Figma vs Penpot: The Ultimate Design Tool Showdown for Developers in 2024

In a 2023 survey by the UX Tools Collective, Figma was used by over 80% of professional designers, cementing its status as the industry standard. Yet, in the same year, Penpot—an open-source challenger—saw its GitHub stars double, driven largely by developers seeking a self-hosted alternative. For developers who live in the terminal and only venture into design tools when forced, the choice between these two platforms is less about pixel-pushing and more about workflow integration, licensing, and control. This isn’t a battle of “best” versus “rest”; it’s a pragmatic analysis of which tool fits your specific engineering pipeline.

The Contenders: A Quick Overview

Figma is a cloud-based, proprietary design platform that has become synonymous with modern UI/UX design. It offers real-time collaboration, a massive plugin ecosystem, and a robust developer handoff mode. It runs in the browser, though a desktop app exists for macOS and Windows.

Penpot is the leading open-source design tool, backed by the Spanish company Kaleido. It uses SVG as its native file format, supports self-hosting, and is built on web standards. It is free to use, even for commercial projects, without any per-seat pricing.

The Developer Experience: Beyond the Visual Editor

Most developers don’t care about vector networks or auto-layout constraints—they care about getting clean CSS and assets without playing telephone with a designer.

Inspection and Handoff

Figma’s “Dev Mode” (launched in 2023) is a game-changer for handoff. It allows developers to inspect layers, view CSS, Tailwind, or iOS/Android code snippets, and even copy assets directly. The interface is designed to hide the “designer clutter” and show only what matters for implementation: spacing, typography, and dimensions.

However, Dev Mode is a paid feature, locked behind the Professional plan ($15/editor/month). If you are a developer working on an open-source project or a freelance gig without a design budget, that cost matters.

Penpot, on the other hand, offers code inspection for free. The “Inspect” panel is always available, generating CSS, SVG, and even HTML snippets. It lacks the AI-driven context of Figma’s Dev Mode, but it handles the core job: giving you exact pixel dimensions, border-radius values, and hex codes. For a developer, the output is often cleaner because Penpot’s native SVG format avoids the bloat that can occur in Figma’s proprietary file conversion.

The Open Source Advantage

Penpot’s codebase is on GitHub. If you find a bug, you can file an issue or fix it yourself. More importantly, you can self-host it on your own infrastructure. For developers working in regulated industries (finance, healthcare) or on air-gapped networks, this is non-negotiable. Figma, by contrast, requires data to pass through its servers, which can be a compliance nightmare.

There is also the “fear of acquisition” factor. Adobe’s $20 billion acquisition attempt of Figma (which fell through in December 2023) highlighted the risk of building your workflow on a proprietary platform. If Figma changes its pricing model or gets acquired again, your team’s design files are locked in. Penpot, using open standards like SVG and CSS, ensures your design data remains portable.

Collaboration: Real-Time vs. Version Control

Figma’s real-time multiplayer is legendary. Multiple cursors, live cursors, and instant syncing make it feel like Google Docs for design. For remote teams, this is invaluable. However, for developers, this can be chaotic. Designers often complain about “ghost edits” during meetings, and developers often complain about the lack of a “diff” view—there is no native way to see what changed between two versions without manually comparing frames.

Penpot offers real-time collaboration too, but it feels more like a traditional file system. It integrates with Git workflows better because you can export your design files as SVG and actually diff them in a repository. This is a massive, underappreciated feature for developers who want to review design changes in a pull request. You can literally see the SVG code change, which is impossible with Figma’s binary format.

Performance and Resource Usage

Here is where Figma struggles on lower-end hardware. Because it runs in the browser, it relies heavily on WebGL and WebAssembly. On a 4K monitor with a complex file, Figma can consume over 2GB of RAM. Penpot, while also browser-based, is generally lighter because it renders via SVG DOM manipulation rather than a custom canvas engine. It may stutter on extremely complex illustrations, but for standard UI design (buttons, modals, forms), Penpot is noticeably snappier on a mid-range laptop.

For developers running Linux, this is a critical point. Figma’s desktop app is not available for Linux; you are forced to use the web version or a community wrapper like Figma-Linux. Penpot runs natively in any modern browser, including Firefox and Chromium on Linux, and can be installed via Docker with a single command.

The Plugin Ecosystem: Breadth vs. Necessity

Figma’s plugin marketplace is a behemoth. There are plugins for icon generation, accessibility checks, and even AI-powered copywriting. For developers, plugins like “Figma to Code” (which generates React or Vue components) can save hours. However, the quality is inconsistent, and many plugins require API keys for third-party services.

Penpot’s plugin ecosystem is nascent. As of mid-2024, it has a handful of official plugins and a growing community catalog. You won’t find a “Figma to Storybook” plugin, but the core functionality—exporting to SVG and CSS—is built-in and reliable. For a developer who prefers a “do one thing well” philosophy, Penpot’s minimalism is a feature, not a bug.

Licensing and Cost: The Elephant in the Room

Figma’s pricing is straightforward: a free “Starter” tier for up to 3 files, a Professional plan at $15/editor/month, and Organization at $45/editor/month. For a team of 10 developers and 5 designers, that’s $2,700/year on the Professional plan. If you only need to view files and copy CSS, you are still paying for an editor seat.

Penpot is entirely free. There is no paid tier, no feature gating, and no “Enterprise” upsell. The company monetizes through paid support and hosting services for large organizations, but the core product remains open source under the MPL 2.0 license. For a startup bootstrapping on a shoestring budget, this is a no-brainer.

The Verdict: Which One Should You Choose?

The decision hinges on your team structure and your tolerance for tooling lock-in.

Choose Figma if:

  • You are on a Mac or Windows machine with a dedicated design team.
  • You need the vast plugin ecosystem and community resources.
  • Your designers are already proficient in Figma; retraining costs are real.
  • You value the polish of Dev Mode and don’t mind paying for it.

Choose Penpot if:

  • You are a Linux user or work in a self-hosted environment.
  • You want to avoid subscription fees entirely.
  • You value open standards and want to version-control your design assets.
  • You are building a small team where developers handle both design and code.

For the solo developer building a side project, Penpot is the clear winner—it costs nothing, runs anywhere, and doesn’t hold your data hostage. For a product team with dedicated designers, Figma’s collaboration and ecosystem are hard to beat, despite the cost.

The ultimate “showdown” isn’t about which tool is objectively better. It’s about which tool respects your workflow, your budget, and your freedom. In 2024, Penpot is no longer a toy—it’s a legitimate alternative that forces Figma to keep improving. That competition is good for everyone.