Figma runs in the browser on any OS and offers real-time multiplayer collaboration out of the box; Sketch is a macOS-only native app that still defines the UI design workflow for Apple-platform teams. Figma's free Starter plan covers 3 projects and unlimited collaborators in view mode, while Sketch costs $10/month (or $99/year) and has no free tier. For cross-platform teams or anyone who needs developers to comment without buying a seat, Figma wins. For Mac-only studios that value native performance, offline access, and a simpler plugin ecosystem, Sketch is a defensible choice.
Quick comparison
| Feature | Figma | Sketch |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan | $12/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| G2 rating | Not listed | Not listed |
| Best for | cross-platform product teams who need real-time collaboration, developer handoff, and a large plugin ecosystem without OS restrictions | Mac-only design studios and freelancers who prefer a native app, offline access, and a focused feature set without collaborative overhead |
| Starting price | Free Starter plan; Professional at $15/editor/month (billed annually) | $10/month or $99/year per editor; no free tier |
| Free plan | Yes — 3 projects, unlimited collaborators in view/comment mode | No — 30-day free trial only |
| Platform | Browser-based (Windows, Mac, Linux) plus desktop app | macOS only |
| Real-time collaboration | Yes — live multiplayer cursors built in | Limited — collaborative features require Sketch for Teams cloud sync |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Offline access | Partial — desktop app works offline with sync on reconnect | Full — native Mac app works entirely offline |
| Developer handoff | Built-in Dev Mode with inspect, CSS/code snippets, and Jira/GitHub integrations | Built-in inspect panel; integrates with Zeplin and Abstract for richer handoff |
Collaboration and real-time editing
Figma's multiplayer collaboration is the feature that pulled the design industry away from Sketch. Multiple designers can edit the same file simultaneously, see each other's cursors, leave comments anchored to specific elements, and share a live link with stakeholders who only need browser access to view and comment — no license required. Sketch's cloud offering added co-editing, but it arrived years later and still requires all active editors to be on a paid seat. For remote teams, agencies presenting to clients, or product teams where PMs and engineers need to comment daily, Figma's collaboration model is meaningfully cheaper and lower-friction. Sketch remains competitive for studios where one or two designers work sequentially on the same file and rarely need a non-designer to weigh in directly in the canvas.
Platform and native performance
Sketch is a native macOS application built with Apple frameworks, which gives it smoother performance on large files, better system font rendering, and full offline support. Figma runs primarily as a web app — the desktop wrapper is essentially a browser container — and performance on very large design systems or complex auto-layout files can lag on lower-end hardware. If your team works exclusively on Macs and your files are design-system-heavy with hundreds of components, Sketch's native execution can feel noticeably snappier. However, Figma has closed much of this gap over the years, and for most everyday UI work the difference is marginal. The platform constraint matters more: any non-Mac user on your team cannot open Sketch files at all without a paid cloud subscription and browser access.
Component and design system management
Both tools handle components, variants, and shared libraries, but Figma's implementation is more mature and widely adopted. Figma's component variants, interactive components, and variables system let teams build design systems that closely mirror production code logic. Auto-layout in Figma behaves predictably and is well-documented across the community. Sketch introduced Smart Layout and Symbols years before Figma variants, but its component system is less flexible for complex nested patterns. The deeper issue is ecosystem: community-built Figma design system templates, UI kits, and documentation are far more abundant. If you are starting or scaling a design system today, Figma has the broader community and tooling support, including third-party tools like Tokens Studio that connect design tokens directly to code.
Plugins and ecosystem
Figma's plugin marketplace has grown significantly larger than Sketch's, with thousands of plugins covering everything from accessibility audits and content population to icon libraries and animation handoff. Because Figma is cross-platform and browser-based, plugin developers reach a much larger user base, which drives more investment in maintaining quality plugins. Sketch popularized the plugin ecosystem for UI tools and still has a solid library, but many popular Sketch plugins have migrated development focus or equivalents to Figma. For teams that rely heavily on plugins — content generation, icon management, Jira syncing, or Lottie animation export — Figma's wider catalog is a practical advantage, not just a vanity metric.
