Penpot

Open-source interface design and prototyping with real-time collaboration and developer handoff.

uiprototype

Websitepenpot.app

CategoryDesign & UI

PricingFreemium

Card requiredNo

Open sourceYes

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ABOUT

What is Penpot?

Penpot is the first open-source design and prototyping platform meant for cross-domain teams, supporting both designers and developers with a web-based SVG-native editor. It offers real-time collaboration, vector editing and a developer handoff mode with CSS inspection. The platform is self-hostable or available through the cloud service at penpot.app.

BEFORE YOU SIGN UP

What you should know

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Fully open source and self-hostablePenpot is AGPL-licensed and can be deployed on your own infrastructure, giving full data control to the organization.

✓

SVG-native design engineAll designs are stored as standard SVG, making version control with git possible and producing clean, spec-compliant output.

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Feature gap with FigmaPrototyping, auto-layout and plugin system are less mature. Power users may miss specific Figma workflows.

Designer adoption barrierTeams accustomed to Figma's UI and shortcuts face a learning curve and the community plugin ecosystem is still small.

COMMUNITY

From the forums

On HN and r/opensource, Penpot generates excitement as a viable Figma alternative, especially among teams that need self-hosting or want to avoid vendor lock-in. The SVG-native approach is praised for producing clean, standard-compliant output. Criticisms focus on feature gaps in prototyping and a steeper learning curve for designers used to Figma.

— Community sentiment

💬Discuss on Reddit ↗

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Guides mentioning Penpot

📖Tutorial

How to install Penpot on a VPS

Host an open-source collaborative design workspace under your control

2026-07-30·4 min read

ABOUT US

Honest, independent, no fluff.

No paid placements. Just a clear look at what this does, what it costs, and what to know before you commit.

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Is Penpot really free?＋

Yes, Penpot is free and open source. The hosted version at penpot.app has a Professional tier at $0 with up to 8 team members and the source code can be self-hosted at no cost.

Can Penpot replace Figma in a design team?＋

It depends on your needs. Penpot covers core vector design and prototyping well, but teams heavily reliant on Figma plugins, auto-layout or advanced prototyping may find gaps.