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 Brand Marketer
Keeps the brand consistent across twelve sales offices that make their own flyers. Wants locked templates non-designers can use, guidelines inside the tool, licence and expiry dates on every stock image, and a clear answer on whether a generated image may go on a trade-fair stand.
Figma
Sketch
This judge's pick
Criterion by criterion
Design, prototyping & design systems
Figma
Team libraries published across teams, shared colour, text, grid and effect styles, and an agent that builds full component sets on our real tokens and variables — with variants for sizes, states and themes — give me the design-system backbone a twelve-office brand needs. Versioned library releases, prototype transitions and conditional logic, token export in a documented format and in-editor accessibility checks are not described on the pages we read, which keeps it below the top band.
Sketch
The prototyping docs cover overlays, hover, press and toggle triggers, scroll areas, fixed elements and animations, and Library Symbols give a shared component set that updates where it is used, with starred versions controlling which changes reach the team and Symbol instances editable without touching the source. That is a design system managed in the tool, but the captured pages never describe colour, type and spacing variables with modes or themes — the piece I would need to lock brand values centrally.
Collaboration, review & developer handoff
Figma
Free viewers can comment with mentions and even copy CSS, iOS and Android code and export assets, while Dev Mode is documented with code panels and, on Professional, an MCP server — handoff my developers can actually use. Version history with restore, branching before changes reach the main file and any audit log of access are not described on the captured pages, so it clears the middle band but not the governed one.
Sketch
Comments come with mentions, threads, resolution, follow and an inbox, developers inspect designs in the browser for free with Inspect, export and an MCP server, and all Workspace members can inspect. Guests can even be given a 'Can download and inspect' permission. We found no public information on restoring older versions, branching, or audit-style control of external access by domain or expiry.
Brand assets & governance
Figma
A central kit is there: shared libraries and fonts published across teams, shared colour and text styles, community templates, and an agent that turns a logo into colour palettes, typography pairings and brand assets. But the governance I run daily — locked templates non-designers can fill, brand guidelines published in the tool, licence and expiry metadata on every stock asset, approval workflows and asset versioning — is not described on any page we read, so my twelve offices would still be trusted to behave.
Sketch
Libraries are the whole story here: Symbol instances can be filled with text, colours and images without touching the Symbol Source, and third-party or non-editable Library Symbols can only be unlinked, which behaves like a locked template for non-designers. We found no public information on a central brand kit with logos, colours and fonts, guidelines published in the tool, approval workflows, or rights, usage and expiry metadata on licensed assets — exactly what my twelve offices need to stay consistent and legal.
Files, formats & portability
Figma
The terms state that we retain all rights in our content and give a 30-day electronic retrieval window after termination, with deletion possible thereafter, and SVG, PNG and CSS export plus an export panel for marked assets is documented. An open or documented file format, bulk export of a team's files and an API that reads full file structure are not described on the captured pages, and the privacy policy states processing and storage in the United States.
Sketch
The Sketch document format is published as a ZIP of JSON with a human- and machine-readable specification, a JSON Schema and generated TypeScript types, versioned independently of the app, and documents can be generated or modified without opening Sketch — alongside a documented Figma import and an offline native Mac app. We found no public information on bulk export of a team's files, what happens to files when a seat is removed, or a retention timeline after the contract ends.
AI features & rights to the work
Figma
The AI terms answer my first two questions: customer content trains the models only while the Content Training toggle is on in admin settings, and input and output remain customer content in which we retain all right, title and interest — which is what lets a generated image go on a trade-fair stand, at our own risk, since Figma warrants nothing about the output and accepts no liability for its use. We found no public information on which models or providers run the AI features, where they process, content labelling, per-asset stock licences or any indemnity.
Sketch
The mechanics are described honestly: background removal runs on-device with images never sent to Sketch or an external provider, and the MCP server runs locally, disabled by default, with the user choosing which third-party AI tools to connect — while the privacy statement warns that a chosen provider's policy governs that data, including for model training. For my trade-fair question we found no public information on commercial use of generated output, per-feature model and location lists, admin-level switches for the organisation, stock licences, or any indemnity.
European sovereignty
Figma
The terms are entered with Figma, Inc. under California law with San Francisco venue, and 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 stated. A published data processing addendum with Standard Contractual Clauses and a Berlin imprint entity soften this slightly, but we found no public information confirming EU hosting, an EU contracting option, or the locations of the named sub-processors.
Sketch
The captured pages name Sketch B.V., lean on Dutch civil and fiscal law for retention periods, publish a Data Processing Addendum and a subprocessor list, and state that personal data may be transferred to the United States under the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses. Where design files and brand assets are actually stored and processed is not stated on these pages, so I cannot place this higher.
Pricing transparency
Figma
Every plan and seat type is priced publicly — Starter free, and Professional, Organization and Enterprise each with full, dev and collab seats and their monthly AI credit allowances — alongside free viewers who comment without a seat, daily proration and quarterly invoicing for added seats, and Governance+ admin and compliance tools named as Enterprise-only. Taxes are stated as excluded from fees, and both credit purchase options, their monthly expiry and the 30-day price-change notice are published, though the per-credit pay-as-you-go rate itself did not appear on the pages we read.
Sketch
Three Workspace plans are priced per Editor with the billing period stated — '€ 11', '€ 22' and '€ 44 Monthly / per Editor, billed yearly' — each with main features listed, plus unlimited free viewers, free developer handoff, '50GB per Editor' storage on the lower plans, a 30-day trial without credit card, and the Mac licence at '€ 108 Per seat, includes one year of updates'. Private Cloud is 'Contact for pricing' with a one-time setup fee, and we found no public information on how added seats are billed, AI credits, or VAT treatment.
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.