What is Figma?
Figma is a design tool for creating the screens, components and interactions of apps and websites. Files live in the cloud and open in a browser or the desktop app, so several people can edit a design at once while seeing each other’s cursors, leave comments pinned to specific elements and step back through version history. Designers draw with vector tools, arrange layouts with auto layout, which resizes frames as their content changes, and link frames into clickable prototypes that can be tested on a phone through Figma’s mobile app.
Much of Figma’s appeal to larger organizations comes from design systems. Teams publish shared libraries of components, styles and variables, and files that use them pick up changes when the library is updated. Dev Mode gives engineers a dedicated view for inspecting measurements, reading annotations and copying code snippets, and an MCP server lets AI coding assistants read design data directly. Plugins and widgets built by the community and by companies for internal use extend the editor further.
Figma has built AI into the product since 2024. Figma Make, launched in 2025, turns prompts or existing designs into working prototypes and web apps, and in 2026 Figma introduced code layers that bring those code-backed elements onto the design canvas, an AI agent that teams can teach their own processes, and motion design tools. The same account gives access to the company’s other products, including FigJam, Figma Slides, Figma Sites and Figma Draw, and the editor competes with tools such as Sketch, Penpot and Framer.
Key features of Figma
- 01
Real-time multiplayer editing
Collaborators work in the same file at the same time with live cursors, cursor chat, comments attached to specific layers and a version history that makes it possible to review or restore earlier states of a design.
- 02
Auto layout and constraints
Frames resize and reflow automatically as text and content change, making it practical to design responsive screens and components that behave much like the flexbox layouts developers build in code.
- 03
Components, variables and libraries
Reusable components with variants, plus variables for colors, spacing and modes such as light and dark themes, can be published as libraries so updates reach every file that uses them.
- 04
Interactive prototyping
Designers connect frames with triggers, transitions and smart animation to build clickable prototypes that stakeholders and research participants can try in a browser or on a phone through the Figma mobile app.
- 05
Dev Mode
A developer-focused view shows measurements, annotations, component documentation and generated code snippets, marks which designs are ready for development and connects to tools such as Jira, GitHub and Visual Studio Code.
- 06
Figma Make and AI features
Figma Make generates working prototypes and web apps from text prompts or existing designs, while AI tools in the editor can rename layers, fill designs with realistic content and produce first drafts of screens.
- 07
Plugins and widgets
Community and private plugins automate tasks such as generating icons, checking color contrast for accessibility or importing data, and organizations can control which plugins their employees are allowed to run.
Who uses Figma?
- Product design teams at software companies design app and website interfaces, maintain shared design systems and run design critiques inside a single file.
- Front-end developers inspect specifications and copy code snippets in Dev Mode instead of waiting for designers to export assets and annotated screenshots.
- Product managers and researchers build clickable prototypes to test ideas with users before any engineering work begins.
- Marketing and brand teams use shared component libraries to produce campaign assets and web pages that stay consistent with a company’s visual identity.
History of Figma
Dylan Field and Evan Wallace began building Figma in 2012, aiming to make design files as easy to share and edit together as online text documents. Getting a professional vector editor to run smoothly in a browser took years of work on a custom rendering engine. Figma opened an invite-only preview on December 3, 2015, released the app publicly on September 27, 2016, and introduced its first paid plans in 2017.
Figma launched a Community hub for sharing files and plugins in 2019 and followed with the FigJam whiteboard in 2021 and Dev Mode in 2023, as developers became a large share of its users. After Adobe’s planned $20 billion takeover collapsed in December 2023, Figma accelerated its AI work, adding AI features in 2024 and launching Figma Make, Figma Sites, Figma Buzz and Figma Draw at its Config conference in May 2025. The company went public two months later.
- 2015
Figma opens an invite-only preview of its browser-based design tool.
- 2016
Figma is released to the public on September 27.
- 2019
Figma launches Community, a hub for sharing files, plugins and templates.
- 2023
Dev Mode gives developers a dedicated space to inspect designs and copy code.
- 2025
Figma Make, Figma Sites, Figma Buzz and Figma Draw are announced at Config 2025.
- 2026
Code layers and an in-canvas AI agent bring code-backed prototyping into Figma Design.
Figma pricing
Pricing modelFreemium
Free Starter plan with unlimited drafts; Professional, Organization and Enterprise plans are billed per seat, with Full, Dev and Collab seat types and monthly AI credits.
Prices change often. Check the official Figma website for current plans.
Figma alternatives
Well-known alternativesSketch, Penpot, Framer, UXPin and Axure RP
Figma: frequently asked questions
Who makes Figma?
Figma is made by Figma, Inc., a San Francisco company founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, who met as computer science students at Brown University. Field is the company’s CEO, and Figma, Inc. has been publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FIG since July 2025.
What is Figma used for?
Figma is used to design the interfaces of websites, mobile apps and other digital products. Teams use it to create screens and reusable components, maintain design systems, build clickable prototypes, collect feedback through comments and hand finished designs to developers, who inspect measurements and code in Dev Mode.
Is Figma free?
Figma has a free Starter plan that includes unlimited drafts and a small daily allowance of AI credits, which lets individuals try the full editor. Teams that need shared spaces and libraries, administration and security controls or larger AI allowances pay for Professional, Organization or Enterprise plans, billed per seat.
When was Figma released?
Figma opened an invite-only preview on December 3, 2015, and released the app to the public on September 27, 2016. The founders had spent roughly four years building it after starting the company in 2012, and Figma introduced its first paid plans in 2017.
Why did Adobe not buy Figma?
Adobe agreed in September 2022 to acquire Figma for about $20 billion in cash and stock, but the companies called off the deal in December 2023. They said there was no clear path to approval from the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority, and Adobe paid Figma a $1 billion termination fee.
What is the difference between Figma and FigJam?
Figma, often called Figma Design, is a precise tool for designing and prototyping interfaces, while FigJam is an online whiteboard for brainstorming, diagramming and running meetings. Both are made by Figma, Inc., share the same accounts and plans, and let teams copy elements from one to the other.
Sources
- Figma pricing figma.com
- Config 2025 Launches Deepen Figma’s Design Capabilities As Its Platform Expands, Figma Blog figma.com
- Config 2026: New Materials, New Tools and a More Expressive Canvas, Figma Blog figma.com
- Figma, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
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