Figma Won. Sketch Is Dying. Adobe XD Is Dead.

Why Figma Ate Everyone's Lunch

Figma won because they bet on the browser when everyone else was building desktop apps. Turns out, when everyone went remote in 2020, designers needed tools that actually worked for distributed teams, not another Mac-only app that required file juggling.

Adobe XD: The Corporate Death March

Adobe put XD in "maintenance mode" in May 2023, which is corporate speak for "we're not spending another dime on this." After their failed $20 billion Figma acquisition blew up due to regulatory concerns, they basically said "fuck it" and walked away from competing in UI design tools entirely.

If you're still using XD, you're using a dead tool that will never get another meaningful update. Adobe's own community forums are filled with users begging them not to discontinue XD, but Adobe has made it clear they have "no plans for further investment."

Sketch: Alive But Irrelevant

Sketch isn't dead, but it's not exactly thriving either. They're still Mac-only in a cross-platform world, still require file-based workflows when everyone else is doing real-time collaboration. It's like insisting on fax machines because they work great if everyone has one.

The $9/month price tag looks appealing compared to Figma's recent 30% price hike to $20/month for full seats (effective March 2025), but that's only if you ignore the hidden costs of file management, version control hell, and explaining to your Windows-using teammates why they can't open your design files.

Figma's Performance Problem No One Talks About

Here's what Figma fanboys won't tell you: Figma is slow as hell with large files. The browser-based architecture that enables collaboration also means you're fighting Chrome's 2GB RAM limit per tab. Got a complex design system? Enjoy watching your computer chug through basic operations. Best part is when Chrome throws "Aw, snap! Something went wrong" and you lose 20 minutes of work.

I learned this the hard way when our design system hit ~500 components and Figma started freezing every time someone tried to update a color token. Three browser crashes in one afternoon. My teammate's MacBook was making this insane noise - like a jet engine or something trying to render component updates.

Figma's official forums are full of designers complaining about serious performance issues: "Daily, my team and I encounter broken components, data overrides, lag, glitches, incomplete loading, and missing elements." But since everyone else switched to Figma, you're stuck dealing with it. Can't exactly tell your PM that the design is late because Figma ate your component library.

The Figma 124.2.0 update broke auto-layout for nested components - kept throwing "Invalid constraints" errors. Took them three weeks to fix it. Meanwhile, we're explaining to clients why their design system looks like it was assembled by a drunk intern.

The Real Reason XD Failed

XD didn't fail because it lacked features - it actually had decent prototyping capabilities. It failed because Adobe treated it like a side project while charging Creative Cloud prices. When your main competitor is free for small teams and you're asking for $20/month as part of a $50/month bundle, you better be 10x better. XD wasn't even 1.1x better.

The nail in the coffin was Adobe's own actions. They tried to buy Figma for $20 billion instead of improving XD. When that deal got blocked, they gave up entirely rather than compete. That's not strategy - that's surrender.

Here's the honest truth: Figma won because it solved the real problems designers actually have. Remote teams need real-time collaboration. Cross-platform teams need browser-based tools. Developers need design specs that don't require expensive software licenses.

When Sketch Still Makes Sense (Barely)

Look, I get it. Sketch feels nice on Mac.

The performance is smooth, the plugins are mature, and if you're a solo designer who never collaborates, it's probably fine.

But here's when Sketch actually makes sense:

• You're a solo designer on Mac who never collaborates with anyone
• Your entire team is Mac-only (good luck with that in 2025)
• You have specific plugins that don't exist on Figma yet
• You work offline frequently (like on planes or in bunkers)
• You're doing print design where Sketch's vector handling shines

That's about it.

If any of those scenarios don't apply, you're fighting an uphill battle against the industry trend.

The Figma Tax Is Real, But Worth It

Figma's March 2025 pricing changes hurt.

A 30% increase means Professional plans now cost $20/month per full seat instead of $15. For a team of 10 designers plus developers, you're looking at $2,400+ per year.

But here's the thing: the "Sketch is cheaper" argument falls apart when you factor in:

• File management overhead (someone has to organize all those .sketch files)
• Version control nightmares (Git doesn't play nice with binary files)
• Collaboration tool subscriptions (In

Vision, Zeplin, etc.)

• Time lost explaining to Windows users why they can't open your files

Most teams discover the total cost of Sketch + collaboration tools + time wasted on file management actually exceeds Figma's pricing.

XD Users:

Time to Migrate, Seriously

If you're still on XD, stop reading comparisons and start migrating. Adobe stopped developing it two years ago.

You're using a zombie tool that will never improve and will eventually stop working with modern browsers and operating systems.

The migration isn't fun

• I've done it twice now. XD's prototyping was actually pretty decent, and the Creative Cloud integration was convenient if you lived in Adobe-land. But continuing to use XD in 2025 is like still using Internet Explorer because you're comfortable with it.

