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Penpot

← All terms · Design and creative tools

A free, open-source design and prototyping platform built on open web standards (SVG), bridging the gap between designers and developers.

What it is

Penpot is an open-source alternative to Figma that natively uses SVG as its core format, meaning designs translate directly into clean frontend code. It can be self-hosted for complete data privacy and features deep CSS layout integration (like Flexbox and CSS Grid) directly in the design canvas.

When you would use it

You use Penpot when you want an open-source, self-hostable design tool that aligns visual layouts tightly with actual frontend coding standards.

Common operations

  • Self-hosting a collaborative design tool for strict enterprise data compliance.
  • Designing layouts using native CSS concepts (Flexbox/Grid) to ensure perfect developer handoff.

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