Pricing and total cost
Figma's free Starter plan allows up to 3 Figma files and 3 FigJam files with unlimited collaborators in view/comment mode — enough for freelancers and small teams to evaluate or even run lean. Professional seats cost $15/editor/month (billed annually) or $18/month billed monthly. Sketch costs $10/month or $99/year per editor with a 30-day trial and no free tier. At face value Sketch is cheaper per seat, but the comparison shifts when you factor in non-editor seats: in Figma, a developer or PM who only needs to inspect and comment pays nothing. In Sketch, anyone who needs anything beyond viewing a public share link needs a seat. For teams with more viewers than editors, Figma's total cost is often lower despite the higher per-editor price.
Prototyping and developer handoff
Figma's built-in prototyping covers basic click-through flows to advanced interactive components with variable-driven state changes. Dev Mode — available on paid plans — gives developers an inspect view with CSS properties, spacing measurements, and export assets, plus native integrations with Jira, GitHub, and Storybook. Sketch prototyping is functional but less capable out of the box; most Sketch users route prototypes through Principle, Marvel, or InVision for anything interactive. For developer handoff, Sketch relies on third-party tools like Zeplin (which adds cost and another account to manage) or its own inspect panel, which is less polished than Figma's. Teams that want to minimize tool sprawl for the design-to-code handoff will find Figma's integrated approach significantly cleaner.
Pricing deep-dive
Figma
- Starter: $0 — 3 Figma files, 3 FigJam files, unlimited collaborators in view/comment mode
- Professional: $15/editor/month billed annually ($18/month billed monthly) — unlimited files, version history, team libraries
- Organization: $45/editor/month — SSO, advanced admin controls, design system analytics
- Enterprise: $75/editor/month — dedicated workspaces, compliance, priority support
Sketch
- Standard: $10/editor/month billed monthly, or $99/editor/year — full feature access, Mac desktop app
- Business: contact sales for volume pricing and team admin features
- 30-day free trial available; no permanent free tier
Pricing verdict: Sketch is cheaper per editor ($99/year vs $180/year for Figma Professional), but Figma's free tier for viewers changes the math for most teams. If your team has 3 designers and 10 developers who inspect daily, Figma costs $540/year for the designers and $0 for the developers. The same setup in Sketch would cost $1,287/year if all 13 people need seats, or require routing developers through a less capable share link workflow. Run your actual seat count before assuming Sketch is cheaper.
How to migrate from Sketch to Figma
What real users say
Figma: Figma users frequently cite the collaboration model and plugin ecosystem as the main reasons they switched from Sketch and have not looked back. The most common complaints are performance on very large files, pricing increases at the Organization tier, and the 2022 Adobe acquisition announcement (later blocked by regulators) creating uncertainty. Developers in particular appreciate not needing a paid seat to inspect designs.
Sketch: Sketch users love the native macOS feel, offline reliability, and the focused, uncluttered interface compared to Figma's increasingly complex feature set. Common frustrations include the macOS-only constraint locking out cross-platform collaborators, and the ecosystem lag as more plugins and templates are built Figma-first. Teams with Windows developers or remote international teams often cite Sketch's platform limitation as the deciding reason they eventually switched.
Sources: Synthesized from official pricing pages, vendor docs, G2/Capterra reviews, and public design community discussions on Twitter/X, Designer News, and Reddit.
Final verdict
Choose Figma if...
- Choose Figma if your team includes Windows or Linux users, or if any team members — developers, PMs, stakeholders — need to view and comment on designs without buying a full editor seat.
- Choose Figma if you are building or scaling a design system and want the largest community of templates, Tokens Studio integration, and Dev Mode for developer handoff without a third-party tool.
- Choose Figma if real-time multiplayer editing, live share links for client reviews, or async commenting directly in the canvas are part of your weekly workflow.
Choose Sketch if...
- Choose Sketch if your entire team works on Macs, values native app performance and full offline access, and does not regularly need to give non-designers direct in-canvas access.
- Choose Sketch if the $99/editor/year cost is a decisive factor and your seat count is small — it is $81/editor/year cheaper than Figma Professional for teams where every seat is an active editor.
- Choose Sketch if your design workflow already depends on Sketch-specific plugins or integrations like Abstract for version control, and migrating that ecosystem is not worth the disruption.
Consider neither if: Consider Penpot if open-source and self-hosted design tooling is a hard requirement. Consider Framer if you need high-fidelity interactive prototypes closer to production code. Consider Lunacy if you need a free, offline-first design tool that works on Windows.