# Framer — Design

Framer by Framer B.V. holds a panel rating of 2/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2/5), as of 2026-10-15. Provenance: EU-Made; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Framer B.V. (https://www.framer.com)
- Category: [Design](https://whats-best.ai/software/design.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): EU-Made
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/design/framer
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/design/framer/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/framer/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-10-20 · evaluated 2026-10-15 · oldest source captured 2026-10-01

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Framer B.V.
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Free plan: Yes, per the vendor’s own page [S1]

## The panel's verdict

Framer B.V., an Amsterdam design tool that publishes production websites, scores highest on design and prototyping (6 to 7) and collaboration and handoff (6 to 7), where judges cite documented component variants with resettable overrides, libraries whose updates propagate to every project, free commenting viewers, branching with a documented merge API, and a staging environment. It scores lowest on file ownership and portability: the only documented export is assets and pages as JPG or PNG through the desktop app. Sovereignty sits at 2 to 3, with legal-entity jurisdiction, ownership, data residency and subprocessor exposure recorded as unknown and hosting described only as a global delivery network of 20 or 300+ locations. Persona-weighted totals range from 3.2 to 4.8. The split is pricing transparency, 2 to 5: mechanics are unusually clear — ten editor seats on Basic and Pro, credits of 1,000 or 3,000 per month, editors billed within 24 hours — but we found no price figure for any plan in the captured pages, and the judges divide on whether that clarity outweighs the missing figures.

**Speaks for it:**
- Component variants with resettable overrides and libraries that push updates into every project are documented on Framer's own help pages.
- Viewers comment for free, with roles that separate view, content, design and deploy rights.
- Branching with previews, a staging environment, and a plugin API documented down to a branch-merge signature give developers a real surface.
- Plan mechanics are unusually clear: ten editor seats on Basic and Pro, credits of 1,000 or 3,000 per month shared across the workspace, and editors billed within 24 hours of being added.
- The privacy statement keeps customer personal data out of third-party model training unless expressly disclosed otherwise, and the AI notice publishes bring-your-own-model terms.

**Held against it:**
- The only documented export is assets and pages as JPG or PNG through the desktop app, and we found no public information on whole-file export in a documented format.
- Brand governance lives in third-party marketplace plugins carrying limited licences, with no public information on a first-party central brand library or rights and expiry metadata on assets.
- We found no price figure for any plan, add-on or credit pack in the captured pages, so an annual cost for a given team cannot be computed.
- The AI notice states Framer owns the AI features and resulting usage data, while we found no public information on commercial-use rights to generated output or named model providers.
- Sovereignty attributes stand as unknown, with hosting described only as a global delivery network of 20 or 300+ locations and subprocessors referenced as a Trust Center list the captures do not show.

**Best for:**
- You design and publish marketing sites in one tool with many reviewers and few editors — free commenting viewers and a ten-editor cap on Basic and Pro fit that mix.
- Your developers work from a documented plugin API and want branching, previews and staging before anything ships.
- You maintain a shared component system across projects and want library edits to propagate everywhere.

**Avoid if:**
- You must export whole design files with structure intact or know how long work stays reachable after cancellation — ask the vendor: the public pages we read do not show it
- You need a computable annual cost before committing — the captured pages carry no price figure for any plan or credit pack.
- You need written commercial-use rights to AI-generated output — the AI notice states Framer owns the AI features and resulting usage data, and we found no public information on the customer's rights to generated output.
- You require first-party brand-governance tooling — the brand-rule scanner and style-guide generator are third-party marketplace plugins with limited licences.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price.

