TL;DR verdict: Penpot is a free, open-source design and prototyping platform whose Professional plan costs $0 and is, in Penpot’s own words, “free and fully featured” — no file limits and no missing design tools. The catch is room, not features: the free cloud plan caps you at 8 team members, 10GB of storage, and just 7 days of version history. Self-host it, and even those caps disappear for free.
Most design tools meter their free plans by files or features. Penpot does neither. It is the open-source alternative to Figma-style product design, built by Kaleidos, and its pricing page leads with “Free and fully featured. No limits, no missing tools.” Prices and limits below were checked November 10, 2026, against Penpot’s own pricing pages. Research-based review — no hands-on testing claims.
What does Penpot actually do?
Penpot is a browser-based platform for designing and prototyping digital products: app screens, websites, and design systems. Teams edit the same file in real time, build reusable components and variants, manage design tokens and shared libraries, and hand work to developers with a built-in code inspector that shows real CSS properties and direct SVG access — Penpot is built on open web standards, so layouts behave like CSS Flexbox and Grid rather than a proprietary approximation. Plugins and an API extend it, and because the core is open source under MPL-2.0, you can also run the whole thing on your own server. One honesty note: Penpot is a design platform, not an AI image generator — it belongs in this section because it is a genuinely free tool for everyday design work, in the same spirit as Photopea.
What is actually free, and what costs money?
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Professional (cloud) | Free | All design and prototyping features, no file limits, unlimited teams, up to 8 team members, unlimited viewers, 10GB storage, 7 days of autosaved versions and file recovery |
| Professional (self-hosted) | Free, forever | Unlimited users, teams, and files with all design and prototyping features and community support — you run it on a Linux server with Docker |
| Unlimited (cloud) | $7 per editor/month, capped at $175/month | Unlimited team size, 25GB storage, 30 days of versions and file recovery, early access to features |
| Enterprise | $25 per member/month | Single sign-on, centralized admin console, team permissions, choice of hosting region, IP whitelisting |
Compare that shape with the tool it most often replaces: in our Figma free review, Figma’s free Starter plan meters AI at 500 credits a month and reserves full team features for paid seats. Penpot meters none of its design tools at all — the paid plans buy storage, longer history, and governance, not the canvas itself. If your design work is more marketing graphics than product UI, a template tool like Kittl may suit you better; for wireframes and prototypes specifically, Uizard is the AI-first option we have covered.
What the pricing page doesn’t make obvious
Three details from Penpot’s own pages that most coverage skips. First, the free cloud plan’s 7-day window applies to both autosaved versions and deleted-file recovery — make a mess of a file and notice a week later, and there is no going back on the free plan. Second, “free” self-hosting still needs a real server: Penpot’s own FAQ tells you to plan 50GB–100GB of storage to support up to 10 editors, plus roughly 5GB per extra editor. Third, the $175 monthly cap on the Unlimited plan is unusually team-friendly — a 25-editor team and a 40-editor team pay the same — which makes the paid tier cheaper per seat the larger the team gets, the opposite of most design tools.
Pros and cons
- Pro: The full design tool is free — components, variants, design tokens, shared libraries, and prototyping are not paywalled.
- Pro: No file limits and unlimited teams on the free cloud plan; unlimited viewers.
- Pro: Open source and self-hostable, so your design files are never hostage to a vendor’s pricing change.
- Pro: Developer handoff uses real CSS and SVG, with a free code inspector.
- Con: Free cloud history and recovery last only 7 days, and storage stops at 10GB.
- Con: Self-hosting needs Linux and Docker skills, plus server storage that grows with your team.
- Con: The plugin ecosystem is smaller than Figma’s, and there is no built-in AI image generation.
Who is Penpot best for?
Penpot’s free plan is best for solo designers and product teams of up to eight who want a Figma-style tool without a per-seat bill, open-source projects that need shared design files, and any team that likes the idea of self-hosting its design stack later without changing tools. Teams that live on third-party plugins, or that need a month or more of version history on every file, will feel the free plan’s limits first.
Frequently asked questions
Is Penpot really free?
Yes. The cloud Professional plan costs $0 and includes the full design and prototyping feature set, and the self-hosted Professional edition is free forever under an open-source license. Paid plans add storage, longer version history, and admin governance.
How many people can use Penpot’s free plan?
Up to 8 team members on the cloud plan, with unlimited viewers. Self-hosted, there is no user cap at all.
Can I self-host Penpot for free?
Yes. The self-hosted Professional edition is free with unlimited users, teams, and files. You need a Linux server and Docker knowledge, and Penpot’s own guide suggests planning 50GB–100GB of storage for up to 10 editors.
Does Penpot have AI features?
Penpot is a design and prototyping platform, not an AI generator — it does not create images from prompts. Its extensibility comes from plugins and an API, and Penpot’s pricing page lists an Agentic AI plugin allowlist as coming soon for Enterprise.
Bottom line: Penpot is the rare free tool where “free” describes the product, not a trial of it. Watch the 7-day history window and the 10GB ceiling, and it is the strongest $0 design platform we have covered.