Dev Mode licensing needs a review

This is exactly the problem I’m having now. As a freelancer, having to be in charge of the license status of your collaborators and having to pay for them, when they come and go and you don’t have a static structure… We are the forgotten ones for Figma. Or maybe we are the main target for the dark patterns.

ABSOLUTELY.

Dev mode is a terrible money grab and is counterproductive for teams.

The inspect tab that existed before was nearly there. Just a few tweaks to let developers find the values they need would have been mich less of a pain.

My biggest rage against current DivMode is that it truly creates a rift between developers and designers. DevMode gives developers osmething to blame on designers because the tool is sub par and confusing.

I do wish Figma would hire some designers and developers to guide the features of the product. I felt that the Adobe buyout would have been a huge improvement in that space. Sadly.

As a designer I want to know what the experience is going to be like for designs I hand off to developers, so I can answer questions and help them find stuff. I get having a different license level for developers, but it’s straight up laughable that you’re asking designers to pay $5/month more just to do that much. Honestly, a comprehensive “inspect” pane seems like missing functionality within the designer-facing interface at this point!

Also the fact that you basically offered this for free then locked it behind a paywall when a lot of people were already invested in the software, without much added? Not a good look.

Nailed it!

Sadly it will get worse. They dumped a lot of energy into devmode at Config this year. But every dev that i have worked with has found it nothing but a PITA. Worse, the monetizing of devmode and yanking of the inspect panel was the beginning. Charging $5-15 for new “Slides” tools? We are likely to see a huge increase in devmode cost. And when UI3 hits…the pillaging will start.

How many times during the Config presentation did they say “and we remind you that these features are free until 2025.”

Legitimately warning us at every turn that they are going to crank up the charges pretty soon.

Many people balked at the failed Adobe deal. But the alternative…Figma greed and apathy to their customers…is WAY worse than the benefits we missed out on from Adobe.

Let the nickel and diming begin! 🎉

I’m going to check out some competitors over the holidays. Smooth collaboration with devs is super important to me, and I also care about what my company is getting for their money, sooo… I have tried changing from one design tool to another in the past, and I sure can do it again.

I love how Figma is so active on Twitter, but rarely do they ever reply on their own forums.

@Ellinor It’s not directly a design tool but I really liked Zeplin as a dev handoff & collaboration tool.

Oh no. Don’t look for feedback or help from Figma. No no no.

Well I really hope Figma Pay attention here, this new pricing model is frankly getting too expensive and doesn’t meet the needs of the end user! 

Whilst the dev mode is a welcome addition, especially with the annotations, the dev seat is too limited in functionality and way too expensive! You are effectively asking me to pay again for someone to view my designs… ridiculous!

Developers and other roles such as business analysts, project managers etc should not be able to change design files but need to be able to add Annotations (and Page level notes if possible)

At least Figma are fixing the issue of double licensing when a 3rd party designer collaborates and already has a Figma license (thank you).

Personally I’m not interested in Figjam or slides and don’t appreciate being forces to effectively buy them.

I feel if this does not get sorted that a move away from Figma is inevitable. We can all cope perfectly fine with other tools such as AxureRP, Justinmind etc etc.