What did Bot2Bot Labs measure for Who builds it?

Who builds it: Kir, under the GitHub org deepfounder-ai (Product Hunt launch post). Dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0. 7 contributors; deepfounder-ai has 325 of the commits.. Source (2026-11-04): https://api.github.com/repos/deepfounder-ai/desigma/contributors

What did Bot2Bot Labs measure for How it was built (git history)?

How it was built (git history): 387 commits from 2026-10-10 (5:26 PM PT) to the v0.1.0-alpha.17 tag (2026-11-02), about 23 days; ~160,000 lines of Rust in crates/. 290 of the 387 commits (74.9%) carry an AI co-author trailer: Claude Sonnet 5.5 175, Claude Opus 5.5 90, Cursor 13, Claude Fable 5.1 12. Unmarked commits may also be agent-written.. Source (2026-11-04): https://github.com/deepfounder-ai/desigma/commits/v0.1.0-alpha.17

What did it cost to build desigma?

Build cost on price date 2026-11-04: Not disclosed human hours, Not disclosed estimated token dollars, billed not disclosed. Source (2026-11-04): https://github.com/deepfounder-ai/desigma

BOT2BOT LABS

$0.00/mo vs $20.00/mo (Figma Professional, 1 Full seat, monthly billing)

desigma, the open-source Figma alternative in Rust: what it costs to run

Item: desigma
Author: Bot2Bot Labs

Price date: 2026-11-04Partially Verified

desigma is an AI-built alternative to Figma. desigma is a free, open-source Figma alternative written in Rust by Kir (deepfounder-ai), dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0. We tried the v0.1.0-alpha.17 Linux release, then built it from source with the README steps on our Linux box (no account), ran the builder's own test suite, a fixed 22-check core test set through its MCP server 3 times, a 4/8/16/32-way parallel burst, 5,000 and 20,000-layer file tests, offscreen screenshots of the editor and a live editor-plus-agent session; cargo audit and gitleaks on the source; a network-behaviour log; an agent-bridge auth check; and a 26-item feature checklist from Figma's public pricing page. We did not sign in to, test or probe Figma.

On price date 2026-11-04, running the clone yourself is about $0.00 per month (measured (local run on our box) + cited list prices) versus $20.00/mo (Figma Professional, 1 Full seat, monthly billing) for Figma. Cash break-even is immediate: $0 vs $20/mo = $240/yr per designer ($192/yr against annual billing). Against Figma Starter the cash saving is $0; what you gain is no file limits and files on your own disk. The catch: early alpha by its own builder, no cloud files, comments, AI features or certifications, and 1 high-severity dependency bug in .fig import.

Verdict: good for Solo designers and developers who want a free, offline, Figma-style editor with files on their own disk, and anyone who wants an AI agent to draw and edit designs through MCP without a Figma seat. Skip if You need browser access and cloud files, review comments, Figma AI, a big plugin ecosystem, SSO and admin, a vendor with SOC 2, or something stable enough for daily client work (the builder says it isn't yet). Main risk: Early alpha from essentially one builder; the Linux release didn't start on our Debian 13 box; opening untrusted .fig files hits a known high-severity memory bug until ruzstd is updated..

Get the next receipt

Get the next receipt: One email when we publish, with measured cost and breakage. No spam.

Built a SaaS clone with AI? Get a free receipt

r-0009 · Published 2026-11-04 · Price date 2026-11-04

desigma is a free, open-source Figma alternative written in Rust by Kir (deepfounder-ai), dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0. We tried the v0.1.0-alpha.17 Linux release, then built it from source with the README steps on our Linux box (no account), ran the builder's own test suite, a fixed 22-check core test set through its MCP server 3 times, a 4/8/16/32-way parallel burst, 5,000 and 20,000-layer file tests, offscreen screenshots of the editor and a live editor-plus-agent session; cargo audit and gitleaks on the source; a network-behaviour log; an agent-bridge auth check; and a 26-item feature checklist from Figma's public pricing page. We did not sign in to, test or probe Figma.

Break-even

Free from day one vs Figma Professional

$0/mo vs $20/mo per Full seat = $240/yr ($192/yr vs annual billing). Against Figma Starter the cash saving is $0. Excludes your time and the cloud, comments, AI and admin features you give up.

