By Bogdan Rancea
I’ve used quite a few cloud-based design tools in the past, from Adobe XD to Sketch, but Figma is definitely one of my favorites.
Figma is one of the most “collaborative” design tools around, great for bringing teams together on website design projects, prototypes and wireframes.
It’s also one of the more affordable design tools around. Not only is there a free plan for beginners, but the premium plans, ranging from $15 to $75 per user per month, are great value for money.
The question is – which Figma pricing plan is going to give you the most bang for your buck?
This Figma pricing guide should help you make the right decision based on your specific goals, budget, and feature requirements. Let’s dive in.
Figma Pricing Overview:
Core Plans:
- Starter Team: $0 – Ideal for initial experimentation
- Professional Team: $15 per user / per month – Best for small to mid-sized businesses
- Organization: $45 per user / per month – Perfect for larger teams
- Enterprise: $75 per user / per month – Best for full-scale enterprise companies
Extras:
- Figma Slides: Free on Starter plans or $3-$5 per month
- FigJam: Ranging from free to $5 per month
How Much Does Figma Cost?
Figma, the cloud-based design platform, has four core plans to choose from – there’s a free plan, “Starter Team” for beginners, and three premium plans.
The premium plans range from $15 to $75 per month. Interestingly, the “Professional Team” plan (for $15 per month), is the only one that offers both monthly and annual payment options. If you choose the annual plan, you can save 20%.
The Organization and Enterprise plans are both billed on an annual basis as standard.
Another thing worth noting is that the Professional Team plan is available for free for students and educators – so if you’re an academic, it’s definitely worth reaching out to Figma’s sales team.
Viewers (guests without editing access) are free on all plans. Additionally, the Organization and Enterprise plans have different prices if you want the “Dev Only” mode.
Dev Mode Only costs $25 per month per user on the Organization plan, and $35 per month per user on the Enterprise plan.
Extra features can have additional fees too. Figma Slides, for instance, is free on Starter plans, and $3-$5 per month on paid plans.
FigJam – the collaborative whiteboard, is free for Starter plan users (with 3 collaborative files) or $5 per month added onto other plans.
Is Figma Good Value for Money?
I mentioned above that I think that Figma is decent value for money, and I stand by that. It’s a flexible, powerful platform with tons of collaborative features, and a lot of unique tools.
The free plan is generous enough for beginners who just want to experiment with the platform, but I do think you’ll need to upgrade pretty quickly if you’ll be using this tool regularly.
Figma’s premium plans aren’t the most expensive I’ve seen – but they’re not particularly cheap either. I’d probably define Figma as a “moderately” priced solution.
Some alternatives like Sketch are a little cheaper “starting at $9 to $12 per month. However, there are more expensive options out there too, like Invision Studio, with it’s $99 per month team plan.
Let’s break down Figma’s plan options in a bit more detail.
Figma Starter Team: $0 Per Month
The “Starter Team” plan, is Figma’s basic “entry level” option for beginners who really just want to take the platform for a test drive.
It comes with access to the Figma editor, and allows users to create unlimited personal drafts of documents, but only 3 collaborative design files.
The good news is that the Editor you get is still pretty feature rich. You’ll be able to take advantage of advanced drawing tools, plugins and widgets, unlimited file storage, and cross-platform support.
You can import sketches and use auto-layout tools to streamline design. Plus, there’s basic CodeGen support and a version history of up to 30 days.
Beyond all that, Figma’s Starter Team Plan supports:
- Real-time collaboration for multiple users
- Unlimited viewers
- Shareable links and on-canvas commenting
- Figma observation mode
- Interactive prototypes
- Overlays, transitions and animations on prototypes
- Access to videos for prototypes from the Figma community
- Variables, components, styles, and UI Kits
- REST APIs, third-party integrations and live embeds
You also get access to Figma’s support forum and help center for additional assistance with any technical issues – both of which I consider to be excellent.
Who I Recommend the Starter Team Plan For
I’d recommend using this plan if you’re an individual designer that wants to experiment with Figma’s Editor and basic prototyping tools.
Although there are some collaborative features available, you’ll miss out on things like private projects and custom workspaces, so it’s not great for bigger teams. Plus, there are limits to how many design systems and features you can actually use.
Figma Professional Team: $15 Per Month
The Figma Professional Team plan is either $15 per month as standard, or you can save 20% by paying annually.
