Comparison

Figma vs Microsoft Designer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Figma

Access and review design files, prototypes, and presentations on your mobile device. Collaborate with teammates by adding and replying to comments, sharing files, and managing permissions. Mirror designs in real-time and explore prototypes with interactive features.

Highlights
  • Access design, FigJam, prototype, and slides files
  • Create and reply to comments
  • Share files with collaborators
  • Play and replay prototypes
  • Mirror designs in real-time
  • Manage file permissions
Read full description

Create, prototype, and collaborate on the go. View, share, mirror, and build in just a few taps with Figma’s official mobile app. REVIEW YOUR FILES * Access Figma Design, Make, Slides, and FigJam files. * Search for files by name or browse your recent files. * Move between pages and flows with ease. COMMENT AND REPLY * Add comments and mention teammates across Figma Design, Slides, and FigJam files. * Get notified for new comments and replies. * Resolve and reply to comments on the go. * See every comment thread in one place. SHARE FILES WITH YOUR TEAM * Invite collaborators and share links to your files. PLAY DESIGN PROTOTYPES * Play and replay prototypes in full screen. * Adjust prototype scaling. * Toggle hotspot hints. MIRROR DESIGNS IN REAL-TIME * Sync selected frames from desktop to your mobile device. * Watch live desktop edits reflected on your device. * Preview designs scaled to a device screen. PROTOTYPE AND REVIEW WITH MAKE * Test mobile prototypes and validate on-device interactions * Share Makes with collaborators for review and approval EXPLORE SLIDES EFFORTLESSLY * View and comment on decks in both landscape and portrait mode. MANAGE PERMISSIONS ON THE FLY * Update file permissions to control who can view or edit your work. BROWSE AND SWITCH WORKSPACES AND ACCOUNTS * Navigate between teams, plans, projects, and accounts. On iPad, you can also use FigJam to: * Sketch with the Apple Pencil to explore and iterate on ideas more fluidly. * Share and riff on early thinking with your team. * Annotate designs to share feedback. * Jot down ideas whenever inspiration strikes.

About

Microsoft Designer

Visually create and edit anything imaginable with AI. Generate unique images from text, design personalized cards and wallpapers, and enhance photos by removing distractions or backgrounds.

Highlights
  • AI image generation
  • Custom sticker creation
  • Generative erase tool
  • Background removal
  • Custom wallpaper design
  • Greeting card creation
  • Photo restyling
Read full description

Unleash your creativity — visually create, design, and edit just about anything you can imagine with AI. Use the power of generative AI to create eye-catching images with your words, craft next-level designs that pop like personalized birthday cards, holiday cards, wallpapers for your phone, and even use AI to edit photos like an expert - removing backgrounds and erasing distractions from photos. Create what you want, when and where you need it. Key capabilities: • Images: Create any image you can imagine. Sci-fi art, surreal scenes, funny images? Dream it, describe it, and create it with AI. Your imagination is limitless! • Stickers: Create something that sticks. Make custom stickers that help you stick out on messaging apps, social, and more. • Edit with AI: make your photos and images picture perfect with AI. o Generative erase: Erase distractions to make objects you don’t want in your image disappear. o Remove background: Say bye-bye to bad backgrounds. Easily remove unwanted image backgrounds in one step. o Blur background: Bring what’s most important into focus. Blur the background of any image to make your subject pop. o Add filters, adjust brightness, resize: Customize to fit your creative vision, including resizing to turn your creations into a square or custom size that fits just right. • Wallpapers/Backgrounds: Put it all on display. Create custom wallpaper or background to fit your current mood, make a statement, or to keep a special occasion front and center on your phone screen. • Greeting cards: Craft the perfect greeting for any occasion. From birthday cards to holiday cards and beyond, create a thoughtful greeting card with personalized messages and images even if you’re at a loss for words. • Restyle image: Transform photos into a work of art—like turning portraits, landscapes, and pet photos into artwork. • Monograms: Make your mark. Add some personal pop to your everyday life or for a special occasion like a wedding with custom crafted monograms that use letters and more to define your mark. • Invitations: Create invitations that wow. Customize your invitations for every occasion and any event like birthdays, weddings, and anything else big or small. • Social posts: Stand out online. Elevate and craft your next social post with Designer to create the perfect image and text to share online. • Icons: Express yourself visually. Create icons to easily communicate your vision and decorate your designs. • Emojis: Express yourself! Have the perfect reaction on hand with custom crafted emojis to fit any mood. • Coloring book pages: Color it in and get in your flow. Create custom coloring book pages to make coloring more exciting. Great for all ages. • Frame image: Turn your photos into a customized framed memory that you can share everywhere. • Collages: Bring your favorite photos, styles, and descriptions together create a custom collage from your favorite memories. • Banners: Create banners for newsletter headers, social profiles, and more to grab attention and stand out. Microsoft Designer is available for free with a Microsoft account. Your Microsoft account provides 5 GB of free cloud storage that you can use to save your designs, files, and photos across your devices. Additional information about terms of use can be found here: https://designer.microsoft.com/consumerTermsOfUse/en-US/consumerTermsOfUse.pdf Download Designer and create something new today!

