{
 "sym": "De",
 "updated": "2026-08-06",
 "verdict": "Figma, and for product UI it isn't close \u2014 post-IPO it's the industry's operating system, with Q2 2026 revenue of $370.1M (a third straight quarter of accelerating growth, ~39% guided for the year), Make prompt-to-prototype on every paid seat, and Config 2026 shipping Motion, Weave, and agent-facing MCP \u2014 even as the stock trades ~75% off its IPO-pop high. Canva is the pick when the founder is the designer: $4B ARR, 265M monthly users, and an AI suite used 800M times a month. Framer wins when the marketing site is the product's face; Penpot when self-hosting or zero lock-in is non-negotiable; Paper when agents, not humans, do most of your production design.",
 "top5": [
  {
   "rank": 1,
   "name": "Figma",
   "maker": "Figma, Inc. (NYSE: FIG)",
   "url": "https://www.figma.com",
   "docs": "https://help.figma.com",
   "pricing": "Free (500 AI credits/mo) \u00b7 Pro full seat $16/mo \u00b7 Org $55 \u00b7 Enterprise $90; Dev $12\u201335, Collab $3\u20135; AI credits metered per tier",
   "best_for": "Any team designing actual software \u2014 UI, design systems, prototyping, and the design-to-code handoff, now with agents wired in over MCP.",
   "why": "The default professional canvas got an AI platform bolted on and kept growing: Q2 2026 revenue $370.1M with full-year guidance raised to ~$1.465B (+39%), 136% net dollar retention, 85% gross margin. Make (prompt-to-prototype-and-code) ships on every paid seat; Config 2026 (Jun 24) added Motion, Weave generative media, and code layers; Code Connect landed in the MCP server Aug 5, 2026, feeding agents real component context.",
   "watch": "The market is unconvinced: stock under $23 and ~$12B market cap by Aug 6, 2026 \u2014 down ~80% from the $56B IPO-pop peak \u2014 on AI-disruption fears (Anthropic board member Mike Krieger resigned Apr 2026 over competing design tooling). AI credits make heavy Make use a real line item, and the seat matrix is genuinely confusing.",
   "evidence": [
    {
     "stat": "Q2 2026 revenue $370.1M; FY26 guidance $1.463\u20131.467B (~+39%); NDR 136% (reported Aug 2026)",
     "src": "https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/fig/"
    },
    {
     "stat": "Stock $22.67, market cap ~$12B on Aug 6, 2026 \u2014 vs $56.3B first-day value at the Jul 31, 2025 IPO",
     "src": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figma"
    },
    {
     "stat": "Config 2026 (Jun 24): Motion, Weave, code layers, generative plugins; Make visual editing Jul 30; Code Connect in MCP Aug 5, 2026",
     "src": "https://www.figma.com/blog/"
    }
   ],
   "tile_note": "the product-design os"
  },
  {
   "rank": 2,
   "name": "Canva",
   "maker": "Canva Pty Ltd",
   "url": "https://www.canva.com",
   "docs": "https://www.canva.com/help/",
   "pricing": "Free \u00b7 Pro ~$15/mo \u00b7 Teams ~$10/user/mo (min 3) \u00b7 Enterprise custom \u2014 vendor page blocks verification; re-check",
   "best_for": "Founders and non-designers producing brand, marketing, social, decks, and now apps at volume \u2014 one subscription, zero design training.",
   "why": "The scale story of the category: ~$4B ARR by end-2025 (+43%), 265M monthly active users, 31M+ paid subscribers, and a $42B valuation set by an Aug 2025 employee stock sale. Its AI suite (Magic Studio, Canva Code 2.0, Visual Suite 2) was used 800M times a month by end-2025, up 700% YoY \u2014 and buying Serif let it make the pro-grade Affinity suite free on Oct 30, 2025.",
   "watch": "Identity: it's a content factory, not a product-design tool \u2014 UI/design-system work still leaves for Figma. Recognized revenue ($3.5B 2025) trails the $4B ARR headline, the long-teased IPO keeps slipping, and pro designers resent the Affinity freemium-with-Canva-AI shift.",
   "evidence": [
    {
     "stat": "~$4B ARR end-2025 (+43% YoY); 265M MAU; 31M+ paid subscribers",
     "src": "https://sacra.com/c/canva/"
    },
    {
     "stat": "$42B valuation via employee stock sale (Aug 2025)",
     "src": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canva"
