Figma vs Penpot
Choose Penpot when self-hosting, inspectable open-source infrastructure, and web-standard design-to-code workflows matter more than Figma’s broader workspace. It covers the central collaborative UI-design workflow, prototyping, design systems, and developer inspection. Choose Figma when the team depends on documented adjacent capabilities—particularly FigJam whiteboarding, website publishing, animation, or advanced D
Decision guide
The practical reasons to choose either option, based on documented capabilities.
Choose Penpot if
- Organizations that must host design infrastructure on their own servers or Kubernetes clusters
- Product teams collaborating on UI design, interactive prototypes, components, variants, and design tokens
- Developers who need direct inspection of SVG, CSS, and HTML or integrations through APIs, webhooks, and plugins
Stay with Figma if
- Your workflow depends on integrated whiteboarding; equivalent Penpot coverage is not documented in the supplied sources
- You publish responsive websites directly from the design workspace; equivalent Penpot coverage is not documented
- You rely on integrated design animation or advanced vector-illustration tooling; equivalent Penpot coverage is not documented in the supplied material and should be validated before migrationogies are requiredirements or
Deployment and operations
Penpot is available as hosted SaaS or for self-hosting. Documented installation options include Docker and a Helm chart for Kubernetes, with additional listed options such as Elestio, OpenShift, TrueNAS, and Podman. The source code is licensed under MPL 2.0 and primarily written in Clojure. Release notes document ongoing fixes and self-hosting improvements, but the supplied material does not specify upgrade effort or a maintenance schedule.
Migration considerations
Penpot documents a workflow for migrating designs by connecting Figma and Penpot MCP servers. The supplied source does not describe a conventional file importer, supported object coverage, fidelity, or limitations, so teams should test representative files before committing.
Feature fit
What Penpot covers
- Collaborative UI design
- Interactive prototyping
- Wireframing
- Reusable design systems
- Developer inspection and handoff
- Browser-based teamwork
What’s different or missing
- No documented integrated whiteboard
- No documented website publishing
- No documented design-animation module
- No documented advanced vector-illustration coverage
Project snapshot
- GitHub stars
- 58,636
- Contributors
- 337
- Language
- Clojure
- Last commit
- Aug 14, 2026
- Latest release
- Jul 22, 2026
Categories: Image Editing, Video Editing, Website Builders, Design Tools, Vector Graphics, Digital Whiteboards, Prototyping
Sources and editorial review12 linked sources
Public documentation supports this comparison. Automation assists collection and classification; editorial standards and corrections remain the responsibility of Kris.
Penpot: The open-source design platform for Product teams that need scalable collaboration.
repository description · github.comReal-time collaboration strengthens this foundation, helping teams scale and bring design closer to the product through top-tier capabilities.
readme · github.comWith CSS Grid and Flex Layout, teams can design responsive interfaces that behave like real code from the start.
readme · github.comBest-in-class native Design Tokens provide a single source of truth between design and development.
readme · github.comThe inspect tab gives instant access to SVG, CSS and HTML code.
readme · github.comLearn how to install it with Docker, Kubernetes, Elestio or other options on our website.
readme · github.comWhether used in the **browser or deployed on your own servers**, Penpot **works with open standards** like SVG, CSS, HTML, and JSON.
verdict · github.comCreate beautiful user interfaces in collaboration with all team members. Keep consistency at scale with components, libraries and design systems.
shared feature · penpot.appCreate rich interactions to mimic the product behavior. Share them to stakeholders, present proposals to your team and start user testing with your designs, all in one place.
shared feature · penpot.appPenpot offers a Helm chart so you can deploy the application in your K8s cluster.
deployment · penpot.appThis Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public License, v. 2.0.
deployment · github.comMigrate your designs into Penpot by connecting Figma’s and Penpot’s MCPs.
migration · penpot.app
