As a full-time product designer who recently switched from Figma, I've been using Pixso for several months. My overall verdict is very positive: it's a powerful, capable tool that seems to be evolving rapidly. Although it's not yet as refined as the market leader, its progress suggests it could become the top choice very soon.

The Positives – Why I Switched and Stayed:

Excellent Value & Performance: The Tier 1 is genuinely generous and offers fantastic value for money, especially for small teams. Performance feels snappy, and the core design experience is fluid and intuitive.

Aggressive, Relevant Feature Development: This is Pixso's biggest strength. The development team is clearly listening to the community and shipping major updates at a rapid pace. The recent addition of variables and improved Figma file compatibility are game-changers, directly addressing the needs of professional users and making migration a realistic option.

Smooth Transition from Figma: For anyone worried about switching, the interface and shortcuts are familiar, significantly reducing the learning curve. Importing my old Figma files worked surprisingly well, which was a huge relief.

Areas for Improvement – Room to Grow:

Polish and Stability: As you rightly highlight, the breakneck pace of new features can sometimes come at the cost of thorough testing. I've encountered similar bugs, such as font variables occasionally breaking and needing reattachment, and certain limitations with gradient directions in colour styles. These aren't deal-breakers, but they interrupt the workflow.

Maturity of Ecosystem: While the core tool is strong, the surrounding ecosystem of plugins, community files, and third-party integrations isn't as rich as Figma's yet. This is expected for a newer platform, but is worth noting for teams that rely on a vast plugin library.

Pixso is an excellent choice for individual designers, startups, and cost-conscious teams in the UK who want a powerful, modern design tool without the high subscription cost. Its commitment to rapid improvement is evident.

My advice to the Pixso team would be to balance this fantastic feature velocity with a dedicated "polish and stability" sprint. If they can smooth out these rough edges while maintaining their current development pace, they have a very real chance of not just competing with but potentially surpassing the incumbents within the next year or two.