Penpot
FreeOpen-source design and prototyping tool — the Figma alternative that you can self-host. Vector editor, component system, interactive prototypes. Based on SVG standards, not proprietary formats.
How to install Penpot as a PWA
Frequently asked questions about Penpot
Is Penpot really a Figma replacement?
Penpot covers the core Figma workflow — vector editing, components with variants, auto-layout, design tokens, interactive prototyping, and multi-user real-time editing — and adds genuinely open file formats (SVG + JSON) that are diffable in Git. It is missing: the depth of Figma's plugin ecosystem, Dev Mode parity, and some advanced prototyping triggers. For 80% of UI work it is a complete replacement; for teams deeply invested in Figma plugins, the gap is still real.
Is Penpot free?
Yes — Penpot is free and unlimited on the hosted design.penpot.app instance with no seat limits or feature locks. The codebase is MPL-2.0 and self-hostable via Docker on a 2GB VPS for small teams. A commercial Enterprise edition (Penpot Enterprise) adds SSO, SCIM, and SLA support for organizations that need it. Most teams never pay anything.
How does Penpot compare to Figma?
Penpot is open-source (MPL-2.0), self-hostable, uses standard SVG+JSON files, and has no per-seat pricing — major wins for EU public sector, agencies under GDPR scrutiny, and teams who want design files in Git. Figma wins on polish, plugin ecosystem, Dev Mode tooling, FigJam whiteboarding, and AI features. Performance on huge files is comparable. Switching cost is high, but Penpot's Figma-import feature has improved sharply since 2024.
Can I self-host Penpot?
Yes — Penpot publishes a production Docker Compose stack that installs in about 10 minutes on a 2GB VPS. Backend is Clojure + PostgreSQL + Redis. Self-hosting is the recommended path for any team handling sensitive client designs, EU public sector under sovereignty rules, or anyone wanting to avoid SaaS lock-in. The hosted design.penpot.app is the same code, so migration in/out is symmetric.
Who uses Penpot in production?
Penpot is used by the Spanish public administration (notably Junta de Castilla y León), Red Hat (open-source design system work), Mozilla, GitLab, and many EU agencies under sovereign-cloud mandates. The community design-systems crowd has adopted Penpot for its W3C design-tokens-native approach, which makes design tokens directly consumable by Style Dictionary and shared with developers without conversion.
Where Penpot is heading (12-24 months)
- →Plugin system (in beta in 2026) is the most-anticipated feature — closing the largest Figma gap.
- →AI-assisted design (text-to-component, layout suggestions) is on the public roadmap.
- →Dev Mode parity (component code export, design-to-code) is a strategic frontier where Penpot's web-standards foundation gives it a structural advantage.
- →Tighter integration with Storybook and design-token pipelines positions Penpot as the design layer of open-source design systems.
Related questions
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini usually suggest these next.
- How do I import Figma files into Penpot?
- Does Penpot support design tokens with W3C draft spec?
- Can Penpot run fully offline as a PWA?
- How do I version-control Penpot files in Git?
- Does Penpot have a plugin system like Figma?
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