zeroheight vs. Invision DSM

The news that Invision DSM is shutting down at the end of 2024 was jarring for the whole community. If you were left looking for a new place to manage your design system, we want to partner with you! The zeroheight platform includes integrations with key design and development tools, allowing you to get to parity quickly. And with advanced features like our design tokens manager you can take your work up a notch.

zeroheight is much more than a platform though. Our team includes folks who have transitioned design system tools before and we’re ready to help you get going as quickly as possible. As you think about next steps, allow us to show you around in a quick demo. We’ve also created a quick comparison between the two platforms below to ensure you have everything you need to weigh your options.

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zeroheight logo

At zeroheight, our passion and focus are on one thing only: providing the best design system management platform in the market. This dedication means we pour all our energy and innovation into ensuring our platform is always at the cutting edge, tailored specifically for design system needs. Every feature, every update, and every bit of support we offer is aimed at enhancing your design system management experience.

As the design world evolves, so do we. Recognizing the community’s shift towards tools like Figma, we’ve deepened our integration to support your work seamlessly. This includes enabling Inspect mode for easier review, showcasing Figma component variants directly within zeroheight, and effortlessly importing Figma variables as design tokens. And for those using Sketch, rest assured, our platform maintains robust support, ensuring no one is left behind. On the development front, zeroheight shines with native support for live code examples and a comprehensive integration with Storybook and GitHub. These integrations bridge the gap between design and development, creating a cohesive workflow that establishes zeroheight as the single source of truth for your design systems.

Invision DSM has played a pivotal role in the design community, providing a broad array of tools for design and prototyping that have underpinned collaboration and innovation across teams.

Invision’s new design system manager (DSM), which launched in 2023, promised an enhanced Sketch integration and features to help teams create a documentation site quickly. For teams who were focused almost completely on serving designers, DSM emerged as a great option. But, for teams who wanted to take the next step to involve both designers and developers in the design system, DSM posed a few challenges.

It was our goal when we started this project with zeroheight to not only make information readily available but also bring design closer to code and code closer to design. As of the end of February 2023 (just nine months after launching the design system in May of 2022), we had saved over 534 days of engineering effort.

Mikaila Weaver, Principal Product Designer on the Design Operations team at Eventbrite

Create a documentation site you can use quickly

We know that clock is ticking on transitioning your work, good thing it’ll be easy to do with zeroheight.
  • Start with pre-built documentation templates or create your own
  • Connect Figma and bring in designs and components plus their associated descriptions and variants
  • Leverage existing developer content by integrating your design system with Storybook and GitHub
  • Embed existing content from Trello, Google Docs, Typeform and more.
  • Create custom integrations that allow your team to automate just about anything (coming soon)

Connect design and development

Include all of the information you need in one place, from both sides of the house.
  • Go from design to development with our end to end design tokens manager which includes the ability to import from Figma, edit tokens with no-code, and automate translation with Style Dictionary
  • Showcase live components from ten different frameworks including React, Vue, and Svelte
  • Improve the design to development handoff with a feature packed Inspect mode

Governance and collaboration, right out of the box

Collect feedback, launch and roll back and versions, and so much more
  • Give stakeholders comment-only access with the Reviewer role
  • Use in-line commenting to collect granular feedback on your documentation before you launch
  • Create unlimited versions of your site, and roll them back when needed

With zeroheight, you get:

  • A team of design system experts. Our team includes Customer Success Managers and Design Advocates who have built dozens of design systems. And when you need more, we’re partnered with some of the best design agencies that can help, too!
  • A relentless focus on security. We’re SOC-2 compliant and maintain ISO 27001. Our users also have access to common sense tools to keep their work secure including SSO, password protection, and trusted IP range.
  • A community of design system enthusiasts. Join our Slack channel (we’re 1,000+ strong), check out one of our events, or join us for the next in-person event to meet a worldwide group of zeroheight champions who are keen to help you get started.
  • A voice in product development. Our users are the driving force in deciding what we build next. Join us and help shape the future of the platform.