| Criterion | The Product Designer | The Frontend Engineer | The Brand Marketer | The Agency Owner | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Design, prototyping & design systems | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Collaboration, review & developer handoff | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Brand assets & governance | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Files, formats & portability | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 |
| AI features & rights to the work | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| European sovereignty | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2/5** | **1.5/5** | **1.5/5** | **1.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The Product Designer** (v1.0): Owns the design system of a B2B software product. Wants components with variants, tokens with modes, prototypes that test a real flow, and library releases that are versioned and reviewable — a design system is a product, not a page of nicely arranged buttons.
- **The Frontend Engineer** (v1.0): Turns the designs into code and gets the ticket when they disagree. Wants an inspect mode without a paid seat, tokens exported in a documented format, components mapped to the code ones, and an API that reads the whole file rather than a screenshot of it.
- **The Brand Marketer** (v1.0): 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.
- **The Agency Owner** (v1.0): 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.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Reviews every tool where unreleased products, customer screenshots and employee photos end up. Wants the contracting entity and hosting region named, the AI providers on the subprocessor list, and training on customer files excluded for the whole organisation in the terms — not behind a toggle each user has to find.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has read "free for viewers", "commercially safe AI" and "export anytime" on every page in this category. Reads instead for the click that turns a reviewer into a billed editor, the plan the IP indemnity actually covers, and whether the export keeps a single component.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Ownership | Not determined | — | — |
| Data residency | Not determined | — | — |
| Subprocessors | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- AI act: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 [S13]
- AI notice history: 1.2 (2026-09-18) · 1.1 (2026-06-16) [S13]
- AI notice version: 1.2 · September 18, 2026 [S13]
- Controller processor split: data processing addendum · yes [S3]
- DPA: Article 28 GDPR · yes [S4]
- GDPR legal grounds: performance of contract · legitimate interest · legal obligation · consent [S3]
- No automated decisions: no [S3]
- Payment pci: yes [S3]
- Rights response time: 2 · 1 [S3]
- Security measures: appropriate technical and organizational measures implemented [S3]
- Security measures: yes [S4]
- Subprocessor page: Third-party AI model providers listed on subprocessor page in Trust Center [S13]
- Third party model training: no [S13]
- Transfer mechanism: adequacy decision · standard contractual clauses (Transfer SCCs) · UK Addendum for UK GDPR [S3]
- US dpf: Data Privacy Framework certification [S3]

**Data**
- Deletion on termination: yes [S4]
- Retention account: 2 [S3]
- Retention contact: 2 [S3]
- Retention job applications: 1 year · 4 weeks [S3]
- Retention marketing: 2 · withdrawal of consent [S3]
- Retention transaction: 7 [S3]

**Hosting**
- Branches versioning: site versioning via branches (Main, use-cases, publishing, content) [S1]
- Uptime: 99.99 [S1]
- Uptime: 99.99 [S1]
- Yearly domain: yes · yes [S2]

**Integrations**
- Branch merge behavior: Merges this branch into its base branch or a compatible target, then switches the editor to the merge target. [S8]
- Branch merge options: MergeBranchOptions · yes · options [S8]
- Branch merge returns: Promise<void> [S8]
- Branch merge signature: merge(options?: MergeBranchOptions): Promise<void> [S8]
- External AI: controllable via Slack, terminal, GitHub PR, Codex in ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, or any external AI [S1]
- Third party: yes [S4]

**Legal**
- Address: Rozengracht 207B, 1016 LZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands [S13]
- AI notice scope: AI Notice forms part of the Agreement (ToS or master subscription agreement) [S13]
- Cancellation: none · yes [S4]
- Confidentiality survival: 5 [S4]
- Customer risk assessment: yes [S13]
- Entity: Framer B.V. · www.framer.com [S3]
- Entity: Framer B.V. · Dutch limited liability company [S4]
- Entity: Framer B.V. · Netherlands [S13]
- Governing law: Dutch · competent courts of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, exclusive jurisdiction [S4]
- Indemnification framer: yes [S4]
- Liability cap: fees paid in prior 12 months [S4]
- Notices email: legal@framer.com [S4]
- Refund policy: EU · Turkey · 14 [S2]
- Registration: 59920637 · Rozengracht 207B, 1016 LZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands · Netherlands [S3]
- Sanctions: US, EU, UK, Switzerland embargoed countries [S4]
- Term annual: yes · 12 [S4]
- Term monthly: yes · 1 [S4]
- Tos version: 1.8 · June 16, 2026 [S4]
- Version: 1.7 · 2026-06-12 [S3]

