Proto.iovs
ProtoPie
ProtoPie: If you want conditional prototyping with a lighter learning curve and sensor input
Proto.io
Hosted high-fidelity prototyping with device preview and no code
As of 31 August 2026, Proto.io's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. One of the few prototyping tools from the pre-Figma era still trading, and it outlasted InVision, which shut its design collaboration service at the end of 2024. Softwr lists it under Design. Proto.io is available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What Proto.io does
Proto.io is a hosted prototyping tool for building clickable, animated, high-fidelity prototypes of mobile and web interfaces. Screens are assembled from imported artwork or built in the editor, and behaviour is defined with layer-level events, conditions, variables and timeline animation. Prototypes preview on real devices through a companion app and are shared as links for testing. The commercial context matters more than the feature list. This category has been hollowed out: Adobe XD was discontinued, InVision closed its design collaboration service at the end of 2024, and Figma absorbed most casual prototyping. Proto.io survived by staying in the part of the market Figma does not serve, prototypes with conditional logic and state that behave like the real product during user testing rather than a click-through of static frames. Buyers are research and UX teams who need a prototype convincing enough that usability findings are trustworthy, and agencies validating concepts before development. The trade-off is duplication: design lives in Figma or Sketch, interaction lives in Proto.io, and every design change has to be carried across by hand.
What people use it for
- Running usability tests where the prototype must respond to real input rather than replay a fixed click path
- Demonstrating a form-heavy or data-driven flow to stakeholders before any code exists
- Testing a mobile interaction on the physical device it is designed for, with correct gesture behaviour
- Validating a concept for a client who needs to feel the product, not watch a video of it
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Proto.io.
- Prototypes live in the vendor cloud and offline export is a higher-tier feature, so the ability to archive completed client work is a plan-level decision rather than a given.
- Design is done elsewhere and interaction is rebuilt here, so every change to the visual design has to be reapplied by hand and the two artefacts drift apart.
- The event and condition model is layer based, so a genuinely complex flow becomes a large tree of triggers that nobody but its author can audit.
- Editor seats are priced individually and viewer access is limited on lower plans, so opening review to a wide stakeholder group pushes you up a tier for people who never edit anything.
- The market standardised on Figma, so hiring people who already know Proto.io is progressively harder and every new researcher is a training cost.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Proto.io
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- Proto.iovsFigma
Figma: If click-through prototypes of static screens are sufficient
- Proto.iovsInVision
InVision: Only for historical context; its design collaboration service closed at the end of 2024
Pricing
What Proto.io costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Freelancer
On request
- Single editor
- Limited active projects
- Standard sharing
Startup
On request
- Multiple editors
- More projects
- Team library
Agency
On request
- Higher project and storage limits
- Client sharing controls
Corporate
On request
- Largest quotas
- Offline export on higher tiers
- Priority support
Capabilities
Features
Event and condition system
Layer-level triggers with conditional logic and variables
Timeline animation
Keyframed transitions and micro-interactions per screen
Device preview
Runs the prototype on a physical phone or tablet through a companion app
Component library
Reusable interactive components shared across a project
User testing integration
Records sessions against the prototype for research
Design import
Brings in Figma, Sketch and Photoshop artwork as layered screens
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Can it replace Figma?
No. It has no design system or file-handoff role. It sits alongside Figma for the prototypes Figma cannot express.
What happens to prototypes if we stop paying?
They stop being accessible unless you have exported them, and offline export is restricted to higher plans, so plan archiving before you cancel.
Is it worth learning now that InVision has gone?
If your work is usability research on conditional flows, yes. If you need click-through demos of static screens, Figma already does that at no extra cost.
Keep looking
Where to go from Proto.io
- Proto.io alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Proto.io pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Proto.io badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Design softwareThe full category
- Best Design softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Design software for
Compare Proto.io with
- ProtoPie
- InVision
- Origami Studio
- Principle
- Axure RP
- Marvel
- Adobe XD
- Framer
- Lunacy
- Webflow
- Recraft
- Balsamiq Wireframes
- Krea
- LottieFiles
- Magnific
- Origami Studio
- Marvel
- Lunacy
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Proto.io, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
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