Figma, no competition. Cross-platform, better UX, more advanced features.

It used to be Sketch but it seems to have shifted to Figma of late, largely because Figma works for both OSX and Windows, I suspect.

Figma is fast becoming ubiquitous. Perhaps some new other program comes along and makes it irrelevant again, but when in doubt go Figma just for the versatility. Now with this FigJam feature as well my company stopped using Miro and we do a lot in Figma.

As a windows user i use figma...

I'm currently studying HCI (so it is a bit different from product design), and in my class most of the students use Figma. The main reason for this is that Figma is free and very well done. Right now we also received a license for using the Adobe suite from the university and we are trying them out. Unfortunately, none of my classmates or acquaintance uses Sketch, it is very pricy.

As a side note, I'm currently working on an academic research on Figma vs Adobe XD, would some of you be interested in participating? It consists of a 15 minutes Google Form. Your help would be very precious!

I believe Figma's prototyping capabilities are superior to Sketch. One thing to note that may time to get used to is understanding the different behaviors between Figma's Frames and Sketch's artboards.

I've been a UI designer for 20+ years. Most of that time was spent in photoshop. About 5 years ago I switched to Sketch, and it was a breath of fresh air. Last year I switched from Sketch to Figma and it is 100X better. Figma is far and away the best UI design tool. Don't even bother with other options at this point.

Auto-Layout. Absolute game changer.

The way Figma handles color styles, text styles is superior to Sketch.

Also, component (what sketch calls symbols) variations. So powerful.

Figma’s auto-layout feature is a game changer. It’s much better than the responsive layout features that Sketch had. I switched away from Sketch about 6 months ago and honestly, Figma has its quirks but I think it’s a much better and more powerful tool.

We were also able to get rid of all the other tools we were using: Zeplin, Invision, Abstract. Now we just use Figma and it is soooo much better. Although variants were an absolute pain in the ass to set up (luckily the bulk of the work was done by our Design System team). It's great if you're not the one setting it up though, much better than looking for the right component in the dropdown.

As a UX designer who’s part of a team that literally spans the US, figma has been a lifesaver for the whole file management and collaboration aspect of design.

https://www.fixingui.com/good-and-bad-things-about-figma-in-2021/

I think the 100x comes from performance maybe. I was just sick and tired of Sketch. Funny how this sub became a "switch to Figma" mantra. I still stay subscribed hoping that Sketch comes back to its senses. There is just something about native mac apps.

I still prefer sketch. There’s things I like about Figma, but in terms of revisions, I found sketch to be more friendly.

Figma wasn't acquired by Adobe, the deal was stopped by antitrust regulators. And it's also an industry standard, I'm not sure developers/designers can move away from them.

For having used both, unfortunately sketch is so far away from anything figma can do. I work in three different companies who all gave up on sketch in favor of figma.

I don’t how it has evolved but as a consultant, figma let me set up design systems and support design departments and their work process with other departments. I wouldn’t go back to Sketch for nothing in the world.

"Figma has also been aquired by them"

The transaction process was cancelled (because of the disapproval of the British authorities)

Have you heard of Penpot? Spanish company

Figma has a ton of awesome plugins too, so IDK what you mean. Figma all the way, not a single doubt.

I used Sketch for about 4 years, and switched to Figma about 2 months now after spending 2 months with XD. I hated XD and didn’t miss Sketch at all.

Sketch is very unstable, and the fixes are released only if you continue to pay the subscription. For me is a sufficient reason to move to figma.

At this point Figma has won, no contest. It's the right choice.

I don't find the attributes to component in Figma as friendly and convenient as Sketch, as well as the team library. But yeah, Figma has been the preferred choice since it's so easy to hand off to the developers, as well as the amount of plugins.

Late to the party but I will just second that Sketch wins hands down. Been using it since transitioning from Photoshop for web design 7 years ago, and it's a designers dream. Figma is a clunky, bloated web app, which performs just as badly with the desktop app. If you're a Mac user, Sketch is the only app you should be using.

I've been doing web design / UX/UI / product design for over 20 years (I'm old, what can I say). I am making the transition from Sketch to Figma. Here's my view: If you know Sketch, you'll pick up Figma in no time. In Figma, as a Sketch user you may miss one feature: the scaling function — obviously not a huge feature. And really, that's about it! I mean, there may be other features that I'm forgetting, but I'm not missing them.

So when you add Figma's ability to do advanced interactivity and UI animations in prototypes, and remove the need for InVision design sharing/approval process and Principle or another prototyping app for advanced interactivity and animation, it's kind of a no-brainer. Cheaper, too, if you use 3 apps like I used to.

