Figma makes your product look real; Cairn makes sure it works. Figma designs the visual interface. Cairn models the data, roles and flows of each screen and runs them to find what's missing before you build. They don't compete — they complement each other, and Cairn comes first.
No account · No card · Works offline · macOS
Cairn is a desktop app for macOS for discovery wireframing: on each screen you model its structure —the CRUD operations on the data, the roles (“who”) and the entities (“Data”)— you connect screens into scenarios, and run the flow like a test that catches the data that's missing. It's local-first, offline, private, and you pay once (39€).
Figma is the leading tool for visual interface design and prototyping: high fidelity, design systems, dev handoff and real-time multiplayer collaboration. It lives in the cloud and is sold on a per-seat subscription.
The bottom line: it's not “one or the other”. Use Cairn first to get the logic, the data and the roles of your product right and validate that the flow closes; use Figma after to polish how it looks. If you're looking for an alternative to Figma for discovery, offline and subscription-free, Cairn is the answer. If you're after pixel-perfect design and live teamwork, that's still Figma.
Two different things that get confused because both “draw screens”. They don't do the same job.
A desktop app for macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon) for fast low-fidelity wireframing
during discovery. Per screen you model the structure: its CRUD operations,
the roles that use it and the data entities it touches. You connect screens into
scenarios with causal dependencies and run the flow to catch missing
data. Offline, private, portable .cairn files, 6 languages, one-time payment.
“A spell-checker for your product's logic, before you build it.”
A tool for visual interface design and prototyping, cloud-based and deeply collaborative. It shines at high-fidelity design, design systems, interactive prototypes, dev handoff (Dev Mode) and real-time multiplayer editing. It has a free plan and is sold on a per-seat subscription. It runs in the browser and has a desktop app (a wrapper around the cloud product with limited offline support).
“Makes your product look real and ready to build.”
An honest comparison: it includes the rows where Figma genuinely wins. Where Cairn says “no” on purpose (visual fidelity) we mark it as a design decision, not a shortcoming.
| Cairn | Figma | |
|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Structure and validate the product (discovery) | Design the visual interface and prototype |
| Wireframe fidelity | low-fi on purpose | high, pixel-perfect |
| Data per screen (CRUD) | ✓ | — |
| Roles as actors (who does what) | ✓ | — |
| Data entities tied to the screen | ✓ | — |
| Connecting screens into scenarios | ✓ | ~ prototype flows |
| Causal dependencies between scenarios | ✓ dependsOn | — |
| Run the flow like a test | ✓ scenario test | — |
| Catches missing data before you build | ✓ | — |
| Static model checking | ✓ Checks | — |
| Conditional logic / variables in prototype | ~ via data model | ✓ (visual state) |
| Works offline · local files | ✓ fully offline | ~ very limited |
| Your data never leaves your machine | ✓ .cairn local | — (in the cloud) |
| High-fidelity design and design systems | on purpose, no | ✓ |
| Dev handoff (inspection/Dev Mode) | not its goal | ✓ |
| Real-time collaboration (multiplayer) | coming soon | ✓ |
| Platforms | macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon) | Web · macOS · Windows |
| Price / model | One-time payment 39€ + free plan | Per-seat subscription + free plan |
Use Cairn to get the what right; use Figma afterwards to polish how it looks. For Figma a wireframe is boxes and arrows; for Cairn it's a living structure of data, roles and operations that can be run — which is why it finds the hole before a dev does.
This is what no version of Figma does. Cairn understands what data each screen needs (it reads it) and what data it produces (it creates it). When you run the scenario test, it walks the flow node by node, n8n-style, and detects a break when a screen reads a piece of data that no earlier step created.
Figma has variables and conditional logic in its prototypes, but they only handle visual state: switching screens, show/hide, counting clicks. There's no data model, so Figma can't know that your “Charge” screen depends on a “Payment” that nobody generated.
In Figma you can —and should— polish every pixel: typography, spacing, components, states. It's exactly what you need for visual design and handoff. But in discovery that same fidelity works against you: you spend hours decorating screens whose structure you don't yet know works, and anyone who sees them thinks “it's already decided”.
Cairn is deliberately low-fi. You sketch a screen in seconds and spend your energy on what really decides the product's success: what data each screen holds, what operations it does and who uses it. The aesthetics come later, in Figma, on top of an already-validated foundation.
In Figma a screen is a canvas of layers. In Cairn a screen (a “node”) is a structure: you declare its CRUD operations (what it creates, reads, updates or deletes), the role that runs it —the “who”— and the data entities it touches. That way the information stops being implicit and becomes an explicit part of the design.