    },
    {
     "stat": "AI features used 800M times/month, +700% YoY (end-2025); Affinity made free Oct 30, 2025",
     "src": "https://sacra.com/c/canva/"
    }
   ],
   "tile_note": "non-designer speed at scale"
  },
  {
   "rank": 3,
   "name": "Framer",
   "maker": "Framer B.V.",
   "url": "https://www.framer.com",
   "docs": "https://www.framer.com/help/",
   "pricing": "Free \u00b7 Basic $10/mo \u00b7 Pro $30/mo per site + AI credits \u00b7 Enterprise custom; extra editors $20/mo",
   "best_for": "Design-led marketing sites and landing pages \u2014 the public face of the product \u2014 designed, published, and now agent-maintained in one tool.",
   "why": "Owns the 'site as design surface' slice: $100M Series D at a $2B valuation (2025), ARR doubled to $50M in 2025 with a $100M target for 2026, and enterprise logos (Miro, Perplexity, Scale AI) now the majority of new accounts. Framer 3.0 made it agent-first \u2014 native Design, CMS, and Code agents plus external hooks for Claude Code and Cursor.",
   "watch": "Sits on the border with vibe-builders and website builders \u2014 Webflow still leads that market (~$200M ARR), and app-from-prompt tools attack from the other side. Credit-based AI pricing has already been reshuffled once ('AI credits, simpler plans, lower prices').",
   "evidence": [
    {
     "stat": "$2B valuation, $100M Series D; $50M ARR 2025 (2x YoY), targeting $100M in 2026",
     "src": "https://sacra.com/c/framer/"
    },
    {
     "stat": "Framer 3.0 launched with native Agents (design, CMS, code) + external agent support incl. Claude Code and Cursor (2026)",
     "src": "https://www.framer.com/blog/"
    },
    {
     "stat": "~500k MAU, 45\u201355k paying customers (2025)",
     "src": "https://sacra.com/c/framer/"
    }
   ],
   "tile_note": "the site design agent"
  },
  {
   "rank": 4,
   "name": "Penpot",
   "maker": "Kaleidos (open source, MPL)",
   "url": "https://penpot.app",
   "docs": "https://help.penpot.app",
   "pricing": "Free up to 8 members \u00b7 Unlimited $7/user/mo (capped $175/mo) \u00b7 Enterprise $25/user/mo \u00b7 Private Server $50k/yr \u00b7 self-host free",
   "best_for": "Lock-in-averse teams and regulated orgs that want a real Figma alternative they can self-host, with designs stored as open SVG/CSS.",
   "why": "The only serious open-source contender: 600,000 teams claimed, design files that are web standards under the hood (SVG/CSS, not a proprietary format), and 2026 moves upmarket \u2014 a $25/user Enterprise tier with SSO/audit logs, a $50k/yr private-server offering, and 'AI workflows with any agent/LLM' on every tier rather than a locked-in model.",
   "watch": "No native prompt-to-design generation \u2014 it integrates agents rather than shipping its own; polish, plugin depth, and prototyping still trail Figma. Vendor-reported user counts are the only adoption numbers available.",
   "evidence": [
    {
     "stat": "600,000 teams using Penpot; tens of thousands of organizations (vendor claim, Aug 2026)",
     "src": "https://penpot.app/pricing"
    },
    {
     "stat": "Enterprise tier $25/user/mo (from $950/mo) and $50k/yr private server introduced; MCP/agent workflows on all tiers (2026)",
     "src": "https://penpot.app/pricing"
    }
   ],
   "tile_note": "open-source, self-hosted"
  },
  {
   "rank": 5,
   "name": "Paper",
   "maker": "Paper Design, Inc.",
   "url": "https://paper.design",
   "docs": "https://paper.design/docs",
   "pricing": "Free (unlimited editors, 100 MCP calls/wk) \u00b7 Pro $16/editor/mo annual ($20 monthly, 1M MCP calls/wk) \u00b7 Org custom",
   "best_for": "Teams whose production design is done with agents \u2014 an HTML/CSS-native canvas that syncs tokens, styles, and components straight into the codebase over MCP.",
   "why": "The purest bet on agent-era design: the canvas is HTML/CSS, so what you draw is what ships, and agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) read and write it over MCP \u2014 no translation layer, no handoff. A $34M Series A from Accel and ICONIQ (Jun 2026) and a desktop app mark it as the breakout new entrant of the cycle.",
