Updated August 2026
    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    59k

    penpot: Maintenance, Licence and Alternatives

    Web-based design and prototyping platform meant for cross-domain teams.

    TL;DR • penpot • as of August 2026

    penpot is an open-source miscellaneous project positioned as an alternative to Figma, Collaborative design tool, with 59k GitHub stars and a health score of 100/100. It committed 4866 times in the last twelve months across 12 of those months, and its status is actively maintained. Licence: MPL-2.0. It has real momentum, so treat it as a live competitor rather than a stale repository.

    59k
    GitHub stars
    100/100
    Health score
    4866
    Commits (12 mo)
    12/12
    Active months

    Maintenance health

    Status Actively maintained — Committed within the last 45 days.
    Last commit 2026-08-14
    Days since last commit 3
    Commits, last 3 months 1061
    Commits, last 12 months 4866
    Months with activity 12 of 12
    Last release 2026-07-22
    Archived No
    Licence MPL-2.0
    Category Miscellaneous
    Positioned against Figma, Collaborative design tool

    Health score combines commit recency, twelve-month commit volume, months with activity, release recency and archive state. Metadata refreshed August 2026.

    What the licence lets you do

    MPL-2.0

    Copyleft (GPL, AGPL, MPL): derivative work must stay open. AGPL also covers software offered over a network, which blocks most closed SaaS wrappers.

    This matters most when you plan to sell a hosted version. A permissive licence means anyone — including a competitor with more capital — can do the same, so your defensibility has to come from distribution, support or data, not from the code.

    What penpot means for your idea

    Crowded · 81/100
    Miscellaneous category →

    penpot is shipping code consistently, so a buyer comparing your product will find a maintained free option. Price and position against the total cost of self-hosting it, not against the paid incumbent's list price.

    Assume every prospect can find a free version in five minutes. Your wedge has to be something open source structurally cannot deliver: compliance, support SLAs, managed hosting at scale, or a workflow the maintainers refuse to build.

    penpot: common questions

    Is penpot still maintained in 2026?

    Actively maintained. penpot recorded 4866 commits over the last twelve months, with activity in 12 of those months and 1061 commits in the last quarter. Last commit: 2026-08-14. Last release: 2026-07-22. Committed within the last 45 days.

    Can I use penpot commercially?

    penpot is published under MPL-2.0. Copyleft (GPL, AGPL, MPL): derivative work must stay open. AGPL also covers software offered over a network, which blocks most closed SaaS wrappers.

    Is penpot a good Figma, Collaborative design tool alternative?

    penpot targets the same job as Figma, Collaborative design tool and is actively shipping. Adoption sits at 59k stars. Whether it is a good replacement depends on your deployment constraints: self-hosting adds infrastructure, upgrade and security work that a commercial subscription absorbs for you.

    How crowded is the Miscellaneous category?

    76 open-source implementations, 40 of them actively maintained, led by revealjs at 72k stars. Saturation score 81/100 — Crowded. Free, maintained alternatives already dominate this category.

    penpot alternatives in Miscellaneous

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    Competing with free? Check the market first.

    IdeaProof scores your idea against live competitors, market size and 1,000+ documented startup failures in about two minutes.