I haven't noticed much of a slowdown in the web-based tool, but I prefer to use the standalone Figma desktop app, as some of my design files are pretty image-heavy. But the cloud-based app is a nice option. In Figma, you can import Sketch files, which I have done. The files translate pretty well, with only minor adjustments needed for masking and grouping properties. You can also export Sketch files with a paid plug-in.

Figma's default workflow is cloud-based, which took no time getting used to. It's a really nice bonus to be able to access my work files from any machine. It's also nice to be able to use a PC or cheap Chromebook to do work, so I don't have to lug around my expensive MacBook Pro. I am definitely going to get a cheap, reasonably powered IPS-screen Chromebook to do work at the cafe or on trips or whatever — risking damage to a $500 machine feels better than damaging a $4000 machine.

So yeah, if you are thinking about making the switch, I would highly recommend.

The biggest one is that figma doesn’t crash 9/10 times. If your company requires you to use sketch the first thing you do is moving from sketch to figma and never look back.

If a company wants you to use Sketch, you aren’t going to use Figma…that’s correct.

Yes there is a 4 big differences. I founded those difference in OneBrowsing.

It's a research based in depth ai comparison engine where I found many differences that are not available anywhere on google.

Depends what you’re using it for. Figma is still really poor at making interactive mock-ups. Axure remains my go-to for that.

Absolutely! Figma's got some solid competition out there, but it also stands out in a few key areas. When you're talking about UI/UX design and prototyping tools, names like Adobe XD, Sketch, and InVision usually pop up. Each of these tools has its strengths and caters to slightly different needs and workflows. Adobe XD is great for those already deep into the Adobe ecosystem, Sketch has been a darling for macOS users for years, and InVision offers strong collaboration features.

However, Figma's real magic comes from its collaborative nature and how it's browser-based, making it super accessible to anyone with an internet connection. You don't need to worry about platform compatibility or installing hefty programs. Plus, Figma's community and plugin ecosystem are pretty robust. Speaking of which, if you're looking into turning Figma designs into live websites, there's this cool plugin called "Export Figma to websites and HTML by Siter.io" (Figma Community Plugin Page) and the Siter.io platform (). They basically allow you to convert your Figma designs directly into HTML/CSS, which is a game-changer for designers who want to bridge the gap between design and development without diving deep into coding.

So, while Figma does face competition, its unique features, especially when combined with plugins like the one from Siter.io, give it a significant edge, especially for teams looking for a seamless design to development workflow. It's all about what fits your project and team workflow the best!

Adobe bought Figma so, no, there will be no competition. :)

(although...I always like to point out: pencil and paper is still a useful tool! I think as a profession we've gotten way t0o infatuated with the process of maintaining wireframes and kind have lost site as to what our objectives are...)

If Figma had decent interaction design prototyping it would be the only tool I'd use. As it stands, I use Figma for design and Axure to prototype since it is so much more robust.

Well, Adobe XD won't be around for much longer.

Imagine using sketch and uploading work to dropbox, invision, zeplin and you have to make a small change so you have to repeat that whole process all over at again in 2021

This is some kind of an internet explorer joke

How is this still a question in 2021

Tldr : yes

The thing is every job is different and they all use different tools. Thankfully Sketch and Figma are fairly similar in functionality, with the big difference being that Figma is web based and desktop based.

Plus it's FREE for individuals and there are tons of tutorials on YouTube. So by all means take a week to learn the basics, and if you get a job where they use Figma, you're all set.

I switched from XD last year. Figma is on a totally different level as for everything. XD is just past. Forget about it.

Masking, managing colors and fonts, etc in figma is actually much better than in Xd. Tldr figma is better in everything. I switched from Xd to Figma a few years back. Xd is so obselote to work with. Oh god I really reget choosing Xd.

I too have switched about a year or so ago. Figma is a much more complete software in every aspect and i don't miss xd at all. It's already obsolete in a lot of ways and it only has a skeleton crew maintaining it so no chance of improving.

Integration with adobe is not as smooth as xd but you get used to it quick. Tbh the thing that irked me the most was the different key for zooming with mouse wheel (alt/option vs cmd) but i don't even remember it now. The pros far outweigh the cons.

Reminds me a bit when i switched from Freehand to Illustrator. To me there's no point insisting on dead software, even if for a while it's still better than the newcomer.

Go ahead and try it, i guarantee you will forget xd fast. I used it for 5 years and i did.

I truly don’t understand how any UX designer is using anything other than Figma. Also fuck Adobe.

The only thing XD was better at before was how smooth the prototypes looked. But now, figma has added a bunch of capabilities. As for edit in PS, that is also the only other plus since they are both adobe products. However, once you start using... Like really using figma, you'll find that XD is so far behind—even when it was a competitive program.

Also check out Penpot, developed in Madrid (Spain), and since it's browser-based it runs on every platform. For me it feels very similar to Figma -- but have to say that I rather use these apps for simpler use cases.