Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Backlight VS Invision

Compare Backlight VS Invision and see what are their differences

Backlight logo Backlight

Backlight is a unique collaborative platform to build Design Systems code-side.📐 Design tokens🧩 Component code and stories📖 Documentation site📦 Managed release to npmEverything in one place, in a true collaborative workspace.Try 👉 backlight.dev

Invision logo Invision

Prototyping and collaboration for design teams
  • Backlight Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-15
  • Invision Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-07

Backlight features and specs

  • Collaborative Workflow
    Backlight allows team members to work together on design systems seamlessly, enhancing productivity and consistency through real-time collaboration.
  • Component Libraries
    The platform supports creating and managing component libraries efficiently, providing easy access and reusability of components across projects.
  • Versatile Integration
    Backlight offers integration with popular tools and frameworks, allowing for smooth adoption within existing development ecosystems.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The interface is designed to be intuitive, making it accessible for both designers and developers to navigate and utilize the platform.
  • Scalability
    It supports large design systems, making it suitable for both small and enterprise-level projects, ensuring scalability as needs grow.

Possible disadvantages of Backlight

  • Learning Curve
    New users might experience a learning curve when getting started, particularly if they are not familiar with design system concepts.
  • Cost
    Depending on the plan or features required, the cost might be a barrier for smaller teams or independent developers.
  • Feature Overload
    Some users might find the abundance of features overwhelming if they only need basic functionalities.
  • Limited Offline Access
    As a cloud-based tool, it requires an internet connection, limiting usability when offline access is needed.
  • Dependency on Integration
    While versatile, the effectiveness of integrations may vary and be dependent on third-party tool updates or compatibility.

Invision features and specs

  • Collaborative Features
    InVision provides a range of collaborative tools like real-time co-editing, feedback, and comments, which make it easier for teams to work together.
  • Prototyping
    InVision allows for high-fidelity, interactive prototypes that closely mimic the final product, helping stakeholders understand the user experience better.
  • Integrations
    The platform integrates seamlessly with other popular design tools such as Sketch, Photoshop, and various project management tools, enhancing workflow efficiency.
  • User Testing
    InVision supports user testing features that allow designers to gather real-time feedback from end-users, improving the final product's usability.
  • Version Control
    It offers robust version control features, allowing teams to track changes, revert to previous versions, and maintain an organized workflow.
  • Cloud Storage
    Cloud-based storage ensures that all project files are accessible from anywhere, making it convenient for remote teams.

Possible disadvantages of Invision

  • Learning Curve
    The platform can be complex for new users, requiring time to learn and fully understand its extensive features.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users have reported performance issues, particularly with large projects, which can slow down the workflow.
  • Cost
    InVision can be expensive, especially for small teams or freelancers, despite offering many valuable features.
  • Limited Offline Access
    Since it's a cloud-based tool, offline access to projects and files is limited, which can be an issue for teams with unreliable internet connections.
  • Mobile Experience
    The mobile experience is not as robust as the desktop version, which can be limiting for users who need to work on the go.

Backlight videos

Govee TV BackLight 3 Lite Review - The Difference Is UNREAL!

More videos:

  • Review - Awesome automations with the Govee T2 TV backlight--review and install
  • Review - Govee TV Backlight T1 vs T2 vs T3 Lite: See the difference!

Invision videos

InVision Studio Review | Here's what we think!

