Penpot
Plane
| Feature | Penpot | Plane |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $8/mo | Free / from $7/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | open-source-teams, privacy-focused-designers, developers, educational-institutions | developers, open-source-advocates, startups, engineering-teams |
| Founded | 2015 | 2022 |
| Vector Editing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Prototyping | ✓ | ✗ |
| Components | ✓ | ✗ |
| Design Tokens | ✓ | ✗ |
| Real Time Collaboration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Css Output | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hostable | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cycles | ✗ | ✓ |
| Modules | ✗ | ✓ |
| Views | ✗ | ✓ |
| Pages | ✗ | ✓ |
| Analytics | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Penpot Pros
- Open-source and self-hostable for free
- CSS-based design outputs production-ready code
- Real-time collaboration (Figma-like experience)
- SVG-native (no proprietary formats)
✗ Penpot Cons
- Performance slower than Figma on complex files
- Smaller plugin and community ecosystem
- Missing some advanced design features
✓ Plane Pros
- Open source and self-hostable
- Modern clean interface
- Jira-like power without complexity
- Active community
✗ Plane Cons
- Relatively new
- Smaller integration ecosystem
- Documentation still maturing
The Verdict
Penpot is built for open source teams and privacy focused designers, with a focus on vector-editing and prototyping. Plane targets developers and open source advocates and leads with cycles and modules.
Pricing is close: Plane starts at $7/mo versus $8/mo for Penpot — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Penpot offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Plane takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Both tools are a solid fit for developers — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.