Penpot
Open-source design and prototyping platform; the self-hostable Figma alternative.
About
Penpot is an open-source, browser-based design and prototyping platform positioned as the direct open replacement for Figma. It is built on web standards: designs are SVG and CSS under the hood, layouts use real CSS Grid and Flexbox, and developer handoff exports actual CSS, SVG, and HTML rather than approximations.
It covers the core UI/UX workflow: components and variants, design tokens (W3C DTCG spec), shared libraries, interactive prototyping, and real-time multiplayer collaboration. The differentiator is self-hosting: the whole stack runs on your own infrastructure via Docker at no license cost, which matters for teams with data-residency or compliance constraints. Cloud plans are free for individuals with paid tiers from around $7/editor/month. In early 2026 Penpot added an MCP server so coding agents can read and write design files directly.
Honest limits: the plugin ecosystem is smaller and newer than Figma's, advanced prototyping with variable-driven flows is less mature, and complex Figma imports do not always survive with full fidelity.
What it can do
- Vector UI design and interactive prototyping
- Components, variants, and W3C design tokens
- CSS Grid/Flexbox layout engine
- Real-time multiplayer collaboration
- Self-hosting via Docker Compose
- MCP server for AI-assisted design workflows
Setup
Use the hosted cloud at penpot.app, or self-host with Docker Compose from the official repo.
Prerequisites
A browser for cloud use; a VPS with Docker for self-hosting.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 8/10
Scored 8/10 (verified tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: Verified via vendor site/docs/GitHub and reputable coverage, wave 87; Trending score 82/100 from researcher assessment.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.