head to head · open source
Penpot vs Graphite
Penpot has 61,995 GitHub stars, 4,361 forks, 777 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Graphite has 27,821 stars, 1,311 forks, 562 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Penpot leads on adoption by 123% (61,995 vs 27,821 stars). Penpot is written in Clojure under MPL-2.0; Graphite is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Penpot has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Graphite 5%. Penpot was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (design), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Penpot | Graphite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 62K | ★ 28K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Clojure | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Penpot if
- You weight community size — 62K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Clojure
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Graphite if
- You want the Graphite feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Graphite fits your workflow better
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 →
About Graphite
Your procedural toolbox for 2D content creation Graphite is a free, open source vector and raster graphics engine, available now in alpha. Get creative with a fully nondestructive editing workflow that combines layer based compositing with node based generative design. Having begun life as a vector editor, Graphite continues evolving into a generalized, all in one graphics toolbox that's built more like a game engine than a conventional creative app. The editor's tools wrap its node graph core, providing user friendly workflows for vector, raster, and beyond. Photo editing, motion graphics, digital painting…
read the full Graphite overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Design & Visualization projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Design & Visualization field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Penpot or Graphite more popular?
Penpot has 61,995 GitHub stars and Graphite has 27,821. Penpot has the larger community by that measure.
Are Penpot and Graphite free?
Both are open source. Penpot is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Graphite under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Penpot and Graphite?
Penpot is written in Clojure and Graphite in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Penpot or Graphite?
Choose Penpot if you want the larger community (61,995 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Graphite if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.