# Framelink MCP for Figma vs Sketch (slim)

> Framelink MCP for Figma scores 66.1 (B) to Sketch's 51 (D) for design files. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/framelink-figma-mcp-vs-sketch.md (~4,950 tokens) · this version ~3,080 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/framelink-figma-mcp-vs-sketch.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/framelink-figma-mcp-vs-sketch
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
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Framelink MCP for Figma scores 66.1 (B) on agent readiness against Sketch's 51 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Sketch leads on transparency & trust. Both do design files.

- Framelink MCP for Figma: B 66.1, rank #386 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/framelink-figma-mcp.min.md
- Sketch: D 51, rank #1039 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sketch.min.md
- Framelink MCP for Figma, good for Reading a Figma frame into a coding agent to build matching UI. Ahead on Reliability, 68 against 53; Schema & documentation, 87 against 64; Agent ergonomics, 83 against 70; Security & auth, 55 against 34; Payments & pricing, 60 against 30; Maintenance & community, 41 against 35. Also Open source.
- Sketch, good for A designer or developer at a Mac who wants an agent to inspect, audit, export or edit an open Sketch document, or turn a frame into code. Ahead on Transparency & trust, 67 against 47. Also No key needed to call it; Free to start without a card.

| Category | Framelink MCP for Figma | Sketch |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 68 | 53 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 87 | 64 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 83 | 70 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 55 | 34 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 41 | 35 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 47 | 67 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Framelink MCP for Figma | Sketch |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Framelink (Graham Lipsman) | Sketch B.V. |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | Token | None |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary Mac app under Sketch's End User Licence Agreement and Terms of Service. The connector in sketch-hq/agents is MIT and the skills are Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | 2 | 8 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.GLips/Figma-Context-MCP` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-06-18 | 2026-09-14 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 16k stars, 162k npm/wk | 97 stars |