Verdict

Good for: Solo designers and developers who want a free, offline, Figma-style editor with files on their own disk, and anyone who wants an AI agent to draw and edit designs through MCP without a Figma seat.

Skip if: You need browser access and cloud files, review comments, Figma AI, a big plugin ecosystem, SSO and admin, a vendor with SOC 2, or something stable enough for daily client work (the builder says it isn't yet).

Main risk: Early alpha from essentially one builder; the Linux release didn't start on our Debian 13 box; opening untrusted .fig files hits a known high-severity memory bug until ruzstd is updated.

Confidence — 71.4% measured by us

measured 15/21 · builder-stated 4 · unverified 2 — Counts from claims[] types on this receipt (2026-11-04).

No license fee; break-even month 0.

Labor-adjusted operator TCO @1 user (year 1): $0.00 — Same as cash TCO $0: maintenance hours not measured, so no labor added (would be hours × $50/hr × 12).

Cash cost to run vs the subscription it replaces

Measured 2026-11-04: free (MIT/Apache-2.0) desktop design app; no account, server or AI API, and our core flow made 0 network calls. On Linux the release binary did not start on Debian 13; building from the README took 3 min 8 s. Your setup time is not counted.

Figma Professional, 1 Full seat, US$20/mo billed monthly ($16/mo billed annually). Read on figma.com/pricing 2026-11-04. Figma also has a free Starter plan with limits.

measured (local run on our box) + cited list prices

Two-sided receipt

A · Operator receipt

Builder or operator running the software

Build — tokens est. vs billed: Not disclosed / Not disclosed(Not disclosed)
Build — human hours: Not disclosed(Not disclosed)
Run @ 1 user / mo: $0.00/mohost $0.00 + DB $0.00 + email $0.00 + APIs $0.00 + tokens $0.00(Measured by Bot2Bot Labs)
Run @ 10 users / mo: $0.00/mohost $0.00 + DB $0.00 + email $0.00 + APIs $0.00 + tokens $0.00(Measured by Bot2Bot Labs)
Run @ 100 users / mo: $0.00/mohost $0.00 + DB $0.00 + email $0.00 + APIs $0.00 + tokens $0.00(Measured by Bot2Bot Labs)
Maintenance h / mo (@ 1 / 10 / 100): Not measured · Not measured · Not measured(Not measured)
TCO year 1 (@ 1 / 10 / 100 users): $0.00 · $0.00 · $0.00(Measured by Bot2Bot Labs)
Labor-adjusted TCO year 1 (@ 1 / 10 / 100): $0.00 · $0.00 · $0.00(Not measured)

No build dollars or hours disclosed. If you run it yourself, your build cost is $0: building from source took 3 min 8 s on our box.
1 person: free (MIT/Apache-2.0) desktop app on your own computer. No account, server, database or AI API; the core flow made 0 network calls. Linux: build from source (3 min 8 s here) until the release binary works on older glibc. Electricity not counted. = $0/mo. Optional: a file that must stay online when nobody has it open needs desigma-server on a machine of your own; DigitalOcean's smallest Basic Droplet is $4/mo (512 MiB, read 2026-11-04). We did not measure how small a server desigma-server needs, so that price is not counted.
10 people: each runs the app; live sessions go peer to peer with n0's free public relays as fallback (no SLA). = $0/mo. Optional: a file that must stay online when nobody has it open needs desigma-server on a machine of your own; DigitalOcean's smallest Basic Droplet is $4/mo (512 MiB, read 2026-11-04). We did not measure how small a server desigma-server needs, so that price is not counted. Your setup and support time is not measured.
100 people: $0/mo in fees. Collaboration is designed for 2–10 people per file, and there is no admin console, SSO or vendor support, so rollout is on you; not measured. Optional: a file that must stay online when nobody has it open needs desigma-server on a machine of your own; DigitalOcean's smallest Basic Droplet is $4/mo (512 MiB, read 2026-11-04). We did not measure how small a server desigma-server needs, so that price is not counted.
12 × $0/mo; excludes your time, hardware you already own and any optional server
12 × $0/mo; excludes your time, hardware you already own and any optional server
12 × $0/mo; excludes your time, hardware you already own and any optional server