**Pricing**
- Additional editors: yes · 20 [S2]
- Advanced hosting addon: 200 · EUR [S2]
- Annual increase cap: no earlier than next renewal date · 10 [S4]
- Basic bandwidth: 50 [S2]
- Basic bandwidth gb: 50 [S2]
- Basic cms collections: 2 [S2]
- Basic cms collections: 2 [S2]
- Basic custom domain: yes [S2]
- Basic price: EUR · 10 [S2]
- Billing cycle: yes [S2]
- Billing note: monthly per selected cycle · added at checkout [S2]
- Content editors: 10 [S2]
- Convert ab tests: 5 [S2]
- Convert addon: 50 [S2]
- Currency: USD [S4]
- Enterprise custom pricing: yes [S2]
- Enterprise custom pricing: yes [S2]
- Enterprise features: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S2]
- Enterprise no AI training: yes [S13]
- Free editors: 3 [S2]
- Free plan: 1 · 2 · 1 · 1 · 3 · no [S10]
- Free plan included: 1000 · 1 · 5 · 10 [S2]
- Free price: 0 [S2]
- License: Limited [S9]
- Locales addon: 20 · 20 [S2]
- Overage bandwidth: 100 · 50 · 40 [S2]
- Overage cms collections: 10 · 2 · 40 [S2]
- Overage cms items: 2500 · 1000 · 20 [S2]
- Overage pages: 150 · 30 · 20 [S2]
- Pro bandwidth: 100 [S2]
- Pro bandwidth gb: 100 [S2]
- Pro cms collections: 10 [S2]
- Pro cms collections: 10 [S2]
- Pro expert credit discount: 50 [S2]
- Pro expert free editors: yes [S2]
- Pro plan: permanent · unlimited · yes [S10]
- Pro price: EUR · 30 [S2]
- Pro staging branching: yes · yes [S2]
- Reseller: yes [S4]
- Seats: 10 · 10 · Unlimited [S2]

**Product**
- Ab testing: yes [S1]
- Ab testing: yes [S1]
- Account registration: full name · password · email address [S4]
- Addon limits pro: 700 · 1500000 · 40000 · 2 · 40 [S2]
- Addon max limits pro: 700 · 1.5M · 2 TB · 40000 · 40 [S2]
- Advanced hosting details: 6 · 500 · 6 · 50 [S2]
- Advanced hosting inclusions: 6 · 500 · 6 · 50 [S2]
- Aeo chunking: AI search chunks pages by structure, so headings and clear flow improve findability [S14]
- Aeo content evaluation: AI search engines assess coherence, trustworthiness, completeness and anticipation of follow-up questions beyond topical relevance [S14]
- Age restriction: 16 [S3]
- Agents credits: 3000 · 1000 [S2]
- AI design agent: design agent works on site, changes visible and editable [S1]
- AI features list URL: www.framer.com/ai [S13]
- AI training: no [S3]
- AI usage: AI tools used for internal business operations including customer support, troubleshooting, product improvement, security monitoring, analytics, and service optimisation [S3]
- Always allowed methods: Many get-prefixed methods available without any permissions [S7]
- Analytics: Built-in analytics with live visitors, unique visitors, pageviews, bounce rate [S1]
- Analytics history: 90 days · 30 days · unlimited [S2]
- Analytics history: 90 · 30 · Unlimited [S2]
- Author: Jeremiah Elegba [S9]
- Border radius rules pro: Allowed list of corner radius values or maximum radius limit [S10]
- Branches: yes [S1]
- Branching: yes [S2]
- Brand rule sets: Group rules into collections for clients or brand variants and switch between them [S10]
- Bring your own model: yes [S13]
- Campaigns examples: prompted starting points: portfolio, startup site, landing page, blog, start without AI [S1]
- Captcha integrations: yes · no [S4]
- Class instance permission check: Class instance methods checked via class-name prefix, e.g. CollectionItem.remove [S7]
- Cms agent: CMS agent connects CMS to canvas [S1]
- Cms agent: CMS agent manages CMS connected to canvas [S1]
- Cms and hosting modules: Framer lists CMS, Hosting, Performance and SEO among product capabilities [S14]
- Cms collections: CMS with collections and fields [S1]
- Cms collections: CMS with collections and fields (Blog, Careers, Events, Speakers, Talks shown) [S1]
- Code agent: Agents write code and add custom effects/interactions to the site [S1]
- Code agent: agents write custom code and effects on site [S1]
- Color rules: Approved palette or forbidden colors list with value matching [S10]
- Community: https://www.framer.community/ · Templates · plugins · components [S4]
- Community resources: 22527 [S1]
- Community scale: 24443 [S1]
- Competitors: comparison pages vs Webflow, Figma, Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Readymag, Ceros, Unbounce, Lovable, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Contentful, Sanity, AEM, Replit, v0 [S1]
- Component add to library: add component to library via Assets tab [S6]
- Component constraints: min/max width and height constraints on components [S6]
- Component import quick menu: import components from library via Quick Menu shortcut [S6]
- Component library update: component library updates propagate to all projects via Update button in Assets tab [S6]
- Component variants: Component Variants keep alternate appearances inside one Component; Variants inherit layer structure and shared properties from the primary Variant [S5]
- Convert ab tests: 5 [S2]
- Credits shared: yes [S2]
- Credits shared workspace: yes [S2]
- Curated palettes: yes [S9]
- Custom domain: yes [S2]
- Custom domain: yes [S11]
- Custom domains: yes [S4]
- Description: Framer plugin enforcing brand consistency by scanning projects against custom rules and surfacing violations [S10]
- Design agent: AI design agent that works directly on the canvas [S1]
- Desktop app: Desktop app available for download [S1]
- Desktop app: desktop app available; hero offers Download app [S1]
- Enterprise features: Custom limits, unlimited editors, enterprise-grade security, uptime guarantee, SCIM, SSO [S2]
- Enterprise tier: yes [S1]
- Export app: Framer desktop app · yes [S12]
- Export formats: PNG · JPG [S12]
- Export suffix: yes [S12]
- External agents: preview · yes [S2]
- External agents preview: free during preview · yes [S2]
- External AI: Site can be driven from external AI tools: Terminal, Codex in ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor [S1]
- External project flexibility: yes [S2]
- Faq structure helps: Well-formed FAQs and clear structure make pages more likely to be surfaced in AI-generated answers [S14]
- Figma to html: Figma to HTML capability offered [S1]
- Font rules: Restrict to approved font families and enforce minimum font sizes [S10]
- Framer has AI agents: Framer lists AI, Agents and External Agents as product features [S14]
- Framer owns AI ip: yes [S13]
- Free non commercial: yes [S2]
- Free plan editors: 3 [S2]
- Free plan inclusions: 1000 · 1 · 5 · 10 [S2]
- Free start: yes [S1]
- Free tier: yes [S1]
- Generate button: Styleguide folder in Styles tab [S9]

