editing · Figma
You’re creating on Figma, which means…
Figma takes no licence to exploit your work — no right to copy it, display it, or pass it on. What it takes is permission for itself and its service providers to use your files to run and quality-check the product, and one clause about export sanctions can take the title to those files outright.
What they own
Nothing. “Customer retains all right, title, and interest in Customer Content”. The same clause then shuts the door on anything unstated: “no license, covenant, immunity, transfer, authorization, or other right will be implied”. That second sentence is rarer than the first.
What you own
Your files, your components, your prototypes. Figma takes no licence to exploit them — no right to reproduce, display, distribute, sublicense or make derivative works of your work appears anywhere in this document, and the words that normally attach to a content licence (perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide) appear zero times each. What it takes instead is narrower, and it says so in one sentence: “Customer authorizes Figma and its service providers to use Customer Content for the sole purpose of providing the Services”.
What you don't
A guaranteed way back to your files, and one route that takes the work outright. Figma can terminate “at any time and without notice or liability to Customer”. After that you get 30 days to pull your content out before Figma “may delete any stored Customer Content.” And there is a forfeiture: terminate for breach of the export-control section and “you lose all right, title, and interest to Customer Content”. You also lose the courtroom — claims go to arbitration “SOLELY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, AND NOT AS PART OF A CLASS”, unless you write in, and “Customer must opt-out within 30 days”.
What they can do with it
Run the product on your files, and let its service providers do the same — “maintaining, securing, debugging, and otherwise performing quality control” — and nothing else this document names. Data about your files is treated separately, and the limit on it is narrower than it looks: Figma takes “the right to collect and analyze data” with nothing attached, and the de-identification qualifies only what it may go on using — Figma is “free (during and after the Term) to use Usage Data in de-identified and aggregated form”. The only right you hand over for Figma’s own benefit is to your feedback. What AI does with your work is not decided here — it sits in a separate document this contract folds in by reference.
The clauses
The permission Figma takes instead of a licence
2.5. Customer Content. Customer authorizes Figma and its service providers to use Customer Content for the sole purpose of providing the Services and performing activities contemplated by these Terms (such as maintaining, securing, debugging, and otherwise performing quality control for the Services). Also, the Figma AI terms (available at figma.com/legal/ai-terms ) explain certain AI-related settings that apply to Customer Content, and how to control those settings.
…
2.8. Reservation of Rights. As between Customer and Figma, Customer retains all right, title, and interest in Customer Content, and Figma owns all right, title, and interest in the Services. Except as expressly set forth in these Terms, each party retains all right, title, and interest in and to its intellectual property rights. All rights not expressly granted are reserved, and no license, covenant, immunity, transfer, authorization, or other right will be implied, by reason of statute, estoppel, or otherwise, under these Terms.
…
9.8. Service Providers. For the avoidance of doubt, Figma may engage third party service providers to support its performance of these Terms (including the subprocessors listed at https://www.figma.com/sub-processors/ ). Nevertheless, Figma will remain responsible for compliance with this Agreement.
A permission, not a licence
Read the verb. Figma is authorised to use your files for one stated purpose; nothing here grants a licence to reproduce, display, distribute, sublicense or adapt them. Section 2.8 treats the two as separate categories — it reserves “license, covenant, immunity, transfer, authorization, or other right” as a list — so the distinction comes from the document, not from us.
And its service providers
Three words that widen the permission past Figma. It runs to third parties the contract does not name, and Section 9.8 confirms they exist: Figma “may engage third party service providers”, pointing to a subprocessor list held at a URL rather than written into the terms. You are authorising a set of companies, not a company.
Quality control is review
The stated purposes are running the service — with one that is not. “Quality control” is review of what is in your files, not merely execution of software on them. It is the widest phrase in the sentence and the document does not define it.
The words that are not here
Across every inflection, “perpetual”, “perpetuity”, “irrevocable”, “worldwide” and “royalty-free” appear zero times in this document. Sublicensing turns up twice and both are restrictions — the licence Figma gives you is “non-sublicensable”, and Section 2.2 bars you from sublicensing the Services. Neither is a right over your files.
Nothing implied
Most contracts stop at reserving rights. This one adds that no further right “will be implied, by reason of statute, estoppel, or otherwise”. It is a lock on the gaps, and it works in your favour.
