Maqetta
Wireframing software
WYSIWYG editors
Software design software
Editor software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
Take the quiz to check if Maqetta and its alternatives fit your requirements.
Completely free
Free Trial unavailable
Free version
Small
Medium
Large
-
What is Maqetta
Maqetta is a browser-based WYSIWYG editor for designing HTML5 user interfaces, with an emphasis on Dojo and related widget-based UI development. It supports visual layout, drag-and-drop UI composition, and generation of front-end code that developers can extend. Typical users include front-end developers and UI designers who want a visual authoring environment tied to web standards and a specific JavaScript UI framework ecosystem. The project is best known as an open-source tool rather than a continuously updated commercial design platform.
Browser-based visual UI authoring
Maqetta runs in the browser and provides a visual editor for composing web UI screens without requiring a heavy desktop install. It supports drag-and-drop layout and property editing for UI components. This can speed up early UI construction when teams want a WYSIWYG workflow that outputs web code. It is oriented toward building working UI artifacts rather than only static diagrams.
Generates editable HTML/CSS output
The tool produces HTML/CSS (and related assets) that developers can inspect and modify outside the editor. This makes it usable in workflows where hand-editing and integration into a broader codebase are required. Compared with purely diagram-centric tools, the output is closer to implementation artifacts. It can reduce rework when moving from mockups to front-end development.
Dojo-centric widget support
Maqetta is designed around Dojo and widget-based UI construction, which can be valuable for teams maintaining applications in that ecosystem. The editor’s component model aligns with building screens from reusable widgets. This can help enforce consistency across screens when the underlying UI library is standardized. It is a more framework-specific approach than many general-purpose whiteboard or wireframing tools.
Limited modern product evolution
Maqetta is primarily known as an open-source project and does not present the same pace of feature delivery as actively developed commercial design suites. Teams may encounter gaps relative to current expectations such as real-time multi-user collaboration, modern design systems management, and integrated handoff workflows. Long-term maintenance and compatibility planning typically fall more on the adopting organization. This can increase risk for new deployments.
Narrow framework alignment
The product’s strengths are tied to Dojo and a widget-based approach, which can be a constraint for teams using other modern front-end stacks. Organizations standardized on different frameworks may find the generated structure and component assumptions less transferable. This reduces its fit as a general-purpose wireframing or UI design tool across diverse teams. It is better suited to specific legacy or Dojo-centric environments.
Less suited to early ideation
Maqetta focuses on building UI screens with implementation-oriented artifacts, which can be heavier than low-fidelity wireframing for rapid brainstorming. It does not emphasize broad canvas collaboration, sticky-note ideation, or diagramming workflows common in visual collaboration suites. Teams that prioritize workshop-style discovery may need separate tools for that stage. As a result, it may not cover the full design-to-delivery lifecycle by itself.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Open-source / Free Pricing details: Maqetta is an open-source project distributed under a commercial-friendly open source license. The software and source code are available for download and self-hosting; there are no paid subscription tiers or usage-based fees listed on the official site. The Dojo Foundation previously offered free hosted Maqetta but the free web hosting service was suspended in February 2014.
