Best offer on record: Figma Starter plan (free-for-all individual plan). 4 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
Figma Starter plan (free-for-all individual plan) high confidence
Free tier available to anyone (students, educators, startups, individuals). Limits read on figma.com/pricing today: unlimited draft files shareable with unlimited viewers; co-editing with unlimited users on up to 3 files (max 3 pages per file); 30-day version history; 500 AI credits/month with a 150 AI credits/day cap; 10 variable modes; Figma Slides limited to 5 templates; community plugins only; basic Dev Mode inspection for viewers. Unlimited files/projects, team component libraries, full Dev Mode, advanced prototyping (motion publishing, high-res video export) require a paid plan (Professional+).
Eligibility
Anyone with a Figma account. No credit card required (Figma's payment-method docs cover only paid subscriptions; sign-up is self-serve). No region exclusions noted for the free plan. No CC, no age gate beyond standard terms.
How to claim
Self-serve: create a Figma account at figma.com (Sign up → 'Get started for free'). No verification, no CC, no card. Free forever.
Expiry
No expiry; free tier is permanent. Code layers are free through Nov 4, 2026 on paid plans, then consume AI credits.
Gotchas
Downgrading a paid team to Starter caps it at 3 files + 1 project; teams with 4+ files become view-only until files are moved to drafts. AI features consume the 500/mo credit pool (no rolver). 'Unlimited drafts' does not include a team space: shared collaboration is limited to 3 files.
Figma for Education: Professional plan free (higher ed, high school, bootcamp & online-course students/educators) high confidence
Verified education status gives a free Education team with all Professional-plan functionality (per help.figma.com article read today): unlimited files/projects, team libraries, Dev Mode, advanced prototyping. Higher-ed and bootcamp/online-course users also get the AI toolkit (Figma Make, Figma agent) with monthly AI credits, and Figma Sites (each eligible user may publish ONE Site file; no custom domains). K-12/high-school education users do NOT get the AI tools or Sites features. FAQ: Education accounts valid 2 years for K-12 and higher education, 6 months for bootcamps (one 6-month extension max for bootcamp users).
Eligibility
Current student or educator in a structured classroom (high schools, universities, post-grad, trade schools, polytechnics, colleges, design/coding academies, selected online courses/bootcamps with curriculum-based mentor-led instruction). Must apply with a school-issued email where the school issues one; higher-ed verification runs through SheerID and can use student ID/government ID if no school email exists — so a .edu/domain email is NOT strictly required, but education status is tied to the verified email (changing the account email revokes status). Non-teaching school staff do not qualify; self-directed learners, startups, edtech companies, and nonprofits do not qualify. Available only in select regions (forum reports confirm 'not supported' errors from China). Must be old enough to consent; under-13 use belongs to the school-signed-terms route.
How to claim
1) Have an existing Figma account under your school email (sign up with it, or change it before applying). 2) Go to figma.com/education/apply: role Student/Educator, institution type Higher Education / High School / Bootcamp or online course, click 'Verify your status' under the Professional card. 3) Higher ed: complete SheerID verification (school email or ID upload). 4) Bootcamp/online course: the provider admin must verify you (you cannot self-verify since Sept 2025); no action needed if your bootcamp is an approved partner. 5) Create an Education team. No credit card required — it is a free plan, not a trial.
Expiry
Higher ed / K-12 / high school: 2 years from verification, reapply when still enrolled/employed. Bootcamp: 6 months, renewable once for 6 more months.
Gotchas
Sept 2025 re-verification wave: users who did not re-verify by Sept 29, 2025 had Education teams converted to Starter (3 files / 1 project; 4+ files → everyone view-only). Changing your account email revokes verified status. Bootcamp users: initial 6 months + one 6-month extension only; no second extension, and you cannot reapply under the same email/account — some users have reportedly created a second account to re-verify. SheerID has strict ID-clarity rules and attempt limits. Some AI features (editor visual search) unavailable even to eligible education users. Education status ≠ paid-plan billing: nothing to pay, but you cannot buy seats or AI-credit add-ons on it.
Figma for Education: Enterprise plan free (K-12 districts and schools) high confidence
K-12 districts/schools get Figma Enterprise at no cost (the top tier), plus the school-signed-terms route required for students under 13 (school must contact Figma and sign school terms; under-13 use is not available via self-serve). Includes Google Workspace for Education integration (admin-managed licensing via App Licensing System), Google Classroom FigJam add-on, and Microsoft Education SAML SSO auto-provisioning. Figma and Google bring Figma + FigJam to US Chromebooks free. Education account validity for K-12: 2 years, reapply to renew. Free bi-weekly live training and on-site PD sessions available on request.