B · User receipt

Someone using the product vs the commercial alternative

Clone price: free self host — $0.00/mo(Measured by Bot2Bot Labs)
Real product @ 1 / 10 / 100 tiers / mo: $20.00 · $200.00 · $2,000.00(Measured by Bot2Bot Labs)
Price date: 2026-11-04
Switching effort: Measured setup on Linux: build from source in 3 min 8 s (the release binary did not start on Debian 13). Moving over: export Figma files as .fig ('Save local copy') or REST JSON and open them; the .fig reader is reverse-engineered and tested on synthetic files only, so check each file. Saves go to .desigma, not back to .fig.(Measured by Bot2Bot Labs)
Risk — reliability: Builder tests 2,025/2,025 and our 22 checks passed every run; hands-on design work and real .fig files not tested.
Risk — security: 1 high (ruzstd, .fig import) and 2 unscored TLS-library advisories; agent bridge locked to localhost with a token. Unsigned builds; no audits.
Risk — support: Essentially one builder, early alpha, an alpha every day or two; GitHub issues only.
Risk — data export: Native .desigma files on your disk; exports Figma REST JSON, SVG, PNG, PDF.
Risk — legal: MIT or Apache-2.0. Imports Figma's undocumented .fig format via community reverse engineering; not affiliated with Figma.

MIT or Apache-2.0; free desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux; no account.
100 Full seats × $20/mo monthly = $2,000 ($1,600/mo annual). SSO and admin need Organization ($55 a Full seat a month, billed annually).
List price source: https://www.figma.com/pricing/

Scan results

Scan date 2026-11-04

Reliability

Core flow: 22/22 tests passed

pass: 4, 8, 16 and 32 parallel core flows all 22/22 with byte-identical exports (0.35 s, 0.37 s, 0.62 s, 1.15 s wall); builder suite 2,025 passed / 0 failed; release binary does not start on Debian 13, source build works

Setup from README: Pass

Security audit

0 critical · 1 high

cargo audit on the alpha.17 Cargo.lock (792 crates): 1 high (ruzstd 0.9.0, .fig import, fixed upstream in 0.9.1), 2 unscored (rustls-webpki, webpki-roots), 10 warnings. gitleaks, network, MCP sandbox and agent-bridge checks on our copy only; Figma via public pages only.

Feature parity

15 of 26 checklist features(source)

Vendor certifications

Maintenance pulse

Measured 2026-11-04

Last commit: 2026-11-04T01:19:40Z
Open issues: 6
Contributors: 7
License: MIT OR Apache-2.0
Stars: 1038

Source: https://api.github.com/repos/deepfounder-ai/desigma

Data & lock-in

Your own computer: .desigma files wherever you save them. No server of the builder's.

Export: yes — Save as .desigma (open format in the source), or export Figma REST JSON, SVG, PNG, JPG and PDF; animations to GIF, WebM or PNG sequences.

Feature parity detail

Checklist row-by-row (desigma vs Figma).