That enables Cairn's two views: “Fields” (where each piece of data is used across the whole product) and “Journeys” (the complete path of each role in causal order). And, above all, it enables validation: because Cairn knows who creates and who reads each piece of data, it can check that the flow closes.
Figma lives in the cloud: your files are on their servers and real-time collaboration is its superpower. Its desktop app exists, but it's a wrapper around the cloud product; offline support is very limited (you can view files already open, but you can't create or open files offline).
Cairn is local-first: it works completely offline, with no account, and your projects live in
.cairn files on your machine. Your projects never leave your computer unless
you share them. Ideal for sensitive client information and for the EU's
privacy requirements.
Figma tells you how your product will look.
Cairn tells you whether it'll work.
No tool wins at everything. Here's what each does best — no makeup.
Honest answer: don't switch, combine them. Most teams open Figma too soon and start drawing pretty screens before knowing what data each one needs. That's when the gaps show up late and the redesigns hurt.
The difference in model is as big as the one in features. Figma charges per seat, every month, forever. Cairn is bought once and it's yours.
Figma has a free plan and paid plans per seat. Full editing seats cost, as a rough guide, around 16 to 90 dollars per editor per month depending on the plan (Professional, Organization or Enterprise); Dev Mode and collaboration seats are cheaper and viewers are free. For a team of several people, that's a recurring fee that grows with each seat.
Cairn is a one-time payment of 39€ —less than an hour of a developer's time— with perpetual use and one year of updates included; after that year you keep using Cairn without limits. No seats, no subscription, offline. And you can try everything for free before deciding: a single forgotten piece of data you catch before building already pays for the license.
If your job is to decide what the product does, Cairn. If your job is to decide how it looks, Figma. Most good products need both — in that order.
You don't have to drop Figma. You just have to stop opening it too soon. Here's the flow.
Sketch each screen low-fi and declare its data (CRUD), its role and its entities. In hours you have the whole product in view.
Join the screens into scenarios and mark the causal order between flows, even across different roles.
Run the scenario test, read the breaks and plug the missing data. When the flow closes, the logic is validated.
Open Figma with the structure already solved: you design the high fidelity without fear of late redesigns, and you do the dev handoff.
No, they're complementary. Cairn is used earlier, in discovery: to understand which screens your product needs, what data and roles live on each one, and to validate that the flow closes. Figma is used later, to design the high-fidelity visual interface on top of a foundation you already know works. Cairn first, Figma after.
No. Figma has conditional logic and variables in its prototypes, but they only handle visual state: there's no data model, no per-screen CRUD operations, and no validation of missing data along a flow. Cairn runs the scenario node by node and flags a break when a screen reads a piece of data that no earlier step created, with the message “No node in the run creates ‘X’ before this”.
Yes: Cairn. It's a desktop app for macOS with a perpetual one-time-payment license (39€, with one year of updates included) plus a free plan. It works completely offline and your projects live in local .cairn files on your machine. Figma is sold by subscription and per seat, and while it has a desktop app, that's a wrapper around the cloud product with very limited offline support.
Figma is for the visual design and handoff phase, not specifically for discovery. You can sketch wireframes in Figma, but it doesn't model the data or roles of each screen, nor validate that the flow closes. Cairn is built specifically for discovery: conceptualizing the product structure and finding the data gaps before you build.
Yes, it's the recommended flow. Use Cairn at the start to define screens, data, roles and dependencies and validate the scenario; once the model closes, you open Figma to design the high-fidelity interface on top of a structure you already know works. Cairn eliminates the late redesigns that show up when you start drawing in Figma too soon.
Figma designs the high-fidelity visual interface, in the cloud, in real-time collaboration and on a per-seat subscription. Cairn does low-fi wireframes on purpose, models the data (CRUD) and roles of each screen, connects the screens into scenarios with causal dependencies, and runs the flows to catch missing data. It works offline, the files are local and it's a one-time payment of 39€.
Figma has a free plan and paid plans per seat: full editing seats cost around 16 to 90 dollars per editor per month depending on the plan (Professional, Organization or Enterprise), with Dev Mode and collaboration seats cheaper and viewers free. Cairn costs 39€ once (a perpetual license with one year of updates included), with no seats or subscription, plus a free plan.
For now Cairn only works on macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon), signed and notarized by Apple (it opens with a double-click). Windows and Linux are on the roadmap. Figma, on the other hand, runs in the browser on any operating system and has desktop apps for macOS and Windows.
Not yet. Real-time multiplayer collaboration is one of Figma's great strengths and it's on Cairn's roadmap, but it isn't available today. Cairn is local-first: you work on your machine and share the result through portable .cairn files.
Free, no account or card. Validate your product's logic today; the pretty design will come after, on top of a foundation you already know works.
Download for macOSIntel & Apple Silicon · macOS 12+ · free to start