Framer vs Figma Sites is the comparison designers have been waiting for. Both tools promise to turn design work into live websites without a traditional handoff to developers. Framer has been doing this for years and has matured into a full website builder. Figma Sites is newer, tightly integrated with Figma Design, and aimed at teams that want to publish straight from the canvas they already use.
The short version: Framer is the stronger standalone website builder today. It has better hosting, more publishing features, and a larger template ecosystem. Figma Sites is the better choice if your workflow lives entirely in Figma and you want the shortest possible path from design file to live URL, especially for simpler pages and prototypes.
We sell Framer templates and design in Figma daily, so we are watching this space closely. This post explains where each tool wins, where Figma Sites still has room to grow, and how to decide which one to use for your next project.
What is Framer best for?
Framer is best for designers and teams that want to publish professional websites without leaving a visual editor. It combines a design canvas with real hosting, a CMS, forms, analytics, SEO settings, and custom code support. You can build a complete marketing site, portfolio, or landing page and launch it from the same tool.
Framer's biggest advantage is maturity. It has been a publishing platform long enough to solve the problems that come with real websites: responsive breakpoints, performance optimization, custom domains, redirects, password protection, and team permissions. If you are building a site that needs to rank, convert, and scale, Framer gives you the infrastructure.
Templates are another strength. The Framer template market, including our own DiverseKit templates, offers finished sites for startups, agencies, portfolios, SaaS companies, and more. You can start from a template, customize it visually, and launch in days.
Framer also has deep Figma integration. You can copy frames from Figma and paste them into Framer as a starting point. We wrote a full Figma to Framer workflow guide because the handoff is one of the main reasons teams choose Framer.
The trade-off is that Framer is a separate tool from Figma. You are managing another account, another set of files, and another publishing workflow. For teams that want everything inside Figma, that separation matters.
What is Figma Sites best for?
Figma Sites is best for designers who want to publish pages directly from Figma without switching tools. It turns Figma designs into live websites with a publish button inside the familiar interface. That makes it ideal for simple marketing pages, portfolios, event pages, and prototypes that need to be shared as real URLs.
Because Figma Sites lives inside Figma, it inherits Figma's collaboration strengths. Comments, version history, and multiplayer editing all carry over. A designer can build a page, share the file with stakeholders, and publish without exporting assets or writing handoff notes.
Figma Sites is currently in beta and available on Full seats across paid Figma plans. At the time of writing, the free Starter plan supports limited publishing with a figma.site subdomain, while paid plans unlock custom domains and more advanced publishing. You can check current Figma pricing at figma.com/pricing.
The limitation is that Figma Sites is still early. It does not yet match Framer in hosting features, CMS depth, SEO controls, animation options, or template ecosystem. For many projects, especially simple ones, that may not matter. For teams building a serious marketing engine, the gaps are real.
How does the pricing compare?
This is where the comparison gets interesting because the pricing models are different.
Framer prices per site. Paid plans start around $10 per month for Basic and move up to around $30 per month for Pro. Scale plans start around $100 per month for high-traffic sites. You pay for each site separately, and extra editors are billed per seat.
Figma Sites is bundled into Figma's seat-based pricing. A Professional Full seat costs $16 per month when billed annually and includes Figma Sites publishing. Organization Full seats are $55 per month, and Enterprise Full seats are $90 per month, both billed annually. The free Starter plan allows limited publishing but not custom domains.
| Factor | Framer | Figma Sites |
| Pricing model | Per site | Per seat, bundled with Figma Design |
| Starting paid plan | ~$10/site/mo | $16/editor/mo (Professional Full seat, annual) |
| Custom domain | From Basic plan | On paid Full seats |
| CMS | Built-in collections | Limited CMS in beta |
| Templates | Large ecosystem | Small, growing |
| Hosting included | Yes | Yes |
| Best for | Full marketing sites | Simple pages and design-to-publish workflows |
If you already pay for Figma Professional, Figma Sites is essentially free. If you do not already use Figma, Framer's per-site pricing is usually cheaper for a single website. For teams of multiple designers, Figma's seat costs can add up quickly.
