Design · head-to-head
Figma vs Penpot
As of 28 Oct 2026, the panel rates Figma 2.5/5 and Penpot 3.5/5 in Design. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 0 of the 6 judges pick Figma and 6 pick Penpot. Figma scores higher on 2 of 7 criteria (AI features & rights to the work and Pricing transparency). Penpot scores higher on 5 of 7 criteria (Files, formats & portability, European sovereignty, Design, prototyping & design systems, plus 2 more). Provenance — Figma: Rest of world; Penpot: EU-Made. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made.
The short answer
Figma and Penpot split the six-judge bench by criterion. Penpot's widest leads are file ownership and portability, 9.2 to 4.5, and sovereignty, 5.7 to 1.3, both with six leans to Penpot and none back; design and prototyping runs 7.8 to 7.0 with five leans and a tie, and collaboration and handoff 7.0 to 6.5 with three leans and three ties. Figma leads pricing transparency 8.0 to 7.3 with four leans and two ties behind published seat prices — €16/mo at Professional, €55/mo at Organization, €90/mo at Enterprise — and AI and content rights 5.0 to 3.3 with six leans. Brand asset governance is close, 4.2 to 4.0, with two Penpot leans, one Figma lean and three ties. The five weighted totals shown put Penpot ahead — the product-designer bench 7.1 to 6, the skeptic 6.1 to 5 — yet the criterion split, not a single winner, is the result.
Choose Figma if
- You need published seat prices before procurement signs — the verdict records €16/mo for a Full seat at Professional, €55/mo at Organization and €90/mo at Enterprise, and pricing transparency leans Figma four judges to none at 8.0 to 7.3
- Your budget must show AI costs per plan up front — the verdict records AI credits stated per plan, under the pricing transparency lead with four Figma leans and two ties
- Your stakeholders need to inspect files without paid seats — free viewers join paid plans under Figma's published pricing, a documented point in the pricing transparency criterion
- Your legal review asks what an AI feature does with your content — AI and content rights leans Figma six judges to none, 5.0 to 3.3, while Penpot's verdict reports a community plugin on a fine-tuned OpenAI model the vendor does not guarantee, and we found no public information on training, admin controls, output rights or indemnity
Choose Penpot if
- You need your files to remain yours and exportable — file ownership and portability leans Penpot six judges to none at 9.2 to 4.5; the terms name the customer sole owner of uploaded content, files rest on SVG, CSS and HTML with an open.penpot format, and a Figma exporter is documented
- Your compliance mandate is EU control of data — sovereignty leans Penpot six judges to none, 5.7 to 1.3; Penpot's attributes record a Spanish legal-entity jurisdiction, EU venture-capital ownership and EU data residency as an option, while Figma's record United States default data residency and United States Cloud Act subprocessor exposure
- Your team must keep working if the cloud service ends — the verdict documents self-hosting from Docker to air-gapped installs that continue running after a cloud cancellation, under the file ownership and portability criterion where six judges lean Penpot
- Your design system runs on tokens and shared libraries — design and prototyping leans Penpot with five judges and one tie, 7.8 to 7.0, on built-in design tokens for colour, typography, spacing and themes and components published as shared, synced libraries
- You sign off as a data protection officer — the data protection officer's weighted total runs Penpot 6 to Figma's 4.3
Read this comparison as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The bench's picks
Same scores, different priorities: each judge's weighting applied to both products. The split is the finding.
- The Product Designer Figma Penpot picks Penpot
- The Frontend Engineer Figma Penpot picks Penpot
- The Brand Marketer Figma Penpot picks Penpot
- The Agency Owner Figma Penpot picks Penpot
- The Data Protection Officer Figma Penpot picks Penpot
- The Skeptic Figma Penpot picks Penpot
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Figma | Penpot |
|---|---|---|
| Design, prototyping & design systems | 3.5 of 5 | 4 of 5 |
| Collaboration, review & developer handoff | 3.5 of 5 | 3.5 of 5 |
| Brand assets & governance | 2 of 5 | 2 of 5 |
| Files, formats & portability | 2.5 of 5 | 4.5 of 5 |
| AI features & rights to the work | 2.5 of 5 | 1.5 of 5 |
| European sovereignty | 0.5 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Pricing transparency | 4 of 5 | 3.5 of 5 |
| Criterion | Figma | Penpot | The bench leans |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design, prototyping & design systems | Penpot, 5 of 6 judges | ||
| Collaboration, review & developer handoff | Penpot, 3 of 6 judges | ||
| Brand assets & governance | Penpot, 2 of 6 judges | ||
| Files, formats & portability | Penpot, 6 of 6 judges | ||
| AI features & rights to the work | Figma, 6 of 6 judges | ||
| European sovereignty | Penpot, 6 of 6 judges | ||
| Pricing transparency | Figma, 4 of 6 judges |
Stars show the bench average per criterion; the lean counts which product each judge scored higher. Open a judge's tab for their reasoning on both sides.
Sovereignty, side by side
| Dimension | Figma | Penpot |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | Not determined |
| Ownership | Not determined | Not determined |
| Data residency | Not determined | Not determined |
| Subprocessors | US CLOUD Act reach | Not determined |
Facts, side by side
Only facts both products carry under the same definition — anything else would not be a fair row.
| Legal · Address | Berlin · Kurfürstendamm 15 · Deutschland · 107191 | Madrid · Max Aub, 5,Bajo B, 28003 · Spain2 |
|---|---|---|
| Legal · Entity | Figma, Inc. and its affiliates3 | 2026 · KALEIDOS Subsidiary SL4 |
| Legal · Governing law | State of California5 | Spain2 |
| Legal · Liability cap | 100 · 125 | fees paid in prior 12 months2 |
| Product · Modules | Figma Design · Figma Make · Figma Weave (NEW) · Dev Mode · Figma Motion (NEW) · FigJam · Figma Slides · Figma Draw · Figma Sites (BETA) · Figma Buzz (BETA)6 | Wireframing · Prototyping · UX design · AI Workflows · Collaborative UI Design7 |
Questions about Figma and Penpot
Which is better, Figma or Penpot?
As of 28 Oct 2026, the panel rates Penpot higher: 3.5/5 against 2.5/5. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 0 of the 6 judges pick Figma and 6 pick Penpot. Which one fits depends on the criteria that matter to you; the table on this page shows both side by side, and each judge’s reading has its own page. Both were scored by the same AI bench under the same rubric, from public evidence only, as the methodology describes.
Is Figma or Penpot European?
Figma is not European by provenance (Rest of world). Penpot is European (EU-Made). Provenance is read from each company’s own legal pages: who builds it and who owns it.
Do Figma and Penpot have a free plan?
As of 28 Oct 2026, both vendors’ own pages state a free plan. Each product page links the pricing page it was read from.