How Figma’s pricing is anti-product-led growth
Last month, I paid for Figma for the first time.
I wrote about the upgrade experience on Medium and showed that the number of paying teams is a big KPI for Figma right now, as well as the average revenue per team.
I got this sense from seeing a whopping eight prompts to upgrade in a single session and seeing a notable increase in the urgency of their upgrade messaging; now it’s all ‘last file’, ‘0 left’, and ‘you’re running out’.
The prompt I finally gave in to
This monetisation push shows in their numbers too: Figma hit $600 million in annual revenue last year (up 50% from $400M in 2022) and reported a 150% net dollar retention rate (i.e. every $100 spent results in $150 in the future). We’ll come back to Figma’s tactic that boosts their net dollar later…but the TL;DR is that it’s dark AF.
Thoughtful prompts to upgrade
From a business perspective, these are incredibly attractive numbers.
From a user perspective, I didn’t feel annoyed about this persistent push to pay.
It was contextual and relevant to me. I use Figma for so much, I thought: it’s about time I pay.
And I was happy to pay – I love(d) the brand.
That was until I came to my first billing period where I almost paid 2X what I’d just paid for my annual subscription.
I also found 5+ examples of dark UX, bad friction by design and a pricing strategy that penalises Figma’s core competitive advantage: the ease of collaboration.
Ouch.
We’ll walk through my customer journey map and build a picture of how Figma’s payment flow and team management flow have degraded the trust I have in the brand.
How their pricing strategy is inherently anti-product-led growth.
And why, now I’m genuinely considering moving to Canva for all my designs.
First up, where it all started: the upgrade flow.
🚩Initial red flags in Figma’s upgrade flow
In June, I got to my last free FigJam file and was tired of deleting old ones.
So, I decided to upgrade.
I tapped the ‘upgrade now’ on the module that told me ‘this is your last free file’ in my top bar navigation, taking me to the pricing page.
And what a busy pricing page it is.
Figma’s ‘Choose a plan’ pricing page is overwhelming for a few key reasons:
There’s 9 features listed, some with different details for each planThere’s 5 prices on there: Dev mode, FigJam, Figma Design (for professional versus organization)The claustrophobic, boxy UI and small uniform fonts
I’m getting major choice paralysis and information overload here 🧠
What’s more, I’m just confused.
Is it just me or is it odd that £11/mo for a seat Figma Design in the Professional plan is way cheaper than the £40/mo/seat in Organization?
The numbers don’t seem to scale.
The maths isn’t mathsing.
And even if the maths does make sense: your customers should not have to do maths on your pricing page. This is the job of the UX writing and UI — to help the decision-making process.
On the topic of UI, on one hand, I understand that boxy, almost-brutalist designs are popular in UX (think Reddit) — brutalist UX is:
Characterised by minimalist structures and raw materials, this digital design style emphasises simplicity, boldness, and a raw aesthetic. — Angele Lenglemetz
And you can see these themes clearly in Figma’s pricing flow: boxy modules, a raw look and simple shapes.
However, a pricing page should draw out the most important parts for you, and minimise the extra detail.
With Figma’s page, the difference between the information hierarchy is minimal, meaning it all feels like detail after detail: it’s hard to scan and makes me feel like I have to read every single line.
My least favourite (and most important) point, is that this page is in no way personalised for me. I’m a consultant. I have no team. Just clients and their teams. So the messaging on ‘professional’ alienates me: ‘for your and your team’. ‘Org-wide libraries’ are lost on me.
Once I’m finished the maths and reading homework Figma has set me on this page, I pick the middle option and get to the ‘Adjust seats’ page.
Where I have to do yet more maths.
Firstly, I’m shocked to have gone from my expectation of £3/mo to £204 per year. I also see multiple math formulas 😵💫😵💫😵💫😵💫
£14 reduced to £11 X 1 seat X 12 mo = £168, but then 22% off£6 reduced to £3 x 2 seats x 12 months = £120, but then 40% off
No idea where the £14 has come from or why there’s 22% off my design seat in the first formula. It is also unclear if this is pre/post taxes based on the micro copy above the CTA.
I also have annual selected, so unsure why the X12mo is in the formula (makes me think I’m paying monthly).
So. Many. Questions.
So. Few. Answers.
Moreover, I see that my client has been added to my ‘team’ (hey Max 👋).
What’s odd, is that I have many clients, which leaves me questioning why is just one listed. What’s the logic that adds Max and not Maria?
Curious.
Anyway, I untick Max, and I untick Figma design to get a better total for 1 FigJam seat (all I need).
