Why Onlook — Onlook
How Onlook compares
No other tool gives designers this much power on the real product. Every alternative makes you trade away the code, the collaboration, the design system, or the craft.
Onlook vs Alternatives
| Factor | Alternatives | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it’s for | Designers and engineers who maintain a design system and care about craft | Anyone who wants a quick prototype from a prompt |
| Starting point | Your real components, on a canvas | A prompt that generates an isolated prototype, not-attached to the codebase |
| Source of truth | Your codebase, uploaded via your preferred code hosting provider | A design file, a proprietary format, isolated html/css/js, or a local artifact that is not attached to the codebase |
| Stack | Your framework, your styling system, your conventions. Next.js, Vite, Remix, Astro, Tailwind, vanilla CSS, all supported. | Locked into the tool’s framework and the tool’s styling system. Both come pre-chosen, both are fixed. |
| Component library | The Storybook your team already maintains | A new copy of the library you build inside the tool, or a synthesized view of your code |
| How designers work | Compose on an infinite canvas of real components, within your own defined system that consistently outputs excellent design. | Type a prompt and accept the first result from a raw model query |
| Where AI lives | On the canvas, editing the real components alongside designers | Outside the codebase, generating detached artifacts you have to wrangle into your codebase later |
| Source format | Your real React components — no proprietary file format | A proprietary design file or platform-locked artifact |
| Design system | Your real design tokens, defined in your code | A parallel design system that drifts from your production code |
| MCP | A read-write MCP across your canvas, components, tokens, and code. | Most tools ship a shallow MCP or none at all. |
| Design harness | A configurable, AI-native design harness. Layer in your team’s design context and persistent memory for highly customizable AI output | Single-mode, one-dimensional prompting. What you type is what you get, with no way to layer your team’s craft into the AI |
One source of truth
Every visual change you make produces actual code in actual files. No parallel design system, no drift between the mockup and the live product. The thing on the canvas is the thing in production.
No new file format
Onlook reads the React components in your repo as-is. There is no proprietary format to learn, no migration to manage, no export step. If you ever outgrow Onlook, the code is already yours.
AI-native
AI is built into every interaction on the canvas — generate, restyle, and restructure with natural language while keeping the precision of a visual editor. The intelligence lives where the design happens.
For the love of the craft
For the art kids who got told they cared too much.
For the ones who chase a feeling, not a brief.
For the makers who treat color like a material, and type like a tool.
For the people who refuse to ship “close enough.”
We built Onlook for you.
Frequently asked questions
When should I use Onlook?
Use Onlook when you have designers who maintain a design system on a real React codebase and want to iterate on the actual product — not static mockups that get translated later, not a prompt-generated prototype that doesn’t respect your tokens or components. Onlook fits teams where designers, engineers, and AI need a shared surface to work on the same code.
How much does Onlook cost?
See onlook.com/pricing for current plan details and to join the waitlist.
How is Onlook different from other AI design tools?
Most AI design tools start from a prompt and generate a prototype. That’s useful for quick ideas, less useful for designers who maintain a system and care about craft. Onlook starts from the components you already have. The canvas shows your real code; designers edit the actual product instead of accepting what AI generated; engineers pull the work into the codebase when they’re ready.
Does Onlook introduce a new file format?
No. There is no proprietary file format, no second source of truth, no migration cost. Onlook reads the React components in your repo as-is. If you outgrow Onlook or stop using it, your code is already yours — nothing to export, nothing to convert.
How does Onlook fit alongside Figma?
Figma is great for early ideation, brand work, and abstract sketching. Onlook picks up where Figma ends — when the work needs to become a real product. Many teams use both; the two tools serve different stages of the design lifecycle.
Who owns the code I work on in Onlook?
You do. Onlook operates on the components in your own repository — there is no proprietary file format, no parallel platform, and no second copy of your code living somewhere else. If you stop using Onlook, your work is already in your repo.
Who is Onlook for?
Design engineers and design technologists. Product designers and UI designers who own how the product looks and feels. Frontend engineers who care about code quality and component architecture. Founders, design leaders, and agency principals who want their team to ship faster with the same headcount.