Photoshop is a raster image editor optimized for photo manipulation and digital art with desktop-first workflow, while Figma is a cloud-based vector design and UI/UX tool built for real-time collaboration and web design. Photoshop excels at pixel-level photo editing; Figma dominates web and app design workflows.
Photoshop vs Figma — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Professional raster image editor for complex pixel manipulation, compositing, and graphic design.
Cloud-native collaborative design platform for UI/UX, web design, prototyping, and design systems.
Primary Use Case. Collaboration Features. Platform Availability. Learning Curve. File Format Support. Offline Capability. Team Pricing Model
Choose Photoshop if you need professional photo retouching, digital painting with advanced brush engines, or work with extensive legacy PSD files and require offline access. Choose Figma if your team designs digital interfaces, websites, or apps, needs real-time collaboration, or prefers a browser-based tool that reduces software installation friction. For pure UI/UX design teams, Figma is more efficient; for photography and complex image manipulation, Photoshop remains unmatched.
Adobe Photoshop: 12+ AI tools | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 100% (adjustment layers, smart objects, masks) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 90% of design professionals | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 25 million active users | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 4000+ MB optimized | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: $281.88/year | Figma: N/A
Monthly Subscription Cost (Standard Plan)
Adobe Photoshop: $19.99/month | Figma: N/A
Annual Subscription Cost (Standard Plan)
Adobe Photoshop: $239.88/year | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 500+ advanced tools | Figma: N/A
Typical Learning Time (Beginner to Productive)
Adobe Photoshop: 90%+ of design agencies, studios, freelancers | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 7 (Generative Fill, Super Resolution, Generative Expand, etc.) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 100-200 hours | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 50-100 (with scripts) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 500-2000 (PSD) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 70% (requires workarounds) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 300,000 x 300,000 | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: ~500 templates | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Via third-party plugins/subscriptions | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Yes (300+ camera profiles) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Yes, desktop app | Figma: N/A
File Size Handling (optimal performance)
Adobe Photoshop: Handles 2000+ MB efficiently | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 100 Firefly credits | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Yes, full 3D and video timeline | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: $20.99/month | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: $251.88/year | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 4+ (Generative Fill, Firefly, Content-Aware, Super Resolution) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Yes (full support) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Full (adjustment layers, smart objects) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 75,000+ | Figma: ~2,000 plugins
Adobe Photoshop: Full (NVIDIA, AMD, Apple Metal) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 10,000+ | Figma: 1,200+ community plugins
Adobe Photoshop: Windows, macOS, iPad, Web | Figma: Web + macOS + Windows + iPad
Adobe Photoshop: Firefly (Generative Fill, Super Resolution, removal tools) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Minimal (third-party required) | Figma: 5,000 (community)
Adobe Photoshop: 50-100+ hours | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Yes (extensive RAW editing) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Limited (cloud sync only) | Figma: Native, unlimited users
Adobe Photoshop: Unlimited (print-ready) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Yes (Windows/Mac only) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Extensive (unlimited layers, advanced masks) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 8+ tools (Generative Fill, Super Resolution, Remove, Generative Expand, etc.) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Yes (CUDA, OpenCL, Metal) | Figma: N/A
Processing Speed (1GB file, typical operation)
Adobe Photoshop: 2-4 seconds | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 40+ formats (PSD, JPEG, PNG, HEIF, WebP, AVIF, PDF, SVG) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: $22.49 (Photography Plan with Lightroom included) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: ~500 built-in templates | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 2GB (requires Creative Cloud) | Figma: 0GB (Figma Projects only)
Adobe Photoshop: Stock via Adobe Stock (requires separate subscription) | Figma: 0 (third-party integrations available)
Adobe Photoshop: Adobe Fonts library (240,000+ via subscription) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Advanced: layers, masks, curves, healing brush, content-aware fill | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Used by 90% of professional designers/photographers | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Minimal (0-100) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 8-12 weeks | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 8+ (Generative Fill, Super Resolution, AI Upscaler, Neural Filters) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Full 1px-level control across 1000+ tools | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Full (100% functionality) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Estimated 15+ million | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 8 GB recommended | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: $9.99 (single app) / $55 (full Creative Cloud) | Figma: $12 per editor
Adobe Photoshop: Unlimited with plugins; native support requires 3rd-party tools | Figma: Unlimited simultaneous editors per team
Adobe Photoshop: 90+ formats including PSD, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, AI, EPS | Figma: Figma native format, exports to PNG, SVG, PDF, CSS, JSON
Adobe Photoshop: 12-15 seconds on standard hardware | Figma: 2-3 seconds (cloud-based, depends on internet)
Adobe Photoshop: Full offline editing with all tools available | Figma: Read-only after 30 days; requires internet for editing
