Open CoDesign vs Figma AI — Open-Source Figma AI Alternative
Looking for an open-source alternative to Figma AI (Figma Make, Figma First Draft)? Open CoDesign is an MIT-licensed desktop app that generates interactive UI prototypes directly in code — runnable, exportable, and under your control.
Download Open CoDesign → · 90-second Quickstart
At a glance
Figma AI is a suite of AI-assisted features inside Figma: prompt-to-draft, generative fills, content placeholders, auto-layout rewrites. Output stays inside the Figma canvas as frames and components.
Open CoDesign starts from the opposite end: prompts become code-native interactive prototypes — HTML, React/JSX, PDF, PPTX — runnable and editable outside any proprietary canvas.
Pick Figma AI if your team lives inside Figma and the deliverable is always a canvas design that hands off to engineering.
Pick Open CoDesign if you want the AI output to be real runnable code/artifacts from the start, with full model freedom and on-device privacy.
Feature matrix
| Open CoDesign (open-source) | Figma AI (Make / First Draft) | |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | Closed (paid plan) |
| Runs on | Your laptop (macOS / Windows / Linux) | Figma Cloud (web + desktop client) |
| Output form | Runnable code (HTML, React/JSX) + PDF/PPTX/ZIP | Figma frames + components |
| Models | Any — Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, SiliconFlow, Ollama | Figma-hosted |
| BYOK | Yes | No |
| Pricing | Free (BYOK token cost) | Paid Figma seat + AI add-on |
| Data location | SQLite on your machine | Figma cloud |
| Local version history | Yes | Figma version history (cloud) |
| Offline use | Yes (with local Ollama) | Limited |
| Export | HTML · React/JSX · PDF · PPTX · ZIP · Markdown | Figma file + code via plugin |
| Built-in design skills | 12 modules | General AI assists |
| Inline AI comments | Yes — rewrites only pinned region | Generative fill / rewrites |
| Ecosystem | Framework-agnostic code out | Figma-canvas-bound |
Why someone would switch from Figma AI to Open CoDesign
- Output is code, not a canvas. No design→code handoff step. The prompt produces the thing engineering actually ships.
- Model choice. Figma picks one model for you. Open CoDesign lets you mix Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Ollama by task.
- BYOK. No platform margin on tokens.
- On-device privacy. Your prompts, designs, and any codebase scans stay on your machine.
- Fewer seats. You only pay Figma per-seat when you actually need Figma. Open CoDesign is a free desktop app.
- Export to PDF / PPTX / ZIP without plugin chains.
Why someone would stay on Figma AI
- Your team's source of truth is Figma — components, libraries, dev mode, hand-off.
- You design in the canvas, not in code.
- Real-time multiplayer editing is a hard requirement.
Different positions in the workflow. Most teams use both.
Is Open CoDesign a clone of Figma AI?
No. Open CoDesign is an independent MIT-licensed desktop app by OpenCoworkAI. It is not a Figma plugin, does not connect to the Figma API, and is not affiliated with Figma Inc. "Figma" and "Figma AI" are trademarks of Figma Inc.
Install Open CoDesign
FAQ
- Can Open CoDesign import my Figma files? Not yet. Codebase → design-system token extraction ships in v0.4. Figma-file ingest is not on the v1 roadmap.
- Does it replace Figma entirely? No — it replaces the AI-generation step. Many teams will keep Figma for collaboration and use Open CoDesign for prompt-to-prototype.
- Can I use local models? Yes — any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, Ollama included.
- License? MIT.