As mentioned above, you can also use this plan for free if you’re a student or educator. Despite being relatively affordable, Figma’s first premium plan adds a lot of functionality.
First, you’ll have unlimited Figma files, and access to Figma’s “Dev Mode” tools. You also get a lot more collaboration features, prototyping tools, and admin features.
Alongside all of the features included in the free plan, some of the standout components of the Professional plan include:
- Private projects, prototype sharing permissions, audio conversations and team project transfer, for collaborative design teams.
- The option to upload your own videos to prototypes, set variables and variable modes, and add conditional logic, multiple actions, and expressions to prototypes.
- 4 variable modes for design systems, and comprehensive team libraries.
- Password protection and default roles, as well as webhooks for new software integrations.
Perhaps most importantly, you’ll get access to the basic features of “Dev Mode” on Figma.
Users can experiment with advanced code generation, developer resources, plugins, VS code extensions, asset exportation, annotations, and advanced inspection tools.
You can also view detached components, mark assets as “ready for development” and experiment with a component playground.
Who I Recommend the Professional Team Plan For
If you’re part of a small to mid-sized team and need more advanced development and prototyping tools, the Professional plan is a great choice.
You’ll be able to do a lot more with Figma’s resources, and collaborate more effectively with staff using audio conversations and team workspaces.
Figma Organization: $45 Per Month
As mentioned above, the Figma Organization is only available with annual billing (so you have to commit to a full year, at $45 per month, per user, upfront).
However, you can choose to access the “Dev Mode” only, for $25 per user, per month instead.
If you choose the exclusive Dev Mode plan, you’ll get all the features included in the Professional Team plan, plus access to Code Connect tools, private plugins, and a hand-off process management system.
If you choose the full $45 per month plan, you get everything in the Professional Team plan, the extra Dev Mode tools, and:
- New admin controls like domain capture, link access control, centralized administration, plugin and widget approval, activity logs, and single sign-on (SSO).
- Shared fonts, organization-wide design systems, and in-app library analytics for your “design systems” toolkit.
- Unlimited teams, and branching and merging options for collaboration.
Who I Recommend the Organization Plan For
The Organization plan doesn’t add a huge number of extra features to the Professional Team plan for the extra cost.
However, it could be a better option for slightly larger teams. I think slightly larger businesses would benefit from access to more advanced developer tools, support for unlimited teams, and of course, the huge range of extra admin controls.
Figma Enterprise: $75 Per Month
Like the Organization plan, Figma’s Enterprise plan is only available on an annual billing cycle, for $75 per seat per month.
Once again, you can choose to access the Dev Mode only kit, for $35 per month per user. This will give you access to all the features you’d get on the Figma Organization plan, plus REST API syncing and workflow automation, and admin controls for the inspect panel.
The full Enterprise plan, on the other hand, unlocks access to everything in Figma’s toolkit. On top of all the options included in the Organization plan, you’ll get:
- Custom workplaces you can design based on your team’s needs.
- New design systems tools like the Library Analytics API, default libraries by workspace, REST APIs for variables, and approved libraries.
- Premium onboarding, planning, and customer support services.
What really makes the Figma Enterprise plan stand out though is the huge range of extra admin features.
Beyond everything included in the Organization plan, you get team and guest access controls, external content controls, default teams, workspace administration apps and SCIM for role assignment support.
There’s also an activity logs API, plugin and widget analytics, options for expiring public links, and EU data hosting controls.
You even get your own Windows installer for the Figma app, and the option to automatically sign employees out of the app when they’re idle for too long.
Who I Recommend the Enterprise Plan For
Probably unsurprisingly, I’d recommend the Figma Enterprise plan for much larger businesses with bigger design teams.
It’s the most comprehensive of all the plans, and definitely gives you a lot more security and control over administrative factors.
Figma Pricing: Our Recommendation
Ultimately, the right Figma plan for you is going to depend on your feature requirements, and your team’s size.
If you’re a freelance graphic designer, I’d recommend starting with the free Starter plan, and potentially upgrading to the “Professional Team” plan once you’re convinced you want to continue using the platform.
If you’re an educator or student however, skip the Starter plan and go straight for the Professional plan (it’s free for you anyway, and offers a lot more functionality).
If you’re part of a team, I’d recommend either the Organization plan, or the Enterprise plan – depending on how many people you need to manage and work with.
With either of these plans, if you’re focusing on development – remember you can save a lot of cash by starting with “Dev Mode Only” and upgrading at a later date.
