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zoran

macrumors 601
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Jun 30, 2005
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Are these two apps to be compared? What can i do with each?
 
They’re definitely competitors, each of them trying to outdo one another. Honestly you’ll find people who swear by both. It typically depends on whether or not you can afford to be all-in on the Adobe CC suite. Figma is pretty great and worth a try. I suspect there are more Figma fans out there than XD, for what it’s worth. I can vouch for Figma being easy to use, easy to collaborate with, and fairly robust. If I were getting into design today, I’d invest time learning and using it, along with the Adobe apps. In the long run, if you’re making a career out of this, you’ll want to be comfortable in both.
 
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Can they both be used and previewed without any cost or subscription?
 
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The point is (almost) moot now: Figma is in the process to be acquired by Adobe. XD is already slated to be discontinued when they do.

And between the two Figma is the better product anyway - much easier for the client as well as for collaboration. Project organization and asset reuse is great in Figma compared to XD.

XD lost and by far the majority of studios out there (including my work) switched to Figma quite some time ago.

@zoran The free version of Figma is too limited for serious collaborative projects in my opinion: only 3 pages per file and 3 files can be worked on as a team. That said, as many personal files as you want, so it may not be an issue for many.

Unfortunately, when Adobe finishes the buyout of Figma I foresee more limitations and the need to install their CC app to be able to use it. And unless Adobe changes their tack--based on their history--Figma may be ruined as a product. The future will tell.
 
I dont understand the collaborativeness that Figma provides in its projects. Can u describe what exactly happens regarding the collaboration?
Also is it possible to download Figma on the system and use it from there and not the browser?
 
Figma has a desktop app as well. Download it from their site - it is free, after all. You only need to set up an account! You do need to be online to log in.

There is much more to teams and collaboration in Figma than what I could explain here in a few lines of text. In a nutshell: you can have as many "personal drafts" as you like. Those can be shared with others as well - but only you can work on them.

To enable collaboration, you must set up a team and invite members. Each team works with projects. Drafts can be moved to a particular team project, and team members can then work together on that file.

The free version limits this last part to three teams and only three design files and figjam files. There are other limitations: for example, team libraries (shared libraries of reusable components) are unavailable in the free version.

And the biggie is that you cannot have private projects - which means that when you share a prototype with a client, that client also gains access to your design files and may copy those to their own Figma files.
Not something that you'd want in many commercial contexts, of course.

So if you are serious about Figma and creating prototypes/design files for use in commercial work, it is strongly suggested to avoid using the free tier.

But seriously: just create a free account, download the desktop app, and try it out for yourself. The limitations of the free version are clearly spelled out on the pricing page:
 
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And the biggie is that you cannot have private projects - which means that when you share a prototype with a client, that client also gains access to your design files and may copy those to their own Figma files.
Not something that you'd want in many commercial contexts, of course.

So if you are serious about Figma and creating prototypes/design files for use in commercial work, it is strongly suggested to avoid using the free tier.

But seriously: just create a free account, download the desktop app, and try it out for yourself. The limitations of the free version are clearly spelled out on the pricing page:
So no free version for commercial work. Apparently the free version works like some sort of a limited trial 😆
 
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Figma can. XD cannot.
Pardon me, and excuse my ignorance, but i think i noticed the ability to export to url, after designing in xd... no? Maybe im mistaking it with Figma?
 
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