Framer vs Penpot
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Framer is free tier available, Penpot is free.
- How to start: Framer is free tier available, Penpot is free.
- Where they differ: only Penpot has open source / self-hostable; both offer public api.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Framer is
What Framer isFramer is the most exciting site builder for designers today, turning the Figma experience directly into a live website. Its 'Design and Publish' philosophy makes animations and effects more intuitive than they are in Webflow. It allows you to create sites that feel 'developer-made' without writing code. With 'Framer AI,' you can even design and deploy an entire site from a single text prompt before fine-tuning it to perfection.
What Penpot is
What Penpot isPenpot is an open-source design and prototyping tool that runs in the browser and can be self-hosted. It uses open web standards for its files, so designs are not locked in a proprietary format, and self-hosting keeps client work inside your own network. The trade-off is a smaller plugin and community ecosystem than the commercial incumbents.
Side by side
| Framer | Penpot | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Design | Design |
| How to start | Free tiernot a monthly price | Freeverified |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | No |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | Yes |
| SSO (SAML) | No | No |
| Visit | Framer ↗ | Penpot ↗ |
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What Framer is built to do
- Figma to HTML
- Convert Figma layers directly into functional, live web elements.
- Scroll Transforms
- Create visual effects that grow, fade, or move as the user scrolls.
- Framer AI
- Turn your ideas into professional designs and code in a matter of seconds.
- Localization
- Automatically adapt your site for users across different languages and regions.
What Penpot is built to do
- Browser-based editor
- Runs design and prototyping in the browser with no client install.
- Self-hostable
- Deploys on your own infrastructure so files stay inside your network.
- Open standards files
- Stores designs in open formats rather than a proprietary container.
Choose Framer if
- Designers who want to publish a real site from a design tool
- Free experimentation: a Framer subdomain, 1 GB bandwidth and 500 AI credits at no cost
- Small sites — Basic is $10/month per site
Skip Framer if
- You need your own domain — that requires a paid site plan
- You have a team: extra editors are $20/month per seat on top of the site plan
- You expect traffic; the free plan includes 1 GB of bandwidth
Choose Penpot if
- Design teams up to 8 editors who want a free, open-source Figma alternative with 10 GB storage
- Companies that must self-host design tools for data control
- Growing teams: Unlimited is $7 per user/month capped at $175/month
Skip Penpot if
- You need SSO, audit logs and 90-day history — that is Enterprise at $25/user/month from $950/month
- Your workflow depends on Figma plugins and community files
- You need a dedicated private server: $50,000/year
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Framer: pros & cons
- Figma Integration: Transfer your designs directly to a live site via copy-paste.
- Animations: Production-grade motion and transitions without writing code.
- Speed: The time from design to live publication is incredibly short.
- AI Power: Design a professional site in seconds just by describing what you want.
- CMS Depth: Webflow goes further for complex, database-heavy structures.
- E-commerce: No native system; requires external services for selling products.
- Advanced Code: Custom developer interventions are more restricted than in some rivals.
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 Framer
The home of the most stylish sites made by designers 'without a developer.'
Our verdict on Penpot
The credible open-source answer to Figma. Judge it on your file sizes before committing a team to it.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
Framer
- Basic$10/mo
site plans: Free $0, Basic $10/month, Pro $30/month, Enterprise custom
- Pro$30/mo
site plans: Free $0, Basic $10/month, Pro $30/month, Enterprise custom
Penpot
- Enterprise$25/user/mo
Enterprise $25/user/month from $950/month with SSO and audit logs; Private Server $50,000/year; self-host available
Framer vs Penpot: common questions
- Does Framer or Penpot have a free plan?
- Both do: Framer has a free tier with limits, and Penpot is free.
- Which is cheaper once you start paying, Framer or Penpot?
- The two are not priced the same way: Framer's cheapest paid step is Basic at $10/mo, while Penpot's is Enterprise at $25/user/mo. One scales with headcount and the other does not, so the cheaper option depends entirely on team size.
- What is the difference between Framer and Penpot?
- On the criteria we check, only Penpot has open source / self-hostable; both offer public api. The table above lists every criterion side by side.