Why did Figma grade C on churn?

Figma scored 48 out of 100. Three high-severity drivers (March 2025 pricing increase, Penpot alternative surge, freelancer economics) plus two medium drivers (pricing-history trust damage, forced bundling). The core product is still best-in-class. The C grade is almost entirely pricing and trust, not quality, which makes it more recoverable than a product-drift problem.

How much did Figma raise prices in 2025?

On March 11, 2025, Figma raised the Professional plan from $15 to $20 per month, a 33% increase. Annual went from $144 to $192. The Organization tier went up roughly 22%. The company bundled Dev Mode, FigJam, and Slides into 'Full Seat' pricing to justify the increase.

Is Penpot a real Figma alternative?

Yes for many teams. Penpot has 39,100+ GitHub stars, 80,000+ teams using it (including groups at Google and Microsoft), and raised $8M in 2025. Cost comparison: a 30-person team pays about $16,200 per year on Figma Organization vs $2,100 on Penpot Premium, a 75 to 90% savings. Limitations: DOM-based performance issues with 5+ page documents, immature plugin ecosystem, 20GB+ RAM reports on large files. Users switch despite the limitations, which is the signal.

Should freelancers leave Figma?

The economics are bad. Solo designers juggling 5 to 8 client workspaces pay per-seat costs that in-house designers amortize across one employer. UX Collective specifically called the cost increase a 'dealbreaker' for freelancers. Penpot's freelancer-friendly pricing (free) is becoming the default. Figma has not shipped a freelancer-specific tier.

What caused Figma's 2025 backlash?

The pricing change itself plus the framing. Users did not accept that non-users of Dev Mode, FigJam, and Slides should subsidize bundled features they do not want. The Hacker News thread titled 'I stopped using Figma and switched to Penpot' hit 632 points. The community forum quote that captured sentiment: 'Stop bundling stuff to justify price increases.' Plus it was the third pricing change in as many years, which compounded trust damage.

Figma's 2025 Pricing Hike: 40+ Complaints Analyzed

A RetentionCheck churn teardown of Figma

TL;DR

Grade

C (48 / 100)

Sample

40+ forum + HN + UX Collective complaints

Top driver

March 2025 +33% price increase

Penpot's HN thread hit 632 points in 2025. Teams switching despite objectively rougher alternatives.

Methodology: 40+ public complaints and commentary aggregated from Figma's own community forum, UX Collective analysis of the March 2025 pricing change, the Hacker News "I stopped using Figma and switched to Penpot" thread (632 points in 2025), Kristen Berman's Substack analysis, and byteiota's Penpot-HN-surge coverage. Analyzed with RetentionCheck.

On March 11, 2025, Figma increased the Professional plan by 33%. From $15/month to $20/month. Organization tier went up roughly 22%. The company bundled Dev Mode + FigJam + Slides into "Full Seat" pricing to justify.

The backlash was quantifiable. Penpot, the open-source Figma alternative, hit 632 points on a single Hacker News thread in 2025. The HN title was literal: "I stopped using Figma and switched to Penpot." Penpot's GitHub stars crossed 39,100. 80,000 teams reported using it. Including groups at Google and Microsoft.

I ran the corpus through RetentionCheck.

The Churn Health Score

Figma scored 48/100, grade C. Worse than Linear's B (72), better than Notion's D (44). Three high-severity drivers, two medium, one low.

The crucial detail: Figma's core product is still widely regarded as best-in-class. The churn pattern is almost entirely pricing and trust, not quality. That makes it more recoverable than Notion's product-drift problem.

The 5 churn patterns

1. March 2025 pricing increase (high, 92% confidence)

Figma's announcement was specific:

Professional plan: $15 → $20/month (+33%)
Annual: $144 → $192 (+33%)
Organization tier: roughly +22%
"Full Seat" bundled: Dev Mode, FigJam, Slides

Community backlash was immediate.

"Stop bundling stuff to justify price increases." Figma community forum

"If people aren't paying, they don't value them." Forum user, cited in pricing-analysis articles

The critique isn't that the price is too high in absolute terms. It's that the bundling forces non-users of Dev Mode, FigJam, and Slides to subsidize features they don't want.

2. Penpot explosion as quantified alternative signal (high, 88%)

Penpot's public-sentiment surge after the Figma pricing change was measurable:

632 points on a single HN thread ("I stopped using Figma and switched to Penpot")
39,100 GitHub stars
80,000 teams using (including Google and Microsoft groups)
$8M funding round (tracked separately on HN)
Cost comparison: 30-person team = $16,200 Figma Organization vs $2,100 Penpot Premium (75-90% savings)

For budget-constrained teams and freelancers, Penpot became a legitimate production alternative. Not just a hobby-project option.

