Choose Penpot if open formats, self-hosting, and developer-friendly design matter more than plugin depth. Choose Figma if you need the broadest ecosystem, polished enterprise controls, and a tool most designers already know. Both are strong collaborative design platforms, but they come from very different values. Penpot is built for openness and handoff; Figma is built for speed, scale, and market dominance.
TLDR: Penpot is the stronger Figma alternative for teams that care about open-source software, SVG-first workflows, and control over data. Figma is still ahead for mature prototyping, plugins, templates, and team adoption. For example, a 12-person product team with 4 designers and 8 developers could save licensing costs by self-hosting Penpot, while keeping design files easier to inspect because Penpot uses web-native standards. If that same team relies on 30 Figma plugins and frequent client collaboration, switching may slow them down at first.
Penpot vs Figma: the short version
Figma changed interface design by making real-time collaboration feel normal. Designers, developers, product managers, and clients can all work in the browser. Comments, branches, libraries, prototypes, and handoff live in one place. That is still a big deal.
Penpot answers a different need. It is open-source, browser-based, and built around standards such as SVG, CSS, and HTML concepts. That makes it attractive for teams that dislike locked file formats, vendor dependency, and pricing surprises. Honestly, it feels a bit ridiculous that so many design teams still work in tools where their core files are trapped inside one vendor’s system.
What makes Penpot different?
Penpot is not just “Figma, but cheaper.” Its biggest selling point is philosophical and practical: your design workflow can be open. The source code is public. Teams can inspect it, contribute to it, and run it on their own servers.
That matters for:
- Government teams with strict data rules.
- Universities that prefer open education tools.
- Startups trying to reduce SaaS costs.
- Agencies that need more control over client files.
- Developer-heavy teams that want design assets closer to code.
Penpot also treats SVG as a first-class citizen. Since SVG is already a standard format for the web, developers can read and use assets with less friction. That sounds small until a developer spends 20 minutes cleaning up an export that should have taken 30 seconds.
Where Figma still wins
Figma remains the safer choice for many commercial design teams. Its interface is refined. Its community is huge. Its plugin ecosystem is hard to beat. Need a design system starter kit, icon set, accessibility checker, content generator, or diagramming tool? Figma probably has several options ready.
Figma also has excellent multiplayer collaboration. Watching teammates edit the same file in real time still feels smooth. Comments are easy. Sharing is easy. Client reviews are easy. That ease matters when five people are waiting on a call and nobody wants to debug permissions.
Another strength is hiring. Many designers already know Figma. Training time is low. If a new product designer joins on Monday, they can usually contribute by Tuesday. With Penpot, there may be a learning curve, especially for teams used to Figma’s auto layout behavior and plugin shortcuts.
Collaboration: both are good, but not equal
Both tools support cloud collaboration, shared files, comments, and browser access. Figma feels more mature here. It has years of refinement behind its multiplayer editing and team management features.
Penpot collaboration is capable and improving fast. Multiple users can work in the same file, share feedback, and manage team projects. For many teams, that is enough. The difference appears when workflows get complex. Large product organizations may rely on granular roles, advanced libraries, branching, analytics, and admin controls. Figma’s paid tiers are built for that.
The catch is that Figma’s best features often sit behind pricing plans. Penpot’s open-source model gives teams more freedom, especially if they have technical staff who can host and maintain it.
Design systems and components
Figma is very strong for design systems. Components, variants, styles, shared libraries, and variables help large teams keep interfaces consistent. For companies with dozens of product squads, this can prevent chaos.
Penpot supports components, libraries, grids, constraints, and reusable design elements. It is useful for real production work, not just experiments. Still, Figma has the edge for complex design systems. Its tooling is deeper, and many teams already have years of Figma libraries built up.
If you are starting fresh, Penpot deserves serious attention. If you already have a 600-component Figma system with tokens, documentation, plugins, and established review rituals, expect to spend real time rebuilding your setup.
Developer handoff
This is where Penpot gets interesting. Because it is grounded in web standards, it speaks a language developers understand. Inspecting design structure can feel more natural. SVG export is clean. CSS-related concepts are visible. The gap between design and implementation can shrink.
Figma also offers strong handoff features. Dev Mode helps engineers inspect spacing, colors, typography, and assets. It is polished and widely used. Yet it is also tied to Figma’s product model. Some teams dislike paying extra for features that developers need just to read design specs.
For engineering-led teams, Penpot may feel more aligned with how the web actually works. For design-led organizations with established Figma rituals, Figma may remain easier.
Pricing and ownership
Penpot’s biggest advantage is control. You can use its cloud version or self-host it. Self-hosting is not free in the magical sense. You still pay for servers, maintenance, backups, updates, and staff time. But you avoid per-seat pricing pressure and keep more control over your files.
Figma’s pricing is straightforward at first, then more serious as teams grow. Editors cost money. Advanced features cost more. Enterprise needs cost even more. This is normal SaaS economics, but small teams can feel boxed in when their design process depends on a paid account structure.
For a small studio with 3 designers, Figma may be worth every dollar. For a public institution with 200 occasional users, Penpot can be far more appealing.
Performance and daily use
Figma is usually fast, especially for common interface work. Large files can still get sluggish, but the tool is highly optimized. Penpot performs well for many projects, though it can feel less polished in edge cases. Some interactions may take a beat longer. It drives me crazy when a basic selection or export feels slower than expected, because design work depends on rhythm.
That said, Penpot keeps improving. Its open-source community and active development give it momentum. Bugs are visible. Discussions are public. Roadmaps are easier to follow than with many closed tools.
Privacy, compliance, and self-hosting
For teams with strict privacy needs, Penpot has a clear advantage. Self-hosting means files can stay inside your own infrastructure. That can help with internal policy, client contracts, and regional data rules.
Figma offers enterprise security features, but you are still working within a commercial cloud platform. For many companies, that is fine. For others, it is a blocker. The choice depends on risk, budget, and internal technical skill.
Who should pick Penpot?
- Open-source teams that want tools matching their values.
- Developers and designers who prefer web-native file structures.
- Organizations with data control needs and self-hosting capacity.
- Budget-conscious teams that want to avoid growing seat costs.
- New teams without years of Figma files to migrate.
Who should stick with Figma?
- Large design teams with mature design systems already in Figma.
- Agencies that work with clients who expect Figma links.
- Teams dependent on plugins for research, content, audits, or automation.
- Companies hiring designers quickly who need familiar tooling.
- Product teams that value polish over openness.
The practical verdict
Penpot is the best Figma alternative if ownership, openness, and developer alignment are your main priorities. It is especially compelling for teams that want self-hosting and clean SVG-based workflows. It may not match Figma feature for feature, but it does not need to. Its value comes from freedom and transparency.
Figma is still the stronger all-around product for most commercial design teams. It is smoother, more familiar, and supported by a massive ecosystem. But if you are tired of closed formats, rising SaaS costs, and tool decisions controlled by vendors, Penpot is not just worth trying. It may be the more future-friendly choice.