Penpot — The Complete Guide: Free Interface Design and Prototyping in the Browser
Penpot is an open-source design and prototyping tool that runs in the browser. You design screens and user interfaces, link them into a clickable prototype, and several people can work on the same file at once. Files are based on SVG, an open standard, rather than a closed format.
Penpot
Penpot (Kaleidos)
An open-source design and prototyping tool in the browser: screens, interfaces and diagrams, with team collaboration. A free alternative to Figma.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Screen design — shapes, text, images and flexible layouts that adapt to the screen size.
- Components and libraries — a button or dialog defined once and updated everywhere.
- Clickable prototypes — transitions between screens for testing flows with users.
- Teamwork — shared editing, comments and sharing by link.
- Developer handoff — an inspect mode that shows measurements and CSS and SVG code.
A note on licence and price
The cloud plan is free with no limits on the number of files or projects; the paid plans only add team management and hosting. If you need full control over your data, you can install Penpot on your own server. It suits engineers designing a screen for software, an interface for a machine or a control panel.
Related tools
For quick hand-drawn style sketches — Excalidraw. For vector graphics and technical illustrations — Inkscape. For flowcharts and architecture diagrams — diagrams.net.
Excalidraw
Excalidraw
A virtual whiteboard with a hand-drawn look — for quick concept sketches, explaining ideas in calls and shared design reviews.
Get it from the vendor
Inkscape
Inkscape project
Vector graphics editor — schematics, technical illustrations, report figures and SVG, PDF and DXF editing.
Get it from the vendor
diagrams.net (draw.io)
JGraph
A full diagram editor in the browser, with no account required.
Get it from the vendor
Krita
Krita Foundation (KDE)
Open-source digital painting and illustration: sketches, hand-drawn renderings and illustrations, with many brushes and tablet support.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
Penpot brings professional interface design to any team, with no subscription and no lock-in to a closed format. Open source and completely free, including for commercial use.