Feature	desigma	Figma	Matched
Design and prototype in one app (frames, vectors, text)	YesTested: frames, rectangles, ellipses, text, SVG import and styles in our core set; pen and vector tools from README	Figma Starter	Yes
Components and variants	YesShowcase file renders component instances (our screenshot); variants and properties from README	Figma Starter	Yes
Auto layout	YesShowcase screens are auto layout (our screenshot); README lists wrap, gap, padding, hug/fill	Figma Starter	Yes
Variables and modes	YesVariables view rendered with Light/Dark modes (our screenshot)	Figma Professional	Yes
Advanced prototyping (Smart Animate, interactions)	YesPrototype view rendered (our screenshot); Smart Animate, triggers and animation actions from README. Conditional logic and expressions not found	Figma Professional	Yes
Motion / keyframe animation	YesTested: keyframe GIF export (11 frames) in our core set; 41 presets and WebM from README	Figma Starter	Yes
Dev Mode code generation	YesTested: code gen for CSS, Tailwind, React, SwiftUI, Jetpack Compose and SVG via MCP	Figma Dev seat	Yes
MCP server for AI agents	YesTested: 27 tools over stdio, and live editing of the open file with --bridge. Figma lists its MCP server on paid plans	Figma Professional	Yes
Export PNG, JPG, SVG, PDF	YesPNG tested; SVG/JPG/PDF from README. PDF pages are raster, text not selectable	Figma Starter	Yes
Slides / decks	YesDeck view rendered (our screenshot); no transitions, template gallery or presenter display yet (README)	Figma Starter	Yes
Whiteboard (FigJam-style)	YesStickies, connectors, timer and voting from README; not tested	Figma Starter	Yes
Open Figma files	YesTested: Figma REST JSON fixture (23 nodes). .fig import from README: reverse-engineered, tested only on synthetic files	Figma Starter	Yes
Team libraries and version history	Yesdesigma-library crate (projects, team libraries, publishing, version history) per README; not tested	Figma Professional	Yes
Real-time multiplayer editing	YesBeta: peer-to-peer share link, 2–10 people per file, host must keep the file open (or run desigma-server). Not tested across machines	Figma Starter	Yes
Files in the cloud, open from any browser	NoDesktop app only; files live on your disk	Figma Starter	No
Comments and annotations for reviewers	NoDev-mode annotations exist; threaded review comments not found	Figma Starter	No
Unlimited files and projects	YesNo limits: local files	Figma Professional	Yes
Branching and merging	NoNot found	Figma Organization	No
Figma Make (prompt to app/code)	NoNo built-in AI; agents can drive it through MCP with your own AI tool	Figma Starter	No
Figma Sites (publish websites)	NoNot built	Figma Starter	No
Figma Buzz (on-brand assets at scale)	NoNot built	Figma Starter	No
Plugin and widget ecosystem	NoNative plugins are new: one public registry, HTML panels with only insert-SVG and storage permissions	Figma Starter	No
Mobile apps	NoNone (Windows, macOS, Linux desktop only)	Figma Starter	No
SSO, SCIM and admin controls	NoNot built: no accounts	Figma Organization	No
SOC 2 / ISO certifications	NoNone (open-source project)	Figma Starter	No
Vendor support	NoGitHub issues only	Figma Professional	No

Price history

Receipts are re-priced at least every 90 days; append rows, do not overwrite.

Checked	Product	Price	Source
2026-11-04	Figma Professional Full seat (monthly billing)	$20 USD/mo	link
2026-11-04	Figma Professional Full seat (annual billing)	$16 USD/mo	link
2026-11-04	Figma Professional Dev seat (monthly billing)	$15 USD/mo	link
2026-11-04	Figma Organization Full seat (annual billing)	$55 USD/mo	link
2026-11-04	Figma Starter	$0 USD/mo	link
2026-11-04	desigma v0.1.0-alpha.17	$0 USD	link

Breakage log ongoing (local): 2026-11-04 to 2026-11-18Local daily re-test of our pinned alpha.17 build through 2026-11-18: the 22-check core set, an 8-way burst, cargo audit, and a check for newer releases. No breakage on 2026-11-04. The builder ships an alpha every day or two, so new versions are noted, not auto-tested. New breakage is appended with dates; price_date stays 2026-11-04. No public status page found for Fontsource or n0's public relays.

AI ReceiptPartially Verified

Taskdesigma is a free, open-source Figma alternative written in Rust by Kir (deepfounder-ai), dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0. We tried the v0.1.0-alpha.17 Linux release, then built it from source with the README steps on our Linux box (no account), ran the builder's own test suite, a fixed 22-check core test set through its MCP server 3 times, a 4/8/16/32-way parallel burst, 5,000 and 20,000-layer file tests, offscreen screenshots of the editor and a live editor-plus-agent session; cargo audit and gitleaks on the source; a network-behaviour log; an agent-bridge auth check; and a 26-item feature checklist from Figma's public pricing page. We did not sign in to, test or probe Figma.

Tool + modelClaude Sonnet 5.5, Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Fable 5.1 and Cursor (as credited in commits) · Co-author trailers at alpha.17: Claude Sonnet 5.5 on 175 commits, Claude Opus 5.5 on 90, Cursor 13, Claude Fable 5.1 12 (measured, 290 of 387 commits) · Not disclosed.

Human hoursNot disclosed

Agent active timeNot disclosed

Token $ est vs billedNot disclosed / Not disclosed

Run $/mo$0.00 tokens + $0.00 hosting

BrokeNone logged

Dated2026-11-04

Not disclosed. 387 commits over about 23 days (2026-10-10 to 2026-11-02), mostly one builder plus AI agents; hours cannot be read from git.

