penpot
by penpot
Penpot is an open-source design and prototyping tool that runs in the browser and can be self-hosted. It lets teams design interfaces together in real time and hand over code-ready specifications to developers.
- Stars
- 61.7k
- Licence
- MPL-2.0
- Runs on
- A small server
- Setup
- Moderate
- Language
- Clojure
- Age
- 3954 days
What you can do with it
- Design app and website interfaces and clickable prototypes together in real time
- Build a reusable design system with components, variants and design tokens
- Copy ready-made SVG, CSS and HTML from the inspect tab to hand to developers
Could replace
- Sketch
- Adobe XD
Our suggestion based on what it does, not a feature-by-feature comparison.
Make money with it
A freelancer could sell UI design, prototyping or design-system setup services to clients using Penpot without paying for seats.
An idea, not financial advice. Check the licence before charging for anything built on it.
Ways a business could use it
- Replace paid design-tool subscriptions by self-hosting Penpot for your own team and clients
- Offer UI and website design work to clients, sharing editable prototypes and developer-ready code
Can you use it commercially?
Usable in paid products, but changes to its own files must be shared under the same licence.
Not legal advice. Read the project's licence file before building a product on it.
Getting it running
You can use the hosted version in a browser, or self-host it with Docker, Kubernetes or Elestio by following the website guide.
Follow the official instructions in the project README.
Things to check
- Some advanced admin and security features (SSO, Admin Console) are only in the paid Enterprise plan
- Self-hosting needs server administration skills
Who's talking about it
- Pasquale Pillitteri: The Best Free Figma Alternatives to Try in 2026 Featured in a roundup
- Tech Basket (Sumit): 20 Best Self-Hosted Alternatives to Popular SaaS Apps Featured in a roundup
Checked 27 Oct 2026. Summary drafted by AI from the project's README.
