Figma review: a data-backed look

Figma overview

Figma enables real-time teamwork, allowing multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously, and streamlines the entire digital product design lifecycle—from ideation to developer handoff.

Its all-in-one, collaborative approach, combined with its rapid innovation and cross-platform accessibility, has made it the go-to solution for modern product teams and digital designers.

How much do businesses spend on Figma?

The chart below illustrates trends in average quarterly spending on Figma across various business segments.

Spending on Figma remained relatively stable across all business segments throughout the year, with only minimal fluctuations from quarter to quarter.

Mid-market and enterprise businesses consistently recorded the highest levels of spend, showing a flat trend with only slight movement over time.

Small and medium-sized businesses followed a similar pattern, maintaining steady usage with minor changes that did not indicate any dramatic shift in adoption.

Micro businesses maintained the most conservative spend levels, with a consistent and predictable pattern across the entire tracked period.

Who is Figma best for?

The chart below provides an overview of Figma’s user base, segmented by Micro-SMB, SMB, Midmarket, and Enterprise businesses.

Figma’s customer base is led by micro businesses, which make up the most significant portion of users on the platform. This suggests that the tool is widely accessible for lean teams and solo designers seeking collaborative design capabilities without requiring a heavy setup.

Small and medium-sized businesses also represent a substantial share of Figma’s users, reflecting the platform’s strong fit for growing companies that need scalable design tools and seamless team workflows.

Mid-market and enterprise organizations account for a smaller, yet still significant, portion of users.

Figma key features

Vector graphics editor

• What it does: Provides robust vector editing tools, including a versatile Pen tool and a vector network, allowing precise creation and manipulation of shapes and paths directly in the browser.
• Key benefit: Enables designers to create scalable, high-quality UI elements, ensuring pixel-perfect interfaces and professional results.

Real-time collaboration

• What it does: Allows multiple users to work on the same design file simultaneously, with live updates, cursor tracking, and in-file commenting.
• Key benefit: Streamlines teamwork, reduces feedback cycles, and eliminates version conflicts, making remote and distributed collaboration seamless and efficient.

Components and styles system

• What it does: Lets users create reusable components (such as buttons and navigation bars) and global styles (colors and typography) that can be updated across all instances in a project.
• Key benefit: Saves time and ensures design consistency across projects, speeding up workflows and reducing errors.

Prototyping

• What it does: Enables designers to build interactive, clickable prototypes directly within Figma, simulating user flows and transitions without leaving the design environment.
• Key benefit: Accelerates the testing and validation of user experiences, enabling rapid iteration and stakeholder buy-in during the development phase.

Auto layout

• What it does: Automatically adjusts the size and position of elements based on their content and defined rules, supporting responsive and adaptive design.
• Key benefit: Simplifies the creation of interfaces that look great on any device, reducing manual resizing and boosting efficiency.

Variants and interactive components

• What it does: Allows the creation of multiple versions (variants) of a component and adds interactivity using variables, enabling the creation of dynamic, realistic prototypes.
• Key benefit: Facilitates the management of component states and complex interactions, resulting in more engaging and accurate prototypes.

Branching and merging

• What it does: Allows teams to create branches of design files for experimentation or feature development, then merge changes back into the main file when ready.
• Key benefit: Facilitates safe experimentation and parallel work, supporting complex team workflows and reducing the risk of errors.

Figma dev mode

• What it does: Provides a dedicated environment for developer handoff, offering specs, assets, and code snippets directly from design files.
• Key benefit: Streamlines the transition from design to development, reducing miscommunication and speeding up implementation

Figma pricing

Figma pros & cons

Figma is a good fit if:

• You need real-time, cloud-based collaboration for UI/UX design across distributed or hybrid teams.
• Your organization values design consistency and efficiency, leveraging reusable components, shared libraries, and design systems to drive efficiency.
• You want an all-in-one platform for design, prototyping, whiteboarding, and developer handoff, minimizing the need for tool switching.
• Your team includes stakeholders or clients who need to review, comment on, or co-create designs without complex onboarding processes.

Consider alternatives if:

• You require advanced offline functionality or work in environments with unreliable internet connectivity.
• Your workflows depend on highly specialized features found in legacy tools (e.g., advanced print design, 3D modeling, or deep Adobe Creative Cloud integration).
• Your company is highly cost-sensitive and needs unlimited seats or files at a very low price, especially for occasional contributors.
• Your team may be unfamiliar with modern UI/UX tools and face a steep learning curve, or you may require extensive on-premise deployment and custom governance beyond Figma’s enterprise offering.