Penpot

Penpot is the first open-source design and prototyping platform built specifically for cross-domain collaboration between designers and developers. Unlike proprietary alternatives that lock teams into subscription models and closed ecosystems, Penpot is built on open web standards, outputs native SVG, and provides CSS-ready code that developers can use directly in their projects. With growing adoption among design teams seeking independence from vendor lock-in and complete control over their design assets, Penpot offers a powerful alternative to Figma and Sketch while maintaining full compatibility with modern design workflows and industry-standard file formats.

Common Use Cases

Design teams use Penpot for creating user interfaces, wireframes, and interactive prototypes for web and mobile applications across diverse industries and project scales. UX researchers leverage it for rapid prototyping and user testing scenarios, quickly iterating on concepts based on feedback without expensive software licences. Product managers use Penpot for visual specifications and stakeholder presentations, creating clickable mockups that demonstrate product vision and gather alignment before development begins. Development teams benefit from accurate design specs with CSS properties they can copy directly into code, eliminating guesswork during implementation and reducing back-and-forth between designers and developers. Organisations deploy Penpot for maintaining design systems with shared component libraries and style guides across multiple projects and teams, ensuring brand consistency. Design agencies use it for client work where data confidentiality is paramount and designs cannot reside on third-party cloud services.

Key Features

• Vector editing tools with pen, bezier curves, boolean operations, and precise path manipulation
• Real-time multiplayer collaboration with cursor presence, inline comments, and version history
• Interactive prototyping with transitions, overlays, scrolling behaviours, and flow connections
• Component system with variants, overrides, nested components, and flexible slot functionality
• Design tokens and shared libraries for enterprise-scale design system management
• Auto-layout and flexible grids for creating responsive design workflows efficiently
• Native SVG output and CSS code generation for seamless developer handoff
• Plugin system with JavaScript API for extending functionality and custom workflows
• Import support for Figma files, SVG, and other industry-standard formats
• Self-hosted deployment with complete data ownership, privacy, and security control
• Multi-team workspaces with granular permission controls for enterprise environments
• Typography tools with web fonts, variable fonts, and OpenType feature support
• Asset management with organised libraries for icons, images, and reusable components
• Presentation mode for sharing designs with stakeholders and conducting design reviews

Technical Architecture

Penpot uses a modern microservices architecture with a Clojure backend optimized for high performance and reliability under concurrent workloads. The frontend is built with ClojureScript, providing a responsive and fluid editing experience that rivals native desktop applications. PostgreSQL handles persistent storage for design files, user data, and project metadata, while Valkey (a Redis-compatible cache) manages session data and real-time collaboration state. The dedicated export service renders designs to PNG, PDF, and SVG formats for sharing and handoff. All components communicate efficiently through internal networking, making the system highly responsive even under heavy collaborative load with multiple users editing simultaneously.

Why deploy Penpot on Hostinger VPS

Running Penpot on a Hostinger VPS provides complete control over your design infrastructure and intellectual property with enterprise-grade reliability. Design files remain exclusively on your servers, ensuring confidentiality for client projects, proprietary work, and designs under NDA that cannot be stored on third-party cloud services. A VPS deployment offers dedicated CPU, memory, and storage resources for smooth real-time collaboration, even with large design files containing hundreds of artboards and multiple team members working simultaneously. You can customize storage capacity based on your asset library size and scale resources seamlessly as your team and project portfolio grows. The self-hosted approach eliminates recurring subscription costs associated with cloud-based design tools while providing the flexibility to integrate with your existing infrastructure, backup systems, and security policies.