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Question

Unexpected Charges for Team Seats – Not Clearly Explained in Professional Plan

  • January 8, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 55 views
Sandali Disara

I subscribed to the Professional plan with monthly billing, based on the information provided during signup. However, after giving edit access to a few collaborators, I was charged additional full seat fees for each person added.

What surprised me is that simply granting edit access to files automatically added those users as paid team members and charged the full seat amount. This behavior was not clearly communicated when I subscribed, nor was it obvious on the plan details or pricing pages that every editor added would incur a full seat charge.

Because this information wasn’t clearly disclosed upfront, the charges came as an unexpected surprise. I would really appreciate:

  • Clarification on where this behavior is documented clearly on the Figma website

  • Insight from other users who may have faced a similar issue

  • Guidance from the Figma team on how this is intended to work and whether there’s any resolution for cases like this

I’m a long-time and everyday Figma user, and I genuinely love the product. I’m sharing this in good faith, hoping for transparency and a fair explanation.

Thanks in advance for any help or insights.

1 reply

J
Figmate
  • Junko3
  • Figmate
  • January 9, 2026

Hi ​@Sandali Disara,

 

I understand the surprise around seeing additional charges after granting edit access to collaborators on your Professional plan.

 

It sounds like there may be some confusion between seats and permissions, which are handled separately in Figma.

When you give someone edit access to a file, you’re granting them permission. However, in order to use that permission, the user also needs the appropriate seat for the product. You can check what’s included in each seat type here: Manage seats in Figma

For example, to edit a Figma Design file, a collaborator needs a Full seat on the team where the file lives. If they don’t already have that seat, one may be added depending on your team’s seat approval settings.

This distinction is documented in several Help Center articles, including:

“Permission vs. seats” section in Guide to sharing and permissions

Seats are separate from permissions.

In Figma, a person's seat determines which Figma products they have access to. For example, a user with a Collab seat has access to FigJam and Figma Slides.

Permissions determine which files, projects, and teams they can edit.

For a user to be able to edit a file, they need both the appropriate seat and permissions.

 

You can also find this noted in: Professional plan overview

Billing is separate from permissions. A paid seat gives someone the ability to use certain Figma products, while permissions control what they can do within specific files or projects.

 

If collaborators no longer need edit access, an admin can change their seat to a free View seat. This guide walks through how billing and seats are managed: Manage billing on the Professional plan
 

To help prevent unexpected seat charges in the future, you may want to adjust your seat approval settings.

By default, seats may be auto-approved if none are available. You can switch this to “Manually approve seats” so all seat upgrades require admin approval: Set approval settings for new seats

You may also want to check out Make a seat request - this article explains how a seat request is created when someone requests edit access to a file a product they don’t yet have full access to.
 

Unfortunately, we’re not able to assist with individual billing inquiries here on the forum due to security and privacy reasons. If you’d like help reviewing your specific charges or need further clarification, please let us know and we can help connect you with our team by opening a support ticket.

Thanks for sharing your experience and for giving us the opportunity to clarify.

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