Create Great Graphics in Seconds with these 6 Mockup Generators

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Product mockups are great for online marketing. You can use them to show off your t-shirt designs, on sales pages, as a social media graphic for Pinterest, or to showcase your app or website. The problem is they are a pain to create. Most people either turn to their ‘go-to’ designer or spend a frustrating 30 minutes using a professional graphic design tool or a Photoshop alternative.

At least that used to be the case with me. Thankfully that’s changed; modern mockup generators allow you to create your designs in-house.

What Are Mockup Generators?

Mockup generators are a software solution that allows you to easily insert whatever image you want onto a design without needing any design skills. A classic example is the three-click insert of your product and logo onto a 3D box, or a screenshot of your website onto a laptop, like on the image below.

More modern mockup generators do basically the same thing, except you can insert Gifs within the product mockup or even add whatever you want, say the logo of your company with a Gif maker, or into a video. It’s a really smart way of advertising that helps put your product in context, which is why these solutions are so popular.

What Should You Look for From a Mockup Generator

A mockup generator should have a wide range of features. It should be able to generate different types of mockups, such as prototypes and interactive prototypes. You might want clothing mockups, computer mockups, banners, etc. You’ll want in context mockups, and isolated mockups too.

The mockup generator should be easy to use and understand for non-technical people. This means that it should provide an intuitive user interface that is easy to navigate. Furthermore, it should be possible to create mockups with a click of the mouse. Exporting your finished mockup should be just as easy.

Best Mockup Generators

To help you choose the best mockup generator we created a shortlist of the products currently on the market.

SoftwareStarting FromFunctionalityBiggest Problem
Mockzign$39 LifetimeDesktop app for creating image mockups.None
Smart Mockups$14 a monthDesktop app for creating image mockups.Limited number of exports.
DropMock
$47 a month
Website solution for creating video and image mockups.
Pay by design.
PlaceIt
$29 a monthWebsite solution for creating video and image mockups.Pay by design.
Mockuuups$9 a packageOnline app for creating image mockups.Only pay by design.
Vexels Mockup Generator$10 a monthOnline mockup appNo major drawbacks

You can scroll through the post and read a longer review of each of the product mockup generators below. Keep in mind we tested each product on this list. Hopefully, this means our reviews give you more insight and will help you make the best choice. We’ll start with my favorite mockup generator.

Mockzign

Mockzign is a desktop app for Mac and PC. It was built by a software company that specializes in graphics software. They’ve created a suite of Zign tools – there’s Youzign, Mockzign, Gifzign, and a lot more besides. As you’d expect from a company that specializes in graphics platforms, Mockzign is a solid product.

The platform is really easy to use with 112 mockup templates to choose from. These mockups cover every conceivable type of situation. Like the other tools on this list, you can insert and image you want into a mockup with a click of a button. There are also handy cropping features so you can make sure your image looks just right.

Mockzign is a part of Zsuite, which is a graphics toolkit that incorporates all of the Zign graphics tools. You have cinemagraph software, graphic design software, and more. You can purchase it through Zsuite if you want. However, I recommend picking up a lifetime deal for $39 through Dealify instead. The link for that is below.

Smart Mockups

Smart Mockups is a desktop app for Mac and PC. The UI looks like it was developed by Apple. It’s minimalist, functional, and organized. The downside of Smart Mockups is you need an Internet connection to access the software (though this shouldn’t be a big issue as all of the mockup generators on this list need an Internet connection).

The functionality of the software depends on the price plan you’re on. The free plan gives you access to a stock library of 200 product mockups, though the app has limited functionality. The Premium account costs $9 a month and the team plan $29. For being a paying user you get access to 700+ product mockups, plus some cool extra features. This includes the ability to grab a screenshot of a URL and place it into any mockup in one click, crop images, and export in one of four sizes.

Compared to the competition SmartMockups is one of the best product mockup generators around. You can create unlimited product mockups as a free or premium customer. Plus the software is being constantly updated with new features and graphics. You can read a review of SmartMockups here.

DropMock

DropMock was created by a team of Internet Marketers. It’s as versatile as a Swiss Army Knife. You can use DropMock to create demo videos, Image Mockups, and a scene generator (this last feature is not available with the other mockup generators on this list).

Compared to the one-time price used by Smart Mockups Dropmock is expensive. Subscription costs $45 a month or $297 a year. If you want to create video mockups it’s worth signing up to DropMock. Otherwise, just get Smart Mockups (it’s cheaper after all).

PlaceIt

PlaceIt was one of the first product mockup generators. It has the largest library of images to choose from (2800+ images and growing). Like DropMock you can use it to create product mockup videos. Unfortunately, the pricing is very steep, with unlimited video downloads costing $199 a month!

The only positive thing about the pricing for PlaceIt is that you can pay by the image. This is helpful if you need to create a product mockup once in a blue moon. Given the high price point and the great alternatives, there is no other reason for using PlaceIt.

Mockuuups

Overlooking the silly name for a moment (seriously, if you can’t get a good URL don’t just start adding random extra letters and expect people to remember it!)… Mockuuups is a desktop-based product mockup generator software for Mac and PC. The software comes with 300 ready to use image mockups and uses the same one-click import solution as the other software options on this list.

Unfortunately, Mockuuups just isn’t as good as the other premium software solutions on this list. The developers charge $9 a month for access to the software, which is fine but… Mockuuups doesn’t let you create mockup videos like the other paid options on the list. Also, they have a smaller image library than Smart Mockups.

Free Mockups

While I’ve spent most of this article focused on premium iPhone, tablet, and other mockup generators, it would be rude not to point out there are a bunch of great ‘mostly’ free options. A few of the good ones include Dunnnk, MockDrop, and MockupsJar (there are more options available, but these are the best of the bunch).

The free mockup generator software options that we shared are basic. They don’t have large libraries of mockup images to choose from, after all, they are free. However, it’s a lot easier to use one of these solutions to create a custom mockup image than booting up Photoshop.

Vexels

If you’re looking for Merch-related mockups, Vexels’ Mockup Generator is one of the best options without a doubt. Featuring hundreds of high-quality mockups for Merch businesses including t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, and printables, you can tell they work hard to establish themselves as a go-to design platform for print-on-demand and eCommerce sellers across the globe.

While they don’t have video mockups available yet, they also got Design, Seasonal and Branding mockups. They upload new mockups on a weekly basis, so expect their offer to grow in the future.

To download Vexels mockups you need to have an active subscription (they have monthly and annual plans), but you can try out the tool for free. What a treat.

A Few Thoughts

There are a lot of great mockup generators on the market. My favorite for images is Smart Mockups. It’s a great product with a really large, and ever-expanding image library with an intuitive user interface. For video mockups I recommend Dropmock. Again, a great selection of video mockups.

For more useful tools for online business owners, check out our guide to the best video logo makers, and video marketing tools. You might also want to check out our roundup of the online logo makers.

Hope you like our content. If you feel you have a solution that should be on this list, shoot us an email. We want to make our articles as comprehensive as possible.

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About the author

Nicholas Prins

I'm the founder of Launch Space. We work with global companies helping them scale lead generation through SEO and content marketing. Head over to the homepage to find out more.

By Nicholas Prins