Figma vs Adobe XD: One Is Alive, One Isn't

Adobe XD still works. You can open it right now, build a prototype, share a link. But Adobe stopped meaningful development on it around 2022, and that's the only thing you need to know.

Figma is the winner here. It's not close.

The situation with Adobe XD

Adobe announced it was "pausing" new feature development in XD back in 2022. Since then, the tool has received maintenance updates but nothing that moves the product forward. No new features, no competitive responses to Figma's Variables or Dev Mode, no sign that this changes.

Adobe's plan was to push XD users toward Adobe Creative Cloud's existing tools — Illustrator, Photoshop, and eventually whatever else they build. That hasn't resulted in a coherent UI design tool.

XD still works fine for what it was in 2022. But 2022 is now four years ago.

What Figma has that XD never will

Figma's Variables system lets you define tokens for color, spacing, and typography and reference them across your entire file. It's the foundation of a real design token workflow. XD has nothing equivalent.

Dev Mode in Figma gives developers a dedicated view with code inspection, redline specs, and direct asset export — without needing a paid designer seat. This is how design-to-development handoff works at modern companies. XD's handoff workflow never advanced past basic inspect panels.

The plugin ecosystem matters too. Figma has thousands of plugins covering everything from data population to accessibility checks to icon libraries. XD's plugin ecosystem stopped growing when development stopped.

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The one reason to keep using Adobe XD

If you're a Creative Cloud subscriber and you have existing XD projects, there's no urgent reason to migrate everything today. The files still open. The tool still exports. If you're a solo designer doing occasional mockups for clients who don't need live collaboration, XD is fine.

And if your entire workflow is built around Adobe products — InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere — then staying in the Adobe ecosystem has real value. Copy-paste between Illustrator and XD still works well for certain asset-heavy workflows.

But if you're starting a new project, starting a new job, or recommending a tool to someone else: don't start with XD. You're building on a foundation that Adobe has quietly abandoned.

Pricing

Figma: Free for individuals, $15/editor/month (Professional), $45/editor/month (Organization)

Adobe XD: Included with any Creative Cloud subscription starting at $54.99/month (All Apps). No standalone paid plan anymore.

If you're already paying for Creative Cloud for other reasons, XD costs you nothing extra. But that's not a reason to prefer it over Figma.

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The honest verdict

Adobe XD was a serious competitor to Figma and Sketch from roughly 2016 to 2021. It had good prototyping, decent component support, and the Adobe brand behind it. Teams that bet on XD weren't wrong at the time.

But the bet didn't pay off. Adobe pulled back, Figma accelerated, and now there's a four-year feature gap that's only going to widen. Use Figma.

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