# Figma 113 Hacker News commenters recommended Figma and 103 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for browser-based, real-time collaborative UI design with design systems and shareable links; critics say it has grown bloated, memory-hungry and expensive per seat. ## Why people recommend it - Real-time collaborative multiplayer editing (6 comments): "What made Figma the go-to tool is the in-browser approach, collaborative editing, and features like design tokens and constraints" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45782595)) "The biggest evidence for collaborative editing is the immense popularity of Google Docs, Notion and Figma." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47411400)) "it feels like these choices (wasm, multiplayer, etc) have been so core to building such a great business" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47564764)) - Runs in browser, easy sharing (3 comments): "What made Figma the go-to tool is the in-browser approach, collaborative editing, and features like design tokens and constraints" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45782595)) "you could just send a Figma link to anyone in your org and it opened in the browser" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47822265)) "Figma is doing quite well in that regard, especially with the use of WebAssembly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49992153)) - Powerful, polished design tool (6 comments): "I've been using Figma for a while, and true, it's powerful. At the same time it becomes increasingly complex, difficult, bloated overall." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46918579)) "Figma, TigerBeetle, and much software of the highest class have won the market on the basis of technical excellence" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47037170)) "Figma is already a very clean UI, which tries it's best not to shove too many features in your face." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46917978)) - Design systems speed up features (2 comments): "I find it to be sometimes easier to utilize my Figma library to design what I want as I generally don't have to do rework." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46064096)) "It’s so easy nowadays to get a Figma file with an established design system and produce new features." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47834899)) ## What people warn about - Increasingly complex and bloated (3 comments): "I've been using Figma for a while, and true, it's powerful. At the same time it becomes increasingly complex, difficult, bloated overall." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46918579)) "If the tool crumbles under its own usage modalities, that's because it's poorly designed, not the user's fault." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46067352)) "Figma costs cuckoo bananas money for your entire team for the privilege of enduring this byzantine nightmare" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47819338)) - Expensive seats and paywalled features (4 comments): "their seats system has always been brutal it's extremely easy to have the seats balloon if you're not careful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47808600)) "Figma costs cuckoo bananas money for your entire team for the privilege of enduring this byzantine nightmare" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47819338)) "I can’t really get behind saying that a company should bait and switch with their pricing models harder." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47821593)) - Heavy memory use (2 comments): "Running Slack, Figma, Linear, Spotify, Discord, Obsidian, and others at the same time consumes a lot of memory for no good reason." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46876271)) "each of those is going to require an additional GB or two of memory on every staff member's computer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46153990)) - Lagging on AI integration (4 comments): "Figma screenshots work sometimes (with vision models), but they are token-heavy, slow, and impossible to git commit as text." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47342989)) "Figma accidentally excluded themselves from the training data that would have made them relevant in the agentic era." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47819815)) "AI is great for prototyping and refining use cases in ways that are far superior to static figma designs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799573)) ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.figma.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Figma", https://hackerapproved.com/p/figma/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).