Where AI gets decided instead
Section 2.5 hands AI questions to a separate document — “the Figma AI terms” at figma.com/legal/ai-terms — which is not part of this corpus. What Figma’s AI features may do with your files is settled there, not here.
The one right you hand over, and the one you get back
Figma Terms of Service — Section 2.6 (Feedback) and Section 1.1 (Access to the Services). ↗
2.6. Feedback. Customer may voluntarily provide Figma feedback, comments, or suggestions concerning the Services (collectively, “ Feedback ”). To the extent Customer provides Feedback, Customer hereby grants Figma the right to use such Feedback to maintain, improve, and enhance Figma’s products and services.
…
Subject to the terms and conditions of these Terms, Figma hereby grants Customer a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable right for Customer (and, where applicable, Authorized Users) to access and use the Services for Customer’s internal business or personal purposes, depending on Customer’s account type.
One runs each way
The first is you granting Figma. The second is Figma granting you, and it covers your right to use the software. Section 2.5 also takes something from you, but only to run the product on your files — feedback is the one thing in this contract you hand over for Figma’s own benefit.
A right to use, not ownership
Figma gets a right to use your feedback. It does not claim to own it and you do not assign it. That is a materially lighter clause than the assignment other design tools use.
Their grant is revocable, and yours has no term
The licence Figma gives you is limited, non-transferable, non-sublicensable and revocable — it can be pulled. The feedback right you give Figma carries no stated end, and Section 8.2(b) lists Feedback among the provisions that survive termination.
Thirty days, then deletion — and one clause that takes the title
Figma may terminate Customer’s access to and use of the Services, at Figma’s sole discretion, at any time and without notice or liability to Customer, but if Figma cancels Customer’s subscription and the termination is not due to Customer’s breach of these Terms, Figma will provide to Customer a pro rata refund of pre-paid unused fees unless, in our reasonable discretion, Figma is not legally permitted to do so (in which case any refund rights are null and void).
…
Upon any termination, to the extent permitted by applicable law, Figma will make all Customer Content then held by Figma available to you for electronic retrieval for a period of 30 days, but thereafter Figma may delete any stored Customer Content. Notwithstanding the foregoing, upon termination of this Agreement for breach of Section 9.12 (Export Control), you lose all right, title, and interest to Customer Content, and Figma may immediately quarantine, delete, or remove Customer Content, and immediately suspend your use of and access to the Figma Platform.
…
9.12. Export Control. The Figma Platform and Customer’s use thereof is subject to export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations (collectively, “ Export Controls ”), including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, the laws, statutes, regulations, rules, and executive orders administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“ OFAC ”). Figma and Customer each represents that it is not on (or owned or controlled by any person identified on) the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List or any other list of prohibited or restricted parties promulgated under Export Controls. Customer must comply with all applicable Export Controls in Customer’s access to and use of the Figma Platform and Customer Content. Customer will not access or use the Figma Platform, export, re-export, distribute, assign, or otherwise engage in any transaction relating to the Figma Platform or any Customer Content in violation of Export Controls. For the avoidance of doubt, Figma may take measures required by law or governmental authority to comply with its obligations under Export Controls and OFAC (such as suspending access to the Figma Platform, terminating this Agreement, or blocking the relevant Customer Content).
The forfeiture
This is the sharpest sentence in the contract and it is easy to miss. Terminate for breach of Section 9.12, the export-control section, and you do not just lose access — you lose title. Ownership of your own files ends. Note what it does not say: the text never transfers that title to Figma.
What Section 9.12 actually covers
Two things, and both are quoted above: a representation that you are not on the OFAC restricted-parties lists, and an undertaking not to move the Platform or your own Customer Content in violation of Export Controls. The separate ban on using the Services from jurisdictions that are “embargoed” sits in Section 2.2, not 9.12 — so on this reading it is not one of the triggers.
The clock is short
Thirty days to retrieve everything, starting at a termination that can arrive without notice. After that the deletion right is Figma’s, and it is discretionary.
What Figma keeps about your work
Figma Terms of Service — Section 2.7, Usage Data. ↗
2.7. Usage Data. Figma will have the right to collect and analyze data and other information relating to the access, use, and performance of the Services (“ Usage Data ”) and Figma will be free (during and after the Term) to use Usage Data in de-identified and aggregated form to maintain, improve, and enhance Figma’s products and services. Examples of Usage Data include technical logs, metadata, telemetry data, and usage information about Customer Content, such as how many times it is accessed. For clarity, Usage Data excludes Customer Content itself.
