Brilliant vs Figma Make
Choose Figma Make if your team lives in Figma and you want a prompt, or an existing frame, to become a working prototype or web app you can publish. Choose Brilliant if you want what the AI makes to be the design itself: real, editable layers on a vector canvas, with components and tokens, made by the agent you choose. Figma Make writes code. Brilliant draws the design.
Should I choose Brilliant or Figma Make?
It comes down to what the AI hands back: code with a preview, or layers on a canvas.
| Choose Brilliant if | Choose Figma Make if |
|---|---|
| You want AI output as editable vectors, frames and components | You want AI output as a working prototype or web app |
| You want your own agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) on the canvas, unmetered | Your team is on Figma Full seats and works from Figma libraries |
| You want to adjust anything by hand without spending credits | You want to publish the result to the web from the same file |
| You want design files as plain text on your disk | You want everything in the Figma cloud, beside your design files |
How do Brilliant and Figma Make compare?
Both start from a prompt and both can use a design system. They differ in what gets made and how AI use is metered. Each row on the Figma Make side links to the Figma page it was read from.
| What | Brilliant | Figma Make |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A professional vector design tool that agents work in, on the same canvas as you | "an AI-driven, prompt-to-app tool that lets you bring ideas and existing Figma designs to life as functional prototypes, web apps, and interactive UI" (Figma Make FAQs) |
| What you get | A design file: vectors, frames, components and tokens | Code with an interactive preview (Create a Figma Make file) |
| Editing by hand | Everything, directly: pen paths, booleans, auto layout, text, effects. No AI involved | In new Make files, an edit tool with a properties panel for colors, padding, margins and text styling. "Changes made with the properties panel use AI credits" (Edit a Figma Make file). There is also a code editor |
| As design layers | It already is: every element is a layer you can select | Copy the preview and paste it into Figma Design, on paid plans. The layers "aren’t connected to the Figma Make file" and "aren’t interactive", and variables in the destination file are matched to them (Copy a preview as design layers) |
| Design systems | Tokens, modes and brands in one system that every bound layer follows | Make kits bring npm packages, library variables and styles, and guidelines, on paid plans (Make kits) |
| Your own agent | Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and more connect over MCP and design on the canvas. Unlimited canvas work on Free | Agents read Make files as MCP resources and can send a local project into a Make file (Make resources and MCP, MCP tools). Figma’s rate limits apply to MCP tools that read from Figma (rate limits) |
| AI you can use | Brilliant AI, or your own provider | A model selector with GPT, Claude and Gemini models, paid for in Figma AI credits (Select an AI model) |
| Getting it out | PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, PDF, HTML and React, plus MP4, MOV and Replay video on desktop (MOV on macOS only) | Publish to a figma. |
| Files | Blueprint: plain text you can read, diff and keep in git, on your disk | A file in the Figma cloud. Local copies save as .make, a format Figma calls "proprietary" (save a local copy) |
When is Brilliant the better pick?
Three situations, each one something you can check in the docs.
You want the AI’s work as real design layers
In Brilliant the agent does not write code that you later convert. It creates frames, text, vectors and components on the canvas, bound to your tokens. Select any of it, move it, restyle it, and the next prompt carries on from your edit. See What the AI can do and Components.
You do not want every tweak to cost credits
Hand edits in Brilliant never touch AI, so nudging padding or changing a color costs nothing. Canvas work for your own agents over MCP is unlimited on every plan, including Free. Brilliant AI is included every month, and you can connect your own provider and pay it directly. See Plans and billing.
You want the agent you already use
Connect Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, VS Code or Zed with one toggle, and it designs on the canvas you have open. Everything it makes lands with full undo. See Connect your agent.
What does Figma Make do better today?
Figma Make is strong where the goal is a working build, inside Figma.
It runs. The result is an interactive prototype or web app, not a static screen (Figma Make FAQs). In Brilliant you prototype with motion, and your agent builds a real prototype in code.
Publish from the file. Publishing puts it on a figma.site URL, and the number of custom domains depends on your plan (publish).
A backend when you need one. Make can create a hosted backend "including a database, file storage, authentication, and an admin panel", or connect Supabase (add a backend).
Your Figma libraries. It builds from frames you already have in Figma, and from your published libraries on paid plans (Create a Figma Make file).
The team in one file. Shared chats, comments and simultaneous code edits (Explore Figma Make).
A pull request at the end. Clone a repository, branch and open a pull request from Make (Git with Figma Make).
What do they cost?
Both have a free plan. Brilliant charges for private work and more Brilliant AI. Figma Make comes with a Figma seat and spends that seat’s AI credits.
| What | Brilliant | Figma Make |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Brilliant AI every month, every design feature, public projects and drops, 2 GB | Starter: 150 AI credits a day, up to 500 a month (Figma pricing) |
| One person | Personal $20 a month, Pro $50, Max $100, Max 20x $200 | Professional Full seat $16 a month on annual billing, with 3,000 AI credits a month (Figma pricing) |
| Teams | Seats from $25 a month, 2 seats minimum, 1 TB pooled | Organization Full seat $55 a month with 3,500 credits, Enterprise Full seat $90 with 4,250, both billed annually (Figma pricing) |
A Make prompt has no fixed price. Figma’s own examples are 30 or more credits to change a font, 75 or more to make a design interactive and 100 or more to generate an app from scratch, on its default model as of February 2026 (How Figma AI credits work). For every Brilliant plan, see the pricing page.
Can I move from Figma to Brilliant?
Yes. Run the Brilliant plugin in your Figma file and press Import to Brilliant: pages become canvases, variables become a design system, and components stay live. You can keep Figma too, because Send to Figma builds a Brilliant design back as native Figma layers. Read Import from Figma.
Common questions
What is a good Figma Make alternative?
It depends on what you wanted from it. For a working app from a prompt, look at app builders such as v0 and Lovable. For AI that produces an editable design, with real layers, components and tokens instead of code, Brilliant is built for that, and it is free to try in your browser.
How many credits does Figma Make use?
Figma says it "can’t predict exactly how many credits a request will use in advance". Its examples run from 30 or more credits for a font change to 100 or more for an app from scratch, and the cost shows after the prompt runs (How Figma AI credits work).
Is Figma Make free?
Starter plans can use it, with 150 AI credits a day up to 500 a month (Figma pricing). On paid plans, Make is included on the Full seat, and other seats can try it in drafts (Figma Make FAQs).
Can I turn a Figma Make result into editable Figma layers?
Yes, on paid plans: copy the preview and paste it into Figma Design. Figma notes the pasted layers are not connected to the Make file and are not interactive, and that variables in the destination file are matched and bound to them (Copy a preview as design layers).
Can I export the code from Figma Make?
Yes. Download code gives you a .zip of the files, for people with a Full or Dev seat (edit the code). Brilliant exports a selection as HTML or React. See Ship to code.
Where next?
Try Brilliant in your browser, no account needed: open the playground.
Bring a Figma file over: Import from Figma.
Compare the design tool itself: Brilliant vs Figma.
Connect a coding agent: Connect your agent.
Compare Anthropic’s design tool: Brilliant vs Claude Design.
See every plan on the pricing page.
Figma Make facts come from help.figma.com, developers.figma.com and figma.com/pricing, each linked where it is used, and were read on November 11, 2026. Tell us if something has moved.