Adobe Illustrator CC vs. Figma

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Illustrator
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Illustrator CC is a vector-based graphic design software.
$20.99
per month
Figma
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Figma, headquartered in San Francisco, offers their collaborative design and prototyping application to support digital product and UI development.
$15
per month per editor
Pricing
Adobe Illustrator CCFigma
Editions & Modules
Yearly - Billed Monthly
$20.99
per month
Monthly
$31.49
per month
Yearly - Billed Upfront
$239.88
per year
Professional
$144
per year
Organization
$540
per year
Starter
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe IllustratorFigma
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe Illustrator CCFigma
Considered Both Products
Adobe Illustrator

No answer on this topic

Figma
Chose Figma
Despite Figma being a more recent software than adobe software( Adobe XD, Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator, it has been growing considerably and gaining market, thanks to its functionalities and its cost is almost zero. Being able to use collaboratively remotely was …
Chose Figma
Figma is a lot cleaner, easier to navigate and organize. Maybe you can't do as much visually but you can move faster in Figma. I'm trying to remember more but honestly I've been using Figma for so long now.
Chose Figma
Figma supports and is supported by other design apps, but it really shines in prototyping for web and app development. It's easy to share with colleagues and collaborate in one space, the open space allows for a ton of iteration, and the organization of layers functions better …
Chose Figma
In Figma we have it all! From sketches, wireframes, to complex design systems, components, tokens, libraries, etc.

It is also very easy to share interactive prototypes, the developer team can also access the files from anywhere, without installing anything on their computers, …
Chose Figma
Figma is inherently "smarter" than these other apps for its ability to create design tokens, generate code and is just better suited all around for screen-based design.
Chose Figma
Figma does everything that I personally needed to do, and does all of those really well.
If you're a UI / UX designer, there is nothing better out there. If you're a PM, you'll be working on this quite a bit, but this is definitely not the best wireframing tool.
Chose Figma
We switched from Sketch to Figma 3 years ago. Back then Figma provided more flexibility to build design systems, collaborate between designers and work on the same files.
Chose Figma
Figma has a web version, the other programs are not. The speed of design is a lot better in Figma. The presets, the community and the simplicity of the user interface is a big advantage in Figma. Students learn the screen and app presets in a quick and understandable way. The …
Chose Figma
Yes definitely, it is way easier to use and has way better collaboration compared to Adobe Illustration and Sketch. Figma has better integration with the development team as it can export code and maintain assets as well.

Another big upside of Figma is prototyping, since the …
Chose Figma
Figma is far better in so many ways. The shortcut in Figma makes the most sense. It allows teams to collaborate like no others. People don't even need to pay for Figma to work live with designers. The product owners and stake holders are very happy about Figma. It is also very …
Chose Figma
Figma has regular updates and amazing plugins as well as a community where you can draw inspiration from and actually see working files.

The collaboration element to Figma is much better as well as the ability to use it within the browser or desktop app.
Chose Figma
Figma is the tool with the best design and collaboration capabilities compared to other tools such as Sketch, Adobe XD, etc.