Our production broke at 2am last month when XD's web sharing stopped working with Chrome

• I think it was Chrome 119? Maybe 118? Either way, XD just stopped working. Guess who got to explain to the client why they couldn't access their prototype? Spoiler: it wasn't Adobe support, they just shrugged and said "migrate to other tools."

Real Migration Timeline:

• Now: Start moving new projects to Figma
• Next 6 months: Migrate active design systems
• 12 months: Be completely off XD before compatibility gets worse

The Performance Reality Nobody Talks About

Figma's collaboration comes at a cost: performance.

When you're working on large design systems with hundreds of components, Figma starts to chug like hell. The browser-based architecture hits Chrome's RAM limits, and you'll find yourself constantly fighting lag. Last week our design system file took 3 minutes just to load the fucking components panel.

Sketch doesn't have this problem. Native Mac performance is legitimately faster for complex vector work. But most design work isn't complex enough to justify Sketch's collaboration limitations. Plus, good luck getting your Windows devs to install Sketch just to check spacing on a button.

The Collaboration Tax vs Performance Trade-off

Here's the core trade-off in 2025:

• Choose Figma: Accept performance issues for collaboration benefits
• Choose Sketch: Accept collaboration friction for performance benefits
• Choose XD: Accept that you're using a dead tool

For 90% of design teams, collaboration matters more than raw performance.

For the 10% doing performance-critical work (maybe complex illustrations or data visualizations), Sketch might still make sense.

Bottom Line Decision Framework

Just use Figma if:

• You work with anyone else, ever
• You have Windows users on your team
• You want your designs to be accessible to developers
• You're learning design in 2025 (it's the industry standard)
• You want job security (Figma skills are what get you hired)

Use Sketch only if:

• You're solo, Mac-only, and performance matters more than everything else
• You have legacy projects that would be painful to migrate
• You work offline frequently and need native reliability

Migrate off XD immediately if:

• You're still using it for any reason
• Adobe already told you they stopped caring about it
• Your career matters to you

All this talk about "emerging trends" misses the point: the design tool wars are over. Figma won. Adobe gave up. Sketch is a niche player for Mac purists.

AI Features: Marketing Hype vs Reality

Every design tool is slapping "AI" on their marketing pages. Figma's AI features are neat but not revolutionary. Sketch's AI is basically nonexistent. XD's AI integration was abandoned along with everything else.

Don't choose a tool based on AI promises. Choose based on what actually works today for real teams doing real work.

Tried Figma's AI thing last week for placeholder text - it was somehow worse than Lorem Ipsum. Revolutionary my ass.

The Developer Integration Reality

Modern design tools need to play nice with developers. Figma generates decent CSS and has proper design token support. Sketch requires third-party tools and prayer. XD's developer handoff was always garbage and now it's abandoned garbage.

If your developers are still getting design specs via email attachments in 2025, you're doing it wrong.

The Monopoly Problem

Let's talk about the elephant in the room: Figma has a monopoly. They know it, you know it, and their pricing reflects it. The 30% price increase to $20/month per full seat isn't because they added amazing new features - it's because they can.

When you have 90% market share and your only competition is a Mac-only tool and a dead product, you can charge whatever you want. Welcome to capitalism.

The Performance vs Collaboration Trade-off

Here's the dirty secret nobody talks about: Figma's collaboration comes at a performance cost. When you're working on large design systems, you're going to hit browser limitations that native apps don't have.

Sketch users aren't wrong when they say their tool is faster. It is. But fast doesn't matter if you can't collaborate with your team.

What Actually Matters in 2025

Stop obsessing over feature lists and AI buzzwords. Here's what actually matters:

Can your whole team use it? If you have Windows users, Sketch is out. If you have remote workers, file-based workflows are painful as hell.

Will it exist in 3 years? XD won't. Sketch probably will but might become irrelevant. Figma definitely will, unless they piss off too many people with pricing.

Can developers access your designs? If they need expensive software licenses just to see your specs, you're creating unnecessary friction.

Does it actually work reliably? All tools have bugs, but some are more broken than others. I don't know what's worse - Figma crashing or Sketch files randomly corrupting.

Bottom Line for 2025

• New projects: Use Figma (5 minutes to set up vs weeks of explaining file formats)
• Existing Sketch projects: Migrate when you have time (budget 2-3 months if you're lucky)
• XD projects: Migrate immediately before compatibility gets worse (seriously, drop everything)
• "Platform strategy": Stop overthinking it and use the tool that works

The design tool landscape isn't going to dramatically change in the next few years. Figma won, everyone else lost, and new entrants face massive network effects and switching costs.

Pick the tool your team can actually use today, not the one with the flashiest roadmap promises.