Eligibility
K-12 schools/districts (US-focused integrations; program available in select regions). Teachers and students 13+ can self-serve via the high-school route at figma.com/education/apply; any class with students under 13 requires the school to contact Figma (form/form at figma.com/education/k-12, education@figma.com) and sign school terms. Non-teaching staff excluded.
How to claim
13+ students/teachers: figma.com/education/apply, select High School as institution type (K-12 educators selecting themselves use High School; district-wide deployment goes through the K-12 form). Under-13 classes: school submits the K-12 application form / emails education@figma.com, signs school terms; admins then deploy via Google/Microsoft integration. No credit card required.
Expiry
K-12 Education accounts valid 2 years, reapply to renew.
Gotchas
K-12/high-school education teams do NOT get Figma Make, the AI agent, or Figma Sites (higher-ed/bootcamp only). Region-limited: Figma for Education 'is only available in select regions'. Under-13 route is manual and takes longer (school terms, COPPA/FERPA handling). Google/Microsoft SSO provisioning means the school domain controls who gets access — a domain swap or SSO change can lock users out.
Figma for Startups — no live free offer (program appears ended/paused) high confidence
As of today, Figma's own site has no startup program: figma.com/startups returns 404, the pricing page lists no startup offer, and the official pricing FAQ explicitly lists 'Early stage Startups' among who does NOT qualify for free Education teams, and states 'We do not have any discounts for non-profits. Anyone is welcome to use Figma's free plan.' Third-party trackers (checked Sep 13–Oct 14, 2026) mark the formerly partner-gated 'Figma for Startups' offer (free Organization plan for 24 months for VC-backed startups via accelerator-partner referral; other listings describe up to 1 year of Professional at 100% off, a 50% discount for 6 months, or up to ~$1,000 in credits/50% discounts) as 'paused' or 'No Longer Available', with the application form no longer found on any Figma-owned page. Figma is also no longer listed in the GitHub Student Developer Pack. Startups today can only use the free Starter plan (or buy Professional seats, full $16/mo / dev $12/mo / collab $3/mo).
Eligibility
No eligibility path exists on Figma's own pages as of 2026-10-22. The legacy program (now unavailable) required: VC/accelerator backing or approved-partner referral, new Figma Organization customer, application with funding caps (<$10M in older listings), no CC required. Figma's official FAQ explicitly excludes early-stage startups from the free education program, and Figma does not give startup age/funding caps because it does not run a startup program.
How to claim
Not claimable: no application form exists on any Figma-owned page (figma.com/startups = 404). What remains: free Starter plan for the whole team (each person signs up free, no CC); check your accelerator/VC perk book, since the old offer was distributed only through partner referrals — if a partner still lists it, apply via that partner, but treat the current status as unverified.
Gotchas
Aggregator sites (Drifting Desk, StartupIntros) still show it as 'Active' with outdated terms — those are stale third-party pages, not Figma; Figma's own pages govern. The org-tier free offer (~$45/editor/mo list price x 24 months) was historically the most generous tier; no Enterprise-tier coverage existed. If you build a product on a partner perk listing, verify the referral pipeline (accelerator/bank perk catalog) still works before relying on it.
2025-2026 material changes: (1) September 5, 2025 — Figma Education plan update: Figma Make (AI) rolled out to the higher-ed Education plan; all higher-ed and high-school users were required to re-verify by Sept 29, 2025 or lose Professional features (teams downgraded to Starter: 3 files/1 project, 4+ files → view-only); bootcamp verification moved from self-verify to trusted-partner provider verification; bootcamp validity is 6 months with one 6-month extension. (2) Pricing restructure to a seat model (Full/Dev/Collab seats): Professional $16 full / $12 dev / $3 collab per month + 3,000/500/500 AI credits; Organization $55/$25/$5 annual; Enterprise $90/$35/$5 annual; Starter free with 500 AI credits/mo (150/day). This replaced the older flat per-editor pricing. (3) Time-boxed freebies being sunset: code layers free through November 4, 2026 (paid plans only; afterwards they consume AI credits); Figma Sites custom domains were free through 2025 with bandwidth/storage add-ons arriving 'in early 2026' — so education users' one-Site-allowance has no custom domain and paid tiers now face paid egress/domain extras. (4) Figma for Startups: ended/paused — figma.com/startups is a 404, no application form on any Figma-owned page as of Sep–Oct 2026 checks; third-party trackers mark it 'No Longer Available'/'Paused'; Figma's FAQ now explicitly excludes early-stage startups from free education teams. Legacy terms (for reference only): 24 months of the Organization plan free via accelerator partner referral, or up to $1,000 / 1 year Professional free / 50% off 6 months with <$10M funding caps. (5) GitHub Student Developer Pack no longer lists Figma among perks, so there is no third-party free Figma-Professional student channel. Not relevant but noted: a Figma for Government plan also exists (separate from education; not a student/startup offer).