   "watch": "Young: small surface area next to Figma (vector editing still on the roadmap), no track record at enterprise scale, and no published adoption numbers. Betting on it is betting the agent-native workflow wins before Figma's MCP work closes the gap.",
   "evidence": [
    {
     "stat": "$34M Series A from Accel and ICONIQ (Jun 2026)",
     "src": "https://paper.design"
    },
    {
     "stat": "Free tier: unlimited editors/viewers; Pro $16/editor/mo with 1M MCP tool calls/week (Aug 2026)",
     "src": "https://paper.design/pricing"
    },
    {
     "stat": "HTML/CSS-based canvas exporting production code; MCP sync of tokens/components to codebases",
     "src": "https://paper.design/docs"
    }
   ],
   "tile_note": "agent-native canvas"
  }
 ],
 "matrix": {
  "cols": [
   "Entry price",
   "Free tier",
   "Open source",
   "Prompt-to-UI",
   "Design-to-code",
   "Agent / MCP",
   "Enterprise",
   "Platform"
  ],
  "rows": [
   [
    "Figma",
    "$16/seat/mo + AI credits",
    "Yes (500 credits/mo)",
    "No",
    "Make (all paid tiers)",
    "Dev Mode \u00b7 Code Connect",
    "MCP server + Claude Code/Codex",
    "Org $55 \u00b7 Ent $90/seat",
    "Web \u00b7 desktop"
   ],
   [
    "Canva",
    "~$15/mo Pro",
    "Yes (generous)",
    "No",
    "Magic Design \u00b7 Code 2.0",
    "Canva Code (apps/widgets)",
    "Gemini integration",
    "Teams ~$10/user \u00b7 Ent custom",
    "Web \u00b7 mobile \u00b7 desktop"
   ],
   [
    "Framer",
    "$10\u201330/site/mo + credits",
    "Yes",
    "No",
    "Design Agent",
    "Publishes the real site",
    "Native + external agents",
    "SSO \u00b7 SCIM (custom)",
    "Web"
   ],
   [
    "Penpot",
    "Free \u00b7 $7/user/mo",
    "Yes (8 members)",
    "Yes (MPL)",
    "No (agent-driven)",
    "SVG/CSS-native output",
    "MCP + any LLM",
    "$25/user \u00b7 $50k/yr private",
    "Web \u00b7 self-hosted"
   ],
   [
    "Paper",
    "Free \u00b7 Pro $16/editor",
    "Yes (unlimited editors)",
    "No",
    "AI gen (layout/image)",
    "Canvas is HTML/CSS",
    "MCP-first (1M calls/wk)",
    "Org tier (SSO)",
    "Web \u00b7 desktop"
   ],
   [
    "Sketch",
    "$12/editor/mo \u00b7 $120 license",
    "No (trial)",
    "No",
    "No",
    "Frame-to-code via MCP",
    "Local MCP, off by default",
    "Ent $44/user \u00b7 private cloud",
    "Mac \u00b7 web"
   ],
   [
    "Play",
    "Free \u00b7 paid annual tiers",
    "Yes (1 project)",
    "No",
    "No",
    "SwiftUI/UIKit export",
    "No",
    "Ent custom (SSO)",
    "Mac \u00b7 iOS"
   ],
   [
    "Subframe",
    "Pro $29/editor/mo",
    "Yes (1 project)",
    "No",
    "AI pages + themes",
    "React + Tailwind export",
    "MCP + Skills",
    "Custom",
    "Web"
   ]
  ]
 },
 "rules": [
  {
   "if": "You're designing actual software \u2014 screens, flows, a design system, engineers downstream",
   "then": "Figma Professional ($16/seat). Make covers prompt-to-prototype, and the MCP/Code Connect path feeds your coding agents real components; budget for AI credits at heavy use."
  },
  {
   "if": "The founder is the designer and the output is brand, marketing, social, and decks",
   "then": "Canva Pro (~$15/mo) \u2014 800M monthly AI uses says the Magic Studio workflow works; add the now-free Affinity suite when you need pro-grade vector/photo work."
  },
  {
   "if": "The marketing site is the product's face and you iterate on it weekly",
   "then": "Framer Pro ($30/site) \u2014 design, publish, and let its agents (or your Claude Code) maintain it; skip the Figma-to-webflow handoff entirely."
  },
  {
   "if": "Compliance, data residency, or lock-in aversion rules your stack",
   "then": "Penpot \u2014 self-host free or pay $25/user for the enterprise build; your files are SVG/CSS you actually own."
  },
  {
   "if": "Agents do most of your production design and code is the source of truth",
   "then": "Paper (MCP-native canvas) \u2014 or Onlook/Subframe if you want the canvas living directly in your React repo."
