Payload is joining Figma!

[jmikrut]

Hi all, I've got some big news to share today: Payload has joined Figma!

It’s as wild and exciting to write that as it is for you reading it.

When we first started talking with Figma, it was about investing in Payload and what we’re doing in open source. They saw what we were building was unique, and it lines up well with how they see the world.

You probably know the entire Payload team has been using Figma deeply for a long time, and it was pretty exciting for all of us to see that they share the same vision we do.

Speaking of which, in the past I’ve talked a lot about a “utopia” — about simplicity and developer experience. My team and I refuse to compromise on design intent, flexibility, and how that translates into well-structured code.

Figma and Payload together can and will solve a problem that’s been bugging me (and probably all of you) for years. The gap between design and code still exists. Designers create in Figma, then devs recreate in code, then content teams struggle to maintain it all. It’s inefficient and frustrating. And historically, the CMS tends to make it worse.

With Figma, we can (and will) solve these problems in new ways without compromising. If either Figma or Payload didn’t see this potential screaming at us from a mile away, neither would have moved forward.

In the immediate future, nothing is changing for users and how you interface with Payload remains the same.

What that means is:

• Payload remains open source—with Figma’s full commitment to OSS
• Our commitment to building Payload and creating the best developer experience possible
• The self-hosted capability of Payload
• Our focus on our community (aka: all of you)
• The team and I will still be running Payload (including Sean)

What does change:

• We now have more resources
• We can tackle bigger problems
• We will integrate with design systems in ways no other CMS can
• A lot more people will be using, testing, and building on Payload

I'm sure you have questions, and we'll do our best to answer and keep up with them. In the meantime, I'm pumped about the future and I can't wait for what's ahead!

[ghost]

why figma acquired payload?

[jmikrut]

I did a little video with Wes from Syntax.fm on that exact topic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wvoauy80gc

[rodrigobarona]

Makes total sense! It's a win-win for both companies, and the best part is a massive win for us, the users. Thank you for making such a fantastic product @jmikrut

[ghost]

Thanks @jmikrut Found it. Video time for this question here https://youtu.be/6wvoauy80gc?t=200

since the vision is now to bridge design to code with payload, would it or it had already have new roadmap ?

[rogerkinsta]

Congratulations to the team. Is the Payload Partnership team still the best one to talk with?

[cns-mohit-sharma]

What does it mean from a pricing model perspective, and will the OSS community continue to retain users after 2-3 years, or will they move to SaaS?

[jmikrut]

Payload will remain OSS. I know me just saying that doesn't mean anything but I can tell you that honestly, through this entire process, Figma has been very clear and overly-communicative with us that they love what we are doing in OSS, that they value it, and want to continue to support it. Wearing my heart on my sleeve here, I believe it.

This community is the lifeblood of this product. We will build new things, such as integrations with Figma, where you'll need Figma access of course. I view Figma integrations as a logical boundary between what goes in OSS and what requires a paid seat in Figma. But Payload as a core product will remain OSS.

PS - the majority of the new Folder View feature was built after we were officially part of Figma's team. We shipped that fully as OSS. We're now working on copy / pasting rows from array field to array field, soft delete, scheduled jobs, and much more that will all be making its way to the OSS core. We will continue with our OSS roadmap, just like Folder View, which will be used as the core framework of what we build in conjunction with Figma.

[purenofuss]

I really hope that's the case! Do you believe it’s guaranteed, or is it explicitly stated in the agreement? Either way, we can always maintain our own “freeload” version 😄

[Joe-Simo]

Payload will remain OSS. I know me just saying that doesn't mean anything but I can tell you that honestly, through this entire process, Figma has been very clear and overly-communicative with us that they love what we are doing in OSS, that they value it, and want to continue to support it. Wearing my heart on my sleeve here, I believe it.

This community is the lifeblood of this product. We will build new things, such as integrations with Figma, where you'll need Figma access of course. I view Figma integrations as a logical boundary between what goes in OSS and what requires a paid seat in Figma. But Payload as a core product will remain OSS.

PS - the majority of the new Folder View feature was built after we were officially part of Figma's team. We shipped that fully as OSS. We're now working on copy / pasting rows from array field to array field, soft delete, scheduled jobs, and much more that will all be making its way to the OSS core. We will continue with our OSS roadmap, just like Folder View, which will be used as the core framework of what we build in conjunction with Figma.

I'm happy with that answer, honest and at the same time real. Thank you very much!

[djmtype]

From the Figma team post:

Payload will remain an open-source product. In the immediate future, nothing is changing for users. We will continue to actively invest in and improve the open-source project, and will communicate early and often with users of both Figma and Payload as we develop our CMS strategies and product roadmap, together.

https://www.figma.com/blog/payload-joins-figma/

[ghost]

then figma is scraping its developers. here is why i think like that.

for businesses having two engineering product is a double cost in long run.

two code base cant exist doing the same thing.

its debatable but from business view the answer is unwanted expense

[mikecebul]

Oh the possibilities.

• AI code generation platform
• Next level visual editor
• Design Payload system architecture diagrams
• 100s of design systems to use in Payload
• Marketplace for Payload blocks (free and paid)
• Figma designs using a functional backend in previews

What are you all imagining?

[cantdocpp]

+1 with visual editor. Wordpress already have it, i think it's good if payload also have it.

[revnelson]

Visual editor is already enterprise only. :'(

[mikecebul]

Visual editor is already enterprise only. :'(

Yeah, I'm seeing now the benefits will probably target their paying customers first. Which is like, of course, in hindsight.

Though, I'm pretty sure folders were an enterprise feature of Payload for awhile, and now it's becoming an open source feature. Hopefully we'll continue to get trickle down featuromics just at better scale.

[juanpablob]

Congrats to you guys! 👏 I hope this decision boosts both the team and the product :) Kudos!

[Lou-Marzorati]

+1

[AbhijitKhatua]

Excited about what is yet to come.