Adobe software itself was never the problem for me; it undoubtedly has some of the best graphics tools on the market. It was the subscription lock-in, cancellation fees, proprietary formats, and data privacy concerns. So I subsequently canceled all my subscriptions and went on the hunt for alternatives.
One of the tools that quickly caught my attention was Penpot. The appeal was pretty simple; it’s open-source, self-hosted, runs in your browser, and uses open formats. This means no subscriptions, paying for features you don’t need, data collection, or locked formats. I’ve been using it for a lot of my graphics work this year as it covers all the core things I need.
What is Penpot?
And which Adobe tools does it replace?
Penpot is an open-source design and prototyping tool built specifically for interface and web design, as well as collaborative product work. It runs entirely in your browser, can be self-hosted, and uses open standards like SVG as its native format. It’s primarily aimed at product designers, UX designers, and any designer or design team who wants a workflow without vendor lock-in, though its use cases extend beyond that.
In terms of Adobe replacements, Penpot most directly fills the role that Adobe XD used to occupy before it was abandoned. For UI and UX work, it replaces XD cleanly. However, it can also replace Illustrator for vector-based work like interface and web page assets - icons, logos, buttons, background illustrations, layouts, drawings, and other UI elements.
As for Photoshop, it doesn’t replace raster photo editing, but for mockups, layouts, asset composition, and even posters and banners, you don’t need Photoshop at all. It also comes with a host of animation options for your prototypes. Overall, in practice, Penpot replaces many parts of Adobe that I actually used day to day.
Penpot is free to use but also offers paid tiers with access to things like additional cloud storage, more autosave versions, more deleted file recovery, more add-ons, additional support, and discounts for Penpot events. If you’re a serious designer or part of a large team, getting a paid version might make sense, but for hobbyists and solo creators, you’ll get by with the free version.
Penpot is self-hosted
But you can also use the cloud
Penpot gives you the option to self-host. I started out by hosting via Elistio since it handles everything for you. But ever since I learned how to self-host with the help of NotebookLM, I started doing it on my own with Docker. However, you don’t have to self-host if it’s not your thing - Penpot’s cloud version still operates on the open-source philosophy, and you retain ownership of your files.
Massive template collection
You don’t have to start from scratch
One of the things I value most in graphics software is its template availability. A good selection makes it easy for novices to get started and helps them learn the ropes, so in a way, it makes an app more accessible. Penpot doesn’t skimp on templates.
You can find its full template and UI kit collection on the Penpot site here. There’s everything you can imagine - icon sets, UX kits, design systems, illustration templates, pre-made app and web designs, and whiteboard planners.
Active community
Penpot cares about the user experience
It’s fitting that an open-source app made primarily for user-experience design would also care about its users. The Penpot site gives you everything you need to get started with the app, including a comprehensive self-hosting guide, integration and API guides, and tutorials on how to use the app.
The community itself is also very active - they’re the ones who contribute all the templates and kits, not the Penpot team. The plugins are also primarily community-driven. You can contribute your own templates and plugins, too. And anything else you need help with can be found in the Community Space.
What you can do with Penpot
Full-spectrum design toolkit
Since Penpot primarily caters to product designers, its toolkit mainly consists of features for app, web, and interface elements. For starters, it’s built on non-destructive layer-based vector editing, so all your designs remain infinitely scalable and editable. The top toolbar has frames, shapes, freehand drawing, paths, text, and image inserts - these give you everything for laying down the fundamentals, such as buttons, page layouts, and icons.
Every element you create is highly customizable, whether individually or grouped. You’ve got advanced alignment tools, coloring, fill, stroke, shadow, blur, and more. Penpot really starts to shine when you work with components - you can turn anything into a reusable component, nest components into one another, and make global changes without breaking your layouts. There’s also support for auto-layout, so elements resize and adapt based on content instead of forcing you to manually tweak the size and spacing.
Prototyping is baked in too, and it’s free. You can link frames, define interactions, animate everything, and preview flows. It covers everything you need to test user flows and hand designs off for feedback. Because designs are SVG-based, developers can inspect elements and grab measurements and properties without exporting a dozen files. Version history is also there, so you can roll back changes whenever you need.
Penpot eliminates my need for Adobe
Although Penpot doesn’t replace every single Adobe tool in every scenario, it covers the vast majority of the design work I like to do. And despite primarily being a UI/UX tool, I also use it for basic graphic design and illustrations, as it has all the tools needed and lets you export in JPG and PNG, too. Plus, it has a passionate community, doesn’t collect your data, and doesn’t lock important features behind a paywall.