Figma Just Changed How Websites Get Built. We Backed the Technology Years Ago.

How Figma Make and Payload could reshape website development, agency pricing and the future of digital marketing.

On 15 October 2026, Figma put Payload, an open source CMS, inside Figma Make. Design or prompt a website in Make, and it now comes with a working database, file storage, user logins and a content admin.

That sounds like a feature update. It is bigger than that. Design, development and content management have been separate jobs, separate tools and separate invoices for twenty years. They are starting to merge into one.

We started building on Payload two to three years ago, long before Figma bought it. Our own site runs on it, and so do client builds like. Fitzpatricks, as will Ainslie Bullion to name a few. So this isn't a hot take from the sidelines. Here is what we think it means for businesses, marketing teams and agencies, and what we're still testing.

What Figma Make and Payload actually change

Until now, a Figma Make prototype stopped at the page. To become a real website, it had to be rebuilt by developers and connected to a CMS. Payload closes that gap.

Two caveats. These are Figma's stated capabilities, and they are rolling out over the coming weeks, so most teams can't use them yet. We haven't verified them in production. And a faster first build is not the same as a finished, production-grade website. More on that below.

If you want the background on the architecture, see our page on headless websites.

Why this could disrupt website development globally

The traditional website process looks like this: strategy, wireframes, design, front-end build, CMS build, content entry, QA, launch. Each handover costs time and money.

Make + Payload compresses the middle of that process. Here is what we expect to follow:

• Fewer manual front-end hours. Turning a design into code, the bulk of many builds, gets much faster.
• New competition. Small agencies, freelancers and in-house marketing teams can ship sites that previously needed a full agency team.
• Pricing pressure. Anyone selling websites by the development hour will feel it first.
• Faster everything. Landing pages, microsites and campaign sites move from weeks to days.

None of this means fully automated production websites are a solved problem. They aren't. But the direction is clear, and businesses should plan for it.

What happens to traditional digital agencies?

Some agency work is going to lose commercial value. Pretending otherwise would be dishonest.

If an agency's main value is turning designs into pages, tools like Make will squeeze it hard. Clients will reasonably ask why a build costs what it does when a tool can produce a first draft in an afternoon.

AI won't just speed up page building. It will automate a growing share of integration, SEO and QA work too. The displaced hours won't simply reappear somewhere else.

The real consequence is for pricing. The traditional agency model has often tied project fees to production effort. When technology compresses that effort, agencies face a choice: defend the old pricing model, or rethink what clients are paying for.

We think the opportunity is to deliver more commercial value, faster, not simply to produce the same website for less. Agencies that sell outcomes, such as leads, revenue and connected systems, will do well. Agencies that sell hours will struggle.

Why we backed Payload years ago

We didn't predict the acquisition. We chose Payload for reasons that matter even more now.

1. It's open source (MIT licence). No vendor can reprice the software or lock you in. Combined with the right contract, clients can own the code, content and data outright.
2. It's built for Next.js. Payload runs inside the website's own codebase rather than beside it. That means fewer moving parts, and a strong foundation for fast sites when built well.
3. It's built for integration. Because it's code-first, we can connect it properly to CRMs, commerce platforms, pricing feeds and analytics.
4. Your data stays in your database. Postgres or MongoDB, hosted where you choose. That matters for privacy, for regulated industries and for joining website data to CRM data.

Payload's maintainers have confirmed it stays MIT-licensed and self-hostable after the Figma deal. Figma's backing makes the ecosystem stronger; it doesn't make your site less yours.

We first wrote about this when Figma acquired Payload. Today it's a core part of our Payload CMS agency work.

What we've already built using Payload

Fitzpatricks, Ainslie Bullion: modern content on top of live commerce in production now.

Ainslie sells precious metals, with prices that move constantly. They needed a fast, editable website that never interferes with live pricing or checkout.

The lesson: Payload is an excellent content platform, not a replacement for every business system. Used that way, it modernised the website without rebuilding what already worked.

bfj.digital: our own site plus others

We run our own website on Payload, so every pattern we recommend has been tested on us first.

Average position in Search Console is impression-weighted, so it shifts with the mix of searches you appear for. And Payload alone didn't cause this. The result comes from the combination: a fast Payload and Next.js build, technical SEO, better content and ongoing optimisation. The platform makes that work easier to do well.

We also now rank on page one for Payload development searches across Australia, including first for "payload website development brisbane".

The commercial opportunity for businesses

For businesses, faster builds create real options:

• Get to market sooner. Campaign and product pages launch in days, not weeks.
• Spend the effort where it counts. Less time on front-end production means more on strategy, CRM integration, tracking and performance: the parts that drive revenue.
• Test more. Cheaper pages mean more landing page tests and more learning.
• Own the asset. On an open source platform, the website is a business asset you control, not a subscription you rent.

The businesses that benefit most will treat the website as the start of a system, connected to their CRM, measured properly and improved every month, not as a one-off build.

What AI still doesn't solve

A website that looks finished isn't necessarily working. Make speeds up the build. It doesn't do this:

• Integration: forms that actually reach your CRM, and data that flows to sales. See our HubSpot CRM integration work.
• Measurement: tracking, attribution and reporting set up before launch, not after.
• Search: technical SEO, site migrations, redirects and visibility in AI search.
• Quality: accessibility, performance and security hardening.
• Judgement: which pages to build, for whom, and why.

That is where most websites succeed or fail, and where most of a project's commercial value sits.

Payload vs traditional CMS platforms

There is no single best CMS. Here is how we think about it:

We still build and host WordPress websites, and for many businesses it remains the right choice. We recommend Payload when a site is core to how a business sells, needs deep integration, or should be fully owned.

What we're testing next

We haven't finished our own Figma Make trial, and we won't claim time savings until we have. We are testing Make + Payload against our existing AI-assisted workflow on a real page, and assessing:

• End-to-end delivery hours
• Code quality and maintainability
• Payload content structure
• Export to GitHub and freedom to host anywhere
• Responsive design and accessibility
• Technical SEO and performance
• Security
• CRM and analytics integration

We will publish the results, including where it falls short.

FAQ

What is Figma Make with Payload? Figma Make now generates a working back end alongside the design: a database, file storage, user logins and a Payload content admin, so prototypes can become editable websites.

Is Payload CMS still open source after the Figma acquisition? Yes. Payload's maintainers have confirmed it remains MIT-licensed and self-hostable.

Do I still need an agency if I use Figma Make? For a simple page, perhaps not. For a website that connects to your CRM, tracks revenue, ranks in search and stays secure, yes. That is where most of the work and value sits.

Should I move my WordPress site to Payload? Not automatically. If your site works and mainly needs content updates, WordPress may still be right. Payload makes sense when integration, performance or ownership are holding you back.

The bottom line

The tools used to build websites are changing rapidly. The commercial purpose of a website isn't. Businesses still need to attract customers, generate revenue and connect their digital systems.

Figma and Payload could dramatically reduce the effort required to build the technology. The opportunity is to invest more of that effort in making the technology perform.

That's where we see the future of website development.

Considering a new website or reviewing your CMS? We'll help you work out the right technology and architecture, then connect it to the systems that drive revenue: your CRM, tracking and reporting.

Talk to our Payload CMS team · See how we connect websites to HubSpot

Sources: Figma announcement, 15 October 2026 (Techzine coverage); bfj.digital Google Search Console data via BFJ Labs, Australia, Oct–Dec 2025 vs Jul–Sep 2026; Payload rankings 1 Jul–14 Oct 2026.