Figma
FreeThe industry-standard collaborative design tool. Vector editor, prototyping, components, and dev mode. If you work in product design, you need Figma installed as a PWA.
How to install Figma as a PWA
Frequently asked questions about Figma
What makes Figma different from Sketch or Adobe XD?
Figma runs entirely in the browser with real-time multi-cursor collaboration as a first-class feature, where Sketch is macOS-only and Adobe XD has effectively been deprecated since 2023. Figma's component system (variants, properties, auto-layout) is the most advanced in the market, enabling true design systems at scale. Sketch is still preferred by some macOS-only studios for performance on large files; Figma wins for any team that has a remote member, a Windows user or a stakeholder who just needs to look.
Is Figma free?
Figma's free Starter plan supports 3 editors, 3 design files, unlimited FigJam whiteboards, unlimited viewers and the full feature set. Professional plans start at $15/editor/month for unlimited files, shared team libraries and version history. Organization ($45/editor/month) adds SSO, design-system analytics and admin controls. Enterprise pricing is custom. Free is genuinely enough for solo designers and freelancers; teams of 4+ designers typically need at least Professional.
How does Figma compare to Penpot?
Penpot is the open-source Figma alternative — self-hostable, free, with SVG as the native file format. Penpot has caught up on core vector editing and basic prototyping, but trails Figma on: component variants and properties, plugin ecosystem (Figma has thousands), Dev Mode and design-token integration. Choose Penpot for data sovereignty, open standards or to avoid Figma's per-seat pricing at scale; choose Figma for the broadest tooling ecosystem and the largest pool of trained designers.
Does Figma work offline?
Limited. Figma is fundamentally cloud-based — files live on Figma servers and real-time collaboration requires connectivity. If you have a file open when the network drops, you can continue editing locally for a while, but new files cannot be created and many features (libraries, comments, version history) require connectivity. For genuine offline design, Penpot self-hosted on a local network or Sketch with iCloud sync are better fits.
Is Figma used in production by major teams?
Figma is the default design tool at Microsoft, Google (large parts), Airbnb, GitHub, Stripe, Linear, Notion, Vercel and effectively every YC-backed startup. Public case studies cover Microsoft Fluent, Spotify's design system, and Shopify's Polaris. Figma's IPO filing in 2025 reported >$600M ARR, signalling deep enterprise penetration. For most product roles, fluency in Figma is now a baseline expectation.
Where Figma is heading (12-24 months)
- →Tighter Adobe integration (post-merger-termination) may still happen via partnerships, especially for Photoshop assets in Figma.
- →AI-assisted design (Figma AI, launched in beta 2024) is the major roadmap bet — quality of generated layouts will determine its strategic moat against Uizard and Galileo.
- →Native code-export (full React/Vue components from Dev Mode) is the holy grail and would compress the design-to-code handoff dramatically.
Related questions
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini usually suggest these next.
- How does Figma's pricing scale for a team of 20 designers?
- Can Figma replace a dedicated prototyping tool like ProtoPie?
- How do I migrate a Sketch library into Figma?
- What is Figma Dev Mode and is it worth the $15/dev/month?
- How do I self-host an open-source alternative to Figma?
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