For anyone looking for the best design and prototyping tool in 2020, Adobe XD and Figma must be in your top list. The first Figma model was released on 2008 while Adobe Xd was released in 2016.
Before the release of Adobe Xd, Figma had enjoyed market monopoly and updated its version severally. Therefore, the first launched adobe model could not be compared to the existing Figma model.
However, times have changed and Adobe Xd has updated most of its features. Today, the competition between Figma and Adobe Xd is a bit tighter and the differences are minimal.
Free and paid plans
Figma has one free plan and two paid plans labelled as organizational and professional. The free plan accommodates two editors and one project with an unlimited storage space.
The prices are per editor per month with the organizational plan going for $45 while the professional plan is available at $12.
Adobe XD also has two paid plans and one free plan. The free plan accommodates unlimited number of projects and users but does not save files locally. This means that all files must be saved on cloud, which has a storage allowance of 2GB.
The two paid plans are $9.99 per month per user and $22.99. With the two paid plans, users can enjoy local saving and an additional storage of 100GB.
Platforms
Figma supports both windows and Mac. It can be accessed through the mobile app, desktop browsers, mobile phone browsers, and Linux. Mobile browsers allow you to preview designs through chrome and Firefox.
It can also be used for editing in any desktop that supports the webGL browser.
Adobe XD, on the other hand, supports windows and Mac only and is viewable through the mobile device app. The mobile device and the desktop browsers are limited since they only allow previewing the designs and client feedback.
Collaboration and sharing options
Figma has a feature that allows for multiplayer editing. This is where more than two people can edit a document at the same time. The feature allocates an avatar for each, a labelled cursor, and a screen mirroring option.
The observation mode works when you want to test a prototype or to show a document to another person. Another useful Figma feature is the ability to create reusable and sharable designs.
This means that you can share a design component to all your team members to work on it simultaneously. It also has an automatic save feature where changes and updates can be saved, and all users alerted.
As in Figma, Adobe Xd has a co editing model too, which allows all users to edit the same document. It works in the same way as the Figma multiplayer. The link address enables you to access documents saved in cloud or to edit them.
In case any of the users makes changes to the document, an update alert is sent to the linked document in order to save the changes. With its creative cloud libraries, you can organize files and facilitate team structuring.
Previewing mode
Under the previewing mode, Figma has the view option, observe, edit, and embed options. This is done by sending a link to the manager or editor. Under the view and observe option, the recipient cannot make any changes on the document.
Users have to use the edit option if they want to allow others to make suggestions or changes in the project. Figma also allows you to embed a project and display it on a web page.
The preview in the Adobe Xd design allows you to share a link with the recipient. It has a view only option and the leave comments option. However, the recipient cannot make any changes, such as editing or giving suggestions.
As opposed to Figma, Adobe Xd has the voice narration feature where you can add a voice or explanations in a project. It works well when you are working in different time zones.
Overall best: Figma
Considering other extra features such as design, font, and styling, Figma has an upper hand compared to Adobe Xd. This is because:
Although Adobe Xd has an unlimited free plan and a cheap paid plan, the overall features in all the plans are limited compared to Figma. This includes collaboration, permission, and sharing features included in Figmas’ paid tiers.
The sharing platforms in Adobe Xd are also not flexible enough for a wide range of users who may prefer mobile browsing to windows or Mac.
On the other hand, Figma has both Linux and mobile browsing, which supports both chrome and Firefox. This means the user is not limited to desktop browsing.
Compared to its previous models, Adobe Xd has made notable progress. However, from the above comparisons, it is clear that the current Adobe Xd model does not measure up to the Figma model.