  • It doesn't force designers to use a single platform or device as Sketch still does.
Chose Figma
It has all the necessary tools for the job while allowing a much greater collaborative workspace. I have a very limited time and can't lose it asking to designers to show me what they are doing and setting up meetings to comment / design with them. All other tools do not have …
Chose Figma
I'll put the competitors in rank order:
  1. Figma blows their competition out of the water. Clearly #1 for me.
  2. Sketch was too slow to get to the cloud even thought they were doing some really awesome things. They also didn't figure out collaboration, version control, and PC/Mac …
Chose Figma
I used to use Adobe XD, but switched to Figma due to it's industry dominance. It's always updated more often and I find the features more useful. I don't want to stake my designs on a dying software (XD). Figma is the software of the future so that's where I want to be.
Chose Figma
Sketch is good, has the export to mobile, but it was a bit lens and more difficult to learn for developers. Illustrator had the same problem but also it does not have guides for mobile. Photoshop was not the best option for the same; neither has the flow of the app.
Chose Figma
I think all the points I said before like collaboration between people using at the same time, the componentization and auto-layout and sharing of libraries Figma is much superior to Sketch and Adobe XD
Chose Figma
Figma provides a much better collaborating experience. For example, Adobe XD does not support simultaneous editing, and this is such a pain when teams are working together.
Chose Figma
It has collaborative features that we couldn't find in other products. It also has some very useful features like auto layout which help us to know how our apps will look when running on devices with different screen sizes and we couldn't find that in other products.
Chose Figma
We are in a constant battle of changes and project scope changes, so using a tool that keeps you static and limited can't be an option. We started looking for a solution that could bring velocity, collaboration and prototyping in the same tool: We found Figma. There are still …
Chose Figma
Figma compares to these other software packages as it seems to combine the best aspects of each, whilst simplifying its own interface to make usage more intuitive.
Although Illustrator is still excellent for vector illustration work, and Sketch does appear visually fairly …
Chose Figma
I chose Figma because of the sharing capability, web browser capability, and storage.
Chose Figma
Figma has much better prototyping capabilities, and it's just as easy to use from a design tool perspective. It also eliminates the need for separate file storage like Dropbox. Commenting and collaborating within the app makes it useful for sharing with team and clients. It's …
Chose Figma
Figma is a more complete solution that is always evolving.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Adobe Illustrator CCFigma
Small Businesses
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.6 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Canva
Canva
Score 9.2 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.1 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe Illustrator CCFigma
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(103 ratings)
9.2
(109 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(2 ratings)
9.9
(4 ratings)
Usability
7.2
(4 ratings)
9.8
(5 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(24 ratings)
8.2
(15 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Illustrator CCFigma
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Adobe Illustrator is used to help make drawings look good but not make them. It is easy to add color or texture but it is hard to actually make the drawings in it. I would recommend using other software to make the lines for plans and sections and using Adobe Illustrator to make it look good.
Read full review
Figma
A solo developer or small team that wants to integrate development, feature planning and ui design in a single app can find a lot of value in using Figma, since the FigJam whiteboard and UI editor are in the same app. Business plans and software features can be mapped out on FigJam and then implemented in the UI editor, that way there is reduced context switching and teams can operate smoothly without having to toggle between multiple apps.
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • Vector graphics for scaling to large sizes
  • Filling an object with a texture
  • Easily adjusting and expanding an artboard to fit the size of the content (especially for infographics)
  • Compatibility with other Adobe CC programs, but also exporting for PPT graphics
Read full review
Figma
  • As a visual designer, I spend 90% of my working time in Figma. So, as a design tool, Figma is mature and feature-rich. It covers all the basic needs and provides extras, such as simple prototyping and the ability to use external plugins.
  • Collaboration: It’s very easy to work together on the same file in Figma. You can easily brainstorm together or use Figma as a shared screen.
  • Smartness of components: Figma provides many adaptability options for components that allow building very flexible and scalable layouts.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • It's tough to master. If you haven't used Adobe products like Photoshop or Illustrator before, there is a lot to take in.
  • It would be great to have some better options to preview the final product if you're creating a multiple page document.
  • Better integration and pricing points with Adobe Stock for the useful stock images to complete your projects.
Read full review
Figma
  • Access control - it wasn't apparent to me at first that a project was shared with everyone in the company vs just people i choose to share it with. I think the inverse should be the default.
  • Sometimes it struggles to import old sketch files - no clue how to make this better, but its frustrating
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
While Adobe Illustrator CC is one of the only true design software out there, it really stands heads above the other products. It's clean UI and menu structure is easy to navigate.
Read full review
Figma
It's by far the best tool and I feel delighted using it every day.
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
Illustrator has become easier in recent years to use with more intuitive tools and controls for them. Illustration software has improved but Adobe Illustrator has kept up and keeps the edge with its extensive toolset. Newly added collaboration tools with Adobe make it even better and the expectation is that is to continue.
Read full review
Figma
It's so simple to use! I have no background in UI design but basic designing and I was able to learn this software Figma within 3-5 days. There are tons of tutorials available on Youtube from so many popular YouTubers in the space, you can just go through them and start designing.
Read full review
Support Rating
Adobe
I normally already know how to do whatever I'm trying out, but the documentation (as well as a simple Google search) makes any question quick to resolve. The Adobe boards themselves are a fantastic resource, especially for resolving questions between new programs and iterative releases.
Read full review
Figma
I haven't used their support lately but in the past, they had a chat that I used often. They often responded in a few hours and were able to give a satisfactory solution. I would imagine it's less personal now but the community has expanded drastically so there are more resources out there to self serve with a bit of Google magic.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
They complement each other, each with its own specific characteristics, but within a marketing sector, an experienced designer knows that the use of these tools in sets makes all the difference. It is possible to combine their uses and create really relevant materials that will bring a great return to the company and in the dissemination of arts with superior quality to the competitors
Read full review
Figma
Much more intuitive, Adobe XD fails to keep up with the newest market changes thus it did not let us stay on top of the technology. The big plus of Figma is that the majority of our clients worked with it, whereas it was not the case with Adobe XD. You can get similar results working with both, but the process will be different in Figmas favour
Read full review
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Helps us quickly and easily create and manage numerous logos
  • Cloud libraries allow us to access commonly used colors, fonts, logos and other design elements quickly
  • We are able to provide high-quality, scalable college logos for print and digital which give us a more professional, credible look.
Read full review
Figma
  • Negative -- the Figma mirror app is quite poorly connected with Figma itself, hence when we were conducting user testing, we got some incorrect data.
  • Positive -- time spent for discussion because we have something visual to base on discussion on
  • Negative -- it's difficult to find files and comments, which is a lost of time
Read full review
ScreenShots