Builder-stated vs measured

Type	Claim	Value	Source
Builder-stated	Builder: what it is	'An independent, local-first, open-source design tool built in Rust. Frames, auto layout, components and variants, prototyping, live collaboration, keyframe motion, whiteboards, decks, vector editing and real Figma file import… Free, offline, and yours to change.'	Link · 2026-11-04
Builder-stated	Builder: status	'desigma is in early alpha… it is not yet a replacement for professional daily work. The biggest gaps are collaboration, plugins, PDF export, .fig features that real files haven't exercised yet, and code-signed release builds.' (Collaboration has since shipped as a beta.)	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Who builds it	Kir, under the GitHub org deepfounder-ai (Product Hunt launch post). Dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0. 7 contributors; deepfounder-ai has 325 of the commits.	Link · 2026-11-04
Unverified	Build cost in dollars and human hours	Not disclosed. No token bill, usage export or hours published.	—
Measured by Bot2Bot	How it was built (git history)	387 commits from 2026-10-10 (5:26 PM PT) to the v0.1.0-alpha.17 tag (2026-11-02), about 23 days; ~160,000 lines of Rust in crates/. 290 of the 387 commits (74.9%) carry an AI co-author trailer: Claude Sonnet 5.5 175, Claude Opus 5.5 90, Cursor 13, Claude Fable 5.1 12. Unmarked commits may also be agent-written.	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Release pace and project activity	17 alpha releases in 23 days; we tested v0.1.0-alpha.17 (published 2026-11-02, 2:18 PM PT), still the latest on 2026-11-04. 1,038 stars, 107 forks, 6 open issues and PRs; last push 2026-11-03 (PT).	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Setup from the README (Linux)	The Linux release tarball downloaded and matched its SHA256SUMS, but its binaries do not start on Debian 13: they need glibc 2.43 and Debian 13 ships 2.41. The README's 'Build from source' path worked: fresh clone 2.2 s + cargo build --locked --release of the editor and MCP server 185.6 s = 3 min 8 s on 8 vCPU (Rust toolchain and crate cache already on the box, so a first-time build will take longer). No system libraries had to be installed.	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Builder test suite	README says 'more than 1,600 tests'. We ran cargo test --workspace --locked at the pinned tag: 2,025 passed, 0 failed, 17 ignored, in 422 s (4 min 42 s of it compiling) under a virtual display.	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Our core test set	22 of 22 checks passed on 3 separate runs (0.22–0.37 s each), driving the desigma-mcp server: draw frames, shapes and text; style them; rename and resize; import SVG, Figma REST JSON (23 nodes) and Pencil .pen (37 nodes); generate CSS, Tailwind, React, SwiftUI, Compose and SVG code; export a 2x PNG and an 11-frame GIF; undo/redo and delete-undo; save, refuse silent overwrite, overwrite on request; guard unsaved edits; reopen in a fresh server; byte-identical re-render; refuse a corrupt file; refuse paths outside the workspace (../, absolute, symlink).	— · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Parallel burst	4, 8, 16 and 32 copies of the full core flow at once (each its own server and folder): every flow 22/22, all PNG exports byte-identical, in 0.35 s, 0.37 s, 0.62 s and 1.15 s wall. desigma is one app per person, so this tests the engine under load, not a shared server.	— · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Large files	5,000 layers: created in 0.32 s, saved in 0.033 s (8.1 MB file), exported in 0.047 s, reopened in 0.064 s. 20,000 layers: 1.72 s, 0.143 s (32.6 MB), 0.203 s, 0.416 s. About 1.6 KB per layer on disk. Measured through the MCP server, not the on-screen editor; the README's 'well under a frame' panning claim was not timed.	— · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	The editor (GUI)	The built editor rendered the showcase, deck, variables, prototype and home screens offscreen with its own --screenshot mode on our CPU-only box; two showcase runs were byte-identical. With --bridge, desigma-mcp edited, undid and exported the document open in the live editor. Mouse-and-keyboard design work was not tested by a person.	— · 2026-11-04
