Adobe XD vs Sketch

Are you wondering which user experience application you should use? Are you confused between the user experience applications Adobe XD vs Sketch? Are you having a hard time choosing between these two applications? Then you have come to the right place because here I will tell you all the pros and cons of Adobe XD vs Sketch.

Here, I will discuss in detail all the good things about each of these user experience applications, and I will also point out all the bad things about these applications because you deserve to know both before you commit to using one of the apps mentioned above.

For a proper user experience application, you need to check some boxes. So, I decided to write this article, so you guys do not need to spend any more time searching for your perfect user experience design.

If you read this article, you will know which application is best suited for your needs and which one you will use.

Accessibility On Different Platforms

Accessibility of different platforms is a significant factor when choosing the right software for designing a perfect user experience. What I mean by Accessibility On Different Platforms is whether or not you can use both of these applications on different platforms. Do they have support for both platforms? Because there are a lot of different platform users.

For example, I am a Windows user. I have been a Windows user since I was a kid. So, I have a hard time accessing any application that is not available on Windows, because I am not that big of a fan of the Mac OS.

When Sketch came, I was excited, but then I found out it was only released for Mac OS. I was agitated because Sketch did not offer support on the Windows platform. For Windows, the closest application we had for User Experience design was Photoshop.

Photoshop was not made for user experience designers. It was made for photographers so that they could edit their pictures. But user experience designers used Photoshop to design for UX because there was no other better application available for user experience design.

A user experience designer never used many of the tools available in Photoshop. Photoshop was never built to cope with web design. The files created from Photoshop were bulky and hard to work with.

A user experience designer had to put in a lot more time and energy to create a good UX design in Photoshop. So, when Sketch hit the market, it was like a knight in shining armor for UX designers, but sadly the knight in shining armor was only able to save users who used Mac OS.

The rest of us were stranded, and we’re stuck with the same mediocre application that we used before. I am in no way calling Photoshop mediocre, but for user experience designers Photoshop did not check all the required boxes.

The closest Adobe application to Sketch was Fireworks, but Adobe decided not to give out any more updates and freeze that application, so it went out of date. Anyone that mentioned anything regarding Sketch to me made me pretty jealous because we did not have anything as good that could compete with Sketch.

That was until Adobe decided to put out its new user experience design, Adobe XD. The XD stands for experience design. Initially, Adobe XD was announced as Project Comet, which only supported Mac OS.

I was a bit disappointed upon learning that, but after waiting for some time, Adobe decided to provide support for Windows too. Trust me, I was ecstatic after hearing this.

Project Comet aka Adobe XD initially gave up support only for Mac OS. I was a bit disappointed upon learning that, but after waiting for some time, Adobe decided to give out support for Windows too. Trust me I was ecstatic after learning about it.

So, for Accessibility In Different Platforms, Adobe XD has the upper hand over Sketch. Even though Sketch does not provide support to millions of Windows users, they still have a very vast and diverse community.

They have users that are dedicated to the application they use, and they have given out great support for their users. Excellent support is one of the essential reasons they have such dedicated users who prefer Sketch over any other UX design application out there.

Plugins Support

The sketch came into the market for the user experience design pretty early. You can call them the pioneers of this field. So, the advantage of getting a market all to you has its power. Being the only proper user experience design application helped Sketch build its core community of users.

The ability to install plugins has helped a lot, and Sketch earned a lot of popularity through that. Not only had it made the life of UX designers easier, but it also allowed freedom for the user experience designers out there.

Users can choose from various kinds of plugins that match their taste and suit their needs. Adobe XD also offers plugins to their users. Plugins are available for both their Windows and Mac OS platforms. So, none of the platform users will be unhappy.

Different platform availability is an excellent move from Adobe because they did not leave out millions of designers who use Windows either because they cannot afford a Mac or because they are just used to Windows and the transition Windows to Mac OS seems pretty daunting.

Either way, both of them offer plugins, which makes life easier for users of both applications. As a result, this round also is a draw for me.

Which One Is Easier To Work With?

I have mentioned it earlier, and I will repeat it: Sketch has been out there in the market longer. The user interface of Sketch was pretty easy to get used to. It would take you just a couple of hours to get to grips with it.

It is pretty easy to use compared to previous makeshift designing tools for User experience design such as Adobe Photoshop. Sketch revolutionized the UX design genre. For me, Adobe XD a little bit out of date and is just providing what Sketch did only in cross-platform.

Adobe XD has a pretty similar design interface to Sketch other than the toolbar being on the left for Adobe XD. For me, in this Adobe XD just followed in the steps of Sketch, so I will go with Sketch for this round.

The Price

The price of an application matters a lot since it is one of the qualities we value in an application. The pricing of an app plays a crucial role in our decision as to whether or not to use that application. Some users will not use an app because it costs a lot for them to use it.

You need to pay around 100 dollars to be able to download the Sketch application for a year. You will get updates for your app for one whole year. I believe Sketch is worth every buck and it is a bargain because of the flexibility it offers. Also, it saved a whole lot of time and energy for user experience designers.

Probably the best thing about Adobe XD is it is free. So, it will get to generate a lot of downloads, and a lot of designers will be interested in using that app. However, if you want to use all the features of Adobe XD along with the access to creative cloud control, then you would have to pay around $53/month.

Who Won Between Adobe XD vs Sketch?

I believe both Adobe XD and Sketch have their fair share of good and bad qualities. But there needs to be credit given where credit is due. I will make Sketch the final winner because it came before and paved the path for Adobe XD to follow. So, Sketch is the winner in this Adobe XD vs Sketch duel.

Adobe XD and Sketch are not the only players in this UX game, so if you want to see how good is Adobe XD in comparison to InVision, you can read it in the article I’ve written here.