Penpot Pitched as Figma's Open-Source Rival — Again

A widely-shared Medium piece argues Penpot's open-source, code-native approach makes it the future of design tools over Figma. It's a strong personal take, not evidence teams are actually switching en masse.

Another 'why Penpot beats Figma' piece is doing the rounds, arguing Penpot's open-source model and SVG/CSS-native files matter more than Figma's polish. The core facts check out — Penpot is free, self-hostable, and built on open web standards — but the piece is opinion, not a market-shift report. For a junior designer on a UK budget, Penpot's real value isn't ideology, it's practicality: no seat fees, and file formats that map directly to code. That's genuinely handy for portfolio projects and freelance work where you're paying your own bills. Don't ditch Figma if your target employers all use it — most UK studio job specs still list Figma first. But knowing Penpot is a credible free option is worth having in your back pocket.

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