Builder-stated	Live collaboration	Not tested between two machines. The workspace test suite (above) includes the collaboration and networking crates. Sessions go peer to peer over iroh QUIC and fall back to n0's free public relays, which n0 says are for 'development and hobby use only', with 'no SLA or uptime guarantee', and can see IP addresses and traffic volume (content stays end-to-end encrypted).	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Dependency audit	cargo audit on the alpha.17 Cargo.lock (792 crates): 3 vulnerabilities. ruzstd 0.9.0 RUSTSEC-2026-0344 (CVSS 7.5, high: a tiny zstd input can exhaust memory), reached through .fig import; fixed in 0.9.1. rustls-webpki 0.103.15 RUSTSEC-2026-0382 and webpki-roots 1.0.9 RUSTSEC-2026-0381 (unscored: distrusted certificate intermediates), via networking. 10 warnings: 7 unmaintained, 1 unsound (tokio 1.53.2), 2 yanked. We did not try to exploit the ruzstd bug.	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Network behaviour	Measured with a connection logger: the 22-check core flow made 0 network connections. The source-built editor, run with the agent bridge for ~25 s, made only 2 local unix-socket connections. Per docs and source, release builds (not source builds) check api.github.com for updates a few seconds after launch and daily (opt out with DESIGMA_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1); fonts other than the bundled Inter come from Fontsource; plugins install via the GitHub contents API.	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Agent bridge (local control)	Listens on 127.0.0.1 with a per-launch token in both the URL and a header; bridge.json is mode 0600. 4 of 4 bad requests refused: no token 404, wrong path token 404, wrong header token 403, browser Origin 403.	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Secrets scan	gitleaks on the alpha.17 source and full git history: 0 leaks (6 hits were only in our own build output folder).	— · 2026-11-04
Builder-stated	Unsigned builds and updater	'Release builds are not code-signed yet, so the first launch shows a warning.' Updates are checked against the release's SHA256SUMS file from the same GitHub release (no separate signature).	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Figma price	Professional: Full seat $20/mo billed monthly or $16/mo billed annually; Dev seat $15/$12; Collab seat $5/$3. Organization Full seat $55/mo and Enterprise $90/mo, billed annually. Starter is free with limits.	Link · 2026-11-04
Unverified	Figma certifications	Figma's security page lists SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, 27701 and 42001, FedRAMP authorization, EU Cloud Code of Conduct, C5 and CSA CAIQ. Reports not reviewed by us.	Link · 2026-11-04
Measured by Bot2Bot	Feature parity vs Figma	15 of 26 features from Figma's public pricing page, checked in desigma at alpha.17 (11 exercised by us through our core set or editor screenshots; the rest from README and docs). Missing: cloud files and browser access, comments, team admin, branching, Figma AI (Make, Sites, Buzz), a plugin and widget ecosystem, mobile apps, SSO, certifications and support.	Link · 2026-11-04

