dotts vs. Figma for Client Feedback: Two Different Jobs, One Common Confusion
dotts vs. Figma for Client Feedback: Two Different Jobs, One Common Confusion
dotts and Figma serve completely different purposes in a freelance web design workflow, and they're not direct competitors. Figma is a design tool with built-in commenting for design file review. dotts is a visual feedback tool for reviewing live websites, PDFs, and image assets with clients who are not in Figma. If your client is a small business owner reviewing a staging site in their browser, they're not in your Figma file — and they shouldn't have to be. That's the gap dotts fills. This article explains when each tool is the right choice, and why many freelancers use both.
Why This Question Comes Up
Figma has commenting. You can share a Figma prototype link, clients can open it in a browser, and they can leave comments on the design. This is a real and useful feature. So it's a fair question: if Figma already does this, why use a separate tool?
The answer has a few parts, and they each matter depending on how you work.
What Figma Comments Are Good At
Figma's commenting feature works well in specific scenarios:
Design file review with stakeholders who are comfortable with Figma. If you're working with a client who has design experience, an in-house design team, or someone comfortable navigating a Figma prototype, the built-in comments work smoothly. They can see the design in its intended context, comment on specific frames, and you can resolve comments as you go.
Internal team review. When you're working with a developer, another designer, or a project manager who has a Figma account, the collaborative features — versioning, branching, developer handoff — are the point. Comments in this context are part of a workflow built around the Figma ecosystem.
Early-stage design feedback. For wireframes, style tiles, and early design concepts that live in Figma, having feedback in the same tool that contains the design is convenient. You don't have to export anything.
Where Figma Comments Fall Short
Most Clients Don't Live in Figma
The majority of freelance web designers work with clients who are not designers. A restaurant owner, a yoga studio founder, a local law firm. These clients don't have Figma accounts and have never opened a Figma file.
When you share a Figma prototype link with a non-Figma user, you're asking them to navigate an interface they've never seen before. The comment button isn't obvious. The prototype navigation is unfamiliar. The experience doesn't feel like a website — it feels like a design tool, which it is.
The result: confused clients who leave comments in the wrong place, miss sections entirely, or give up and send you an email.
Figma Prototypes Are Not Live Websites
This is the more fundamental issue. A Figma prototype shows the design. A staging site shows the actual product — in a real browser, with real interactions, at the actual page size, with real fonts loading, real images, real CMS content.
When clients review a Figma prototype, they're seeing a simulation. When they review the live staging site, they're seeing (and feeling) what their actual visitors will experience. Feedback given on the prototype may not reflect how something actually feels on the live site.
For late-stage review — when the site is built and you're collecting final revisions — the staging site is always the right review environment.
Figma Comments Aren't Designed for Non-Technical Client Communication
dotts is built specifically for the experience of a non-technical client giving visual feedback. The interface is as simple as possible: open the link, click on what you mean, type. Browser and device data is captured automatically. No navigation to learn, no prototype mode to understand, no Figma account needed.
Figma is a powerful professional tool with a complex interface that serves dozens of use cases. Its commenting feature is a secondary function, not the primary reason the tool exists.
How Most Freelancers Use Both Tools
For workflows where both tools appear, the split is usually clean:
Figma: Early-stage design review with internal stakeholders or design-literate clients. Developer handoff. Style guide and component documentation.
dotts: Client feedback on staging sites, PDFs, wireframe exports, and image assets. All communication with non-Figma clients. Pre-launch QA.
This isn't tool redundancy — it's two tools covering two distinct stages of the project lifecycle.
dotts vs. Figma: Direct Comparison
dotts · Figma Comments
Works on live websites · ✅ · ❌
Works on PDFs · ✅ · ❌
Client account required · No · No (prototype link)
Designed for non-technical clients · ✅ · Partially
Auto captures device/browser data · ✅ · ❌
Built for design file review · ❌ · ✅
Developer handoff · ❌ · ✅
Pricing · $49.90 lifetime · $15/month
Best for · Live site feedback · Design file review
When to Use dotts vs. Figma in a Real Project
Here's how the tools fit into a typical freelance project lifecycle:
Discovery and wireframing → Figma (internal reference, not client-facing)
Style direction / moodboard → dotts (share as image or PDF, client clicks and comments)
Initial design concepts → Figma prototype if the client is design-literate; dotts if they're not
First staging build → dotts (this is a live site in a real browser — Figma doesn't cover it)
Revision rounds → dotts (all feedback anchored to live site elements)
Developer handoff → Figma (inspect mode, component specs)
Pre-launch QA → dotts (final pass on live staging)
For most freelancers with most clients, Figma covers the design phase and dotts covers everything client-facing after the build starts.
The Real-World Case for dotts Alongside Figma
Marco designs websites for small businesses using a Figma → Webflow workflow. He uses Figma extensively for design and handoff. He used to share Figma prototype links with clients for design review.
The problem: his clients — a bakery owner, a landscaping company, a boutique hotel — found Figma confusing. They'd zoom into the wrong frame, leave comments on the wrong page, and miss entire sections of the design. He'd receive incomplete feedback and end up on a call explaining what they were looking at.
He switched to exporting design sections as PDFs and sharing them via dotts for early client review, then using dotts for all staging site feedback. His clients found it immediately intuitive — open the link, click, comment. Nothing to learn.
He still uses Figma for everything Figma is great at. He just doesn't ask non-Figma clients to live in it.
Bottom Line
dotts and Figma solve different problems for different audiences. Figma's commenting is excellent for design file review with design-literate stakeholders. dotts is built for client feedback on live websites, PDFs, and image assets — with non-technical clients who shouldn't need to understand Figma to give you good feedback. For most freelance workflows, they complement each other rather than compete.
FAQ
Can I use Figma for client website feedback instead of dotts?
Figma works for design file feedback if your client is comfortable in the Figma interface. For live website feedback (staging sites), Figma doesn't apply — the site lives in a browser, not in a Figma file. dotts is built for this use case: clients click directly on live site elements to leave comments.
Does dotts work alongside Figma or replace it?
Alongside. Figma covers design file creation, internal review, and developer handoff. dotts covers client feedback on live sites, PDFs, and images — particularly with clients who aren't designers and shouldn't need to navigate Figma.
My clients can't figure out Figma prototype comments. What should I use instead?
dotts. The client experience is: open a link, click on what you mean, type. No Figma interface to navigate, no prototype mode to understand, no account required. It's built specifically for non-technical clients reviewing work.
Does Figma capture browser and device data from client comments?
No. Figma comments don't capture what browser or screen size the client was using. dotts automatically attaches this data to every comment — useful for reproducing layout issues without a back-and-forth about the client's setup.
Is dotts cheaper than Figma?
dotts is currently available as a one-time lifetime Early Bird deal for $49.90. Figma is $15/month. Over 12 months, Figma costs $180 — and it's a design tool, not a feedback tool. If you're evaluating dotts specifically as a feedback solution, it's significantly more cost-effective.
Can clients leave comments on live websites without creating a Figma account?
With dotts, yes. You share a link, the client opens the live site in review mode, and clicks to comment. No account needed. Figma prototype links also don't require an account for viewing and commenting, but the interface is more complex and not designed for non-technical users.
What does dotts do that Figma doesn't?
dotts works on live websites (staging sites in a real browser), PDFs, and image assets. It captures device and browser data automatically with every comment. It's designed for a non-technical client audience. Figma comments are designed for design file review — they don't cover live sites or the client communication workflow that follows the build phase.
Use the right tool for each job. [Try dotts free →](https://dotts.se)
Further reading
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