Mural
Zeplin
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $12/mo | Free / from $12/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | design-teams, facilitators, consultants, enterprise | design-teams, developers, agencies, product-teams |
| Founded | 2011 | 2014 |
| Sticky Notes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Facilitation Tools | ✓ | ✗ |
| Voting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Timers | ✓ | ✗ |
| Integrations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Design Handoff | ✗ | ✓ |
| Style Guide | ✗ | ✓ |
| Components | ✗ | ✓ |
| Code Snippets | ✗ | ✓ |
| Measurements | ✗ | ✓ |
| Version History | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Mural Pros
- Great facilitation tools
- Extensive templates
- Design thinking focus
- Enterprise ready
✗ Mural Cons
- Expensive
- Can be slow
- Learning curve
✓ Zeplin Pros
- Great handoff tool
- Developer-friendly
- Design system support
- Multi-platform
✗ Zeplin Cons
- Figma reducing need
- Limited design editing
- Fewer updates
The Verdict
Mural is built for design teams and facilitators, with a focus on sticky-notes and templates. Zeplin targets design teams and developers and leads with design-handoff and style-guide.
Both tools come in at similar price points ($12/mo for Mural, $12/mo for Zeplin), so pricing won't make the decision for you.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Both tools are a solid fit for design teams — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.