Figma by Figma Inc. (Adobe)

I've used Sketch, Adobe XD, Framer, Figma. The multiplayer cursor thing — seeing your PM's cursor, a developer inspecting a component, another designer jumping in to fix alignment — all in real time, no sync conflicts, no file passing. It changes how teams work.

Comments are threaded, resolvable, and link to specific frames/layers. Dev handoff is built-in: inspect panel shows CSS, iOS/Swift, Android XML. Copy code snippets directly. No Zeplin needed.

Auto layout (Figma's flexbox) is powerful once you learn it. Components with variants replace the old symbol overhead. Design tokens via variables (color, spacing, radius) make theming trivial.

No install, works on ChromeOS, Linux, iPad (with limitations), any machine. Log in and your files are there. Amazing for client presentations — just send a link, they view in browser, comment directly.

But: large files (200+ screens) get laggy. RAM usage creeps up. Complex prototypes with many interactions tank fps. No native app means no offline work — if internet dies, you're stuck. Figma says "coming soon" since 2020.

Font loading is hit or miss. Local fonts need the Figma Font Helper installer. Google Fonts work fine. Custom variable fonts sometimes render incorrectly.

Pricing: Professional $15/mo is fair. Organization $45/mo adds SSO, private plugins, branching. But branching is still beta-feeling — merge conflicts on design files are painful.

Before Figma: designers handed off PDFs/Zeplin, devs guessed spacing, colors, fonts. Endless back-and-forth. Now devs open the Figma link, inspect mode gives exact values. Copy CSS/Tailwind/Flutter code. Assets export in 1x/2x/3x, SVG, PDF.

Component library publishing means design system updates propagate to all files. Devs subscribe to library updates — get notified when tokens change. We built a CI check that fails if design tokens in code don't match Figma variables.

Only wish: better version history diffing. "Compare with main branch" shows changed frames but not property-level diffs.

Smart animate + interactive components = most micro-interactions covered. Scroll animations, drag, hover, press, key/gamepad triggers. Video playback, GIF export, embed in Notion/Confluence.

For complex state machines (wizard flows, nested modals), it gets messy. No logic/variables in prototyping — can't say "if user logged in, show dashboard else show login." Workarounds exist but fragile.

FigJam (whiteboarding) is included. Great for workshops, flow diagrams, sticky notes. Not Miro-level but good enough for design team.

The product is excellent. But Adobe's $20B acquisition attempt (blocked by regulators) signals the end of Figma's independence. Adobe's track record: buy, integrate into Creative Cloud, raise prices, bloat.

Figma's CEO says "business as usual." But they've already raised Professional from $12 to $15. Enterprise pricing opaque. Plugin ecosystem depends on Figma's API — if Adobe prioritizes native features over API, plugins die.

For now, still the best tool. But I'm watching Penpot (open-source Figma alternative) closely.