Penpot vs Figma: is the open-source alternative good enough?

Short answer: pick Penpot if you want an open-source design and prototyping tool that you can use free in the browser or host on your own servers, with code inspection for everyone, native design tokens and a free MCP server for AI agents. Pick Figma if you want the most complete, widely used design platform, with desktop apps, a huge plugin and template community, built-in AI tools and products like Dev Mode and Figma Make, and you are happy to pay per seat for full access. Penpot wins on ownership and openness; Figma wins on breadth, polish and ecosystem.

You can find both on Unloc: Penpot and Figma. This comparison is based on Penpot's official site and help centre and on Figma's official site, pricing page and help centre.

Quick verdict

What Penpot is

Penpot describes itself as "the open-source design platform for teams". It covers UI design, wireframes, interactive prototypes and design systems, and it is built by Kaleidos, a company that pivoted from consultancy to build Penpot as an open-source product. The code is public on GitHub under the Mozilla Public License, and Penpot's media kit lists the product as free and open source.

The big idea is that design should speak the same language as code. Penpot's layouts use CSS Flex and Grid, its files are built on open standards such as SVG, CSS, HTML and JSON, and its inspect tab gives developers ready-to-use code. You can use Penpot in the browser on Penpot's own cloud, or run your own instance.

What Figma is

Figma is one of the best-known collaborative design tools, and it has grown into a family of products. Figma Design is the core canvas for design and prototyping. Around it sit Dev Mode for developers, Figma Make for turning prompts into prototypes and web apps, FigJam for whiteboarding, Figma Slides for presentations, Figma Draw for illustration, and newer products such as Figma Sites, Figma Buzz and Figma Motion, some of them still in beta.

Figma works in the browser and also offers desktop apps for macOS and Windows, plus mobile apps. Teams get multiplayer files, comments and cursor chat in one shared space, and the Figma Community adds plugins, UI kits, icons, widgets and templates. If you are weighing Figma against other tools, we also compare Figma vs Sketch, Figma vs Framer and Canva vs Figma.

Design and prototyping

For everyday interface work, both tools cover the essentials: vector editing, components and variants, shared libraries, interactive prototypes and real-time collaboration. Penpot says its interface will feel familiar to designers coming from other tools, and it publishes a step-by-step migration guide.

Figma goes further on depth. Its plan comparison lists advanced prototyping with variables, conditional logic and expressions, advanced animations, video in prototypes, and branching and merging, with some features reserved for higher plans. Figma Draw and Figma Motion add illustration and animation tools. If your work depends on complex prototypes or motion, Figma has more built in today.

Penpot's strength is how its layouts map to code. Because Penpot uses CSS Flex and Grid rather than its own layout model, what a designer builds lines up with how a front-end developer will build it. Figma has its own auto layout, which developers translate into code, with help from Dev Mode.

Developer handoff and code

This is one of the clearest differences. In Penpot, the inspect tab gives everyone access to CSS, SVG and HTML for any design, and Penpot stresses that this comes with no Dev Mode add-on. Penpot also offers an open API and access tokens so teams can wire it into their own toolchain.

Figma's answer is Dev Mode. It gives developers code snippets, component properties and structured layer data, dev statuses and notifications when designs are ready, side-by-side comparisons of what changed, and links to GitHub files, Jira tickets and Storybook stories. Code Connect maps Figma components to your real production components so generated code uses your actual system. Figma's plans include separate Dev seats for this, and the pricing page lists advanced Dev Mode inspection on paid plans, so check the live Figma pricing page for what each seat includes.

Design systems and tokens

Both tools are built for design systems. Penpot says it was the first design tool with native design tokens, and it follows what it calls the most standardised approach available for design tokens, so you can import and export tokens as JSON and share them with code. Token themes let you manage brand, product and mode variations from one set of tokens.

Figma uses styles, variables and variable modes for the same job, with team libraries and, on higher plans, organisation-wide design systems, approved libraries and multi-brand design systems. Figma's system is mature and widely adopted; Penpot's is closer to the formats developers already use.

AI and agents

The two tools take different routes. Figma builds AI into the product. Its AI agent can generate design directions, edit images, make bulk edits and apply your design system on the canvas, Figma Make turns prompts and existing designs into code-backed prototypes and web apps, and Figma Weave tools generate images and other media. These features run on AI credits, which vary by plan and can be topped up.

Figma also has an MCP server that gives AI agents design context to generate code from your files, and can let agents write native Figma content back to the canvas. Figma's help centre says writing to the canvas is free during its beta and will eventually become a usage-based paid feature.

