Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Zeplin VS Encore.dev

Compare Zeplin VS Encore.dev and see what are their differences

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Zeplin logo Zeplin

Collaboration app for UI designers & frontend developers

Encore.dev logo Encore.dev

Encore Cloud helps you scale your engineering, not your DevOps.
  • Zeplin Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-19
  • Encore.dev Encore Cloud Dashboard
    Encore Cloud Dashboard //
    2025-02-12

Encore Cloud automates infrastructure and DevOps, letting you ship 3x faster with 90% less DevOps work, using your own cloud on AWS & GCP. โœ“ Get enterprise-grade infrastructure without the complexity and DevOps overhead โœ“ Enable safe AI-assisted development with built-in guardrails โœ“ Gain full visibility across your stack with built-in Service Catalog, API documentation, and tracing

Key Features:

Production-Ready AI Assisted Development: Encore's parser validates all generated code to ensure it correctly implements service and API definitions, infrastructure integrations, etc.

No boilerplate: Encore drastically reduces the boilerplate needed to set up a production ready backend application. Define backend services, API endpoints, and call APIs with a single line of Go code.

Distributed Tracing: Encore instruments your application for excellent observability. Automatically captures information about API calls, goroutines, HTTP requests, database queries, and more. Automatically works for local development as well as in production.

Infrastructure Automation: Encore automatically provisions and manages your cloud infrastructure. Works with all the major cloud providers and you deploy to your own account (AWS/Azure/GCP).

Simple Secrets: Easily store and securely use secrets and API keys. Never worry about how to store and get access to secret values again.

Service Catalog and Automatic API Documentation: Encore parses your source code to understand the schemas for all your APIs and automatically generate interactive API Documentation.

Encore.dev

$ Details
freemium $99.0 / Monthly (Pro, per user)
Platforms
AWS Cloud Web Browser Google Cloud Platform GCP CLI
Release Date
2021 May

Zeplin features and specs

  • Ease of Collaboration
    Zeplin facilitates seamless collaboration between designers and developers by providing a shared space where they can access design specifications, assets, and resources.
  • Design Consistency
    By offering detailed design specifications and exportable assets, Zeplin ensures consistency across different development platforms and helps maintain a unified design system.
  • Automated Asset Export
    Zeplin automatically generates assets in various formats and resolutions, which saves time and reduces the likelihood of errors during the handoff process.
  • Integration with Design Tools
    Zeplin integrates seamlessly with popular design tools like Sketch, Adobe XD, Figma, and Photoshop, making it easy for designers to upload and manage their projects.
  • Version Control
    The platform offers version control for design projects, enabling teams to track changes, revert to previous versions, and ensure they're always working with the most up-to-date designs.

Possible disadvantages of Zeplin

  • Pricing
    Zeplin's subscription model can be costly for smaller teams or individual freelancers, especially when compared to other design handoff tools available in the market.
  • Limited Prototyping Features
    Unlike some other design collaboration tools, Zeplin lacks advanced prototyping features, which might necessitate the use of additional tools for complete design validation.
  • Learning Curve
    New users may require some time to learn Zeplinโ€™s interface and features, which could be a challenge for teams that need to quickly onboard and get up to speed.
  • Dependency on Design Tools
    Zeplin relies heavily on imported designs from other tools rather than allowing for direct design creation within its platform. This dependency could be a limitation for teams looking for an all-in-one solution.
  • Limited Free Tier
    The free version of Zeplin is quite limited in terms of the number of projects and collaborators, which might not be sufficient for larger teams or complex projects.

Encore.dev features and specs

  • Infrastructure Automation
    Encore Cloud automates infrastructure provisioning and deployment in your cloud on AWS and GCP.
  • Automatic API Documentation
    Encore Cloud automatically provides API documentation and a complete Service Catalog for your entire system.
  • Observability
    Encore Cloud provides distributed tracing, metrics, and logs, without requiring any manual instrumentation.
  • AI Enablement
    The Open Source Encore framework extends the capabilities of AI coding tools like Cursor and Copilot, enabling them to create both application and infrastructure.
  • Preview Environments
    Encore Cloud sets up dedicated Preview Environments for each pull request.

Possible disadvantages of Encore.dev

  • Learning Curve
    New users may face a steep learning curve due to the unique concepts and abstractions introduced by Encore.dev.
  • Limited Language Support
    Encore.dev may have limited support for programming languages compared to more established platforms, which could be a drawback for developers using unsupported languages.
  • Opinionated Framework
    The framework is opinionated, which means it imposes specific ways of accomplishing tasks that may not align with all developers' preferences or existing workflows.
  • Dependency on Platform
    Relying on Encore.dev for backend development may lead to platform lock-in, making it difficult to switch to other solutions in the future.
  • Customization Limitations
    The abstraction layers, while simplifying development, may limit customization and flexibility for developers who need more control over the infrastructure and configuration.

Analysis of Zeplin

Overall verdict

  • Zeplin is generally considered a good tool, especially for teams seeking better collaboration between designers and developers. Its features are highly appreciated for accuracy and efficiency in implementing design visions. However, its usefulness might depend on specific team needs and workflows.

Why this product is good

  • Zeplin is a popular tool among designers and developers for its ability to bridge the gap between design and development processes. It excels in organizing design files, annotations, and specifications, making it easier for development teams to implement designs accurately. It integrates seamlessly with design tools like Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD, and provides features like automated design specs, style guides, and assets that streamline the workflow. Its collaborative features allow for efficient communication and feedback loops between team members.