  }
 ],
 "field": [
  {
   "name": "Sketch",
   "maker": "Sketch B.V.",
   "note": "The pre-Figma standard, still alive and profitable-ish on Mac: $12/mo or $120 perpetual license, local-first MCP server with a no-AI-tokens stance",
   "url": "https://www.sketch.com",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "$12/editor/mo",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Play",
   "maker": "Rately Inc.",
   "note": "Native iOS/Mac design tool \u2014 real SwiftUI components, Core Animation interactions, code export; used by Netflix, Airbnb, OpenAI designers",
   "url": "https://createwithplay.com",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free tier",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Paper",
   "maker": "Paper Design, Inc.",
   "note": "See top 5 \u2014 the agent-native canvas; $34M Series A Jun 2026",
   "url": "https://paper.design",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free \u00b7 $16/editor",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Subframe",
   "maker": "Subframe, Inc.",
   "note": "Design-system-to-production canvas: real React/Tailwind components, MCP + Skills for Cursor/Claude Code",
   "url": "https://www.subframe.com",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free \u00b7 $29/editor/mo",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Magic Patterns",
   "maker": "North Park Labs (YC)",
   "note": "AI prototyping for product teams against your own design system; 1M+ community designs, used at Ramp, DoorDash, KPMG",
   "url": "https://www.magicpatterns.com",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free tier",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Onlook",
   "maker": "Onlook (YC, Apache-2.0)",
   "note": "Open-source visual editor over real React/Next.js codebases \u2014 'Figma for your repo'; self-hostable",
   "url": "https://onlook.com",
   "oss": true,
   "entry": "free (self-host)",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Visily",
   "maker": "Visily AI",
   "note": "AI wireframes/hi-fi mockups for non-designers \u2014 text-to-design, screenshot-to-UI; PM favorite",
   "url": "https://www.visily.ai",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free tier",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Uizard",
   "maker": "Miro (acquired Aug 2024)",
   "note": "AI UI generator (Autodesigner 2.0) still running standalone under Miro; screenshot-to-editable-mockup",
   "url": "https://uizard.io",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free tier",
   "status": "acquired"
  },
  {
   "name": "Stitch",
   "maker": "Google",
   "note": "Free Gemini-powered UI generator for mobile/web, still beta; the productized remains of Galileo AI",
   "url": "https://stitch.withgoogle.com",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free (beta)",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Galileo AI",
   "maker": "Google (acquired 2025)",
   "note": "Pioneer text-to-UI startup; usegalileo.ai now 302-redirects to Google Stitch",
   "url": "https://www.usegalileo.ai",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "\u2014",
   "status": "acquired"
  },
  {
   "name": "Relume",
   "maker": "Relume (now relume.ai)",
   "note": "AI sitemap \u2192 wireframe \u2192 1,000+ component library for Webflow/Figma/React; domain moved from .io to .ai",
   "url": "https://www.relume.ai",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free \u00b7 paid tiers",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "UXPin",
   "maker": "UXPin Inc.",
   "note": "Code-backed design via Merge (MUI, Tailwind, Ant libraries) + AI Component Creator; the original design-with-real-components bet",
   "url": "https://www.uxpin.com",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free tier",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Lunacy",
   "maker": "Icons8",
   "note": "Free cross-platform (Win/Mac/Linux/web) design editor with built-in AI utilities; the budget Sketch-file-compatible option",
   "url": "https://icons8.com/lunacy",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Affinity (by Canva)",
   "maker": "Canva / Serif",
   "note": "Pro vector+photo+layout suite, unified v3.0 and made free Oct 30, 2025; AI features gated behind Canva Pro",
   "url": "https://www.affinity.studio",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Adobe Express",
   "maker": "Adobe",
   "note": "Adobe's Canva rival with Firefly generation baked in; the enterprise-brand-kit angle is its wedge \u2014 heavier Firefly image work belongs to element Im",
   "url": "https://www.adobe.com/express/",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "free \u00b7 ~$10/mo",
   "status": "active"
  },
  {
   "name": "Adobe XD",
   "maker": "Adobe",
   "note": "In maintenance mode since 2023 \u2014 no new features, quietly kept for existing customers; Adobe ceded UI design to Figma after the blocked $20B acquisition",
   "url": "https://helpx.adobe.com/xd/get-started.html",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "\u2014",
