Prototyping

Prototyping tools are for mocking up screens before writing real code — the kind of work every indie hacker eventually hits and would rather not build from scratch. 7 tools are listed here, each picked and written up individually rather than pulled from an affiliate feed. Balsamiq is usually the first one people try: deliberately ugly, hand-drawn-style wireframes that keep stakeholders arguing about layout instead of button colors. Excalidraw takes a different angle — the fastest way to sketch a screen flow on a shared whiteboard that anyone can jump into and edit live, no signup required. And Figma is worth a look too: basically the default for mocking up screens and wiring them into a clickable prototype your team can actually poke at. Every listing below includes the actual tradeoff, not marketing copy, so you can pick based on what you're building instead of what ranks highest in a sponsored roundup elsewhere.