Why the edge:
- Payments & pricing, Framelink MCP for Figma +30: Framelink MCP for Figma 60 (By the self-hosted rule. A free MIT package with nothing to buy (20 + 20 + 20), and no payment protocol (0). Figma API use falls under the user's own Figma plan. 60.); Sketch 30 (Read with the hosted lines, because Sketch is paid software and not a free package. No machine payment protocol (0). Plan prices are public, $12, $24 and $44 an editor a month billed yearly and $120 a seat for the Mac-only licence, with no per-call price (10 of 20). A 30-day trial needs no card (20). A person downloads the app, signs in and starts the server, so there is no autonomous route (0).)
- Schema & documentation, Framelink MCP for Figma +23: Framelink MCP for Figma 87 (Both tools have typed zod input schemas in src/mcp/tools, with regex checks on fileKey, nodeId and fileName (25). docs.framelink.ai serves llms.txt and a Markdown copy of each page (10). The tool reference explains what each tool returns and how the two chain through `imageDownloadArguments`, and the `depth` parameter says not to use it unless the user asks. The `get_figma_data` description itself is one line and says nothing about when not to call it (14 of 20). Required fields and patterns are typed, and `fileName` must end in .png, .svg or .gif, with no enum for output format at call time (13 of 15). Config and request examples in the docs, a documented `Error fetching file:` prefix and purpose-built 403 and 429 messages, but no list of error cases (10 of 15). Semver releases and a public changelog (15). 25 + 10 + 14 + 13 + 10 + 15 = 87.); Sketch 64 (All eight tools have typed JSON Schema inputs in the fallback definitions of Sketch's connector source. The definitions the running app serves were not read, because we do not run vendor software (22 of 25). llms.txt, llms-full.txt and Markdown twins of the docs and legal pages (10). Descriptions are one line each and tell the model to load `get_guide` first, with eight guide topics served by the tool. None says when not to use a tool (11 of 20). Allowed values for `kind` and the bounds on `depth` are written in the description text with no enum or limit in the schema, and `run_code` takes one script string (6 of 15). Example prompts in the docs and worked references in the two skills. No documented error responses (5 of 15). Dated changelog with MCP sections and a connector at 3.0.0, without versioned tool definitions (10 of 15).)
- Security & auth, Framelink MCP for Figma +21: Framelink MCP for Figma 55 (The credential is the user's own Figma token. Figma personal access tokens are scoped and revocable, and the docs say `file_content:read` is the one scope the server needs. OAuth tokens are accepted but not refreshed, and the token is passed in the client config's args or env, not a URL (25 of 30). The server only reads Figma. Its one write is image files, confined to `--image-dir`, and `--skip-image-downloads` removes that tool; the local HTTP mode has no authentication of its own and binds 127.0.0.1 by default (16 of 20). Layer names and text written by collaborators reach the model as they are, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (3 of 15). Logs go to the local console only, with no per-call audit record (3 of 15). SECURITY.md asks for private reports through GitHub security advisories with a 48-hour acknowledgement. No security.txt, bug bounty or certification (8 of 20). 25 + 16 + 3 + 3 + 8 = 55.); Sketch 34 (The server has no credential. The docs describe it as local-only, off by default and started by the user, and macOS asks for Local Network access. No token or per-client permission was found, so any local process that reaches port 31126 could call `run_code` (10 of 30). No read-only mode. The on and off switch is the only control in the app, and the terms say approval depends on the connected AI tool (6 of 20). Tools return document text, layer names and library content, which can come from other people. The terms warn about what a connected tool may send to an AI provider, and no injection guidance was found (3 of 15). `run_code` requires a `title` stating its purpose. No call log is documented (2 of 15). ISO 27001 certificate, a Responsible Disclosure Policy of 29 September 2026 with a reply promised in five business days, and a yearly external penetration test per the security page. No bug bounty and no security.txt (13 of 20).)
- Transparency & trust, Sketch +20: Framelink MCP for Figma 47 (MIT licence in the repository and on npm (30). No privacy policy or terms on framelink.ai or the docs. Design data goes from Figma to the local model client, and the docs describe what telemetry sends, but there is no data statement to agree with (8 of 30). No deprecation policy. Breaking defaults are called out in the changelog (5 of 20). Telemetry to PostHog (us.i.posthog.com) has been on by default since 0.10.0 on 10 April 2026. The configuration page discloses it with three ways to opt out, while the README doesn't mention it, and an open issue of 16 April 2026 reports that `error_message` can include file keys and node IDs, which the source's redaction (credentials only) doesn't cover (14 of 20). 30 + 8 + 5 + 14 = 57.); Sketch 67 (Closed application under a published End User Licence Agreement of 6 March 2025 and Terms of Service of 6 October 2026. The connector is MIT and the skills are Apache-2.0 (17 of 30). The Terms of Service and the Privacy Statement, both dated 6 October 2026, describe the MCP server in matching words, and the statement gives retention rules and points to a DPA (24 of 30). The terms let Sketch drop backend support for Mac app versions older than a year, and the developer docs list API deprecations per release. No policy or notice period covers the MCP tools (8 of 20). The Privacy Statement lists what the Mac app collects automatically (IP address, device details, Mac unique ID, licence identifier), and a sub-processor list of 10 July 2026 gives locations. No opt-out for that collection was found (10 of 20).)
- Reliability, Framelink MCP for Figma +15: Framelink MCP for Figma 68 (Read with the local-software lines, because the server runs on the user's machine and calls the Figma REST API. Installs from the official npm package figma-developer-mcp, with Node 20.20 or later stated in package.json (20). A CI workflow runs prettier, eslint, a type check and the vitest suite, but only on pull requests, and the five newest runs (outside pull requests from 22 August to 2 October) all failed, so passing on the default branch couldn't be confirmed (15). Eight open issues, the oldest open one a 429 rate-limit thread from November 2025 with 30 comments, and nothing open that reports a crash in the current release (18). Release-please changelog with semver tags and breaking defaults called out, such as the switch to `tree` output in 0.13.0 (15). Version 0.13.2, below 1.0 and not declared stable (0). 20 + 15 + 18 + 15 + 0 = 68.); Sketch 53 (Read with the local-software lines, because the server runs inside the Mac app on the owner's machine. The app downloads from sketch.com with macOS 15 or newer stated for 2026.3, and the connector states Node 22 or later (20). The app is closed source, and the sketch-hq/agents repository has no CI workflow or tests (0 of 25). No public issue tracker for the app. The agents repository shows 0 open issues, and the changelog lists fixes in every release, 143 in one (10 of 25). Versions run year, release, patch with a detailed changelog and API deprecations listed per release, but the MCP notes say only that tools were added (8 of 15). The docs, updated 2 November 2026, do not mark the server as beta, and it has shipped since 2025.2.4 on 17 October 2025 (15). The cloud status page is not scored here.)
- Agent ergonomics, Framelink MCP for Figma +13: Framelink MCP for Figma 83 (Two compact tools (25). Output is sized by `nodeId` and `depth`, and the default `tree` format drops default values and auto-generated layer names and deduplicates repeated styles and subtrees. No pagination, which a single-file read rarely needs (16 of 20). Errors are written for a model to recover from, with Figma's 403 body surfaced and guidance for wrong node IDs from prototype, branch and FigJam links, per the 0.12.0 changelog (16 of 20). `get_figma_data` carries readOnlyHint and `download_figma_images` openWorldHint, with no destructiveHint on the tool that writes files and no note on overwriting (14 of 20). Only `fileKey` is required and one npx line starts it, but there is no SDK, which a two-tool local server doesn't need (12 of 15). 25 + 16 + 16 + 14 + 12 = 83.); Sketch 70 (Eight compact tools (25). `get_layer_tree_summary` takes a root layer and a depth, and `get_design_assets` filters by kind, library and name. No pagination was found (14 of 20). The docs say script errors go back to the agent to correct, and a troubleshooting guide is served by `get_guide`. No error codes are documented (8 of 20). The connector source sets readOnlyHint and destructiveHint on every tool, seven read-only and `run_code` destructive. No idempotency or dry run, and undo is the user's in the app (14 of 20). Three tools need no parameter and the rest need a document ID. No SDK applies, and plugin bundles ship for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and GitHub Copilot (9 of 15).)