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Penpot

Penpot: the best design tool alternative to Sketch

Penpot is the open-source, web-based design platform built to empower design and development teams across all platforms. Any operating system. Anyone. Anywhere. Total freedom, powered by open standards.

Why Penpot is the best Sketch alternative

Freedom across platforms
Regardless of your operating system, feel free to design and develop on nearly any modern browser - Windows, Linux or macOS.
Faster workflows
Avoid handoff drama. Help devs ship products faster with unique features built just for them: Inspect tab, CSS Grid and Flex layout, Plugins and API.
Scalable design systems
Ship faster and skip costly rework with Penpot’s reusable components, shared libraries, and native design tokens.
Self-hosted option
Run Penpot on your own servers and take full control of your data, security, and workflows.
Open standards
Escape tool lock-in with design files that are always built on web-native formats like SVG, CSS, JSON, and HTML.
Truly unlimited access
Give your entire team the power to design and build. No seat limits or feature paywalls — even on our free plan.

Penpot vs. Sketch: A feature-by-feature comparison

Feature
Open Source
Open standards (SVG, HTML, CSS)
Self-hosting option
Native design tokens
Unlimited free designers/developers
Unlimited files
OS Inclusive
CSS Flex and Grid layouts
Web-based
Variants
Inspect tab (code inspection)
Advanced components
Plugins system
Advanced vector editing
Templates and libraries
Real-time collaboration
Prototyping
Tutorials and videos
Robust community
Penpot
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Soon
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Try Penpot now!
Sketch
No
No
No
No
No
No (limited for basic plan)
No
Limited
Limited
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Penpot: Built for designers and developers

Penpot is a professional design platform that bridges the gap between designers and developers, helping teams create, iterate, and build together.

Native design tokens

Create once, reuse everywhere. Penpot’s built-in tokens make design updates easy and keep your UI in sync with your code.

Responsive by default

Create layouts that behave exactly like they will in code. Penpot’s Flex and Grid Layout features use the same language developers do and generate real, inspectable output.

Design-to-code

Skip the endless back-and-forth and handoff drama. Penpot gives developers real code straight from each design.

Real-time collaboration

Designers and developers can create, edit, and iterate together in the same file. No handoffs, no waiting — just faster and more effective workflows.

Start your Penpot journey today

Getting started with Penpot couldn’t be easier. Just follow these five simple steps:
Need more control? You can self-host Penpot and customize it to fit your team’s workflow.
Export your designs from Sketch as SVGs, then upload them into Penpot to start rebuilding.
Got questions? Reach out to our team or connect with Penpot’s world-class open-source community.
Start building beautiful, responsive products in Penpot.
Penpot also offers paid plans for teams that need advanced support, custom hosting, or enterprise-ready features.
Check out our pricing plans, or contact us to learn more.

Penpot success starts here

Libraries & Templates

Create, share or download a wide range of templates or libraries. Use them in your Penpot projects.
Our vibrant community champions open design-and-code collaboration.

Contributions

Help each other with code contributions, design templates, translations, new feature ideas and more.

Penpot Fest

The conference where designers and developers come together to create a collaboration without constraints.

Learning Center

Tap into our collected Penpot wisdom with guides on how to prototype, create UI designs, and more.

Collaboration

Learn how Penpot can help your team create its best work with our collaboration tools designed to bring designers and developers together.

Libraries & Templates

Create, share or download a wide range of templates or libraries. Use them in your Penpot projects.
Our vibrant community champions open design-and-code collaboration.

Contributions

Help each other with code contributions, design templates, translations, new feature ideas and more.

Penpot Fest

The conference where designers and developers come together to create a collaboration without constraints.

Templates

Great designs don’t always kickoff from scratch. Get a head start on your next project with one of our many free-to-use templatesº .

Plugins

Expand your design and code experience with Penpot plugins or build your own plugin and share it with the Community.

FAQs: Penpot vs Sketch

Does Penpot have a desktop app?
No, Penpot doesn’t offer an official desktop app like Sketch. However, it does run on any modern browser. Plus, our community has created an unofficial desktop experience, which you can find at the bottom on our self-hosting page.