Axure RP 8 - still going strong

I was trained on Sketch at the beginning of my career, and when I transitioned jobs, I argued for Sketch, since I wasn't familiar with Axure. Now that I have been using Axure for 2+ years, I don't think I'll ever go back to Sketch. Axure saves me time while allowing me to communicate design concepts and information architecture.

Pros

One of the best things about Axure is that you can write text within elements. In comparison, in Sketch, you need to add an additional text element. For low-mid fidelity wireframes, Axure is way more efficient than Sketch. The second best thing is how well balanced the features are- everything is there in one place. You got your creation covered (complex interactions included), you got the generation of a share link without needing to export the screens to another app, you can also collect feedback via the discussion panel. Widgets are customizable, there's plenty of user help available on the web regarding how to do various things... Axure is great for rapid prototyping.

Cons

Collaboration features are mostly non-existent, but that can be solved by storing the .rp file in a cloud, such as Google Drive Stream. I wish the widget names would save when pressing 'enter' on the keyboard instead of clicking out of the field, but that is a minor issue. In Sketch, I do still prefer the way they use symbols, in Axure the masters vs panels seem to be a bit convoluted.

The Best Software for UX Work

Axure allows us to quickly and easily put together high fidelity prototypes to share within internal and external stakeholders. The functionality is powerful enough that our prototypes often get mistaken for full working builds of software.

Pros

- Extremely powerful prototyping toolset - All the "fit and finish" features you need from Illustrator or Sketch

Cons

- Team and cloud functionality needs more features - Documentation and customer support isn't always helpful

Excellent for teams using multiple apps and services.

Overall this was a pleasure to use and refreshing to allow people to use what apps they like but still be able to collaborate and not have a mess trying to keep everything together.

Pros

A big plus for Axure is the plugins and interactions available for a larger number of other apps. This is great for teams who have people using more different UX apps and work best in one and not the other, but this brings everyone's work together easily.

Cons

Depending on your needs and how many people need access, the price can get steep quickly and may be a detractor for some people but it does carry a lot of value for the money.

I wouldn't buy it again

I used Axure several times, once for a smartwatch-project, the other times for smartphone app-projects. Then I switched to InVision. Why? Because it was painful to handle Axure. I don't like it and it feels like the developers didn't like what they do. And here's the problem. I want to love creating prototypes and I want to love the prototypes. But I can't love it all using Axure.

Pros

You can create good prototypes for many different devices with Axure and it will do as it should with routing, sound and functions. Through some lines of code it will offer you more if you like and if you find it.

Cons

The user interface is not the strength of Axure and the prototypes you get don't look good. Yes, it's a prototype, but a good look - somehow - or a good feeling would support to carry over what you want to create. Instead you get something that looks like it stands on legs made of wooden sticks. Crafting the prototypes isn't feeling fine and you can waste a lot of time because it doesn't feel natural.

Don't use words , use flow

in overall when i want to use minimum text and maximum demonstration i'm using it, saving lots of dev time and demo help to provide the best solution to the stakeholder

Pros

very ease to create porotypes that demonstrate the actual behavior ad the desire flow. save time of development and miss communication, sharing the the generated link with the prototype 1st to stakeholder to approved and verify that's what he had in mind / resolved the pain and for developer to understand the required behavior

Cons

i would expect Axure to give user on creating new prototype to choose the dimensions of the canvas per device (Mobile, tablet, pc) on upgrading to new version old projects were not supported, i had to scout for solution