When comparing Origami vs Invision, the Slant community recommends Origami for most people. In the question“What are the best tools for prototyping mobile interactions/animations?” Origami is ranked 3rd while Invision is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Origami is:
Origami is offered to the public completely free, no monthly plans, no upfront cost whatsoever.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Completely free
Origami is offered to the public completely free, no monthly plans, no upfront cost whatsoever.
Pro Powerful animations and interactions
Origami was actually built to help Facebook designers work on Paper, one of Facebook's latest apps. Every animation that is coded into Origami was first made for Paper. It uses powerful 3D effects and some of the most advanced features for scrolling, tapping and swiping to create a faithful and interactive prototype.
Pro Native testing
Developers can develop their prototypes with origami through their desktops, but the testing itself is done on the native devices.
Pro No code required
Origami is built by designers for designers. As such, it allows for quick prototyping without writing a single line of code.
Pro Open source
Origami is free and open source and it is hosted on GitHub.
Pro Like only-Mac-integration! Great app! Thank you.
Pro Free plan
Invision offers a free plan to anyone that is limited to one project. While the free plan is a bit limited it does allow the user to trial the software for as long as they like to decide on its merits and whether it is worth paying for the more robust options.
Pro Presents designs in a way that mimics an actual web browsing experience
Once uploaded on Invision, the screen will be presented in a way that will behave as an actual web page. This is especially easy for showing the work to clients, more so if compared to just showing them a .PDF, which may make it look like the page is "too crowded".
Pro Supports gestures, transitions & animations for web, iOS & Android
Hotspot links can be created for every page, and once it's done, for each one of them gestures and transitions can be registered.
Invision supports various gesture types: swiping, double tapping, sliding, etc...
Pro Real-time collaboration and VOIP chat
Live Share allows you to collaborate in real-time using an in-browser screen share. Each collaborator gets their own mouse, so you can easily point and see what someone is talking about. You can also sketch, and chat right inside the Live Share interface.
Invision's Live Share gives team members the ability to collaborate in real-time through a screen share inside their browser. Each collaborator has their cursor which they can use and edit or add notes in real-time. On top of that, Invision also has a VOIP chat which works inside the browser.
Pro Design files are automatically synced and their version history tracked
Invision uses Invision Sync or Dropbox to automatically save design files on the cloud. Furthermore, it has version control built in. This is especially helpful if a team is going through different versions for a specific design and they want to return again and again to previous designs.
Pro Great built-in feedback features
Invision allows clients, stakeholders or any team members to leave comments and feedback inside the design which will be displayed as a point on the page itself. These paints can be discussed or even be turned into tasks. This makes it easy for designers to go through what they need to work on, and once it's done, the task can be checked off.
Cons
Con Steep learning curve
Origami is a toolkit for Quartz Composer, and unfortunately the learning curve for it is quite steep. Especially for beginners.
Con Mac only
Since Origami is not an app in and on itself, but a plugin for Quartz Composer, which is built by Apple. Therefore, Origami is only available for Mac and for a developer to download and use it, they need to register as an Apple Developer.
Con Mouse driven interactions
There's no way to directly test the tactile interface.
Con While Invision acts as an all-in-one environment for design, it may become a nuisance
These times, teams are not using just a single app or tool for everything. It's not unheard of for teams to be using up to a dozen different tools for their work. Invision works as an all-in-one environment for product design and unfortunately it does not integrate with other tools. This may be a nuisance for teams that want to integrate different tools in their workflow.
Con Expensive for just a hosting platform
Invision is a tool for building click through prototypes and getting feedback on them, you need to design everything in another app and upload them, it isn't a design tool.