The diagnostic insight: Penpot has real limitations (DOM-based crashes with 5+ page documents, nascent plugin ecosystem, 20GB+ RAM reports on large documents). Users are switching despite these limitations. When churn happens despite alternatives being objectively rougher, the original trigger is severe.

3. Freelancer economics broken (high, 82%)

Solo designers juggling 5-8 client workspaces face compounding per-seat costs. Unlike in-house designers who amortize one seat across one employer, freelancers cannot.

"For freelancers, small teams, and even mid-sized businesses, the cost increase might be a dealbreaker. Especially when bundled features like Slides or FigJam aren't universally needed." UX Collective

Penpot's freelancer-friendly pricing (free) became the default. The fix is obvious: flat-rate freelancer tier, $9-$12/month, any number of client workspaces, core design only. Figma has not done this.

4. "Third pricing change in as many years" trust damage (medium, 76%)

Figma's pricing history shows repeated changes. 2016 free beta. Paid plan launches. Seat changes. Dev Mode separation. March 2025 bundle/increase. Each change shifts the rules.

"Another year, another Figma pricing update." UX Collective headline

Users lose confidence that today's contract will be tomorrow's contract. A 24-month pricing-stability commitment with grandfather clauses would address this. Public guarantee. Explicit.

5. Bundled features dilute pricing rationale (medium, 71%)

By bundling Dev Mode + FigJam + Slides into Full Seat, Figma forces non-users of those features to pay for them. Users who only want Figma Design feel gouged for tools they don't use.

"Stop bundling stuff to justify price increases." Figma community forum

The alternative: "Design only" tier at the pre-bundle rate. Add-ons sold separately. Let users build their own stack.

What Figma does right

The core product is best-in-class. Real-time collaboration is unmatched. The plugin ecosystem is deep. Vector editing primitives are widely regarded as best-in-category. Teams with established Figma workflows face real switching costs. Browser-native access, the design-system and component-library model, and onboarding for new designers are all strengths.

Public commentary consistently acknowledges Figma's quality even while complaining about pricing. That is the key distinction: the churn is pricing-and-trust, not product.

3 things Figma could fix

Freelancer-specific plan. Flat $9-$12/month for any number of client workspaces, core design only. Would cut the largest-segment exodus.
24-month pricing stability commitment. Public guarantee. Grandfather existing customers. Explicit "we will not change pricing before 2027" post.
Unbundle Full Seat. "Design only" tier at pre-bundle rate. Dev Mode, FigJam, Slides sold separately. Users build their own stack.

What this means for your SaaS

The Figma story is a case study in how pricing changes damage trust even when the absolute price is defensible. Users accept high prices. They don't accept changed rules.

Every SaaS pricing change is a trust transaction. The one-time revenue gain compounds against the permanent trust loss. Some percentage of users will evaluate alternatives every time you change pricing. Some percentage of those won't come back. Even if the alternative is objectively worse today.

If you're considering a pricing change, the most important question isn't "what will we charge?" It's "how do we change without signaling we'll change again?"

If you have cancellation feedback sitting in a spreadsheet, you can run your own analysis in 30 seconds. The pattern is usually underneath the individual reasons.

Key takeaways

Pricing complaints are often framing complaints. "Too expensive" frequently means "I feel misled."
Alternative evaluation surges when trust breaks. Penpot's 632-point HN thread is the quantified version of Figma's March 2025 trust damage.
Users switch to objectively rougher alternatives when trust is severe enough. That is the real severity indicator.
Bundled pricing dilutes the rationale. "Full Seat" forces non-users of bundled features to subsidize them.
Freelancer economics don't fit per-seat models. Design a tier that addresses them or lose them.

Sources

Related teardowns

Asana + Notion: Both Graded F (Grade F) · 15 Trustpilot reviews, billing trust collapse
Notion's Mid-Life Crisis (Grade D) · 60+ HN complaints, feature bloat
Why Teams Are Leaving Linear (Grade B) · Narrow, bounded churn (the opposite story)
Asana and the SSO Tax (Grade D) · SSO gated behind most expensive tier

Brian Farello is the founder of RetentionCheck, an AI-powered churn analysis tool for SaaS teams. Try it free at retentioncheck.com/try. Previous teardowns: Notion (grade D), Linear (grade B).