Adobe XD is in maintenance mode. Older articles about its Starter plan and seven-day trials may not describe what a new or existing account can access today. This guide explains the historical feature context and the checks to make before using XD or choosing an alternative.
Start by checking your Adobe account entitlement and whether the sharing and collaboration features required for your project remain available.

Source: Adobe
Part 1. Adobe XD access and historical trial information
A historical Adobe XD trial or Starter plan is not a current availability promise. Check Adobe’s account and product guidance for your access; do not assume a new account can obtain the offer shown in an older screenshot.

Source: Adobe
The following sections describe XD’s design workflow. Availability for your account must be checked separately.
1. Offers collection of design tools
Adobe XD offers a collection of different design tools that can maximize the creative workflow of a designer. You can add in user flows to create interactions between your UI/UX designs and optimize your photoshop skills to create beautiful artwork. Moreover, you can make use of its smart controls and with only a few clicks, you can be more efficient in your design process.
2. Access to tutorials to get the hang of the interface
Adobe’s XD tutorials explain tasks such as gradients, shadows, animation and prototyping. The availability of learning material does not establish entitlement to the application or access to individual support.
3. Collaborate with other team members
Lastly, a design tool isn’t complete if you can’t share your work and collaborate with your team. In this ever-changing market and with the volume of complicated design projects coming in for designers, Adobe XD helps teams to collaborate in real time using the interface’s built-in tools. As a result, allowing teams to work in harmony and fulfill their projects.
Part 2. Check access, sharing and export requirements
Before relying on an existing XD account, confirm the following conditions with Adobe’s current account guidance. Historical limits shown in screenshots may differ from your entitlement.
2.1 Pros

Source: Adobe
Part 3. Adobe XD Free: A Better Alternative?
If XD no longer meets your access or workflow requirements, evaluate an alternative using a representative design file and a small collaboration task.
Pixso supports collaborative UI design and prototyping. Its free access, paid features and usage limits should be checked against current Pixso pricing.

Here are the key features of Pixso:
Check the available plan
Check the current limits for drafts, team files, seats, templates and AI usage before choosing a Pixso plan. Start with the functions available to your account and verify that they cover the proposed project.
Team collaboration has never been this easy
Pixso is a great collaborative tool that provides built-in sharing tools similar to giants like Figma. As a result, teams of different sizes can collaborate effectively in real time.
Optimized design experience
Pixso offers a wide array of design tools that help creative designers such as yourself to tackle projects with ease. You can design wireframes, add accurate layers, menus, CTA buttons, color gradients, drop shadows, and much more. Moreover, Pixso has its own design community where you can get ample free resources done by other creative designers.
Importing and exporting files with ease
Check the import menu for the source format and version. After import, inspect text, vector shapes, components and interactions; check export formats separately. Code output needs engineering review before use in an application.
Built-in auto layout feature to streamline designs
When it comes to efficiency, Pixso simply brings more of that into every designer’s life. Pixso has a built-in auto layout feature so designers can scale their content on different screen sizes. As a result, you will save hours and hours of work and design responsive website designs.
Get everything done in one app
You can get every task done using Pixso’s web app. Most importantly, you can preview prototype interactions without needing to download any apps. Thus, making it so easy to edit your prototypes.
Conclusion
Use current account guidance to establish XD availability. If you evaluate Pixso, test the required design and collaboration tasks and confirm the plan limits before committing.