As a freelance user of Figma, I find the current seat-based model effective for structured team collaboration, but it creates friction in freelance and cross-workspace scenarios.
There are two specific situations where the current model feels restrictive:
First, when two already-subscribed users need to collaborate on a single file, one of them may still be treated as an additional billable editor within the other’s workspace. This can lead to a form of duplicate billing, even though both users are already paying for the platform.
Second, there is currently no lightweight alternative to full workspace membership for temporary collaboration. Even short-term or file-specific work often requires assigning a full editor seat, which is not always aligned with the scope of the collaboration.
A potential improvement could combine both issues by introducing more flexible collaboration options. For example, allowing already-paid users to collaborate across workspaces without triggering additional editor charges, alongside a “file-scoped editor access” or temporary editor pass for external collaborators who only need access to specific files rather than full workspace membership.
This would better reflect real freelance workflows, where collaboration is often short-lived and project-specific, while still preserving workspace structure, security, and scalability.