The limit attaches to use, not collection
Read where the qualifier sits. Collecting and analysing the data is unqualified; “in de-identified and aggregated form” modifies the right to keep using it “during and after the Term”. Nothing in this clause says what Figma holds while you are a customer is de-identified.
It outlives the account
The phrase is “during and after the Term” — this is the one thing in the contract Figma explicitly keeps using after you leave. It is data about your files, not the files.
One limit that is unambiguous
The definition expressly excludes your content, and the clause lists what it does mean: technical logs, metadata, telemetry, and how many times a file was opened.
No class action, and a cap that starts at $100
NO. CUSTOMER AGREES TO RESOLVE CUSTOMER’S CLAIMS WITH FIGMA SOLELY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, AND NOT AS PART OF A CLASS, REPRESENTATIVE, OR CONSOLIDATED ACTION.
…
If Customer doesn’t want to agree to arbitrate Customer’s Claims as explained above, then Customer can opt-out of this arbitration agreement by notifying Figma of Customer’s decision in writing at arbitration-opt-out@figma.com, 760 Market St, Floor 10, San Francisco, CA 94102. Customer’s notice must include Customer’s name, mailing address, email address, and an unequivocal statement that Customer is opting out of this arbitration agreement. An opt-out notice that purports to opt out multiple parties will be invalid as to all such parties. No individual (or their agent or representative) may effectuate an opt out on behalf of another party. Customer must opt-out within 30 days of the date you first agree to these Terms or any updated Terms.
…
7.2. LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF LIABILITY. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, AND UNDER NO LEGAL THEORY (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, WARRANTY OR ANY OTHER THEORY OF LIABILITY), WILL THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF FIGMA, ITS AFFILIATES, AND ITS OR THEIR PARTY REPRESENTATIVES FOR ANY AND ALL DAMAGES AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE USE OF OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES, EXCEED, THE GREATER OF: (a) $100; OR (b) THE SUBSCRIPTION FEES PAID BY CUSTOMER TO FIGMA IN THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO SUCH LIABILITY.
The class waiver is the real clause
Arbitration is the headline; the waiver underneath it is what costs you. Claims are resolved “SOLELY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS” — a defect that hits every Figma user is litigated one user at a time, or not at all.
You can leave, in writing, within 30 days
The opt-out is real and it is narrow: an email or letter, an unequivocal statement, and “within 30 days of the date you first agree to these Terms or any updated Terms”. Nobody can opt out on your behalf, and one notice cannot cover several people.
$100 is the floor, not the ceiling
The cap is “THE GREATER OF” $100 or the subscription fees you paid in the preceding 12 months — so a Professional seat raises the number rather than lowering it. On a free account there are no fees, and $100 is the whole of it.
The contracts this one points at
If you are purchasing an Organization or Enterprise plan please refer to the Figma Software Services Agreement
…
Applications and materials with the Services developed by Figma are part of the Services, and those that are shared on Figma Community are also subject to the Product-Specific Terms applicable to Figma Community.
…
9.3. Product-Specific Terms. Certain Figma offerings are subject to Product-Specific Terms (such as downloadable applications, optional beta features, free trials, APIs, Figma’s artificial intelligence features, including available AI-related settings that apply to Customer Content and billing terms for AI Credits). Product-Specific Terms are hereby incorporated into these Terms by reference as if set forth herein and apply if Customer (including any Authorized User) elect to use such offerings. “ Product-Specific Terms ” mean the terms and conditions available at www.figma.com/product-specific-terms/.
This is the Starter and Professional contract
It governs free and Professional accounts. Organization and Enterprise plans are on a different agreement altogether — the Figma Software Services Agreement — which is not this document and is not read here.
Incorporated by reference
Section 9.3 lists what carries its own terms — downloadable applications, beta features, free trials, APIs and the AI features — and makes them binding “as if set forth herein”. Everything above describes only the document you can actually read at this URL.
Community is routed out too
Section 1.3 sends anything “shared on Figma Community” to a separate set of Product-Specific Terms. Publishing a file to Community is therefore governed somewhere other than the clauses above.
AI credits sit there as well
The AI-related settings that apply to your Customer Content, and the billing for AI Credits, are both handed to the Product-Specific Terms. The reassuring findings above do not extend to a document nobody has read.
Due Dilly reads the paperwork and reports what it says. This is not legal advice.