By this point, I’m tired.
This is too much thinking for the user.
The lack of clarity around the numbers on the pricing page starts to erode my trust in Figma’s ability to bill me correctly.
A better flow would have been:
Identify my user persona/cohortRecommend a plan for meSuggest I pay annually as it’s cheaper
Very much like Canva, who personalise your paywall and UX flow to your cohort:
With that, there’s one decision to make and I feel seen.
Perhaps Figma have tested it and it works better.
Perhaps the confusion is by design.
Who knows.
✅ A brief moment of joy as I get to the right price
I finally get to the review page, where I see a much better and surprisingly good total of £43.20.
This is a mini magic moment for me where I think: wow, this is so cheap.
My motivation trends up on my customer empathy map.
I think: Such good value
One year of Figma for ~£40 (the cost of a meal out in London). Great.
✅ Post-payment another moment of joy
I pay.
Success!
I even get a post-purchase experience on home, making me feel welcomed to Pro.
It’s a very attractive module.
Until you read it and realise the chronic lack of personalisation persists.
🚩The joy quickly dwindles
As I read the module, I find myself becoming more and more alienated.
I already know Figma isn’t personalised for me as it hasn’t got a tier for me (an individual needing more files). After reading the post-payment pop up, this feeling grows.
The copy lets this module down for two main reasons:
There is no personalisation: I haven’t paid for dev mode, but it’s listed here (bug perhaps?). I also don’t really care about organising my files. I want to deliver for clients and create great work — specifically collaborate in workshops and in my UX review files. I also want secure files to keep my clients’ designs safe.The language is internal-speak: Files, projects, Dev mode. There’s little in the way of customer desires and pains written in my language.
What’s interesting is that some of the messaging from earlier in the funnel really spoke to me:
More control over your filesManage file permissions, password protection…Review who has access
I feel like either a different team has worked on the start of the flow versus the end, or Figma is in the process of improving the flow and they’re starting at the beginning with entry points.
✅ A clear email confirmation
Next, I get a clear email summarising what I’ve bought.
At this point, I’m clear I’ve paid for one seat and for a year. All fine and dandy.
Done and dusted.
I can now get on with my work right.
Right?
Wrong.
Before long, the maths and confusion resume.…
🚩🚩 Going round in circles to find the settings
After 5 years using Figma I still don’t get drafts, files, projects, folders and teams (hmu in the comments if you can explain it to me).
Figma’s project and team set up confuses me to this day.
So, one morning I had a scare about permissions.
I saw one client was part of my ‘team’ and I was worried they’d have access to all projects in that team (i.e. access to other clients’ files).
So, I went to check my permissions settings for my whole account.
Or at least that’s what I tried to do.
I headed to the top left avatar ‘Rosie’ and tapped settings in the drop down menu.
I hit a dead end — no permissions, no billing settings.
Back I go to my Figma home and tap the ‘Professional’ badge, then ‘view settings’.
After ‘view settings’ I see a pop up with two tabs, when I tap ‘members’ tab there’s just me listed as part of the Team.
Which makes me relax a little.
Phew, only me with access to this team.
In the ‘settings’ tab, I then try to get to billing and find a hyperlink halfway down the page. There’s also a second route there via ‘admin view’ in the black dropdown.
Feels like a maze.
And, I’m starting to feel this is harder than it should be. Are they hiding my settings from me? Or is this just the results of multiple teams working on one flow? The jury is out.
Then, I get to billing page and see a £74 bill waiting for me (almost 2X my annual plan that I’ve just paid for).
What?!
Mind-boggling.
🚩🚩🚩 Sneaky seats added to my bill
I see that, without notification via email or in the interface, Figma have added:
3 Design seats5 FigJam seats
At a total cost of £74 that will be taken in 4 days time.
Despite already confirming it’s just me in the team (via the first members tab), I head to the second ‘members’ tab to see 14 people listed.
Five of whom I’m now… paying for?
I’m shocked that Figma has:
Hidden the settings in a maze of UXTold me in one place called ‘members’ I have 1 memberTold me in the second (hidden) place that I have 14 membersAdded 5 members to my bill without notifying me via email or in the experience
I’m also up against more confusion on this page, where I have to manage their permissions across three areas (team, design and Figjam) and choose between: Full, Viewer, Viewer-restricted (?!).
Meaning — if we do more maths — I have 42 decisions to make on this page in order to take people off my invoice. If that isn’t friction by design I don’t know what is.
Not only is this an example of unethical, dark UX, it is also anti-product-led-growth (PLG).