**Support**
- Availability: reasonable technical support [S4]
- Beta permission testing: Framer Beta users can test permissions with a second invited user [S7]
- Enterprise billing notification: 24 [S2]
- Payment methods: some regions · credit card · bank transfer · yes [S2]
- Payment methods: Credit card, PayPal (some regions), Enterprise custom billing incl. bank transfers [S2]
- Refund policy: 14 · EU · Turkey [S2]

74 more facts on the canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/design/framer

## Questions

### Is Framer European?

Yes. whats-best.ai classifies Framer as EU-Made.

### Where does Framer store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

### Does Framer have a free plan?

Yes. Framer has a free plan, per [the vendor’s page captured 1 Oct 2026](https://whats-best.ai/evidence/6290).

### What are the best alternatives to Framer?

As of 16 Oct 2026, the panel rates [Penpot (2.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/penpot), [Sketch (2.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/sketch) and [Frontify (2.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/frontify) highest among the other 13 Design products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Penpot](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/penpot) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Framer alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/design/framer/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 32 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 11 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 hosting facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 data facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 support facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://www.framer.com/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S2] Pricing page: https://www.framer.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S3] Privacy policy: https://www.framer.com/legal/privacy-statement (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S4] Terms of service: https://www.framer.com/legal/terms-of-service (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S5] Design, prototyping & design systems — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/academy/lessons/component-variants-in-framer (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S6] Design, prototyping & design systems — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/help/articles/best-practices-for-setting-up-a-component-library/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S7] Collaboration, review & developer handoff — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/developers/plugins-permissions (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S8] Collaboration, review & developer handoff — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/developers/reference/plugins-branch-merge (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S9] Brand assets & governance — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/marketplace/plugins/styleguide/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S10] Brand assets & governance — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/marketplace/plugins/brand-guard/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S11] Files, formats & portability — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/help/articles/can-i-export-my-website-to-html-and-self-host-it/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S12] Files, formats & portability — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/help/articles/exporting-assets/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S13] AI features & rights to the work — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/legal/ai-notice (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S14] AI features & rights to the work — found from sitemap: https://www.framer.com/guides/how-ai-uses-your-content/ (checked 2026-10-13)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Framer — Design", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-10-20. https://whats-best.ai/software/design/framer

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/600?target=page