Which has better design and animation control?
Framer has more advanced design and animation control for published websites. It supports scroll-linked animations, hover states, page transitions, component variants, and interactive forms. The animation system is built for web output, so what you design is what visitors experience.
Figma Sites inherits Figma's design tools, which are excellent for static layouts and prototyping. You can create polished pages and simple interactions. But as of mid-2026, Figma Sites does not yet offer the same depth of web-native animation and interaction that Framer does. If your site relies on scroll effects, complex hovers, or dynamic components, Framer is the safer choice.
For purely visual design, the two are closer. Figma's vector tools, auto layout, and component system are arguably more refined than Framer's because Figma has been a design tool longer. The question is not which designs better, but which publishes better.
Which is better for real websites, not prototypes?
Framer is better for real websites that need to perform over time. It has a proper CMS for blogs, case studies, job postings, and dynamic pages. It has SEO controls, analytics, form handling, custom code injection, redirects, and password protection. These are the features that separate a prototype from a production site.
Figma Sites is catching up, but it is still positioned closer to publishing than to full website management. It works for landing pages, portfolio sites, and campaign microsites. It is less suited for content-heavy sites, membership areas, or complex marketing funnels.
Our take is that Figma Sites will likely improve quickly because Figma has the resources and the user base. Right now, though, Framer is the production-ready choice for most business websites.
Framer vs Figma Sites: a decision checklist
Choose Framer if:
- You need a full marketing site, blog, or portfolio with CMS and SEO controls.
- You want advanced animations, interactions, and custom components.
- You need a custom domain, analytics, forms, and redirects on day one.
- You want access to a large template ecosystem.
- You are building a site that needs to convert visitors and rank in search.
Choose Figma Sites if:
- Your team already lives in Figma and wants the shortest path to a live URL.
- You are publishing simple pages, portfolios, or campaign microsites.
- You value collaboration and version history inside a single tool.
- You already pay for Figma Professional or higher.
- You are comfortable with a newer product that is still adding features.
If you are comparing other builders, our Framer vs WordPress and Framer vs Wix posts cover the broader market.
Can you use Framer and Figma Sites together?
You can absolutely use both. Many designers will keep Figma as their primary design and collaboration tool, then move final designs to Framer for production. That workflow gives you Figma's design power plus Framer's publishing infrastructure.
Figma Sites may change that over time. If Figma Sites becomes robust enough to handle full production sites, some teams may skip Framer entirely. For now, the most practical approach is to use Figma Sites for quick experiments, stakeholder previews, and simple pages, while using Framer for the main website.
Frequently asked questions
Is Figma Sites free?
Figma Sites is available on the free Starter plan with limitations, including a figma.site subdomain and a cap on CMS items. Custom domains and fuller publishing come with paid Figma plans. Check current Figma pricing at figma.com/pricing.
Can Figma Sites replace Framer?
Not yet for most production websites. Figma Sites is strong for publishing simple pages directly from Figma, but Framer still has the deeper feature set for CMS, SEO, hosting, and animations. For small projects and prototypes, Figma Sites can replace Framer. For serious marketing sites, Framer remains the better choice.
Which is better for designers who do not code?
Both are designed for non-coders. Framer gives you more website-specific features and templates. Figma Sites gives you a more familiar interface if you already use Figma. If your goal is a finished, polished website, Framer is currently ahead. If your goal is to publish a design quickly for feedback, Figma Sites is hard to beat.
Use the right tool for the stage of your site
Framer vs Figma Sites is not really a winner-take-all fight. It is a choice between a mature website builder and a promising new publishing layer inside the world's most popular design tool. For production sites that need to perform, Framer is the safer bet. For quick publishes and Figma-native workflows, Figma Sites is the obvious choice.
We are betting on Framer for now because our customers need real websites, not just published designs. If you are in the same position, browse our Framer templates to see what a production-ready site looks like. Keep an eye on Figma Sites, though. The gap is likely to close, and the best workflow a year from now may look different than it does today.