Adobe Photoshop: No (native); requires external plugins or manual versioning | Figma: Yes; built-in with live cursors, comments, and activity tracking
Adobe Photoshop: 9.5/10 - industry-leading Content-Aware Fill, Generative Fill, Neural Filters | Figma: 3/10 - basic selection and fill tools; not optimized for photo work
Adobe Photoshop: 6.5/10 - possible but requires workarounds for design systems | Figma: 9/10 - native component systems, design tokens, auto-layout, prototyping
Adobe Photoshop: 80-120 hours | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Unlimited (30,000+ tested) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 500-2000+ MB per complex project | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 120-180 minutes (manual or scripting) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: Via Smart Objects/plugins (requires extra steps) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: 20+ (Magic Wand, Select Subject, Refine Edge, Content-Aware) | Figma: N/A
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $1.36-1.37 billion
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $10.53-13.8 billion (public)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 9x-35x (varies by metric)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Public (NASDAQ: FIG)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 14-15% (non-GAAP)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Enterprise Design Teams
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Advanced multiplayer editing
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Built-in real-time collaboration
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Sites CMS beta (200 items)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Variables, components, tokens
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Requires external hosting
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Dev Mode with inspection
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Unlimited (per plan)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $192/month
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Cloud-only, no self-hosting
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Voice-to-text, Make controls, question cards, design suggestions
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Closed source
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 5,000+ plugins and integrations
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Unlimited with live cursors
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Web browser + Desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Master Variables with full version control
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Limited (separate ecosystem)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Voice-to-text, Make features, automation
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Browser-dependent, can slow with 1000+ frames
Monthly Subscription Cost (Single Editor)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: ~2500+ plugins
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Performance issues above 2GB
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Limited offline, primarily cloud-based
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Advanced design specs, Dev Mode, code generation
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Intermediate (basic flows, transitions)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 500+ (performance degrades)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Generous (3 projects, 2GB)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Unlimited simultaneous editors
Starter Plan Monthly Cost (Annual Billing)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Variable by seats
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Custom pricing
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Four-tier with seat types (Full, Dev, Collab)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Industry-leading precision tools
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Excellent for design workflows
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Basic design assistance
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Good team controls
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 15+ concurrent editors (unlimited)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Yes (full collaborative design)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Advanced variables system with 20+ variant combinations per component
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 71% among design teams
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Advanced auto-animate, conditional logic, 35+ interaction types
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 30 days of version history
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Unlimited (draft-based)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Community plugins only
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Interactions, conditional logic, component states, animations, flows
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Enterprise-grade (variants, tokens, documentation)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Yes (100% browser-native)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Mac, Windows, Linux, Web
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Limited (browser-dependent)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Yes, full features for 1 file
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 300-400 before lag
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Shared libraries with variants
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Advanced with variables
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $12 per editor
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Basic preset animations without timeline
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Unlimited on paid plans
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Dev Mode with code snippets and specs
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Component versioning in main product
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $12 per editor/month
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Unlimited on any plan
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Full (interactions, animations, variants)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Optimal up to 5,000 artboards
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 61% of design professionals
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 70% of professional design teams
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: No built-in hosting
