Excalidraw leads in popularity with 128,667 stars vs 57,776 stars for Penpot. The 123% higher star count indicates stronger community adoption. In terms of developer contributions, Excalidraw has 14,636 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Both projects show recent activity, with Excalidraw last updated 10 hours ago and Penpot 3 hours ago.

Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, CSS, Typescript, JSX, SCSS. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Excalidraw uses Next.js while Penpot leverages Bash, Python, Rust, Java, Lua, Clojure.

Penpot has been in development longer, starting 11 years ago, compared to Excalidraw which began 7 years ago. This 4.1-year head start suggests Penpot may have more mature features and established processes.

Excalidraw uses the MIT license, which is more permissive than Penpot's MPL-2.0 license, potentially offering greater flexibility for commercial use and integration.

Both tools serve similar use cases in Online Design. However, they also have distinct specializations: Excalidraw also focuses on Collaborative Workspaces, Whiteboarding while Penpot extends into UI/UX Design.

Penpot provides self-hosting options for complete data control and customization, while Excalidraw may be primarily cloud-based or require different deployment approaches.