head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Penpot
Excalidraw has 135,053 GitHub stars, 15,973 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Penpot has 61,995 stars, 4,361 forks, 777 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 118% (135,053 vs 61,995 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Penpot is written in Clojure under MPL-2.0. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Penpot 7%. Penpot was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Excalidraw | Penpot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 135K | ★ 62K |
| License | MIT | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Clojure |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 4.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Excalidraw if
- You weight community size — 135K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Penpot if
- You want the Penpot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Clojure
- You evaluated both and Penpot fits your workflow better
About Excalidraw
Excalidraw Editor Blog Documentation Excalidraw+ An open source virtual hand drawn style whiteboard. Collaborative and end to end encrypted. Create beautiful hand drawn like diagrams, wireframes, or whatever you like. Features The Excalidraw editor (npm package) supports: 💯 Free & open source. 🎨 Infinite, canvas based whiteboard. ✍️ Hand drawn like style. 🌓 Dark mode. 🏗️ Customizable. 📷 Image support. 😀 Shape libraries support. 🌐 Localization (i18n) support. 🖼️ Export to PNG, SVG & clipboard. 💾 Open format export drawings as an .excalidraw json file. ⚒️ Wide range of tools rectangle, circle, diamond…
read the full Excalidraw overview →
About Penpot
[uri license]: [uri license image]: Website • User Guide • Learning Center • Community Youtube • Peertube • Linkedin • Instagram • Mastodon • Bluesky • X Penpot video Penpot is the open source design platform for teams that build digital products at scale. Penpot’s key strength lies in giving you full ownership of your design infrastructure . Built on open source and designed for self hosting, it puts teams in complete control of their design environment supporting strict compliance and governance requirements. Whether used in the browser or deployed on your own servers , Penpot works with open standards like…
read the full Penpot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Penpot more popular?
Excalidraw has 135,053 GitHub stars and Penpot has 61,995. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and Penpot free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT and Penpot under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Penpot?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and Penpot in Clojure. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Excalidraw or Penpot?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (135,053 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Penpot if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.