---
title: How Is Heurio Different From Commenting in Figma?
description: "Figma comments live on a design file. Heurio comments live on the real, rendered website — with severity, heuristic references, assignees, and a Kanban workflow built for QA, not design critique."
canonical: "https://www.heurio.co/docs/how-to-use-heurio/heurio-vs-figma-comments"
section: How to use Heurio
updated: 2026-07-27
---
# How Is Heurio Different From Commenting in Figma?

> **Short answer:** Figma shows you the design. Heurio shows you what actually shipped — and structures every finding with severity, a heuristic reference, an assignee, and a due date, so it flows into a real fix-and-track workflow instead of staying a design-file comment.

Figma comments are pinned to a design file. Heurio comments (heurios) are pinned to the actual, live, rendered website — including real content, real load behavior, and real responsive breakpoints that a static mockup can't show you.

## The core difference

- **Where the comment lives.** A Figma comment is attached to a frame in a design file. A heurio is attached to a specific element on the live, deployed site — the one your users actually see.
- **What you're reviewing.** Figma shows intended design. Heurio shows implementation: real copy, real images, real responsive behavior, broken states, loading states, and anything that drifted from the design during development.
- **What a comment carries.** A Figma comment is just text. A heurio carries a note, a suggestion, a [severity level](/docs/comment-heurio-details/severities), an optional [heuristic or guideline reference](/docs/comment-heurio-details/guidelines-heuristics), an [assignee](/docs/comment-heurio-details/assignee), and a [due date](/docs/comment-heurio-details/due-date).
- **How work gets tracked.** Figma comments don't have a workflow. Heurio's [Kanban View](/docs/project-management/kanban-view) and [Severity View](/docs/project-management/severity-view) let a whole team triage, assign, and move findings from open to resolved.

## When you'd use each one

- **Use Figma comments** while a design is still being decided — before anything is built.
- **Use Heurio** once something is live (staging or production) and you want to catch usability issues, visual regressions, copy errors, or accessibility problems on the actual build — not the mockup.

## Comparing design to the live site

A common workflow we see today: reviewers paste a Figma link into a Heurio project as a reference, then pin heurios on the live site noting where it diverges from that design (layout shifts, wrong copy, missing states). We're actively building a more direct way to compare a Figma design against the live implementation — see [Heurio for vibe coding](/vibe-coding) for what's coming.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I link a Figma file to a Heurio project?

Yes. Many teams reference a Figma URL as the project source so reviewers can flip between the design and the live site while pinning heurios.

### Does Heurio replace Figma?

No. Figma is for designing and getting feedback pre-build. Heurio is for reviewing what actually shipped. Most teams use both — Figma earlier in the process, Heurio after deployment.

### Why not just keep using Figma comments after launch?

Figma comments can't reference the real rendered page, can't carry severity or an assignee, and don't have a resolve/track workflow. Once something is live, a Figma comment thread quickly goes stale.

### Is there a way to see design-vs-live differences automatically?

Not yet as a built-in comparison — today it's manual, using a linked Figma reference. Automated design-vs-live comparison is on the roadmap; see /vibe-coding for updates.