Screenshots

Figma4 screens
Microsoft Designer4 screens

Verdict

The call

Figma and Microsoft Designer both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 76% of Microsoft Designer's written reviews are positive against 29% of Figma's. Figma's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7) and ratings volume (21K vs 556). On price, rating, ads and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Microsoft Designer sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Figma asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Figma against 4.5 for Microsoft Designer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Figma has 21K ratings behind it against 556, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 29% of Figma's written reviews are positive against 76% of Microsoft Designer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Figma ships an update weekly, Microsoft Designer every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Figma versus Microsoft Designer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFigmaMicrosoft Designer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (21K ratings) — better4.5 (556 ratings)
Positive reviews29.3% of reviews76.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings21K — better556
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#63 — better#129
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size72 MB76 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperFigma Inc.Microsoft Corporation

Customer experience

Figma

All ratings20,962 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral2.4%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews1,429 reviews
Positive29.3%
Neutral12.9%
Negative57.8%

Microsoft Designer

All ratings556 ratings
Positive87.9%
Neutral4.0%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews364 reviews
Positive76.1%
Neutral5.8%
Negative18.1%

User reviews

Figma

From 21K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Useful for previewing designs
  • 👍 Great for prototyping
  • 🚀 Convenient to mirror screen on a real device

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and unreliable mirroring
  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes often
  • 👎 Limited functionality compared to desktop
  • 👎 Lacks essential editing capabilities
  • 👎 Useless without editing features

Microsoft Designer

From 556 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Seamless integration with Microsoft 365
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🎨 Powerful AI-powered design capabilities
  • 💡 Versatile and creative features
  • 🎉 Fun and enjoyable to use

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔒 Strict content guidelines
  • 💰 Subscription-based model with limited free usage
  • 📱 Limited functionality on iPad devices

Bugs and requests

Figma

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Mirror feature doesn't work consistently
  • Prototype playback issues, like zooming in too much
  • App forgets scroll/zoom state when switching back
  • Crashes when trying to open large files
  • Login issues, constantly requiring re-login

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add editing capabilities, especially for iPad
  • Improve Apple Pencil support in FigJam
  • Allow moving the toolbox out of the way on the screen
  • Implement multi-account support
  • Add option to change sharing permissions

Microsoft Designer

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inconsistent performance and loading issues
  • Inability to view or manage past designs on mobile
  • Unexpected content restrictions and rejections

Requested features

4 requests
  • AI-powered video editing capabilities
  • More advanced image editing tools
  • Improved handling of diverse character designs
  • Better organization and navigation of past projects

In-app purchases

None

Figma

No in-app purchases

7 purchases

Microsoft Designer

Subscriptions7
  • Microsoft 365 Basic Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Microsoft 365 Personal Monthly1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • Microsoft 365 Family Monthly1 Month trial$12.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Microsoft 365 Premium Monthly1 Month trial$19.991 Month
  • Microsoft Copilot Pro$20.001 Month
  • Microsoft 365 Personal Yearly1 Month trial$99.991 Year
  • Microsoft 365 Family Yearly1 Month trial$129.991 Year

Questions

Is Figma free?
Figma is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Microsoft Designer free?
Microsoft Designer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Figma or Microsoft Designer?
Figma is rated higher. Figma averages 4.6 out of 5 from 21K ratings, while Microsoft Designer averages 4.5 from 556 ratings.
Do Figma or Microsoft Designer have ads?
Neither Figma nor Microsoft Designer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Figma or Microsoft Designer?
Figma ships an update weekly, and Microsoft Designer every 3 weeks. Most recently, Figma was updated on October 14, 2026 and Microsoft Designer on October 14, 2026.
Which is more popular, Figma or Microsoft Designer?
Figma currently peaks at #63 in the App Store charts, and Microsoft Designer at #129. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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