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Verified Free / Software

Is Figma actually free?

Free Forever
How free78/100
Value8/10
How these scores work
Free Score (0–100) follows a fixed rubric: cards up front, auto-billing, hard time cutoffs, withheld core features, and paying with your data or attention all deduct points. 90–100 truly free · 70–89 free forever · 45–69 squeezed · 15–44 trial mechanics · under 15 fake or gone. Value (0–10) is editorial: real-world worth of the free offering measured against its paid equivalent. Full rubric on the methodology page.

Yes — Figma's Starter plan is genuinely free with no card and no expiry: unlimited personal drafts, real-time collaboration, and enough shared files to learn the tool or run one small project.

What it’s worth

A Professional seat runs about $16–20/month; free covers learning and solo work.

What you get free

  • Unlimited personal draft files
  • 3 shared team design files (plus 3 FigJam and 3 Slides files)
  • Up to 3 pages per file
  • Unlimited collaborators can join and edit
  • 30 days of version history

In practice: enough to learn professional design, build a portfolio, and run one live project without paying.

Drawbacks

  • 3 shared files of 3 pages each is a hard team wall
  • Only 30 days of version history
  • Needs internet — no real offline mode

Also paywalled

  • Unlimited team files and projects
  • Shared team design libraries
  • Dev Mode for developers
  • Full version history

Free facts

VerdictFree Forever
Card requiredNo
Auto-bills—
AccountRequired
Limits3 shared design files per team, 3 pages per file
The real costAn account, and a team-file cap that working designers hit fast.

The catch

The wall is precise: a shared team project caps at 3 design files of 3 pages each. Solo practice can stay free forever; team work hits the ceiling almost immediately — which is exactly the point.

The smart play

  • Work in personal drafts — those are unlimited; the 3-file cap only hits shared team projects
  • Hit the cap? Move older files back to drafts to open slots
  • Students and educators can get the paid tier free through Figma's education program

More info — tap to expand

Drafts vs. team files — the loophole spelled out
Personal drafts are unlimited; the famous 3-file cap applies only to files placed in a shared team project. You can move files between drafts and the team space, so solo work never hits a wall — the cap is really a collaboration tax.
Students and teachers ride free
Figma's education program grants the paid tier free with verification. If you're learning design at any institution, apply before paying anything.
The 30-day history window
Free keeps only a month of version history. For long projects, periodically duplicate the file as a manual checkpoint — a free habit that substitutes for the paid feature.

Last checked: August 2026 · Verdict: Free Forever — a real permanent free plan. signup and fair limits — but no clock and no card.

🍁 Canada

Available in Canada. Education program accepts Canadian institutions.

Ratings elsewhereG2 4.7/5Live scores from the sources named — not ours. Store counts rounded.

What users actually say

G2 4.7/5 from professional users — among the highest scores in the design category. No large consumer-review base.

What they praiseMultiplayer editing in the browser is where every reviewer lands: no installs, no version files, no handoff exports. It became the category standard on merit.
What they complain aboutThe complaints are about pricing and the ceiling, not the tool. Successive plan changes have reshaped what a free team gets, and the shared-project cap arrives fast for anyone working with others.

Excellent product, on a free tier that has been narrowed more than once. Solo practice stays free indefinitely; team work hits the wall almost immediately — which is the design, not an accident.

Our reading of the public review record — patterns, not quotes. Scores link to their sources above.

Visit Figma →

Was this verdict right?

Free tiers change without notice. If you have just used it, you know something we don't.

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