We make GetRef, so read this comparison with that in mind. We have tried to be straight about where each design reference manager is the right answer, including where it is not us. Prices change often and we have deliberately left them out; check each site for current numbers. If you are weighing Eagle vs mymind, or looking for the best app to save design inspiration, the short version is that each reference manager for designers makes a different trade, and a design asset manager is not the same thing as a reference library.
Three tools, three different ideas
Eagle, mymind and GetRef all let you save design references and find them later. They disagree about almost everything else, and the disagreements are the useful part when you are choosing.
Eagle is a local library. Your files live on your machine, organised by folders, tags and smart filters, with unusually good tools for browsing images, fonts and colours.
mymind is a personal memory. Save anything from anywhere, it is tagged automatically, no folders exist, and you find things by describing them. It is private and deliberately calm.
GetRef is a reference library for designers. Save from the browser, Figma or a paste, it is read and tagged on the spot, and you search by what you remember. It borrows mymind's no-folders idea and Eagle's focus on design work, and adds the imports designers actually need.
If you want the thinking behind these trade-offs before the tools, start with how to save design references.
How they compare on the things that matter
Rather than a feature grid, here is how each handles the six jobs a design reference manager actually has to do.
- Capture. Eagle: browser extension plus a running desktop app, or drag and drop. mymind: extension, share sheet, paste. GetRef: paste, Chrome extension on Pro, import from Figma and bookmarks.
- Organising. Eagle: folders, tags and smart folders, all manual. mymind: automatic tags, no folders. GetRef: automatic tags in design vocabulary, optional collections, no folders.
- Search. Eagle: by filename, tag, colour, shape and format, fast and local. mymind: by description, with automatic tags and text recognition. GetRef: by description, with automatic tags and text recognition tuned to interface screenshots.
- Where the library lives. Eagle: one machine, unless you sync the folder yourself. mymind: the cloud, any device. GetRef: the cloud, any browser.
- Privacy. Eagle: entirely local. mymind: private, no social layer. GetRef: private, nothing shown to others, nothing sent to a third-party AI service.
- Scope. Eagle: images, fonts, video, any file. mymind: anything you want to remember. GetRef: design references specifically.
Eagle
Eagle is the power user's choice. It is a desktop app for Mac and Windows with a one-time purchase, and it is fast in a way that browser tools rarely are. Filtering thousands of images by colour, shape or format is instant. Font management is built in. If you keep large asset libraries, textures, icons, stock, or reference illustration, it is excellent, and none of the other two really compete on that job.
The trade-offs follow from being local. Your library is on one machine unless you sync the folder yourself. Saving from the web means the browser extension talking to the desktop app, which has to be running. Organisation is still folders plus tags, so the filing decisions are yours. And tagging is manual: Eagle does not read your screenshots for you, so the half-remembered screenshot problem is still yours to solve.
Right for: illustrators, brand designers, and anyone with a large local asset library who works from one machine.
mymind
mymind is the closest thing to "just remember this for me". Save a link, image or note from anywhere. It is tagged automatically, there are no folders to choose, and the search understands rough descriptions. It is private, has no social layer and no feed, and the design is quiet enough to disappear.
The trade-offs are scope and price. mymind is a general tool for everything you might want to remember, not a design tool, so it does not import from Figma, does not know what a pricing page is, and treats a screenshot of a dashboard the same as a recipe. It is subscription only, positioned for a broad audience, with a trial rather than a permanent free plan.
Right for: people who save widely across work and life and want one calm place for all of it.
GetRef
GetRef takes mymind's model and points it at design work specifically. Save with a paste, a click or an import, and each reference is read and tagged automatically: what it is, what field, how it looks. Search by describing what you remember. There are no folders, tags are generated for you, and nothing you save is shown to anyone else or sent to a third-party AI service.
Because it is built for designers, it imports directly from Figma files and browser bookmarks, and the tag vocabulary is design language: dashboard, pricing, onboarding, dark, editorial. The free plan holds fifty references and three collections with tagging and search included, so you can find out whether the habit sticks before paying. Pro removes the limits and adds the Chrome extension for saving from any page.
The trade-offs: it is newer than the other two, it is a web app rather than a native desktop library, and it is not trying to manage fonts or large asset collections. If Eagle's use case is yours, Eagle is better at it, and we would rather you knew that than found out after a month.
Right for: product and UI designers who collect references from the web and Figma and want them findable without filing.
Which design reference manager should you choose
- You work from one machine with big image and font libraries: Eagle.
- You save everything about everything and want one calm memory: mymind.
- You collect UI and web references and want them findable without effort: GetRef.
- You mostly want a design-only discovery feed rather than a library: see our Pinterest alternatives for designers.
All three are better than a screenshots folder. The right one is the one you will still be using in a month, and the only way to know that is to import your pile and try to find something specific. Pick the tool that passes that test, not the one with the longest feature list.
Common questions
- Which design reference manager is better for designers, Eagle or mymind?
- Eagle if you want a fast local library on one desktop machine, especially for large image, font and asset collections. mymind if you want to save anything from anywhere with automatic tagging and never manage files. They solve different problems, which is why many designers try both.
- What is a good alternative to Eagle?
- If you want Eagle’s speed without a local library, GetRef and mymind both save from the browser, tag automatically and search by description, with your library available on any machine. If you specifically need font management and colour filtering across thousands of local files, Eagle remains the stronger tool.
- What is the difference between GetRef and mymind?
- Both save anything, tag it automatically and search by description. GetRef is built specifically for design references: it imports directly from Figma and bookmarks, uses a design vocabulary for tags, and has a free plan of fifty references. mymind is a broader personal-memory tool with a longer track record and a trial rather than a free tier.
- Is GetRef free?
- The free plan holds fifty references and three collections, with automatic tagging and search included. Pro removes the limits and adds the Chrome extension for saving from any page.