How zeroheight and Invision DSM stack up

✍️ Creating design system documentation

  • feature available tick Custom documentation templates
  • feature available tick Version management for your styleguides
  • feature available tick Customization options, including color, typography and appearance
  • feature available tick No-code editor experience
  • feature available tick Pre-made templates to get you started
  • feature available tick AI Assistant to document faster (coming soon)
  • feature available tick Custom documentation templates
  • feature available tick Version management for your styleguides
  • feature available tick Customization options, including color, typography and appearance
  • feature available tick No-code editor experience
  • feature unavailable cross Pre-made templates to get you started
  • feature unavailable cross AI Assistant to document faster (coming soon)

🤞Integrate with design and development tools

  • feature available tick Integrate with all design tools — Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Zeplin & Abstract
  • feature available tick Integrate with code tools, incl. GitHub, Storybook
  • feature available tick Create custom integrations with Zapier
  • feature unavailable cross Integrate with all design tools — Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Zeplin & Abstract
  • feature unavailable cross Integrate with code tools, incl. GitHub, Storybook
  • feature unavailable cross Create custom integrations with Zapier

👷‍ World-class front-end development features

  • feature available tick Render live components in your documentation, no reference site needed
  • feature available tick Import public and private npm packages
  • feature available tick Create editable code examples
  • feature unavailable cross Render live components in your documentation, no reference site needed
  • feature unavailable cross Import public and private npm packages
  • feature unavailable cross Create editable code examples

📋 Robust design system governance & measurement

  • feature available tick User permissions
  • feature available tick Revision history and ability to restore pages
  • feature available tick Commenting
  • feature available tick Version your design system site
  • feature available tick Get feedback directly in your documentation
  • feature available tick Reviewers
  • feature available tick Integrate with third-party analytics (Google Analytics and Hotjar)
  • feature available tick See page views in-platform
  • feature available tick See page ratings in-platform
  • feature available tick User permissions
  • feature available tick Revision history and ability to restore pages
  • feature available tick Commenting
  • feature available tick Version your design system site
  • feature unavailable cross Get feedback directly in your documentation
  • feature unavailable cross Reviewers
  • feature unavailable cross Integrate with third-party analytics (Google Analytics and Hotjar)
  • feature unavailable cross See page views in-platform
  • feature unavailable cross See page ratings in-platform

💁 Customer support for your design system

  • feature available tick User onboarding
  • feature available tick Customer support
  • feature available tick Help center
  • feature available tick Dedicated Customer Success Manager
  • feature available tick Regular webinars, panel discussions and expert advice for customers
  • feature available tick Extensive library of guides and best-practice docs
  • feature available tick Design Advocate support
  • feature available tick Dedicated community of users
  • feature available tick User onboarding
  • feature available tick Customer support
  • feature available tick Help center
  • feature available tick Dedicated Customer Success Manager
  • feature available tick Regular webinars, panel discussions and expert advice for customers
  • feature available tick Extensive library of guides and best-practice docs
  • feature unavailable cross Design Advocate support
  • feature unavailable cross Dedicated community of users

Manage multiple brands or themes in a single site

  • feature available tick Theme management
  • feature available tick Change site appearance based on theme
  • feature available tick Styleguide switcher for easy navigation
  • feature available tick Change site content based on theme
  • feature available tick Theme management
  • feature unavailable cross Change site appearance based on theme
  • feature unavailable cross Styleguide switcher for easy navigation
  • feature unavailable cross Change site content based on theme

Design Token Management

  • feature available tick Import tokens from JSON
  • feature available tick Document Design Tokens
  • feature available tick No-code token editing
  • feature available tick Style Dictionary Integration
  • feature available tick Export as JSON
  • feature available tick Import tokens from Figma Styles
  • feature available tick Import tokens from Figma variables (coming soon)
  • feature available tick Import tokens from GitHub
  • feature available tick Generate GitHub Pull Request
  • feature available tick Import tokens from JSON
  • feature available tick Document Design Tokens
  • feature available tick No-code token editing
  • feature available tick Style Dictionary Integration
  • feature available tick Export as JSON
  • feature unavailable cross Import tokens from Figma Styles
  • feature unavailable cross Import tokens from Figma variables (coming soon)
  • feature unavailable cross Import tokens from GitHub
  • feature unavailable cross Generate GitHub Pull Request