Figma is becoming the industry standard for digital design, despite being relatively new in the market. Within eight years from its launch, it has managed to win over 40 million active users across the globe.
What’s driving Figma’s growth is its ability to make collaboration effortless, no matter where your team is. And more importantly, Figma has so many great functionalities and a vast selection of plugins that allows designers to customize their workflow, automate tasks, and boost productivity.
Want to learn more about these plugins? In this guide, we’ll explore only the top ten that can help you maximize Figma’s potential. Read on to learn how these can elevate your design projects.
What Are Figma Plugins?
Figma plugins are programs or applications created by the Figma community to enhance what the platform can do. They work right inside your design files, handling specific tasks to make things easier. Here are key tasks that Figma plugins handle:
- Content Management
- Design Automation
- Prototyping and Animation
- Code Integration
- Accessibility and TestingAsset Management
As you can see, they can be really helpful not only for designers, but also for other professionals in the IT or creative industries.
Why Use Figma plugins?
In addition to making collaboration smoother and providing easy-to-use interfaces:
- They save you time by handling repetitive tasks, so you can focus on the creative stuff.
- You can easily customize your workflow to match your design style and needs.
- They help with managing assets, prototyping, and ensuring accessibility is a lot easier.
- Overall, they help you work faster, make fewer mistakes, and create better designs.
How to Choose a Plugin?
Figma has Over 3,000 plugins and 200 widgets but we will focus our attention on the most useful 10 plugins. Choosing the right plugin will save your time and give you a more positive experience. Here are the steps you can follow to do this right:
– Step 1 – Popularity. The number of likes and the number of people who use it can tell you about the popularity and appliance of the plugin. If many people trust it, you can certainly try it.
– Step 2 – Сomments. Read the newest comments. Usually, they may be highlighting possible challenges with the plugin.
– Step 3 – Plan. There can be a correlation between the premium plan and the higher quality of the plugin. The support team in the pro plan is more likely to fix bugs and address concerns quicker than the support team in the free plugin.
– Step 4 – Updates. Consider the plugins that have regular updates. It means that the team behind is actively working to improve their product.
10 Best Figma Plugins
Material Design Icons
Number of likes – 8.6k
Number of users – 1.2m
Plan – Free (for popular icons) & Paid (for full library) $15/monthly and $140/annually
This plugin has been a top pick for years, and it’s easy to see why. It’s super easy to use and really handy. You can search for icons by name or just scroll through the entire collection, filtering by category, style, size, and color. Plus, it offers icons in all the styles you need — outlined, filled, sharp, rounded, and two-tone — making it perfect for any project.
Artboard Mockups
Number of likes – 6.2k
Number of users – 659k
Plan – Free (for popular mockups) & Paid (for full library) $15/monthly
If you are looking for high-quality mockups for your designs (devices, packaging, apparel, print etc), then this plugin will satisfy your request. Effortlessly transform Figma designs into realistic product mockups with just a click. The main advantage of this plugin is that it creates clean mockups without a background image.
You can see how easy the plugin is to use by watching this video.
Mockuuups Studio
Number of likes – 3.3k
Number of users – 374k
Plan – Free (5 exports) & Paid (for full library) $15/monthly and $145/annually
This plugin stands out because it provides mockups with environments, using backgrounds from stock images. You could even think of it as more of a mockup generator. It includes over 80 digital devices and offers more than 4,000 variations for placing your designs, giving you plenty of creative options.
Icons8 Background Remover
Number of likes – 4.1k
Number of users – 667k
Plan – Free
This is a must-have plugin in your Figma library because it perfectly removes background from one or many images at once. Here’s how it works:
Select one picture or a batch, or simply everything you have on canvas.
Run the Background Remover from the Plugins menu.
Get images without backgrounds, but with the original image size and quality.
Design Lint
Number of likes – 3.2k
Number of users – 95k
Plan – Free
The main purpose of this plugin is to find and fix errors in your designs in Figma. Basically, while it’s running, Design Lint will update automatically as you fix errors (text styles, layers, design system components, border radius values, etc). Also, it doesn’t require logging in or signing up for accounts.
Arrow Auto
Number of likes – 1.6k
Number of users – 159k
Plan – Free
This is a great plugin for creating smooth and consistent arrows in your user flows. It’s super easy to use — just select two elements and click “Link” to draw an arrow. You can also customize the arrow settings, including color, opacity, line width, style, and more, to fit your design needs.
Able
Number of likes – 1.6k
Number of users – 114k
Plan – Free
Accessibility is key for designers looking to improve user experience, and that’s where the Able plugin comes in. It makes handling color contrast and color blindness really easy. Just open it up, and it automatically checks the contrast between any two layers you choose. The best part? You can leave it open and keep comparing layers without needing to restart or refresh — it’s all done effortlessly in the background.
QoQo.ai
Number of likes – 1.1k
Number of users – 64k
Plan – Paid $5/monthly or $36/annually
This AI-powered plugin is a handy tool that helps designers tackle limited research resources by giving quick and easy access to useful insights. The plugin has the following features: user personas, user journey mapping, informational architecture, chat assistant, affinity mapping, UX copywriting, user interviews, and more.
You should remember that the data obtained through this plugin cannot be used as a 100% source of truth. For valid information you need to conduct real-time research. With this plugin you can only test hypotheses and see what the finished results of the UX artifacts might look like.
Wireframe Designer
Number of likes – 2.7k
Number of users – 275k
Plan – Free (10 exports for month) & Paid (for full library) $5/monthly and $42/annually
Wireframe Designer is an AI-powered plugin that will help you build wireframes based on the description you provide. When you write what you need, the plugin will automatically generate the skeleton of the page or design element for you in a few seconds. You can always edit this text and query while creating the wire (which is very convenient from a user experience point of view).
It’s important to note that you can only create up to 10 designs per month for free. But if you need unlimited usage and extended functionality, you can make donations to creators.
UI Faces
Number of likes – 1.8k
Number of users – 273k
Plan – Free
UI Faces is a growing library of free, AI-generated, high-resolution avatars for design mockups, thoughtfully curated to suit all your creative needs. You can choose an avatar of a human, alien, cartoon character, a robot, and more. It will definitely save your time.
Conclusion
Figma has rapidly become a leading tool in the digital design industry, with over 40 million active users globally. A significant factor contributing to Figma’s success is the availability of plugins. They have transformed how designers approach their work by reducing manual tasks, boosting productivity, and enhancing collaboration. By integrating the right plugins into your workflow, you can create more effective designs, stay competitive in the field, and elevate the overall quality of your projects. Figma’s vast plugin ecosystem offers options for every designer, whether they’re focused on creating flawless user interfaces or developing complex design systems.