Acceptance criteria

Every builder number traced to the repo at the pinned tag or a vendor page, with date
Setup from the README on our box
Fixed core test set run 3 times, plus the builder's own test suite
Parallel burst and large-file checks
Dependency audit, secrets scan, network-behaviour and agent-bridge checks on our copy only
Figma compared only through its public pages; no Figma systems logged into or probed

No build dollar figure is shown because the builder has not published one. Our own rebuild from source cost $0 and took 3 min 8 s.

No AI or API calls in the app (measured on the core flow). Agents that drive it through MCP bill your own AI tool. Release builds check GitHub for updates (source builds never do).

Run cost services

GitHub (api.github.com and release files): update checks for release builds, downloads, and the plugin installer.
Fontsource (api.fontsource.org): open fonts a file uses beyond the bundled Inter, fetched once and cached.
n0 public relays (iroh): fallback path for live collaboration when a direct connection fails; free, no SLA.
Iconify (api.iconify.design): only for the optional Icon Browser plugin.

Status pages

Subscription it replaces

Figma (Professional (1 Full seat, monthly billing, list price)) — $20.00/mo checked 2026-11-04. Source · see also /prices

Reliability notes

Local run on our box, 2026-11-04 (PT), Debian 13 x86_64, 8 vCPU, 15 GB RAM, no GPU (CPU renderer). desigma v0.1.0-alpha.17 built from source at f9bb0a0 with Rust 1.93.1. Builder test suite 2,025 passed / 0 failed / 17 ignored. Core set 22/22 on 3 runs; burst 4/8/16/32 all 22/22 with byte-identical exports; 20,000-layer file saves in 0.143 s and reopens in 0.416 s. The Linux release binary did not start (needs glibc 2.43). Not tested: hands-on design work, real-world .fig files, live collaboration between machines, desigma-server, macOS and Windows builds, GPU rendering, weeks of real use.

Security check

Tested 2026-11-04 · Status: Open findings

cargo audit on the alpha.17 Cargo.lock (792 crates)
gitleaks on the alpha.17 source tree and full git history
Network behaviour of the core flow and the editor (connection logger on our box)
Agent bridge: binding, token checks, browser-origin check, bridge file permissions
MCP workspace sandbox: ../, absolute and symlinked paths
Updater and release integrity (docs and source read; SHA256SUMS matched our download)
Figma: public pricing and security pages only; no systems probed or logged into

cargo audit (792 crates): 3 vulnerabilities. High: ruzstd 0.9.0 RUSTSEC-2026-0344 (CVSS 7.5), a tiny zstd stream can exhaust memory; reachable by opening an untrusted .fig file; fixed in ruzstd 0.9.1 (not exploit-tested by us). Unscored: rustls-webpki 0.103.15 RUSTSEC-2026-0382 and webpki-roots 1.0.9 RUSTSEC-2026-0381 (distrusted certificate intermediates), used for HTTPS and collaboration networking.
10 warnings: 7 unmaintained crates (atomic-polyfill, paste, rustybuzz, ttf-parser, zbus_names, zvariant, zvariant_derive), tokio 1.53.2 unsound (RUSTSEC-2026-0386), async-executor and clipboard-win yanked.
gitleaks: 0 leaks in source and history.
Core flow: 0 network connections. Source-built editor: only local unix-socket connections in our ~25 s run. Release builds check api.github.com for updates (docs; opt out with DESIGMA_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1).
Agent bridge on 127.0.0.1 with a per-launch token; 4/4 bad requests refused (404/404/403/403); bridge.json mode 0600.
MCP server refuses paths outside its workspace (3/3) and refuses a corrupt file without crashing.
Release builds are not code-signed; updates are checked against SHA256SUMS from the same GitHub release, with no separate signature.
Live collaboration falls back to n0's public relays, which see IP addresses and traffic volume (content is end-to-end encrypted) and are meant for 'development and hobby use only'; there is no setting for your own relay, only a LAN-only direct mode.
No certifications or audits (open-source project).

Own business

Total / mo: $0.00
Hosting / mo: $0.00

Files stay on your disk; no sign-up. No audits or certifications: you rely on the open code. Don't open .fig files from people you don't trust until the ruzstd fix ships. Figma lists SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and FedRAMP.

Free (MIT/Apache-2.0). You can keep the build you have.

Math: $0/mo vs Figma Professional $20/mo = $240/yr ($192/yr vs annual billing). Not counted: your setup time and the cloud, comments and AI features you give up. vs Figma Starter: $0 cash saving.

Sell @ 10 customers

Hosting / mo: $0.00

Each person runs their own copy; live sessions are peer to peer and need the host's file open (or a desigma-server you run). No admin console or shared cloud workspace.

$0 fees. Your IT time is the cost.

10 Figma Professional Full seats = 10 × $20 = $200/mo ($160/mo annual). Setup per Linux machine: build from source, 3 min 8 s on our box.

Sell @ 100 customers

Hosting / mo: $0.00

At 100 users, security teams ask for SSO, audit logs and SOC reports. Figma offers them on Organization/Enterprise; desigma has none.

Essentially one builder shipping an alpha every day or two. Pin a version.

100 × $20 = $2,000/mo on Figma Professional monthly ($1,600/mo annual); Organization is $55 a Full seat a month, billed annually. Collaboration is designed for 2–10 people per file. Not a fit for a 100-person design org today.

