If you use and pay for Figma, check your billing. I just got hit with an unexpected $150 bill because people in my file were automatically converted to editors, and Figma charges by the type of seat someone is assigned to.
- If you give someone editor access to a file, you will pay for their access.
- As editors, they can then add others without asking you.
- If they give anyone else editor access to your file, you will pay for those seats.
- If any of those editors are also paying Figma as customers, it doesn't matter. They're still considered a new "seat" on your bill.
- If you copy a file from one project that has editors to another project, those editors are copied too. You will have to pay for those seats.
- If you want to remove them from your account, you have to do it manually because there's no default "opt-out" global setting to prevent accidental editors.
- You have to do this every month to make sure you're not being hit with unexpected bills.
It's ridiculous that as a paying customer I have to opt-out of an intentional choice Figma is making. There's no way to opt-out.
True-up billing is hostile to the customer if the customer has to manually opt-out every month. Figma has been using true-up billing for 5+ years.
It’s been a known issue since 2020 (pre-Adobe) and I've not seen one Figma communication to change it.
Here's how I found myself with this bill:
- I set up a free Figma Team to test a FigJam file with others.
- I copied the link to the file and shared it with them, but that link made them editors in the file.
- After refining the file and creating a template I was happy with, I copied it to my paid Team.
- When I did that, those editors followed the file and we're now set up as editor inside my paid Team.
- I got ZERO notifications inside the tool that this happened. It was invisible.
Here's how to check if you're going to pay more this month:
- Select your Team in the left sidebar.
- Select Members at the top of the Team page.
- If you see a bunch of people there with Editor access, you'll pay more.
I enjoy using Figma, but I am against having to perform labor to each month to "fix" this. I am against companies knowingly charging me and others for things that many won't "fix".
That's a crappy way to turn a buck.
