CROSS-CATEGORY: Design Tool Market Enters Three-Way AI War — Google Free, Canva Free+AI Premium, Adobe Consumption Credits, While Figma Hemorrhages 81% of Value

CNBC / Canva / Oppenheimer·high signal

Three simultaneous moves are reshaping the design tool market: (1) Google Stitch is free with voice-controlled vibe design, tanking Figma 12%; (2) Canva made Affinity's entire professional suite permanently free, gating AI features behind premium (220M users); (3) Adobe commands 29% of AI design market via Firefly's credit-based consumption model with 24B+ assets generated. Meanwhile Figma's gross margins collapsed from 92% to 82% and the stock has lost 81% from peak. The pattern: design tools are becoming free at the base layer, with monetization shifting entirely to AI capabilities. Same playbook as what happened in CRM and support.