This is a really common question that many people new to the industry lead off with.

Unfortunately, the long answer is a huge it depends.

The short answer is - refer to the 2022 UX Tools survey

There is no one-size-fit-all tool.

UX is is a big umbrella term that covers many processes, each with their unique workflows and goals. Generally when people talk about UX design tools, they are referring to either one of the following two:

1. UI design tools
2. Prototyping tools

In the past, Sketch would be considered a UI design software and InVision would be considered a prototyping software. Figma is the one topping all the charts in 2020. It is seen as a hybrid solution which is capable of both designing UIs and creating prototypes to test with.

A tool for every situation

Of course, when you actually start diving into the industry, you will see that there are so many more "types" of UX tools. The tools survey does a pretty great job at breaking it down into the general categories of:

1. Brainstorming - Tools like Miro that you can run workshops with
2. User Flows - Visualization tools like Whimsical to organize ideas
3. UI Design - Tools like Sketch or even Adobe Illustrator could fit in here