Figma vs Penpot
The ultimate side-by-side head-to-head analysis for 2026.
Short answer
- Price: Penpot is cheaper — Free vs $12/user/mo.
- How to start: Figma is from $12/user/mo, Penpot is free.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. We do not publish a quality score, because we do not have one we can stand behind. They cannot tell you which tool fits your workflow — the sections below are there for that. How we score tools.
Figma
Penpot
Category
Design
Design
Base Price
$12/user/mo
Free
Public API
Yes
Yes
Mobile app
Yes
No
Open source / self-hostable
No
Yes
SSO (SAML)
Yes
No
Choose Figma if:
Product Designers, Developers, and Digital Agencies.
Choose Penpot if:
Teams that need design collaboration without a per-seat contract, or with data residency rules.
Figma: pros & cons
- Flawless Collaboration: Designers, developers, and clients can view and edit at the same time.
- Platform Independent: Works perfectly in any browser on any OS without installation.
- Version Control: Automatic saving and history tracking eliminate the fear of losing work.
- Huge Plugin Library: Enhance your workflow with thousands of community-made tools.
- High RAM Usage: Large files can be demanding on browser performance and memory.
- Internet Dependency: Since it is cloud-based, a stable connection is required for work.
- Prototyping Limits: Extremely complex animations may still require dedicated tools.
Penpot: pros & cons
- Open source with no seat licence
- Self-hostable, so files stay yours
- Uses open web standards under the hood
- Fewer plugins and integrations
- Performance lags on very large files
- Smaller community for help
Our verdict on Figma
The undisputed world leader in modern UI/UX design and team collaboration.
Our verdict on Penpot
The credible open-source answer to Figma. Judge it on your file sizes before committing a team to it.