Adobe XD Review 2026: Is Adobe XD Still Worth Using?

What Is Adobe XD?

Adobe XD is a vector-based design and prototyping application developed by Adobe and released in 2016. It was Adobe’s response to Sketch’s dominance in the UI/UX design market, offering a purpose-built tool for designing digital interfaces, creating interactive prototypes, and generating developer handoff specs—all integrated within the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem. Adobe XD gained significant adoption among designers already working in the CC suite due to its familiar interface patterns and seamless asset exchange with Photoshop and Illustrator.

Core Features

XD’s Design mode provides vector tools for creating screens and interfaces, with Components (equivalent to Sketch’s Symbols) for reusable UI elements. Repeat Grid enables rapid layout creation by duplicating and automatically spacing a selected element. Responsive Resize adjusts layouts for different screen sizes. The Prototype mode links artboards with interactive transitions including Auto-Animate, which creates smooth morphing animations between two similar artboard states. Share mode generates review links where stakeholders can view prototypes and leave comments, and developer specs including measurements and CSS values.

Integration with Creative Cloud

XD’s Creative Cloud integration is a genuine differentiator. Assets can be imported directly from Photoshop and Illustrator without file conversion. Adobe Fonts are available natively. Shared Libraries in CC enable consistent color swatches, text styles, and components across Adobe applications.

Current Status

Adobe announced in late 2022 that it was pausing new feature development for XD following its planned acquisition of Figma. Although the Figma acquisition was ultimately blocked by regulators in 2023, Adobe has not fully resumed active development of XD. The product continues to receive maintenance updates and remains available for existing subscribers, but it is no longer positioned as a growth product. New teams starting a design tool evaluation should be aware of this trajectory and consider Figma or Sketch as more actively developed alternatives.

Pricing

Adobe XD is included in the full Adobe Creative Cloud subscription ($59.99 per month) and was previously available as a standalone app with a free starter plan. The standalone free plan has been discontinued for new signups. Existing XD users with CC subscriptions continue to have access.

Verdict

Adobe XD served an important role in the UI design market and remains functional for teams already deep in the Creative Cloud ecosystem. However, given the pause in active development, teams making new tool investments should evaluate Figma as the primary alternative. XD is best suited for existing users who have established workflows and are not yet ready to migrate.