As of 28 Oct 2026, the panel rates Figma 2.5/5 and Sketch 3/5 in Design. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 0 of the 6 judges pick Figma and 6 pick Sketch. Figma scores higher on 4 of 7 criteria (Pricing transparency, AI features & rights to the work, Brand assets & governance, plus 1 more). Sketch scores higher on 3 of 7 criteria (Files, formats & portability, European sovereignty and Collaboration, review & developer handoff). Provenance — Figma: Rest of world; Sketch: EU-Made. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made.
The two benches split along clear lines rather than settling on one verdict. Figma's means lead on pricing transparency (8.0 vs 6.3; 6–0), AI and content rights (5.0 vs 4.0; 6–0), design and prototyping (7.0 vs 6.7; 2–0 with four ties) and brand asset governance (4.0 vs 3.2; 3–0 with three ties). Sketch's means lead on file ownership and portability (8.0 vs 4.5; 6–0), sovereignty (3.7 vs 1.3; 6–0) and collaboration and handoff (6.8 vs 6.5; 3–1 with two ties). The weighted totals shown run to Sketch for five judges — product designer 6.1 vs 6, frontend engineer 6.8 vs 5.3, brand marketer 5.1 vs 5, data protection officer 5 vs 4.3, skeptic 5.6 vs 5 — with no totals shown for the agency owner. The attributes list Figma's data residency as US default and subprocessor exposure as US CLOUD Act; Sketch's entity jurisdiction is listed as NL, with ownership, data residency and subprocessor exposure as unknown.
Choose Figma if
You need per-seat euro prices published before purchase: pricing transparency leans 6 judges to 0 toward Figma (8.0 vs 6.3), with €16/mo for a Full seat at Professional, €55/mo at Organization and €90/mo at Enterprise stated on the pages.
You plan to use AI features and want AI credits stated per plan: the AI and content rights lean is 6 to 0 toward Figma (5.0 vs 4.0).
Your team's main need is design and prototyping, where Figma's mean leads 7.0 to 6.7 with 2 judges leaning Figma, 0 leaning Sketch and 4 ties.
You need a documented logo-to-brand-kit generator: brand asset governance leans 3 to 0 toward Figma (4.0 vs 3.2), with 3 judges tying.
Choose Sketch if
You need design files readable without the vendor's app: file ownership and portability leans 6 to 0 toward Sketch (8.0 vs 4.5); documents are ZIP archives of JSON with an independently versioned JSON Schema on npm.
Your procurement requires an EU legal entity: Sketch's legal entity jurisdiction attribute is NL, and the sovereignty lean is 6 to 0 toward Sketch (3.7 vs 1.3); Figma's data residency attribute is US default.
Your developers inspect files in the browser: collaboration and handoff leans 3 to 1 toward Sketch (6.8 vs 6.5), with free browser-based developer inspection documented.
Your team is frontend-heavy: the frontend engineer judge's weighted total is 6.8 for Sketch against 5.3 for Figma.
Your data protection officer must sign off: that judge's weighted total is 5 for Sketch against 4.3 for Figma.
Read this comparison as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The Agency Owner
Runs a design agency of fifteen and hands every project over to the client at the end. Wants files that export with layers and components intact, guests who are not billed as editors, and terms that say the client owns the work — and what happens to it after a cancellation.
Figma
Sketch
This judge's pick
Criterion by criterion
Design, prototyping & design systems
Figma
Team-wide design libraries, resources published across teams, and shared colour, text, grid and effect styles are documented, and the AI generator builds component sets with real tokens, variables and variants in different sizes, states and themes — a design system managed in the tool, not just a canvas. We found no public information on library changes published with versions, prototypes with conditional logic, token export in a documented format for development, or accessibility checks in the editor, which is what separates a managed system from a governed one.
Sketch
Library Symbols and shared styles update across files, with starred Library versions governing which changes reach the team — that is the versioned library publishing I want before handing a design system to a client. Prototypes are properly documented with hotspots, overlays, scroll areas, hover and toggle triggers, animations and multiple start points. We found no public information on variables or tokens with themes, or on component variants.
Collaboration, review & developer handoff
Figma
Free viewers need no billing account and can comment with mentions, inspect measurements, copy CSS, iOS and Android code and export assets — the free client access I insist on before signing anything — and Dev Mode with a code panel in CSS, Swift and XML gives engineering real code rather than screenshots. Version history with restore, branching, a documented API and plugins, and named issue-tracker integrations are not described on the captured pages, and the code panel carries visual properties and spacing only, with no logic exported.
Sketch
Unlimited free viewers ship on the Standard plan and developers inspect designs in the browser for free without the Mac app or a seat, with a Guest permission called "Can download and inspect" — exactly how I hand a project to a client's engineers. Comments carry threads, mentions, resolve states and scoped notifications, document version history is listed, and a developer platform with plugins is published. We found no public information on an audit log of access, branching before changes reach the main file, or named issue-tracker integrations.