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 2000+ official plugins and integrations
Monthly Subscription Cost (Professional Plan)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $12/month (billed annually)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 500+ simultaneous users
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 40-60% (design to code via plugins)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Basic interactions, limited keyframe animation
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Variables, tokens, component library, extensive version control
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 3 files maximum, unlimited pages per file, basic prototyping, browser-based
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 50,000+ community templates
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 10+ simultaneous editors with live cursors
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Components, variables, tokens, auto-layout, design tokens management
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Limited AI—mostly design optimization and naming suggestions
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $0 (Free) / $12 (Pro)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Interactive prototyping only, no native keyframe animation
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 1.5-2.5 hours (beginner-friendly)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Unlimited (Team plan)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Any browser (Windows, macOS, Linux, iPad, web)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $12 (Professional)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $60 (all share one license)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Basic interactions (tap, hover, drag)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 4 (Web, Mac, Windows, iPad)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Limited (API for third-party imports)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 4,000,000+
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Public/password-protected with comment threads
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Not available
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: N/A (proprietary)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 120 minutes
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Professional (boolean ops, advanced paths)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: None (external sources required)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 3 (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 500 MB (optimal)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 8-12 hours
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Unlimited viewers + 1 editor
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 1,000+ plugins via Figma API
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: No (design tool only)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 3 editable files
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: $12/month (Editor)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 50+ simultaneous users
Estimated Time to First Design (Beginner)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: 120-480 minutes (2-8 hours)
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Advanced: conditional flows, variables, component variants, design tokens
Adobe Photoshop: N/A | Figma: Enterprise-grade: design tokens, branching, versioning, token management
How to choose between Adobe Photoshop and Figma
Photoshop vs Figma — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Photoshop vs Figma. Contains 233 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Photoshop vs Figma — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Photoshop vs Figma.
Can I use Figma instead of Photoshop for photo editing?
No. While Figma has basic selection and fill tools, it's not designed for photo retouching. Photoshop's Content-Aware Fill, Generative Fill, Neural Filters, and advanced brush engines are industry-standard for professional photo work. Figma excels at vector design and UI work, not pixel-level image manipulation.
Is Figma better for team design collaboration than Photoshop?
Yes, significantly. Figma's real-time multiplayer editing allows multiple designers to work on the same file simultaneously with live cursors and comments—built-in and native. Photoshop requires manual version control, file sharing, or third-party plugins like Frame.io, making it slower for collaborative workflows.
Partially. Figma requires an internet connection to edit files. After 30 days without internet, files switch to read-only mode. Photoshop, by contrast, offers full offline functionality with all tools available—making it better for work environments without reliable connectivity.
Which tool has a faster learning curve for beginners?
Figma is more intuitive for most people new to design software. Its interface is modern and clean with fewer hidden menus. Photoshop has a steep learning curve due to 50+ tools, complex menu structures, and deep settings panels—it requires significant training to use effectively.
What's the total cost of ownership for a design team of 10 people?
Photoshop (Creative Cloud): $55/month × 10 = $550/month ($6,600/year). Figma: $12/month × 10 editors = $120/month ($1,440/year). Figma is 75% cheaper for team design workflows. However, if photo editing is required, Photoshop's cost becomes justified as a specialized tool.
How to Choose Between Adobe Photoshop and Figma
Primary Use Case: Adobe Photoshop has Photo editing, digital painting, raster graphics, while Figma has UI/UX design, wireframing, vector graphics, prototyping.
Collaboration Features: Adobe Photoshop has Limited; requires file sharing and version control plugins, while Figma has Built-in real-time collaboration with multiplayer editing.
Platform Availability: Adobe Photoshop has Desktop (Windows/Mac) primarily; limited web version, while Figma has Cloud-based; accessible via browser on any OS.
Learning Curve: Adobe Photoshop has Steep; 50+ tools with complex menu structure, while Figma has Moderate; intuitive interface designed for designers new to design tools.
File Format Support: Adobe Photoshop has PSD, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, AI, EPS (90+ formats supported), while Figma has Figma native format, exports to PNG, SVG, PDF, CSS code.
Offline Capability: Adobe Photoshop has Full offline functionality on desktop, while Figma has Limited offline; requires internet for most features.
Team Pricing Model: Adobe Photoshop has $55/month per user (Creative Cloud) or $9.99 for single app, while Figma has $12/month per editor + $4/month per viewer (2025 pricing).