as outputs, with changes made by prompt. See Outclass vs Google Stitch. Source: Stitch's summary for AI assistants.

Design tools you draw in

Sketch

Sketch is a design toolkit whose editor is a Mac app. It has vector editing, stack layouts and nestable frames, reusable components, and prototyping with overlays, scroll areas and animated transitions that you can test in a browser or on an iPhone or iPad. You can work locally without an internet connection, share documents in a workspace with comments, and give developers free handoff tools for inspecting files and downloading assets. After a free trial you choose a subscription or a one-time Mac-only license, and the Mac-only license leaves out the collaboration features.

The editor needs macOS, so it's out for a team with Windows or Linux designers. Sources: sketch.com and Sketch's pricing page.

Penpot

Penpot calls itself the open-source design platform, and you can use the hosted version or install it on your own servers. It has components and shared libraries, native design tokens, layouts built on CSS Grid and Flex, interactive prototypes, and code inspection in open formats such as CSS, HTML and SVG. It also has an open MCP server so AI agents can design in it. Signing up is free.

If your files, plugins and habits are all in Figma, the cost of Penpot is the move itself. Source: penpot.app.

Subframe

Subframe describes itself as a design tool for your codebase and a coding agent with a canvas. Layers map to code, components carry props and variants synced with the design system in your repository, and its site says it works best with React. It's an alternative for product teams who want design and code in one place. For a new mobile app with no codebase yet, it's the wrong starting point. It has a free tier. Source: subframe.com.

Framer

Framer shows up on most lists of Figma alternatives, so it's worth being exact about what it is. Its homepage calls it a website builder, with a design canvas, hosting, a CMS and an AI design agent. Mobile app design isn't mentioned there. Use it for the website that promotes your app, and something else for the app's screens. You can start for free. Source: framer.com.

How to choose

Work out which part of Figma is the problem.

• If you want a native Mac app, offline work or a one-time license, try Sketch.
• If it's that the tool is closed, or your company needs design files on its own servers, try Penpot.
• If it's the hours spent drawing screens before anyone can react to them, keep Figma and add an AI designer in front of it.
• If it's the gap between the design file and the code, look at Subframe, or at Figma's own Dev Mode before you move.

If none of those is your reason, stay. A design tool is also where your team's files, components and reviewers already are, and that's hard to move. How to design a mobile app and mobile design systems both apply whichever tool you pick.

To see what the AI step looks like, describe an app in Outclass and paste the result into a Figma file.

Details about other tools were checked on 12 November 2026 on each tool's own site and help pages. We haven't tested them side by side. Products change quickly, so check each site for current features and prices.