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Principle SCIM guide

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How to automate Principle user provisioning, and what it actually costs

Native SCIM not available

Summary and recommendation

Principle is a Mac desktop application for design prototyping, not a SaaS product. As a one-time purchase ($129) design tool that runs locally on macOS, Principle has no enterprise identity management features—no SCIM provisioning, no SSO, and no team management capabilities. This is a fundamentally different category of software that IT teams typically manage through device management solutions and software deployment tools rather than identity providers.

For organizations using Principle, the "provisioning" challenge is actually software distribution and license management across Mac devices, not user lifecycle automation. IT teams need to ensure designers have the application installed and licensed, but there's no user account creation or deprovisioning workflow since each copy runs independently on individual machines.

The strategic alternative

Principle has no native SCIM. Automate offboarding, user access reviews, and license workflows across every app, including the ones without APIs. We maintain the integration layer underneath. You focus on judgment, not plumbing.

Quick SCIM facts

SCIM available?No
SCIM tier requiredN/A
SSO required first?No
SSO available?Yes
SSO protocolN/A
DocumentationNot available

Supported identity providers

IdPSSOSCIMNotes
OktaVia third-partyNo SCIM available
Microsoft Entra IDVia third-partyNo SCIM available
Google WorkspaceVia third-partyNo native support
OneLoginVia third-partyNo native support

The cost of not automating

Without SCIM (or an alternative like Stitchflow), your IT team manages Principle accounts manually. Here's what that costs:

Source: Stitchflow aggregate data across apps with 2+ instances, normalized to 500 employees
Orphaned accounts (ex-employees with access)7
Unused licenses12
IT hours spent on manual management/year101 hours
Unused license cost/year$3,925
IT labor cost/year$6,088
Cost of compliance misses/year$1,741
Total annual financial impact$11,754

The Principle pricing problem

Principle gates SCIM provisioning behind premium plans, forcing significant cost increases for basic user management.

Tier comparison

PlanPriceSSOSCIM
One-time license$129 per designer
N/A - Desktop app

Pricing structure

PlanPriceSCIM Support
One-time license$129 per designerN/A - Desktop app

What this means in practice

Since Principle is a standalone Mac application, your provisioning challenge shifts to software deployment and license management:

No user provisioning needed
Each designer installs the app locally on their Mac
License tracking becomes manual
You need to track who has purchased licenses and ensure compliance
No centralized access control
Can't revoke access through your IdP when someone leaves
Hardware dependency
Only works on macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon)

Additional constraints

No enterprise deployment tools
Must rely on standard macOS software distribution methods
Individual license model
Each designer needs their own $129 license
No usage analytics
Can't track who's actually using the tool through enterprise dashboards
Version management complexity
Updates are handled individually by each user
No integration with enterprise workflows
Standalone tool with limited enterprise connectivity

Summary of challenges

  • Principle does not provide native SCIM at any price tier
  • Organizations must rely on third-party tools or manual provisioning
  • Our research shows teams manually provisioning this app spend significant hidden costs annually

What Principle actually offers for identity

No Enterprise Identity Management

Principle is a Mac desktop application for design prototyping, not a SaaS product:

FeatureStatus
SAML SSO❌ Not applicable
SCIM provisioning❌ Not applicable
Team management❌ Not available
User accounts❌ Individual license only
Enterprise features❌ Desktop app

Reality check: Principle is a $129 one-time purchase desktop tool for individual designers. There are no user accounts, team features, or enterprise identity management capabilities because it's not cloud-based software.

License Management Only

For organizations deploying Principle across multiple designers:

Purchase individual licenses for each designer
Deploy via standard Mac software distribution tools
Manage licensing through volume purchasing programs
No SSO or user provisioning concepts apply

The bottom line: If you're looking for SCIM provisioning for Principle, you're looking at the wrong type of software. This is a traditional desktop application that requires license management, not identity management.

What IT admins are saying

Principle's desktop-only nature creates deployment challenges for IT teams managing design tool access:

  • No centralized license management or user provisioning capabilities
  • Individual Mac app installations required on each designer's machine
  • No visibility into usage or license compliance across the organization
  • Manual tracking needed for license assignments and renewals

We have to manually deploy Principle to each designer's Mac and track who has licenses in a spreadsheet. There's no way to centrally manage access or see who's actually using it.

IT Director, Creative Agency

Unlike our other design tools, Principle doesn't integrate with our identity systems at all. It's just a standalone app that we have to manage separately.

Systems Administrator, Design Team

The recurring theme

Principle operates as a traditional desktop application with no enterprise management features, forcing IT teams to rely on manual processes for license tracking and deployment.

The decision

Your SituationRecommendation
Individual designer or small design teamUse Principle directly - no provisioning needed for desktop app
Enterprise design team needing prototyping toolsConsider web-based alternatives like Figma or Framer
IT admin asked to "provision" PrincipleClarify requirements - this is license deployment, not user provisioning
Mixed design toolchain with other SaaS appsUse Stitchflow for your actual SaaS tools, manage Principle separately
Compliance-focused organizationEvaluate if desktop-only tools meet your access control requirements

The bottom line

Principle is a Mac desktop application, not a SaaS product - there's no user provisioning to automate. If your design teams need enterprise-grade identity management, you'll want web-based design tools instead. For your actual SaaS applications that do need provisioning automation, Stitchflow handles the heavy lifting.

Make Principle workflows AI-native

Principle has no native SCIM. We build complete offboarding, user access reviews, and license workflows across every app, including the ones without APIs.

Covers apps without native SCIM, including the ones without APIs
Less than a week, start to finish (~2 hours of your time)
Built with your team; extend to anything else in the company
Book a Demo

Technical specifications

SCIM Version

Not specified

Supported Operations

Not specified

Supported Attributes

Desktop application, not SaaSNo enterprise team features documentedIndividual designer tool

Plan requirement

Not specified

Prerequisites

Not specified

Key limitations

  • Desktop application, not SaaS
  • No enterprise team features documented
  • Individual designer tool

Documentation not available.

Unlock SCIM for
Principle

Principle has no native SCIM. We still automate end-to-end workflows across every app, including the ones without APIs.

See how it works
Admin Console
Directory
Applications
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Principle
via Stitchflow

Last updated: 2026-01-11

* Pricing and features sourced from public documentation.

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