What happens if I add someone (with Pro Plan) to one file in workspace, do I still have to pay for their seat?

I plan to invite them as editor them to specific files only and not to the team. Will Figma still count them as team seats and charge me? This is assuming I have a pro plan setup and I am currently the only member in the team.

Yes you will be charged. Plans in Figma are team based, not account based, so it doesn’t matter if they are paying for a different paid team.

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Thanks for this but just to be clear, even if they are editor for 1 design file only? Will I be warned before I get charged for that? I tend to send invite links with edit access to many people. I’d want to avoid paying if they jump all as editors to only 1 file.

Yes

Sometimes yes, but Figma is good at taking your money without telling you. You can read hundreds of horror stories and complaints online about their dark patterns and shady billing practices.

How long have you been doing this for?

For free collaboration you can create a free Starter teams and invite people there, but the limit is 3 files per Starter team.

Previously you were able to invite people to collaborate in your Drafts (not team files) for free, but now that Drafts are moving under teams it’s no longer possible.

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Hi! Thankfully I’ve only been doing it for my .edu Teams. But I guess I have to be more careful when I transition into a Pro Teams. Or start with Free Teams as much as possible.

I’ve read few of those mishaps on Figma billing and gives me the chills lol. I work as a freelancer so I would not to recover from making such high stakes/cost accidents like that. I hope Figma becomes clearer with this stuff but I guess this is by design. Thanks a lot for helping me out on this one!

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Make sure to set the default role to Viewer-Restricted instead of Viewer so you don’t get “accidental” upgrades: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/4414038570007-Set-default-seat-types

Because stupidly enough, regular Viewers can upgrade themselves and you will need to pay for that: