Sketch

Sketch is a very good design tool that lost a platform war, and it is still the right choice for a narrow set of teams.

The native Mac app remains genuinely fast — noticeably faster than a browser canvas on large, complex documents, which designers with heavy files still notice and value. Symbols, shared libraries and layout tools are mature after fifteen years of refinement, precision is excellent, and macOS integration means it feels like a native application rather than a web page pretending to be one. The Mac-only licence option, which lets you keep using the version you paid for after your update year lapses, is meaningfully cheaper over time than a perpetual subscription for a solo designer.

The structural problems are the ones that cost it the category. Editing is Mac-only, so a Windows or Linux colleague simply cannot open the editor — collaboration happens in the web workspace instead, which is capable but is not the same as multiplayer editing. The plugin ecosystem and hiring pool have both contracted as Figma became the industry default, and new designers increasingly have no Sketch experience at all. Developer handoff works but is a step behind Dev Mode.

Our guidance: Sketch makes sense for an all-Mac team that values native performance, or a solo designer who prefers the licence model. For any team hiring designers or collaborating cross-platform, Figma is the pragmatic choice regardless of Sketch’s merits.