   "status": "fading"
  },
  {
   "name": "InVision",
   "maker": "InVision",
   "note": "The 2010s prototyping unicorn ($2B peak) shut its design services Dec 31, 2024; Freehand sold to Miro \u2014 the category's cautionary tale",
   "url": "https://www.invisionapp.com",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "\u2014",
   "status": "dead"
  },
  {
   "name": "Motiff",
   "maker": "Kanyun (Yuanfudao)",
   "note": "The aggressive 'AI-native Figma' challenger is gone \u2014 discontinued 2026, data export open until Oct 31, 2026",
   "url": "https://motiff.com",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "\u2014",
   "status": "dead"
  },
  {
   "name": "Weavy",
   "maker": "Figma (acquired Oct 2025, >$200M)",
   "note": "Node-based AI image/video editing startup, rebranded Figma Weave and integrated at Config 2026",
   "url": "https://www.figma.com",
   "oss": false,
   "entry": "via Figma",
   "status": "acquired"
  }
 ],
 "signals": [
  {
   "fact": "Figma post-IPO whiplash: $56.3B first-day value (Jul 31, 2025) \u2192 ~$12B market cap (Aug 6, 2026) despite revenue accelerating to +~40% \u2014 the market is pricing AI disruption of design itself",
   "src": "https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/fig/"
  },
  {
   "fact": "Canva: ~$4B ARR end-2025 (+43%), 265M MAU, $42B valuation (Aug 2025); AI feature usage 800M/month, +700% YoY",
   "src": "https://sacra.com/c/canva/"
  },
  {
   "fact": "Pro design tooling went free at the margins: Affinity suite free under Canva (Oct 30, 2025), Google Stitch free beta, Lunacy free \u2014 monetization migrated to AI credits and enterprise seats",
   "src": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_(software)"
  },
  {
   "fact": "Consolidation and casualties, 2024\u20132026: InVision dead (Dec 2024), Uizard \u2192 Miro, Galileo \u2192 Google Stitch, Weavy \u2192 Figma (>$200M, Oct 2025), Motiff discontinued (2026)",
   "src": "https://motiff.com"
  },
  {
   "fact": "The agent-native design wave got funded: Paper $34M Series A (Accel/ICONIQ, Jun 2026); Figma, Sketch, Penpot, and Paper all shipped MCP servers by mid-2026",
   "src": "https://paper.design"
  },
  {
   "fact": "Framer at $2B valuation with ARR doubling ($50M in 2025, $100M 2026 target) shows 'design the site, skip the handoff' is a durable slice",
   "src": "https://sacra.com/c/framer/"
  }
 ],
 "notes": "Scope: image/asset generation (Midjourney, Recraft, Ideogram, Firefly-as-generator) \u2192 element Im; app-from-prompt builders (Lovable, v0, Bolt, Replit) \u2192 Vb; presentation tools (Gamma) \u2192 Dk. Figma Make and Canva Code sit on the De/Vb boundary \u2014 counted here because they live inside design suites. Verification caveats: Canva's site blocks fetchers ('unsupported client'), so Pro ~$15/mo and Teams ~$10/user/mo are carried from prior reporting, not the live vendor page \u2014 re-check before publishing. Figma 'Q2 2026' figures ($370.1M, guidance raise) come from stockanalysis.com the day of the report (Aug 6, 2026) \u2014 single aggregator source; confirm against investor.figma.com (its news pages render client-side and returned no data to fetchers). Conflict resolved: Canva revenue \u2014 Wikipedia says '$4B revenue 2025', Sacra says $3.5B recognized revenue vs $4B ARR; we use Sacra's ARR framing as the cleaner like-for-like metric. Sacra's Figma comparison figure ($743M ARR) is stale \u2014 superseded by reported quarterly results. Framer Series D date: Sacra says Aug 2025 at $2B; some earlier reporting says early 2025 \u2014 we carry Sacra. Sketch's one-time $120 license remains the only real perpetual-license option among the leaders.",
 "sources": [
  "https://www.figma.com/pricing/",
  "https://www.figma.com/blog/",
  "https://www.figma.com/make/",
  "https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/fig/",
  "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figma",
  "https://sacra.com/c/canva/",
  "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canva",
  "https://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/",
  "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_(software)",
  "https://www.framer.com/pricing/",
  "https://www.framer.com/blog/",
  "https://sacra.com/c/framer/",
  "https://www.sketch.com/pricing/",
  "https://www.sketch.com/ai/",
  "https://penpot.app/pricing",
  "https://help.penpot.app",
  "https://paper.design/pricing",
  "https://paper.design/docs",
  "https://createwithplay.com/pricing",
  "https://motiff.com",
  "https://stitch.withgoogle.com",
  "https://www.relume.ai/pricing",
  "https://uizard.io",
  "https://www.subframe.com",
  "https://www.magicpatterns.com",
  "https://onlook.com",
  "https://www.visily.ai",
  "https://www.uxpin.com",
  "https://icons8.com/lunacy"
 ],
 "element": {
  "number": 23,
  "name": "Design",
  "group": "Creative & Design",
  "essential": true,
  "edition": "v2026.Q3",
  "revision": "r7",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0 \u2014 cite elems.ai",
  "url": "https://elems.ai/e/de.html"
 }
}