What is the main difference between Excalidraw and Penpot?

Excalidraw and Penpot are both online design tools but differ in their approach, features, and target audience. Compare their GitHub stats, technology stack, and community adoption to make the best choice.

Which is better: Excalidraw or Penpot?

The choice between Excalidraw and Penpot depends on your specific needs, technical requirements, and team preferences. Both are quality open source solutions with active communities.

Can I migrate from Excalidraw to Penpot?

Migration between Excalidraw and Penpot is possible but requires careful planning. Consider data export/import capabilities, feature parity, and potential workflow changes.

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Excalidraw vs Penpot

Learn how Excalidraw and Penpot differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these online design tools is best for you.

Excalidraw

Virtual whiteboard for sketching diagrams, flowcharts, and wireframes with a distinctive hand-drawn look. Real-time collaboration built in.

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134,510stars+1,597(+1.2%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
2 days ago
Repository age
7 years
Version
v0.18.1
License
MIT
Self-hosted
Yes
Repository
excalidraw

Penpot

Design, prototype, and hand off to developers in one platform. Supports design systems, tokens, flexible layouts, and AI workflows with real CSS/HTML output.

Visit Penpot Read more

61,632stars+1,255(+2.1%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
2 days ago
Repository age
11 years
Version
2.18.4
License
MPL-2.0
Self-hosted
Yes
Repository
penpot/penpot

Detailed Comparison

Both Excalidraw and Penpot have their unique strengths and serve similar purposes effectively. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

Excalidraw wins

Community & Popularity

Excalidraw leads in popularity with 134,510 stars vs 61,632 stars for Penpot. The 118% higher star count indicates stronger community adoption. In terms of developer contributions, Excalidraw has 15,815 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Penpot wins

Growth Momentum

Penpot is growing faster, adding 1,255 stars in the last 30 days (+2.1%) against adding 1,597 stars for Excalidraw (+1.2%). Penpot is the smaller project of the two, so it is closing the gap rather than extending a lead.

Comparable

Development Activity

Both projects show recent activity, with Excalidraw last updated 2 days ago and Penpot 2 days ago.

Comparable

Technology Stack

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 wins

Project Maturity

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 wins

Licensing

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.

Comparable

Use Cases & Features

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.

Comparable