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Question

Confusing Differences Between Free Account and Enterprise Developer Role + AI Credit Consumption

  • August 27, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 9 views
Laura Zerpa

Hello,

I am struggling to understand the differences between my previous free Figma account and my current Enterprise account with a Developer role.

With my free account, I was successfully creating prototypes using Figma AI. I had access to the daily AI credits included in the free plan and was able to build a very promising prototype for a project I am leading. I invested significant time and effort in this work and was making good progress.

Yesterday, I was assigned a Developer role within our Enterprise subscription. Naturally, I expected to have at least the same capabilities as before, if not more. However, when I tried to continue working on the same prototype and use the same AI features, I quickly consumed my entire monthly allocation of 500 AI credits in a single day.

As a result, I am now being told that I cannot continue using these features until September 6th.

This situation is very confusing to me for several reasons:

  • In the free account, I was able to work productively using the available AI credits without immediately exhausting them.
  • In the Enterprise Developer role, the same actions seem to consume credits much faster.
  • It is unclear which AI features are available to a Developer role versus a free user.
  • The documentation regarding role capabilities and limitations is difficult to find and understand.
  • Some functionality appears to be more restrictive than what I experienced with my free account, which is unexpected for an Enterprise environment.

In addition, I have a substantial amount of work already created in my free account. I have not found a clear way to transfer or migrate my projects, prototypes, and AI-generated work into the Enterprise environment. As someone who has invested many hours into building these designs, I would expect a supported migration path.

I would appreciate clarification on the following:

  1. Why did the Enterprise Developer account consume 500 monthly AI credits so quickly while performing similar activities to those I performed in the free account?
  2. What are the exact differences between the Free plan and the Enterprise Developer role regarding AI capabilities, editing, prototyping, sharing, and collaboration?
  3. Is there any way to obtain additional AI credits before the current reset date?
  4. What is the recommended process for migrating projects and prototypes from a personal free account into an Enterprise account?
  5. Is the Developer role the correct role for someone actively creating prototypes and using AI-powered design features?

At the moment, I feel that I had a smoother experience with the free account than with the Enterprise Developer role, and I would like to understand whether this is expected behavior or if there is a configuration issue with my account.

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,
Laura Zerpa
Product Owner, Walter PRO

Laura Zerpa Product Owner, Walter PRO • Business Process Expert Exploring UX Design, AI, Automation & Product Innovation to build better user experiences. ✨

1 reply

adamsmasher
Figmate
  • adamsmasher
  • Figmate
  • August 27, 2026

Hi ​@Laura Zerpa - thanks for your post and taking the time to explain this in detail. I can see why the jump from your free account to the Enterprise Developer role felt like a step backward rather than an upgrade. To get specific and provide you some better clarification:

  • The 500 credits in one day
    • Your free account and Developer seat both include 500 seat credits/month; the difference is that free (Starter) accounts also have a 150/day cap, which spreads that 500 out over several days. Developer seats don't have that daily cap, so an active session can use the full amount at once. I’m curious, though - were you working mainly in Figma Make, or using the agent in the Figma Design (the beta assistant that edits the canvas directly)? Make uses the AI credits you see documented in various places in your account up to the limit of 500. The agent, however, doesn’t use those credits while in beta. If you were using the agent in Figma Design with your free account and doing other work with your Developer seat then that would explain the difference the amount of work you were able to do.
  • Free plan vs. Developer role
    • ​​​​​​​A Developer seat is meant to give developers access to what they’d need for collaboration and developer handoff,  so Dev Mode, FigJam, and Slides access, with view/comment only in Figma Design (but not full editing). Your seat on your own team has full editing rights. Since you're actively building and editing prototypes, a Full seat is the match for that work, and it also carries a larger credit allocation (4,250/month vs. 500). 
  • More credits before Sept 6
    • ​​​​​​​Your org admin can purchase additional AI credits, pooled at the plan level for users who exceed their seat allocation. If a Full seat isn’t an option, you could ask your org admin about more credits instead.
  • Bringing your projects and files over
  • Is the Developer role the correct role?
    • In terms of AI, it really depends on what you intend to do in Figma. It’s less about whether you want to use AI so much as how you intend to use it. From what you’ve described, it sounds like you’re looking more for what a Full seat provides, though I would talk to your org admin about what you want to do - they can help you find the best match for your editing and AI credit needs.

 

Let me know if you need more clarification, or if you have other questions!

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