Recommended for

    Zeplin is best suited for designers and developers working in teams where clear design specifications and organized collaboration are critical. It's particularly beneficial for teams using Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD who want to ensure precise design implementation and reduce misunderstandings between design and development departments.

Analysis of Encore.dev

Overall verdict

  • Encore.dev is considered a good choice for developers looking to streamline their backend development process, particularly those who prefer to focus more on code and less on infrastructure management. However, as with any platform, the suitability can vary based on specific project needs and team preferences.

Why this product is good

  • Encore.dev is a platform designed for building backend applications efficiently. It offers features such as automatic infrastructure management, built-in support for microservices, and simplified API development. By focusing on developer productivity, Encore.dev aims to reduce the complexity traditionally associated with cloud development. This can lead to faster deployment times and fewer infrastructural concerns for developers.

Recommended for

  • Developers who are building cloud-native applications
  • Teams looking to reduce time-to-market for backend services
  • Developers interested in an integrated approach to manage infrastructure
  • Companies seeking to implement microservices architecture with minimal overhead

Zeplin videos

Zeplin Basics: Design Systems

More videos:

  • Demo - Zeplin Demo: What is Zeplin? (Video)

Encore.dev videos

Encore.ts is 9x faster than Express.js

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to build and event-driven application with Encore
  • Demo - Encore Framework introduction

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Zeplin and Encore.dev)
Design Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Backend Framework
0 0%
100% 100
Prototyping
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Zeplin and Encore.dev

Zeplin Reviews

Top 5 Zeplin Alternative
As aforementioned, Zeplin suffers some inherent drawbacks that may dent designersโ€™ hopes for faster, easy, and reliable UI design. To avert such scenarios, you donโ€™t have to get stuck with Zeplin as there are numerous other top-notch Zeplin alternatives. The following are some of the top 5 Zeplin alternatives.
Top 6 Figma Alternatives: Prototyping and UI/UX Tools
Zeplin is super affordable. It offers 2 plans: Team, which costs $8.00 per user per month, and Establishment, which costs $16.00 monthly. Zeplin also provides a feature-limited Free Plan and Enterprise Plan.
Source: fronty.com
9 Best InVision Alternatives to Switch to in 2024
Zeplin is a workspace collaboration tool to document what to build and how designs should behave in a central collaborative place for the entire dev team.
Source: designmodo.com
10 Best Adobe XD Alternatives (Free & Paid)
Zeplin is a smart Adobe XD alternative for code lovers. It is a code-based design app where you can source all your components from Storybook, Github, Bitbucket, SourceForge, and other repositories, so they are always code-ready. The app also integrates seamlessly with team collaboration and project management tools like Trello, Proofhub, Monday, Jira, and Slack, offering...
Top 10 Free Adobe XD Alternatives in 2021
One of the top alternatives to Adobe XD is Zeplin, a code-based design tool where your components can be sourced from GitHub, Storybook, and other repositories so they're always code-ready. You can view summaries of your components within your designs and easily see code snippets for how to initialize them. There are also extensive integrations with project management and...

Encore.dev Reviews

10 Top Firebase Alternatives to Ignite Your Development in 2024
Encore is designed for startups building ambitious, event-driven, and distributed systems. If youโ€™re a team that values speed, productivity, and code quality, Encoreโ€™s purpose-built tooling and streamlined workflows will help you move faster and build better backends.
Source: genezio.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Encore.dev should be more popular than Zeplin. It has been mentiond 86 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.

Zeplin mentions (23)

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Encore.dev mentions (86)

  • Git is a file system. We need a database for the code
    This is close to what we're doing with [Encore](https://encore.cloud). The framework parses your application code through static analysis at compile time to build a full graph of services, APIs, databases, queues, cron jobs, and their dependencies. It uses that graph to provision infrastructure, generate architecture diagrams, API docs, and wire up observability automatically. The interesting side effect is that... - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • The End of Heroku: What It Means for Your Apps
    If you want to replicate Heroku's git push workflow while owning your infrastructure, Encore Cloud provisions managed resources in your own AWS or GCP account (powered by Encore, an open-source framework with 11k+ GitHub stars). You declare infrastructure as type-safe objects in your TypeScript or Go code, and Encore provisions the corresponding managed services. Everything else is standard TypeScript or Go. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • An Update on Heroku
    I work at Encore so I'm biased. We've had a bunch of people migrate over from Heroku in the last couple years, especially after they killed the free tier. The main difference from other alternatives is that you don't write any infrastructure config - you just declare what you need in your code (databases, cron jobs, pubsub, etc) and Encore handles provisioning it in your AWS/GCP account (works locally as well... - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • How to Deploy to AWS in 2026
    Most teams should start with the simplest option that meets their needs, then evolve if necessary. If you're building a backend application and don't want to become an infrastructure expert, Encore is worth trying. If you need maximum flexibility or multi-cloud support, Terraform is the industry standard. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Encore Cloud 2.0 - Development Platform for the AI Era
    Today, we're launching Encore Cloud 2.0, a big upgrade to our development platform that understands your code and automates the operations layer. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Zeplin and Encore.dev, you can also consider the following products

Invision - Prototyping and collaboration for design teams

OpenShift - OpenShift gives you all the tools you need to develop, host and scale your apps in the public or private cloud. Get started today.

Axure - The most powerful way to plan, prototype and hand off to developers, all without code. Download a free trial and see why professionals choose Axure RP 9.

CloudStack - Apache's CloudStack is a Project backed by Citrix and designed to be a direct competitor to...

Balsamiq - Balsamiq. Rapid, effective and fun wireframing software.

Docker Compose - Define and run multi-container applications with Docker