Reproducible setup

Download desigma-0.1.0-alpha.17 Linux tarball; sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS (match); ./desigma fails: GLIBC_2.43 not found
git clone --branch v0.1.0-alpha.17 https://github.com/deepfounder-ai/desigma (2.2 s)
cargo build --locked --release -p desigma-app -p desigma-mcp (185.6 s)
xvfb-run cargo test --workspace --locked (2,025 passed, 0 failed, 17 ignored; 422 s)
Core set: python3 core.py desigma-mcp <workdir> out.json (22 checks over MCP stdio)
Burst: burst.sh 4|8|16|32 (parallel core flows), compared PNG hashes
Scale: scale.py 5000 and 20000 layers (create, save, export, reopen, search)
Editor: desigma --screenshot (showcase, deck, variables, prototype, home); desigma --bridge + desigma-mcp edit/undo/export
cargo audit; gitleaks dir + git; LD_PRELOAD connection logger; curl against the agent bridge

Repo: https://github.com/deepfounder-ai/desigma

License: MIT OR Apache-2.0

Sources

Disclosure

Verification: Partially Verified. Bot2Bot Labs. Nobody paid for this test. Test cost $0: local run on our own box with free tools, no paid services, no accounts.

No relationship with Kir, deepfounder-ai, Figma, n0 or DigitalOcean. We did not sign in to Figma or probe its systems. desigma is not affiliated with Figma, Inc.

Run-side numbers (setup, test suite, core set, burst, large files, audits, network behaviour, agent bridge) are measured by us on 2026-11-04 on our own build. Feature presence is from desigma's README and docs at the pinned tag unless marked tested. Build dollars and hours are not disclosed. Figma prices and certifications are read from its public pages on 2026-11-04. A feature check shows a feature exists; it does not judge quality against Figma.

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Machine-readable summary and citation line for crawlers, assistants, and footnotes. Content is always in the page HTML.

Key facts, quotable summary, and how to cite

Key facts

On price date 2026-11-04, estimated monthly run cost is $0.00 (measured (local run on our box) + cited list prices) versus $20.00/mo (Figma Professional, 1 Full seat, monthly billing) for the subscription it replaces. (2026-11-04) Source: Figma
Cash break-even is immediate: $0 vs $20/mo = $240/yr per designer ($192/yr against annual billing). Against Figma Starter the cash saving is $0; what you gain is no file limits and files on your own disk. The catch: early alpha by its own builder, no cloud files, comments, AI features or certifications, and 1 high-severity dependency bug in .fig import. (2026-11-04)
Who builds it: Kir, under the GitHub org deepfounder-ai (Product Hunt launch post). Dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0. 7 contributors; deepfounder-ai has 325 of the commits.. (2026-11-04) Source: Who builds it
How it was built (git history): 387 commits from 2026-10-10 (5:26 PM PT) to the v0.1.0-alpha.17 tag (2026-11-02), about 23 days; ~160,000 lines of Rust in crates/. 290 of the 387 commits (74.9%) carry an AI co-author trailer: Claude Sonnet 5.5 175, Claude Opus 5.5 90, Cursor 13, Claude Fable 5.1 12. Unmarked commits may also be agent-written.. (2026-11-04) Source: How it was built (git history)
Build cost on price date 2026-11-04: Not disclosed human hours, Not disclosed estimated token dollars, billed not disclosed. (2026-11-04) Source: desigma repo

Summary

On price date 2026-11-04, Bot2Bot Labs receipt r-0009 reports task "desigma is a free, open-source Figma alternative written in Rust by Kir (deepfounder-ai), dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0. We tried the v0.1.0-alpha.17 Linux release, then built it from source with the README steps on our Linux box (no account), ran the builder's own test suite, a fixed 22-check core test set through its MCP server 3 times, a 4/8/16/32-way parallel burst, 5,000 and 20,000-layer file tests, offscreen screenshots of the editor and a live editor-plus-agent session; cargo audit and gitleaks on the source; a network-behaviour log; an agent-bridge auth check; and a 26-item feature checklist from Figma's public pricing page. We did not sign in to, test or probe Figma." with Not disclosed human hours, estimated token USD not disclosed, billed n/a.

How to cite

Bot2Bot Labs (2026-11-04). desigma, the open-source Figma alternative in Rust: what it costs to run. AI Receipt r-0009. Price date 2026-11-04. https://bot2botlabs.com/receipts/r-0009

Last updated: 2026-11-04 · https://bot2botlabs.com

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