Penpot leads in popularity with 57,776 stars vs 26,698 stars for Graphite. The 116% higher star count indicates stronger community adoption. In terms of developer contributions, Penpot has 3,843 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

Both projects show recent activity, with Graphite last updated 4 hours ago and Penpot 4 hours ago.

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

Penpot has been in development longer, starting 11 years ago, compared to Graphite which began 6 years ago. This 4.4-year head start suggests Penpot may have more mature features and established processes.

The projects use different licenses: Graphite is licensed under Apache-2.0 while Penpot uses MPL-2.0. Consider the licensing requirements when choosing for your project.

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

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