The way you present your design work is as important as the work itself.
Not because clients care more about presentation than substance — they care about substance. But because the ability of a client to evaluate substance depends on how well the presentation removes barriers to understanding. A design presented in isolation, without context for how it will actually appear, asks the client to make a cognitive leap that most people struggle with. How big is this? What device will it be on? Will it scroll?
Mockups answer those questions. They place your design in physical and contextual reality — on a device screen, in a browser window, in an App Store listing — so clients and stakeholders can evaluate the work as it will actually appear, not as an abstracted flat image.
But mockups are not neutral. The style of mockup you choose makes an argument about your work. A minimal clay mockup says "the design is what matters here, not the device." A dramatic lifestyle mockup says "imagine this in a real user's hands." A flat device outline says "this is a functional specification, not a creative showcase." Make these choices intentionally.
Mockup Styles and When to Use Each
Minimal / Line Art
Clean outlines of devices with no texture, shadow, or depth. The design inside them is the only visual element.
Use when: Design review sessions where you need clean feedback on the design, not the presentation. Specification documents. Functional prototypes where the device is context rather than showcase.
Clay / 3D
Soft, three-dimensional device shapes in a single matte color (usually gray or white). No screen glare, no reflections.
Use when: Portfolio presentations, award submissions, case study headers. Anything where you want the presentation to look considered and premium without distracting from the design.
Realistic
Photorealistic device renders with accurate lighting, reflections, and material quality.
Use when: The physical reality of the device is important to what you're communicating — when you're showing how a physical product and a digital interface interact, for example.
Lifestyle
Photography of devices in real-world environments — hands holding phones, laptops on desks, tablets in kitchens.
Use when: Marketing and pitch materials where you need emotional connection to the use context. Not for design review.
The 10 Best Free Mockup Resources in 2026
1. Device Mockup Kit (LS Graphics) — The Clean Daily Driver
By: LS Graphics
Available at: Figma Community and lsgraphics.co
Price: Free tier
Devices: iPhone, MacBook, iPad, Android
Style: Minimal
The most useful mockup kit I return to most often is also the simplest. LS Graphics' device mockup kit gives you clean, minimal device frames in light and dark variants — nothing distracting, nothing stylized, just accurate representations of the devices your users will actually hold.
Why minimal wins for most use cases: When a client looks at a mockup, you want their attention on your design, not on the sophistication of the device render. Elaborate device renders compete with the design for visual attention. Minimal frames don't.
The specific file quality: Proper auto layout throughout, easy screen replacement, accurate proportions for current device generations.
View Device Mockup Kit on Mantlr →
2. Clay Device Mockups — For Portfolio Work That Stands Out
By: Bas van der Ploeg and community creators
Available at: Figma Community
Price: Free
Devices: iPhone, MacBook, iPad, Android, iMac
Style: Clay / 3D
Clay mockups have a specific quality that realistic mockups don't: they feel premium without feeling realistic. The soft, matte three-dimensionality reads as "designed" in a way that photographs of devices don't.
For portfolio presentations and award submissions — contexts where you want to signal craft alongside the design work — clay mockups are consistently the most effective choice.
The portfolio presentation sequence that works: One full-width clay mockup as the case study hero, smaller clay mockups showing different screens at key sections, with screen recordings for interactive elements. This structure makes the design feel complete and considered.
3. Browser Mockup Pack — For Web Design Presentations
By: Design+Code and community creators
Available at: Figma Community
Price: Free
Devices: Chrome browser, Safari browser
Style: Minimal / Current design
Finding a clean, current browser window frame is harder than it should be. Most available options are either outdated (showing Chrome's old interface design) or over-styled (dramatic gradients and shadows that distract from the web design inside).
This pack provides current browser window frames in light and dark mode, accurately representing the current Chrome and Safari interfaces, designed to be invisible so the web design is the focus.
The dark variant use case: Developer tools, code editors, design tools, and any product where users default to dark mode. Presenting a dark-mode interface in a dark browser frame looks dramatically more native than placing it in a light frame.
