In business, time is money. As a web designer, I help you save time and make money. One of my primary services is creating mockups for finished websites. With these incredible tools, I can show my web design clients what their website looks like on different devices. I can help you ensure that your formatting, information, and pictures look the way they should so that you can leave the best first impression on every virtual visitor.
In the past, we had to rely on Photoshop tricks and lengthy processes to achieve these results. Pulling screenshots one-by-one, putting them into Photoshop, and combining the different screens and versions is a thing of the past now that we’ve found mockup generators. Through both free and paid websites, we can create mockups simply by adding in your website’s URL.
Mockup generators take the hassle out of the process, and image-based mockup generators for graphic designers have changed the way we approach website changes and updates. We can use them to show off your designs, templates, pages, and pictures in different settings to see what looks best. They’re a useful tool in helping you create stunning, high-resolution, and high-quality images. Combine several different elements to create complex, attractive designs
Image-based mockup generators for graphic designers
These are good if you have a design that you would like to show how they will look on the screen.
Product mockups
For product mockups, some of the best free options are mockuper.net, mockupworld.com, and smartmockups.com.
FREE – mockuper.net
Mockuper.net offers many different options to play with. This is one of the best free options for product mockups. There are several virtual options to test, like Apple display sizes, mobile phones, tablets, and smartwatch displays. But they have plenty of print options to experiment with, as well. The print options are ideal if you’re looking to have business cards, posters, office supplies, or exhibit displays made. Confirming that your design choices look good before you put in your order can help you save time, money, and frustration.
FREE OPTION – Mockupworld.com
Next, we have mockupworld.com. This option gives you a great way to showcase your creative designs. There are lots of options and products available to choose from. From books and packaging to iPhones and posters, they’ve got it covered. They also offer fashion and apparel options, signs, billboards, and much more. This is an excellent resource for all designers.
FREE – Smartmockup
Finally, the free source smartmockups.com is a mockup haven just waiting to be explored! Digital mockups, print mockups, apparel mockups, and countless others are easy to find and explore. You can spend hours just browsing through the 185 different cosmetics, food, and beverage packaging options. There are also more than 400 apparel options, including things like tee shirts, hoodies, and tank tops.
And the home décor accessories include things like mugs, pillows, and plenty of other choices that will inspire both designers and non-designers alike. This is truly a fun, creative, and easy-to-use service! The free version gives you 200 free mockups using their basic features. After that, you may want to consider an upgrade or switch to another free mockup generator.
Website prototype
Now that we’ve covered product mockups, let’s talk about website prototypes.
Limited FREE options – Invision app
The Invision app has been a tremendous resource for many website and business owners. There are limited free options, and one of the most useful is that it can be used not only to show a simple screenshot image, but also a full page of the website. You can scroll through and get the full feeling and effect of your website at each stage.
This is a fun and easy way to ensure that it all aligns with what your ideal target customer is looking for. All you need is the right size of the image to upload, and the app takes care of the next steps. You can even add links to it. While there is a paid version with more advanced features and options, I use the free version, and I’ve found that it’s good enough for my web design business needs.
I use the FREE version and it is good enough for my webdesign business.
URL based webdesign mockup generators
Last but not least, we have URL-based web design mockup generators. These are ideal for a certain type of client.
If you already have your website up and running or you’re diving into the development stage, this may be the best option for you. I primarily use these to create portfolio images and showcase new website designs. For these tasks, the following websites are tremendously valuable: techsini.com, ami.responsivedesign.is, magicmockups.com, shotsnapp.com, and screenpeek.io.
Let’s break these down:
FREE – techsini.com
Techsini.com is a free and easy-to-use option. You just plug in the website’s existing URL, and the website shows up on the different devices you’re using. This may not sound like a big deal or like much can change, but I find that some of the features make it easy to identify inconsistencies or pieces of formatting that need to be tweaked. I like that each device could show me a different page of the same website, I can scroll through as needed, and I can eliminate some of the displays if I need to or want to see how it looks without them.
While the website is pulled up, I can also choose different colored backgrounds and angle options to see if there’s a small design tweak that will make a big difference. You can also move the devices around and make different arrangements, which I’ve found is useful in testing websites of different kinds. The only negatives: the background is not always big enough, and it would be helpful if there were more clear space at the top and bottom. But for a free mockup generator, there are small complaints.
FREE – ami.responsivedesign.is
Another excellent free option is ami.responsivedesign.is. For a long time, this was my website mockup generator of choice. One of the reasons for this is that I like the way you can move the different devices to a different location. The screen scrolling is easy and smooth. The only negative here is that there isn’t much clear space on the top of the screen for a nice screenshot. This can be a bit of a challenge depending on the design of your website.
FREE – magicmockups.com
Magicmockups.com is the last fully free option on the list. They offer a great selection of stock photos of different digital devices, and they’ve recently added the URL option, which is nice! Just plug in your URL, and it’ll appear at an angle or straight on the device. One of the best things about this option is that you don’t need to take a screenshot but download a high res image instead.
Paid with FREE TRIAL PERIOD – Shotsnapp.com
One of the newest tools in the mockup generator space is shotsnapp.com. This is the first one on the list that isn’t completely free. There is a 14-day free trial available, but that’s less time than most people will need it for, and it doesn’t give you the same features as the paid version. This app offers some impressive features that allow you to change the size of the background, change the background color, and add a drop shadow.
This option is ideal if you’re concerned with all of the tiny details that go into building and managing your website. For example, you can choose if you want your browser mockup to display as Safari, Chrome, or just a plain window, or you can choose which color iPhone you want to display.
FREE with LIMITED OPTION – Screenpeek
Last on our list is screenpeek.io. While this one does offer a free version, the free options are strictly limited. You can input your URL, but the free version shows only a website on an iPhone. All of the other options are paid features. It has only Mac devices, no PC or Android options available. This seems like an odd choice to me, but maybe they picked this highly-specific niche for a reason. But the paid version is a bit more expansive, and the one-time payment right now is only $12, so it may be an option worth investigating.
ONE TIME PAYMENT RIGHT NOW IS $12. REALLY WORTH IT!
Do you have a mockup generator that you currently use or have tried in the past and liked a lot?
If so, please let me know so I can add them to my list! I’d love to hear from you and keep up-to-date on market changes.
Contact me!
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