Should I learn Figma or Sketch for UX design?

Learn Figma. It is cross-platform, free to start, has real-time collaboration built in, and is used by the overwhelming majority of UK product and design teams. Sketch is Mac-only, requires a paid subscription, and has been losing ground to Figma since 2019. If a specific role ever requires Sketch, you can pick it up in a week once you know Figma — the concepts transfer instantly.

Is Adobe XD still worth learning in 2026?

No. Adobe paused development of XD in late 2023 and stopped selling new licences. Existing users can still access it but it receives no new features. It is not worth investing time in as a primary design tool. Learn Figma instead.

Is Figma free to use?

Yes. Figma's free plan lets you work with up to 3 Figma files and 3 FigJam files. For a beginner or a solo career-changer building a portfolio, the free tier is genuinely sufficient. The paid Pro plan (around £12 per month) adds unlimited files, version history, and advanced sharing controls — useful when you join a team, but not necessary to get started.

What tool do most UX designers use?

Figma. It has become the clear industry standard for UI and UX design, particularly in the UK and Europe. Product teams at startups, scale-ups, and large tech companies have largely standardised on it. Sketch retains a presence in some established agencies, but its adoption has been declining since Figma added real-time collaboration around 2019.

Figma vs Sketch vs Adobe XD: Which Should You Learn in 2026?

If you are new to UX design and trying to work out which tool to learn, the Figma vs Sketch vs Adobe XD question has a clear answer. This post gives you that answer upfront and then explains the context underneath it — so you can make an informed decision rather than one based on outdated advice or marketing copy.

The short version

Learn Figma.

It is the industry standard tool for UX and product design in 2026. It runs in a browser, it is free to start, and it is what the overwhelming majority of UK design teams use. The rest of this post explains why, and covers Sketch and Adobe XD honestly so you understand the full picture.

Figma: why it dominates

Figma launched in 2016 with a genuinely different model — a design tool that ran in the browser, worked on Mac and Windows, and allowed multiple people to edit the same file at the same time. That combination turned out to be exactly what product teams needed, and it has compounded ever since.

It works on any computer

Figma runs in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, and there is also a desktop app. It does not matter whether you are on a MacBook, a Windows laptop, or a Chromebook — you can open Figma and start working. This matters more than it sounds. Sketch (more on this shortly) is Mac-only. If you learn Sketch and then take a role at a company where designers use Windows machines, you cannot use it.

Real-time collaboration is built in

This is the feature that accelerated Figma's dominance. Multiple people can work on the same Figma file simultaneously, see each other's cursors, and leave comments directly on designs. For distributed teams and remote-first companies — which describes a large proportion of UK product businesses after 2020 — this is not a nice-to-have, it is essential. Sketch never built this natively.

The free tier is genuinely useful

Figma's free plan allows you to work on up to 3 Figma design files and 3 FigJam collaborative whiteboard files. For someone building a portfolio from scratch, this is enough to complete multiple real projects without spending anything. When you join a team, they will almost certainly be on a paid plan that you access as part of your role.

You can read more about getting set up in Figma for beginners and What is Figma?.

Prototyping is built in

You do not need a separate tool to create interactive prototypes in Figma. You can link frames together, add transitions, use Smart Animate for micro-interactions, and share a clickable prototype with stakeholders or usability test participants — all within the same file where you did the design work. This matters for UX professionals specifically: a UX workflow requires both design and prototyping, and having them in the same tool removes unnecessary friction.

Developer handoff is built in

Figma's Developer Mode lets engineers inspect your designs directly — seeing spacing values, typography specs, CSS properties, and assets — without you having to export anything separately or buy an additional tool like Zeplin. This is the standard handoff workflow at most product companies in 2026.

The toolkit is comprehensive

Auto-layout, component libraries, variables, interactive components, conditional logic in prototypes — Figma has matched or exceeded the professional toolkit that used to require multiple tools. If you learn Figma well, you can handle wireframing, high-fidelity UI design, prototyping, and handoff without leaving the application.

The community is the largest of any design tool

Figma's community tab contains thousands of free UI kits, icon sets, wireframe templates, design systems, and learning resources — all made by other designers and available to copy into your own files. When you are learning, this gives you real, professional-grade assets to work with from day one.

Sketch: still relevant, but declining

Sketch was the dominant design tool for much of the 2010s, and it still has genuine users — particularly in established London agencies and design teams that standardised on it before Figma reached feature parity. It is not dead. But for someone deciding what to learn first in 2026, it has some serious limitations.