More videos:

  • Review - Thoughts On InVision Studio
  • Review - Welcome to InVision Studio | Overview

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Backlight and Invision)
Design Tools
3 3%
97% 97
Prototyping
0 0%
100% 100
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Productivity
7 7%
93% 93

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Backlight and Invision

Backlight Reviews

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Invision Reviews

10 Best Figma Alternatives in 2024
A visual collaboration tool and best figma alternative called InVision enables communication between designers during many phases of product design, such as development, testing, and prototyping. It’s also used for UI and UX design.
9 Best InVision Alternatives to Switch to in 2024
On 4 January 2024, InVision announced that its design collaboration services are shutting down. So, we came up with nine InVision alternatives that you can switch to this year.
Source: designmodo.com
Figma Alternatives: 12 Prototyping and Design Tools in 2024
Invision was created in 2011 and is one of the most powerful applications you can use in 2023 for prototyping, animation, and designing. It has over 7 million global clients and boasts some awards for its cloud-based services.
5 Figma Alternatives for UI & UX Designers
InVision provides an alternative solution to FigJam. As a Figma user, you’re most likely familiar with FigJam already. If not – it is an online team-based whiteboard interface where you can work together on ideas, set plans in stone, and create visual project trajectories. InVision provides the same exact solution, focusing on affordability (it has a free plan!) and...
Source: stackdiary.com
10 Best Adobe XD Alternatives (Free & Paid)
InVision is an easy-to-use tool that makes designing delightfully simple. You can smoothly create interactive and responsive prototypes. With advanced features like multi-user collaboration, vector editing, transitions & animation tools, workflow synchronization, and robust asset libraries, it is the perfect Adobe XD alternative for creating outstanding UI designs. The tool...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Backlight should be more popular than Invision. It has been mentiond 6 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Backlight mentions (6)

  • Show HN: Mirrorful – A developer-first way to implement designs faster
    Interesting. Two questions 1. How does this compare/relate to https://backlight.dev/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Tools for design system documentation
    You could look at backlight.dev by divriots. Source: over 2 years ago
  • kickstartDS is Open Source now. Let’s start to democratize Design Systems today
    Today quite some companies are already tackling similar problems. Talking of Knapsack.cloud, Backlight.dev, Specify, Supernova and many more, here. They all deliver value to simplify workflows for setup, integration, documentation and management of Design Systems. This is all super helpful in spreading the love about Design Systems to teams out there, and is a huge benefit to the process side of things. But you... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • free-for.dev
    Backlight — With collaboration between developers and designers at heart, Backlight is a very complete coding platform where teams build, document, publish, scale and maintain Design Systems.Free plan allows up to 3 editors working on 1 design system with unlimited viewers. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Vite in the browser
    Our products: Backlight.dev, Components.studio and WebComponents.dev, are running a server-side bundler optimizer for the past 2 years now. We created a Vite plugin for browser-vite to resolve node dependencies automatically. As of the date of this post, this server-side bundler is not open-sourced. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
View more

Invision mentions (4)

  • The Best 100 Free UI/UX Resources for Every Designer & Developer
    InVision Invisionapp.com Prototyping and collaboration tool with a free plan for up to 3 projects. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Resources for improving UI skills
    Search for UI/Design/Firma Tutorials on YouTube, check out UI related Blog posts on invisionapp.com, check out UI Inspiration muzli. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Migrating to Figma: is there a good alternative to the invisionapp.com website for design documentation and organization?
    We have 100s of different screens to migrate as well as a really large design system, and to date we've been successfully using the invisionapp.com website to keep things really well organized and easy to navigate with tags, pages, etc. We've enjoyed this system so far because it's easy for PMs and Devs to navigate in a website format, without having to learn the design software or get bogged down in artboards. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Best platform for online tutoring?
    Other options: explain everything whiteboard, invisionapp.com. Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Backlight and Invision, you can also consider the following products

Toolabs DSM - Design System Manager plugin for creating themeable designs

Figma - Team-based interface design, Figma lets you collaborate on designs in real time.

Eva Design System - A free customizable design system

Adobe XD - Adobe XD is an all-in-one UX/UI solution for designing websites, mobile apps and more. 

Storybook - Storybook is an open source tool for developing UI components in isolation for React, Vue, and Angular. It makes building stunning UIs organized and efficient.

Marvel - Turn sketches, mockups and designs into web, iPhone, iOS, Android and Apple Watch app prototypes.