Finding high-quality web app inspiration is more difficult than it sounds. Popular design platforms, such as Dribbble or Behance, offer aesthetically pleasing designs, but they lack UX fundamentals, as there are not meant to be used by real users.

If you go to these platforms looking for web app inspiration, you will definitely find attractive web designs. But none of them will give you real UX directions as they are mostly UI exercises or just for fun works to attract new clients.

So, where do you go if you need web app ideas? If you exclude the above platforms and generalist social networks like Instagram or Pinterest (which we don’t suggest), you will only have two options for finding high-quality web apps:

• Signing up for your preferred web applications and seeking inspiration directly from there.
• Using specialised/niche platforms that collect inspiration from the best web companies.

Both the approaches are quite valid, but if we were you, we would go with the second one because signing up for all the single apps is terribly time-consuming and inefficient. Furthermore, these apps usually need to be filled with real data, and it would take extra time to make the approach worth the effort.

So, since we recommended you go with the second approach, we’ve compiled a list of the best niche websites to find web app inspiration. These places offer inspiration of any kind (e.g., screenshots, flows, UX videos, etc.). You can pay, subscribe, or access them for free, so you can choose your favourite one based on your specific needs and budget.

Where you can get app design inspiration (list + comparison)

SaaS Interface

SaaS Interface is a well-know inspiration platform that offers web app inspiration from the best SaaS companies. The product comprehends a gallery of thousands of application screenshots, and a powerful web app to browse, search, and save the inspiration.

The inspiration on SaaS Interface is categorised into two blocks: pages and components. The first category includes popular page screenshots like dashboards, calendars, pricing, etc. while the component ones, displays common UI elements such as modals, menus, etc.

The product offers accounts for both individuals and teams, and it’s trusted by companies like Webflow, Paddle, Intel, and more.

• Inspiration type: SaaS web apps
• Price: Starts at $49 (one-time payment)
• How it compares: Unlike all the other platforms listed in this article, SaaS Interface does not charge a subscription (which we believe is a good plus these days). It is designed almost exclusively for SaaS product people and includes a fully functional web application.

Nicely Done

Nicely Done is one of the largest web application libraries on this list, showcasing over 50K screenshots across dozens of products and categories. The platform offers app and marketing screens, UI components, and static user flows that cover the most popular UX patterns.

The product is available via a free account (with limited access to screens), and a yearly subscription, which includes everything the platform offers.

• Inspiration type: Web apps and marketing websites
• Price: $300/year
• How it compares: Nicely Done is one of the most exhaustive archives of web and marketing screenshots on the market. The platform appears to be accessible and user-friendly; however, the prices are somewhat higher in comparison to other comparable products.

Mobbin

Mobbin is the most popular library of mobile and web screenshots on the market. It made a name for itself by offering mobile-first inspiration at the beginning and then expanding to the web recently.

The product comprehends three main sections of inspiration (iOS, Android, and Web), and three additional subcategories covering websites, apps, and user flows.

The gallery is available for free, with limited access to only the latest screens, or by a yearly subscription that includes unlimited screens and user flows.

• Inspiration type: Web and mobile apps
• Price: $96/year
• How it compares: If you are looking for mobile-based inspiration, Mobbin is definitely the right product for the job. However, if you are interested in web screens, the cost may not justify the offer at the moment.

Refero

Similar to Mobbin (its direct competitor), Refero is a design research tool that offers real-world examples of web and iOS applications. The product comprises an archive of over 30K screens and three main categories: application pages, UX patterns, and UI elements.

We like that on this platform, all the content is searchable via a powerful filtering system at the top of the page or by sorting by specific company or page type.

• Inspiration type: Web and mobile apps
• Price: $96/year
• How it compares: Refero sits somewhere in the middle of a large repository of web-inspired ideas and a gallery of mobile screenshots. Since the price is the same as Mobbin, you can opt for Refero if you are more interested in web-based screens than mobile apps.

Page Flows

Page Flows is a massive library of dynamic user flows (videos), application screenshots, and emails from the best web and mobile companies. At the time we write this article, the platform is divided into three main areas: user flows (video recordings of popular UX patterns), application screens (static web and mobile images), and emails (a collection of various product communications).

The company gives you the chance to browse content even without an account, but if you want to see more, you have to purchase a yearly or quarterly subscription.

• Inspiration type: Web and mobile apps
• Price: $99/year
• How it compares: Page Flows is, undoubtedly, the most comprehensive resource for video-based user flows on the market. If you are more interested in dynamic recordings than static content, then this platform probably provides everything you need to conduct your UI/UX research.

SaaSFrame

SaaSFrame is a premium archive of product interfaces, web apps, and email sequences for SaaS companies. The platform includes three main sections, and for each, it offers multiple tag-based categories and patterns. With the free tier, users can only see a limited number of examples, and they have to upgrade to access all the designs and screens.

Other functionalities that are worth mentioning, are the light/dark layouts, the top search bar, and the inspiration sorted by companies.

• Inspiration type: SaaS ****web apps and marketing websites
• Price: $120/year
• How it compares: In contrast to other competitors that offer comparable functionalities and inspiration, SaaSFrame appears to be less up-to-date and carries a higher price for the yearly plan.

SaaS Shots

SaaS Shots is a Twitter account that showcases daily examples of great SaaS web apps. The inspiration doesn’t come in a specific order, and they range from application pages, components, and user flows.

Although it may not be comparable to more robust web applications on this list, SaaS Frame is a legit option for anyone who is interested in discovering attractive web-based SaaS applications.

• Inspiration type: SaaS web apps
• Price: Free
• How it compares: You can think of SaaS Frame like a Twitter account that shares web app inspiration every day. It’s not enough if you need to do proper research for a project, but it can be a nice account for finding new app ideas.

UI Garage

UI Garage is a massive and popular library of over 6K web and mobile application screenshots. The product is totally free to use and, in addition to the inspiration, also includes lists of tools, resources, and UI kits for creating user interfaces.

Inspiration-side, the platform comes with three main areas (web, iOS, and Android), and a database of categories for finding specific UI patterns.

For the web, it presents over 1K screenshots, and various top filters to sort the inspiration by relevance, date range, or tag.

There is also the option to sign up to UI Garage to save and sort the inspiration.

• Inspiration type: web and mobile apps, marketing websites, and more.
• Price: Free
• How it compares: The product is definitely worthy of mention in this list, as it’s free and appreciated among designers. Although we acknowledge the full accessibility of the product, we cannot consider it a valuable resource for web app research, as the screenshots are limited and not up-to-date.

Final thoughts and conclusion

We trust that the comparison between the different players in the web app inspiration market has given you enough context to choose your favourite platform for doing product design research.

Although we generally don’t like to express our preferences when writing these lists, we would like to make an exception and mention what the best options are in our opinion (we tested them all):

1. SaaS Interface or Nicely Done if you’re looking for SaaS web app inspiration.
2. Mobbin and Refero if you are equally seeking for mobile and web app inspiration.
3. Page flows for dynamic users flows and patterns (web and mobile).
4. SaaS Shots for free web app inspiration (SaaS).

If you’re looking for similar lists for creating beautiful websites or landing pages, we recommend reading 25 Examples of Beautiful Product Landing Pages, or 10 Inspiration Sites Every Landing Page Lover Should Bookmark.

Want to browse a gallery directly? Have a look at our collection of landing page inspiration.