Figma Simple Design System vs GOV.UK Design System
Figma Simple Design System
github.com
GOV.UK Design System
design-system.service.gov.ukSide by side
| Figure | Figma Simple Design System | GOV.UK Design System |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · UI Kit Libraries | 7.1 (#23) | 7.9 (#9) |
| Components | The codebase includes compositions, hooks, icons, layout components, primitives, providers, and utilities. | It provides reusable interface components with usage guidance and coded examples. |
| License | The repository is marked as MIT licensed. | The system's code is public and freely available under the MIT license. |
| Maker | Figma's company background document states that Figma was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco. | The GOV.UK Design System at the Government Digital Service maintains the system. |
| Purpose | Simple Design System is a base design system showing how Figma Variables, Styles, Components, and Code Connect can work alongside a React codebase. | The system helps teams make government services consistent with GOV.UK and learn from research and experience across service teams. |
Plans
In their own words
Figma Simple Design System
Figma Simple Design System has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
GOV.UK Design System
The GOV.UK Design System helps government teams build services with shared styles, reusable components and patterns for user-focused tasks. Its guidance covers page structure, typography, colour and images; components include coded examples, and patterns address particular tasks and page types. Published guidance includes details about user-research testing. Teams can add GOV.UK Frontend through npm or include compiled files. In production projects, components can be used as HTML or as Nunjucks macros when Frontend is installed with npm and the application uses Node.js. Prototyping requires GOV.UK Prototype Kit version 7 or later. The code is public under the MIT License, and the listed plan is free. The system aims for WCAG level AA compliance, but its use alone does not make a service accessible; component accessibility checks combine tools, automated deployment tests and manual testing. The Government Digital Service maintains the system, with a focus on central UK government digital services. Support may be limited for other contexts. Compiled files include all Frontend CSS and JavaScript, without selective component assets or a customizable build.