What is Figma used for?

Figma is a collaborative design platform for interface design, prototyping, whiteboarding, slides and developer handoff, with AI and code tools. It is a good fit for product teams designing app interfaces, maintaining a shared design system and handing designs off to developers.

Yes. Figma has a free plan, and paid plans start at $16 per seat per month.

Is Figma open source?

No. Figma is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Figma include Penpot, OpenPencil and Doop.

What are some alternatives to Figma?

Figma competes with Framer, UXPin and ProtoPie. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Figma alternatives.

Figma: features, pricing and alternatives

About Figma

Figma is a commercial design platform that runs in the browser and as a desktop app, built so that whole teams can work on the same file at once. The vendor now describes it as a shared canvas that brings design, code and AI into one place, from the first idea to a shipped product.

Its product family includes Figma Design for design and prototyping, Figma Make for prompt-to-code, Figma Weave for AI workflows with imagery, video and audio, Dev Mode for translating designs into code, Figma Motion for animation, FigJam for whiteboarding, Figma Slides for presentations, Figma Draw for vector illustration, Figma Sites for publishing responsive websites and Figma Buzz for producing on-brand assets at scale. Release notes, downloads and solution pages for design systems, prototyping and UX design are provided.

Figma is hosted, proprietary software with a pricing page, and it is not self-hosted. It suits designers, product managers and developers who want a shared source of truth for interface design. It also provides downloads for desktop use and AI workflows aimed at larger teams.

Key features

Collaborative interface design and prototyping
Dev Mode for developer handoff
FigJam digital whiteboard
Figma Make for prompt-to-code
Figma Slides and Draw
Design systems and component libraries
Figma Sites for publishing websites

Good fit for

→Product teams designing app interfaces
→Maintaining a shared design system
→Handing designs off to developers

Tags: design; prototyping; ui-design; collaboration; design-systems; developer-handoff

Figma: questions and answers

What is Figma used for?: Figma is a collaborative design platform for interface design, prototyping, whiteboarding, slides and developer handoff, with AI and code tools. It is a good fit for product teams designing app interfaces, maintaining a shared design system and handing designs off to developers.
Is Figma free?: Yes. Figma has a free plan, and paid plans start at $16 per seat per month.
Is Figma open source?: No. Figma is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Figma include Penpot, OpenPencil and Doop.
What are some alternatives to Figma?: Figma competes with Framer, UXPin and ProtoPie. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Figma alternatives.