Brilliant vs Google Stitch
Choose Stitch if you want many UI directions from a prompt, fast, as HTML screens you hand to a coding agent or paste into Figma. Choose Brilliant if you want to keep working on the result as a designer would: every element a real layer you can grab, with a pen tool, components, and tokens with modes. Stitch is a quick way to explore. Brilliant is a place to finish.
Should I choose Brilliant or Stitch?
It comes down to what a screen is made of, and how much of it you want to shape by hand.
| Choose Brilliant if | Choose Stitch if |
|---|---|
| You want to edit any element directly: paths, layout, text, effects | You want to steer screens by prompt and adjust the theme |
| You want components, variants and a token system you author | You want a DESIGN. |
| You want design files as plain text on your disk, in git | You want HTML and Tailwind out of the box |
| You make brand, illustration and video as well as app screens | You are exploring mobile and web app UI |
How do Brilliant and Stitch compare?
Both put AI-made screens on a canvas, and both open themselves to coding agents over MCP. They differ in what a screen is. Each row on the Stitch side links to the Google page it was read from.
| What | Brilliant | Stitch |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A professional vector design tool that agents work in, on the same canvas as you | "an AI-native software design canvas that allows anyone to create, iterate and collaborate on high-fidelity UI from natural language" (Google, March 2026) |
| A screen is | Vectors, frames, components and text, drawn on the GPU | "an HTML file (a complete document with inline Tailwind CSS) and a screenshot image" (Stitch docs) |
| Runs on | macOS, Windows and the web | The web (Google, December 2025) |
| Editing by hand | Everything, directly: pen paths, booleans, auto layout, text, effects | Select and move screens, and change the theme: light or dark, accent color, corner radius and font. Other changes are a prompt on the selected screen (Stitch overview, controls) |
| Design systems | Tokens, modes and brands in one system that every bound layer follows | DESIGN. |
| Your own agent | Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and more connect over MCP and edit layers on the canvas. Unlimited canvas work on Free | A remote MCP server, an SDK and agent skills let coding agents generate and edit screens in your Stitch projects (Stitch MCP) |
| AI you can use | Brilliant AI, or your own provider: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and others | Google’s Gemini models, chosen through design modes (design modes) |
| Getting it out | PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, PDF, HTML and React, plus MP4, MOV and Replay video on desktop (MOV on macOS only) | A .zip of code and images (Stitch overview) with the DESIGN. |
| Files | Blueprint: plain text you can read, diff and keep in git, on your disk | Projects of screens in Stitch (Stitch MCP guide). The export is HTML, images and DESIGN. |
When is Brilliant the better pick?
Three situations, each one something you can check in the docs.
You want to change the design itself, not ask for a new one
A Stitch screen is a generated HTML document, and its docs describe a prompt on the selected screen as the way to change it (Stitch overview). In Brilliant the heading, the icon and the card are each a layer. Drag one, redraw a path with the pen tool, fix the auto layout gap, and it is done. See Selection and editing and Vectors.
You need a design system with components and modes
Brilliant has component sets with variants, overrides that sync from the master, and a token system where a mode or a brand is one switch that every bound layer follows. See Components and Modes and brands.
The work is more than app screens
Brilliant is a general design tool: logos, illustration, shader fills and video export sit on the same canvas as your UI. See Shaders and filters and Video and replay.
What does Stitch do better today?
Stitch is fast, and it is built around handing off to code.
Many directions at once. Variants generate "anywhere from one to five different options at a time" (variants).
Click-through prototypes. Link screens and press Play to preview the flow (Google, March 2026). In Brilliant you prototype with motion, and your agent builds a real prototype in code.
A design system from a URL. Stitch extracts "your palette, typography, and style patterns" from a site or an image (DESIGN.md).
An open format for agents. The DESIGN.md specification is open source (Google, April 2026).
Code first. Every screen is HTML with Tailwind, ready for a coding agent to convert (Stitch MCP guide).
Voice. You can speak to the canvas (Google, March 2026).
What do they cost?
Brilliant has a Free plan and paid plans for private work and more Brilliant AI. Stitch is "a new experiment from Google Labs" (Google, May 2025), and the Google pages we read print no price list.
| What | Brilliant | Stitch |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Brilliant AI every month, every design feature, public projects and drops, 2 GB | No price is printed. A Google staff member on Google’s developer forum describes a daily allowance of 400 credits per Google account (forum reply) |
| One person | Personal $20 a month, Pro $50, Max $100, Max 20x $200 | No paid plan found on Google’s pages |
| Teams | Seats from $25 a month, 2 seats minimum, 1 TB pooled | No team plan found on Google’s pages |
For every Brilliant plan, see the pricing page.
Can I use Brilliant and Stitch together?
Yes. Explore directions in Stitch, pick one, and build the real design in Brilliant. Brilliant has no Stitch importer today. Export the screen from Stitch, attach its image in Brilliant’s chat and ask your agent to rebuild it as real layers, or paste it to Figma and bring that file across with the Brilliant plugin. See Import from Figma.
Common questions
Is Google Stitch free?
Google’s public pages for Stitch print no price. A Google staff member on its developer forum describes a daily allowance of 400 credits per Google account, where heavier generations use more credits (forum reply). Brilliant’s Free plan includes every design feature.
Can I export from Stitch to Figma?
Yes. Stitch has offered paste to Figma since its launch (Google, May 2025). A design in Brilliant goes to Figma as native, editable objects with Send to Figma. See Import and export.
Does Stitch work with Claude Code?
Yes. Stitch documents a remote MCP server and a Claude Code setup command (Stitch MCP). Brilliant connects to Claude Code with one toggle. See Claude Code setup.
What is the difference between Stitch and Claude Design?
Both generate designs from a prompt. Stitch produces HTML screens and a DESIGN.md on Google’s canvas. Claude Design produces designs inside Claude. We compare each with Brilliant: see Brilliant vs Claude Design.
What is DESIGN.md?
A plain-text file with design tokens in YAML and the reasoning in markdown, which Google describes in its docs (DESIGN.md) and open-sourced as a draft specification (Google, April 2026). Brilliant keeps its design system as text too. See Authoring a design system.
Where next?
Try Brilliant in your browser, no account needed: open the playground.
See how tokens work: Design systems.
Connect a coding agent: Connect your agent.
Compare Anthropic’s design tool: Brilliant vs Claude Design.
Compare Figma’s builder: Brilliant vs Figma Make.
See every plan on the pricing page.
Stitch facts come from Google’s Stitch docs, blog.google, developers.googleblog.com and Google’s developer forum, each linked where it is used, and were read on November 11, 2026. Tell us if something has moved.