Brand assets & governance
Figma
An AI generator turns a logo into colour palettes, typography pairings and brand assets on the canvas, with reusable skills to package a brand-kit workflow for sub-brands and client projects — useful, but it is generation, not governance. We found no public information on locked templates that keep non-designers inside the brand, guidelines published in the tool, or rights and expiry metadata on licensed assets.
Sketch
The nearest evidence is the shared Library system: Symbols and shared styles used across the team, third-party Library Symbols restricted to unlink-only, and starred versions controlling releases. We found no public information on a brand kit of logos and fonts, published brand guidelines, templates non-designers can fill, or rights and expiry metadata on licensed assets.
Files, formats & portability
Figma
The terms state the customer retains all right, title and interest in their content, and give a 30-day electronic retrieval window after termination before Figma may delete — ownership and post-cancellation behaviour in writing, the first thing I check before handing a client over. Export is thinner: copy as CSS, SVG or PNG and an export panel for marked assets are documented, but we found no public information on a documented whole-file format, PDF export, bulk export of a team's files, or transfer of a removed user's files to the organisation.
Sketch
The document format is publicly specified — ZIP archives of JSON published as JSON Schema via npm and versioned independently of the app — so a client's files leave with their structure readable, and documents can be generated or modified without opening Sketch. A Figma import is documented, the native Mac app works offline, and a one-time "€ 108" Mac-only seat sits alongside the subscriptions. We found no public information on bulk export of a team's files, transfer of removed users' files, or retention of Workspace files after cancellation.
AI features & rights to the work
Figma
Training on customer content happens only when the Content Training toggle is on in the administrative settings, and the AI terms make input and output customer content with the customer retaining all rights — the two clauses my clients ask about. Model providers and processing locations, labelling or content credentials, stock licences per asset type, and any indemnity are not described on the captured pages; the terms in fact give no warranty on AI output and put review and clearances on the customer.
Sketch
Data handling per AI feature is stated plainly: background removal runs on-device with images never sent to Sketch or an external provider, and the MCP server runs locally on the Mac, disabled by default, with the customer choosing which third-party AI tools to connect — while noting that a chosen provider's policy governs and may include model training. We found no public information on organisation-level admin switches for AI features, or on commercial-use rights for generated output.
European sovereignty
Figma
The privacy policy states that all personal information is transferred to, processed and stored in the United States, where the headquarters and main servers are, with no EU residency option offered, and the contract runs with Figma, Inc. under California law and San Francisco venue. The European elements I can point to are a published data processing addendum carrying Standard Contractual Clauses and a Figma GmbH registered in Berlin in the imprint — safeguards and an affiliate, not EU storage or an EU contracting party.
Sketch
A Data Processing Addendum and a subprocessor list are published, retention periods are framed under Dutch civil law and Dutch fiscal obligations, and transfers outside the EEA — the United States is named — rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses. We found no public information on where design files are hosted; the choice of hosting location appears as a Private Cloud feature.
Pricing transparency
Figma
Every plan and seat type carries a public euro price — Starter free; Professional full seat at €16/mo with collab at €3/mo and dev at €12/mo; Organization full seat at €55/mo billed annually; Enterprise full seat at €90/mo — and the pages state outright that viewers and commenters need no extra seat on paid plans. We found no public information on the per-credit pay-as-you-go price or storage pricing, so I can price a team almost — but not entirely — from public pages alone.
Sketch
The three Workspace plans are priced per Editor billed yearly — "€ 11", "€ 22" and "€ 44" — each with its feature list, unlimited free viewers on Standard, 50GB storage per Editor, SSO named on Professional, and a one-time "€ 108" Mac-only seat published alongside. Private Cloud is contact-for-pricing with a one-time setup fee, and we found no public information on VAT treatment, how or when added seats are billed, or AI credit pricing.
Sovereignty, side by side
Dimension
Figma
Sketch
Legal entity
Not determined
Not determined
Ownership
Not determined
Not determined
Data residency
Not determined
Not determined
Subprocessors
US CLOUD Act reach
Not determined
Facts, side by side
Only facts both products carry under the same definition — anything else would not be a fair row.
As of 28 Oct 2026, the panel rates Sketch higher: 3/5 against 2.5/5. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 0 of the 6 judges pick Figma and 6 pick Sketch. Which one fits depends on the criteria that matter to you; the table on this page shows both side by side, and each judge’s reading has its own page. Both were scored by the same AI bench under the same rubric, from public evidence only, as the methodology describes.
Is Figma or Sketch European?
Figma is not European by provenance (Rest of world). Sketch is European (EU-Made). Provenance is read from each company’s own legal pages: who builds it and who owns it.
Do Figma and Sketch have a free plan?
As of 28 Oct 2026, Figma’s own pages state a free plan; Sketch’s pages as captured do not. Each product page links the pricing page it was read from.