Penpot's approach is to bring your own AI. Its MCP server is free and open source, and you can connect it to agents and editors you already use, such as Claude, Cursor, OpenAI Codex or Visual Studio Code. Penpot says there are no credit caps. You can use Penpot's hosted MCP server or run it on your own server, and the agent can read and change components, styles, tokens, pages and layers in the file you have open. Penpot's docs suggest starting with read-only actions and small, specific requests, because an agent can change your design.

If you already use an AI coding agent, both tools can feed it design context. You can browse coding agents such as Claude Code and Cursor on Unloc.

Self-hosting, privacy and ownership

Here Penpot has no direct rival in Figma. Penpot can run on your own infrastructure, in a private cloud, on premises or fully air-gapped. Official install options include Docker, Kubernetes with a Helm chart, Elestio, Rancher, OpenShift and TrueNAS. Penpot's help centre says a private instance only needs basic Docker knowledge, and its enterprise page describes SAML single sign-on and role-based access control for larger teams.

Penpot also stores files in an open format: a .penpot file is a ZIP archive with readable JSON and the original image assets, so your work is not locked into one tool.

Figma is a hosted service. It does not offer a self-hosted version, and your files live in Figma's cloud. In return, Figma runs the infrastructure and lists a wide set of independent security audits and certifications on its security page, which matters to many large companies.

Cost and plans

Penpot's cloud has a free Professional plan that Penpot describes as free and fully featured, with unlimited files and unlimited viewers. Paid plans add more storage, longer version history and early access to features, and an Enterprise plan adds governance, central administration and single sign-on. Larger organisations can also pay for a dedicated private server. Self-hosting the open-source version is free, though you pay for and run the servers. Penpot offers discounts for non-profits, education and open-source projects.

Figma has a free Starter plan with limited access, including unlimited drafts and a small monthly allowance of AI credits. Paid plans are priced per seat, with Full, Dev and Collab seats, and on paid plans people can view and comment on files without a paid seat. Verified students and educators can get Figma for free.

Plans and prices change, so check the live Penpot pricing page and Figma pricing page before you decide.

Switching from Figma to Penpot

Penpot provides a Penpot Exporter plugin for Figma that brings across design files, components, variants, auto layout, styles, variables and libraries. Its migration guide warns that you should expect some layout clean-up, because Figma auto layout becomes Flex and Grid in Penpot, and that the exporter is for a one-off move, not continuous sync. For a design system, Penpot suggests auditing your files, migrating one representative file first, and running both tools side by side for a while.

Plugins are the thing to check most carefully. Penpot's guide tells you to audit the plugins that will not come along, so list the Figma plugins your team relies on and check for Penpot equivalents before you move.

Who should pick which

Pick Penpot if:

• You want an open-source design tool you can inspect, extend or host yourself.
• Data ownership, privacy rules or air-gapped environments rule out a hosted tool.
• Your developers want CSS, SVG and HTML they can use, without paying for extra seats to inspect designs.
• You want design tokens in a standard format, or you want to plug your own AI agent into design files.

Pick Figma if:

• You want the tool your clients and collaborators are most likely to use already.
• You need advanced prototyping, motion, whiteboarding, slides and more in one platform.
• You want built-in AI, from the on-canvas agent to prompt-to-app prototypes in Figma Make.
• You rely on a large community of plugins, UI kits and templates, or need a desktop app.

Still comparing design tools? See Figma vs Sketch, Sketch vs Adobe XD and Figma vs Framer, or browse Sketch and Framer on Unloc.

FAQ

Is Penpot a good alternative to Figma?

Yes, for many teams. Penpot covers interface design, prototyping, components, shared libraries and design tokens, and it adds things Figma does not offer, such as self-hosting, an open-source licence and code inspection for everyone. Figma still has more advanced prototyping and motion tools, built-in AI and a more established community of plugins and templates, so test your own workflows before switching.

Is Penpot really free?

Penpot's cloud has a free plan that Penpot describes as fully featured, with unlimited files and viewers, and the open-source version is free to self-host. Paid plans add storage, longer history, enterprise controls and dedicated hosting. Check the live pricing page for current plans.

Can I import Figma files into Penpot?

Yes. Penpot's Penpot Exporter plugin for Figma moves design files, components, variants, auto layout, styles, variables and libraries. Expect some layout clean-up after import, and note that it is designed for a one-off migration rather than keeping both tools in sync.

Can I self-host Figma?

No. Figma is a hosted service that runs in Figma's cloud, used through the browser, desktop and mobile apps. If you need to run your design tool on your own servers or in an air-gapped network, Penpot is built for that.

Which is better for developers, Penpot or Figma?

Penpot gives every user CSS, SVG and HTML in its inspect tab and uses CSS Flex and Grid layouts, which many developers find easy to translate. Figma's Dev Mode is deeper, with Code Connect, dev statuses, change comparisons and links to tools like GitHub and Jira, and its fuller features come with paid seats. Both offer an MCP server for AI coding agents.