It only runs on Mac

This is an immediate dealbreaker for anyone on Windows. Sketch is a native Mac application and always has been. If there is any chance you will be using a Windows machine — now or in a future role — Sketch is not an option.

The collaboration story is weak

Sketch added cloud-based collaboration in recent years, but it is fundamentally limited compared to Figma. Real-time simultaneous editing is not available in the same way. Sharing designs for review typically involves sharing static screens rather than live files. For a modern, collaborative product team, this is a significant gap.

Prototyping requires additional tools

Sketch does not have a robust built-in prototyping layer. Creating interactive flows typically requires exporting to a separate tool like InVision or Marvel. That is an additional cost, an additional login, and an additional tool to learn — all of which Figma has made unnecessary.

It costs money from day one

Sketch is a subscription product at £99 per year (approximately). There is no free tier for professional use. Given that Figma's free plan covers most of what a beginner needs, this is a meaningful difference for someone in career transition who is watching their spending.

Verdict on Sketch

If you already know Figma and a specific job listing requires Sketch, you can learn the essentials in about a week. The concepts are the same. The interface is different but not dramatically so. Do not let a Sketch requirement put you off a role — but do not learn it first.

Adobe XD: effectively discontinued

Adobe XD launched in 2017 as Adobe's direct response to Sketch and Figma. It had a reasonable feature set and benefited from integration with Adobe's Creative Cloud ecosystem. But the picture in 2026 is straightforward: Adobe paused development of XD in late 2023 and stopped selling new licences to new customers.

This happened in the wake of Adobe's failed attempt to acquire Figma. Regulators in the UK and Europe blocked the deal in late 2023, and Adobe ultimately abandoned it. Since then, Adobe has focused on integrating design features into Creative Cloud more broadly rather than developing XD as a standalone product.

Existing XD users can still access the tool, but it is receiving no new features. If you learn XD, you are learning a discontinued product with a shrinking user base and no development roadmap.

If you already use Illustrator or Photoshop extensively: Figma is still the faster path to a UX career than XD. XD knowledge does not transfer much to Figma — you are better off starting fresh.

The verdict: do not learn Adobe XD in 2026.

What about Framer, Webflow, and Penpot?

These tools come up often enough that they are worth a brief mention.

Framer is a prototyping and website-building tool that produces genuinely high-fidelity interactive output. It is used by some product designers for advanced prototypes and by teams shipping marketing sites quickly. It is a specialist tool with a specific use case — not a replacement for Figma in a standard design workflow.

Webflow is a visual website builder and CMS. It is used by developers and no-code builders, not primarily by UX designers. It is not a UX design tool in the conventional sense.

Penpot is an open-source, browser-based design tool that works on both Mac and Windows. It is free, it is growing, and it has attracted interest in Europe partly because it is not dependent on a single US-based vendor. It is worth watching. But it is not mainstream yet, and it is not what most UK employers will expect you to know.

For your first tool: ignore all three. Start with Figma. You can explore the others once you have grounding in how design tools work.

Comparison at a glance

| | Figma | Sketch | Adobe XD | |---|---|---|---| | Platform | Web (Mac + Windows) | Mac only | Mac + Windows (discontinued) | | Price | Free tier + ~£12/mo Pro | £99/year | Discontinued | | Collaboration | Real-time, built in | Limited | Limited | | Prototyping | Built in | Requires plugins | Built in (no new features) | | Industry adoption | Very high | Declining | Negligible | | Learn first? | Yes | No | No |

The summary

The tool debate is largely settled. Figma is what most UX designers in the UK use, it works on any computer, it is free to start, and it covers the full workflow from wireframe to developer handoff in one place. Sketch has legitimate users but a shrinking footprint and a Mac-only restriction that is a real constraint. Adobe XD is not being developed anymore.

If you are starting your UX career in 2026, start with Figma. You will see it in job listings, in bootcamp curricula, in design system documentation, and in the Figma community resources that will help you learn faster.

For a broader overview of the tools UX designers use and why, see UX design tools: a practical guide.

Learn Figma on the Beginner UX Design course

On the Beginner UX Design course at UX Academy, you learn Figma hands-on from day one. You will build wireframes, create component libraries, design interactive prototypes, and prepare designs for developer handoff — all across a real client project that goes in your portfolio.

The course is 8 weeks, live online, with a maximum of 15 students. Taught by practising UX professionals, not recorded videos. If you are making the move into UX design, this is where you start.