One of the core components of PLG is that pricing is self-serve and simple. It’s a no brainer to start and continue using the product. You’re also able to seamlessly share with others, who go on to adopt the tool.With Figma, I’m charged for sharing and collaborating with others. I’m penalised for collaborating.
Instead of being rewarded for sharing and demo-ing the tool with 10s of people who’ve never used Figma before (which happens in my workshops regularly), I’m penalised for collaborating with others.
If I have 5 clients each with a team of 10 in my workshops by Figma’s logic, I should pay for 50 people. It becomes a very expensive workshop for me.
Figma’s pricing strategy, whilst adding revenue and resulting in a net revenue retention rate of 150%+, is anti-product led growth as it penalises the very growth-loop that gives Figma it’s competitive edge: collaboration.
So, one-by-one, I meticulously change the 14 peoples’ access. I have to notify them all to duplicate the workshops, UX reviews and other boards into their files so they can edit.
Annoying AF.
Also annoying that free users get 3 files that can be collaborated on to an unlimited degree, but this isn’t available for paid users.
A quick Google search shows I’m not the only one who’s experiencing this. According to various threads on Reddit, the dark pricing schemes are impacting not just freelancers, but businesses working with multiple freelancers (i.e. most businesses).
one cannot, indeed, collaborate. Reddit thread here
This is a known problem.
a shady model indeed zyumbik. Reddit thread here
Known by some for a while now, at least since this pricing strategy was in place.
And whilst Figma have made it easier to bulk-remove people (select then downgrade), in my eyes it isn’t enough. They have also have a setting where you can add people as viewer-restricted by default.
However a) I only found this out via contacting support and b) that’s a poor workshopping experience.
The 24hr live sessions also don’t help, as I send my work out ahead of time for people to interact with async before our workshops. Which takes over 24hrs.
Now, each month I’m going to have to add ‘check Figma invoice’ to my admin list before I’m billed.
Result?
Complete lack of trust in FigmaAnxiety of foretting to un-seat peopleMonetary cost of forgetting (£££)Apprehension about workshops with a large number of people
= A huge cost of collaboration.
Compare this experience to the pricing page of Canva:
Canva is so clear in their seat costs and caps on their paywall. They also give me one decision to make.
Their policies around sharing are also created for the purpose of collaboration. Canva lets you collaborate with guests right away; you share a link that lets anyone edit your design without signing-in.
Is it more expensive? Yes.
Can I run workshops easier with Canva? Yes.
Do I trust it more? Hell yes.
What’s funny with Figma is that the base cost could just increase (given it’s so cheap), and instead of paying per collaborator you pay for up to X people, after which people are added. This would reduce anxiety and increase clarity around billing.
At the bare minimum be clear about your policies and notify people of invoice changes.
It’s so simple.
This is so, so basic, that I’m leaning towards the reason being dark UX by design, versus Figma’s flow being built by multiple siloed teams.
My customer journey in a nutshell 😄 😐 😠
Trust takes years to build and minutes to erode. For me, it took 5 years of loving Figma and 30 days of decline into distrust.
Here’s the customer journey map of how it went:
What have we learned?
For me, there’s 6 key takeaways from Figma’s pricing strategy and monetisation flow:
Price in a way that accelerates your value proposition: if collaboration is one of the competitive advantages of your product, price in a way that allows users to do that 10X. Paid users should feel like they’re getting the best deal: i.e. they can collaborate even more. Gating collaboration is a risk to growth, whilst it may bring in short-term revenue.Easy access to settings: as soon as managing users or billing is hidden, distrust rises. You want to show users that you have nothing to hide and you have their interests at heart. Transparency in billing and settings placement within the navigation is key.Communications around billing: similar to the above point, communication is key. If changes are made to the invoice or subscription, users need to know in advance.Personalisation: one way to increase retention is to make users feel seen and heard. If I’ve paid for a product, only to become alienated with language that doesn’t resonate with me, I’m more of a churn risk. First understand your users, and then start with small changes to paywall language, payment flow and welcome message to make people stick.Expectation management: ensure that prices and numbers you use throughout the payment flow match. If I’m promised £3/month and see a £200 bill, I’m feel surprised, then confused, then suspicious. We want people to feel confident, assured and clear. So check your promises and manage expectations.UX writing: stop making people do maths throughout your payment flow and instead help them make the right choices. Make the flow feel easy, and calm their fears and anxieties through concise, clear, customer-centric language. It’s the simple things that matter the most.
Any more? What’ve I missed. Let me know in the comments
Follow on LinkedIn & Medium for more deep dives 🧜🏻♀️
Figma and the cost of collaboration was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
