Awesome Design Tools vs design-resources-for-developers
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A curated, categorized list of design tools and links to plugins, UI kits and conferences.
Open source · MIT
A curated, link-only list of free and paid design resources: stock photos, templates, CSS frameworks, UI libra
The short answer
Choose Awesome Design Tools if you need…
- Designers looking for a tool for a specific task such as color contrast checking or wireframing
- Developers who want to find accessibility testing or design-to-code tools
- Teams comparing free or open-source design options
- People starting out who want an overview of the design tool landscape
Choose design-resources-for-developers if you need…
- Developers who need a UI component library or CSS framework and want to compare options
- Designers looking for free illustration, pattern, or icon sources
- People building a landing page or prototype who need quick visual assets
- Anyone who wants a starting point for finding design tools before searching elsewhere
Side-by-side
| Awesome Design Tools | design-resources-for-developers | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Curated list | Curated list |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 41.7k | 67.3k |
| Setup difficulty | Beginner | Beginner |
| How you get it | Read it online | Read it online |
| Main language | JavaScript | — |
| Last code update | 2 years ago | 19 days ago |
What each one is
Awesome Design Tools
This is a community-maintained directory of design tools, organized by category such as accessibility, prototyping, icons, fonts and wireframing. Each entry is a short description with a link to the tool and labels for free, open-source and Mac-only tools. It is a reference list you browse rather than software you install.
design-resources-for-developers
This is a long, categorized list of links to design and front-end resources, such as illustration sites, icon sets, stock photos, HTML/CSS templates, CSS and React UI libraries, and online design tools. It is a reference you browse rather than software you install. The README notes that new submissions are currently paused and the list is kept as a maintained reference.
Best for
Awesome Design Tools
- Designers looking for a tool for a specific task such as color contrast checking or wireframing
- Developers who want to find accessibility testing or design-to-code tools
- Teams comparing free or open-source design options
- People starting out who want an overview of the design tool landscape
design-resources-for-developers
- Developers who need a UI component library or CSS framework and want to compare options
- Designers looking for free illustration, pattern, or icon sources
- People building a landing page or prototype who need quick visual assets
- Anyone who wants a starting point for finding design tools before searching elsewhere
Strengths
Awesome Design Tools
- Organizes a large number of tools into clear categories with a searchable table of contents
- Marks free, open-source and Mac-only tools with labels so you can filter quickly
- Links to related lists for plugins, conferences and UI kits
design-resources-for-developers
- Broad coverage across many design categories in one place
- Organized into clear sections with a table of contents
- Licensed under MIT, so the list itself is freely reusable
Not ideal for
Awesome Design Tools
- Anyone who needs a single installable program, since this is a list of links to other projects
- People who need up-to-date details on each tool, because the README is a partial, truncated snapshot and the repository's last push was in July 2024
- Readers who want plugins specifically, which the README says are kept in a separate Awesome Design Plugins file
design-resources-for-developers
- People looking for a single installable tool, since this is only a list of links to other sites
- Anyone who needs guaranteed-current information, because the README says it relies on maintainers to fix broken links and outdated descriptions
- Users who need license details, since this README does not specify terms for each linked resource and you must check each one
Trade-offs
Awesome Design Tools
- Being a list, it does not evaluate or test the tools it links to, and the README notes the project's ownership changed when it joined Abstract
- The README provided here is truncated, so the full set of categories and entries could not be verified
- Linked tools may change or disappear, and the list depends on community pull requests for updates
design-resources-for-developers
- It contains links only, so each resource has its own license and terms to check
- The README says submissions are paused, so newer resources may not be added
- Some listed items are described as premium or paid, so free status must be verified
Getting started
Awesome Design Tools
Clone the repository locally (optional)
git clone https://github.com/goabstract/Awesome-Design-Tools.gitdesign-resources-for-developers
Clone the repository locally
git clone https://github.com/bradtraversy/design-resources-for-developersFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Awesome Design Tools and design-resources-for-developers?
Awesome Design Tools: A curated, categorized list of design tools and links to plugins, UI kits and conferences. design-resources-for-developers: A curated, link-only list of free and paid design resources: stock photos, templates, CSS frameworks, UI libra. Awesome Design Tools suits designers looking for a tool for a specific task such as color contrast checking or wireframing, while design-resources-for-developers suits developers who need a ui component library or css framework and want to compare options.
Are Awesome Design Tools and design-resources-for-developers free?
Awesome Design Tools: Free and open source. design-resources-for-developers: Free and open source.
Is Awesome Design Tools or design-resources-for-developers more popular?
design-resources-for-developers has more GitHub stars (67.3k) than Awesome Design Tools (41.7k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.