View Browser Mockup Pack on Mantlr →
4. App Store Screenshot Kit — For App Submissions and Pitch Decks
By: Community creators on Figma Community
Available at: Figma Community
Price: Free
Devices: iPhone, iPad
Style: Marketing
App Store screenshots are a distinct design discipline with distinct constraints: specific dimensions (1290×2796px for iPhone 14 Pro Max, others for different generations), five or ten slots, a 3-second window to communicate your product's value proposition to someone scrolling past.
Getting this right has direct, measurable impact on conversion. App Store screenshots are the primary factor in whether someone downloads your app after seeing it in search results.
This kit provides correctly-sized templates with device frames, annotation layers for feature callouts, and example layouts for common App Store screenshot patterns (feature highlight, UI screenshot, before/after).
View App Store Screenshot Kit on Mantlr →
5. Shots.so — Instant Mockups in 30 Seconds
By: Shots.so team
Available at: shots.so
Price: Free (with Pro option)
Style: Multiple styles
Shots.so takes your design screenshot and generates a polished device mockup automatically. Paste a URL or upload an image, choose a device and background, download.
When this is the right choice: Quick turnarounds, social media posts, client updates, internal progress shares. Anything where you need a presentable mockup in under a minute and the quality of the mockup is secondary to the speed.
The free tier is generous. The output quality is consistently good for fast mockup work.
Browse Mockup Resources on Mantlr →
6. Screely — Browser Screenshots Instantly
By: Screely team
Available at: screely.com
Price: Free
Style: Browser window
Screely does one thing: takes any screenshot and wraps it in a browser window frame with a customizable background. Takes 15 seconds.
The specific use case: Sharing web design work on social media, in Slack, in quick client emails. Not for formal presentations — for informal sharing where "this is a web page" context is useful but spending 30 minutes on a proper mockup would be disproportionate.
7. Mockup World — Free Mockup Directory
By: Mockup World team
Available at: mockupworld.co
Price: Free
Style: Various
A curated directory of free mockup downloads across every category — devices, packaging, print, apparel, stationery, and more. Useful for finding specific mockup types that device-focused Figma kits don't cover.
The specific advantage: When you need a mockup of something other than a standard device — a product label on a bottle, a logo on a storefront, a business card on a desk — Mockup World is often the fastest place to find it.
Browse Mockup Resources on Mantlr →
8. Smart Mockups — Automated Mockup Generation
By: Smart Mockups team
Available at: smartmockups.com
Price: Free (limited) / Paid
Style: Multiple
Smart Mockups allows you to upload your design and automatically replace the screen in hundreds of different device and context mockups. Change the design, all mockup variants update automatically.
The workflow advantage for high-volume mockup work: When you need the same design presented in 10 different device and context combinations — a pattern common in brand identity work, app marketing, and client deliverable sets — Smart Mockups' automation is significantly more efficient than creating each mockup manually.
Browse Mockup Resources on Mantlr →
9. Angle — Premium Mockups for Sketch and Figma (Kind of Free)
By: Angle team
Available at: angle.sh
Price: Paid (with free samples)
Style: Realistic and Clay
Angle is a paid mockup resource with a free sample tier. I'm including it because the quality is genuinely exceptional — specifically the realistic device mockups with accurate lighting, reflections, and screen angle options.
For portfolio work at the highest quality level, Angle's paid library is worth considering. The free samples give you enough to evaluate whether the quality matches your needs.
Browse Mockup Resources on Mantlr →
10. Open Doodles — Illustration Mockup Backdrops
By: Pablo Stanley
Available at: opendoodles.com
Price: Free
Style: Hand-drawn illustration
Open Doodles are hand-drawn SVG illustration scenes that serve as warm, friendly backgrounds for mockup presentations. Instead of placing your device mockup on a flat gradient, place it in an illustrated environment — a coffee table setting, a desk scene, an abstract composition.
When this works: Consumer apps with warm, friendly brand aesthetics where the presentation should feel human and approachable. This style is wrong for enterprise tools, financial products, or anything where seriousness matters.
The Mockup Decision Framework
Client design review: Minimal device frames. The focus must be on the design.
Portfolio case study header: Clay mockups. Premium and distinctive.
App Store submission: App Store Screenshot Kit, correctly sized.
Social media sharing: Shots.so or Screely. Fast and good enough.
Marketing and pitch deck: Lifestyle context if available, Clay as default.
Developer handoff: No mockup needed — Figma directly.