Sketch

Overview

Sketch was released in 2010 by Bohemian Coding (later renamed Sketch B.V.), a small Dutch software company, and became the dominant tool for UI/UX design through much of the 2010s, popularizing vector-based interface design with reusable symbols and artboards well before Adobe or Figma offered comparable native tooling. Its Mac-exclusive, native desktop app gave it strong platform-specific performance, but that same exclusivity became a liability as Figma’s 2016 launch introduced real-time, browser-based multiplayer editing that Sketch’s local-file architecture couldn’t easily match.

In response to Figma’s growing collaboration advantage, Sketch introduced its own cloud-based collaboration features and a web app for Figma-style multiplayer editing and viewing, while keeping its native Mac app as the primary editing environment. Sketch remains closed source and moved from a perpetual-license model to an annual subscription in 2019, though unlike Figma it never expanded to Windows or Linux, remaining tied exclusively to macOS for its core desktop application.

Key Features

• Native macOS app — Vector editing tuned specifically for Mac performance and system integration
• Symbols and reusable components — Component-based design system tooling that predates similar features in competitors
• Cloud collaboration — Web-based real-time collaboration and a browser-based viewer/editor added after Figma’s rise
• Plugin ecosystem — A large library of community plugins extending core functionality
• Prototyping — Built-in interactive prototyping between artboards
• Design libraries — Shared, versioned component libraries across teams

Use Cases

• Mac-based design teams — UI/UX design for teams standardized on macOS hardware
• Interface and icon design — Vector-based screen design for apps and websites
• Design systems — Building and maintaining shared component libraries
• Prototyping — Clickable prototypes for stakeholder review

Who It’s For

Sketch is aimed at UI/UX designers working exclusively on macOS who want a native desktop design tool with an established plugin ecosystem. It’s distributed via annual subscription, with no Windows or Linux client, which has become a more significant limitation as cross-platform, browser-based tools like Figma have gained ground.