head to head · open source
open-design vs open-pencil-cloud
open-design has 99,174 GitHub stars, 11,464 forks, 1,090 open issues and last shipped yesterday. open-pencil-cloud has 1,104 stars, 5 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. open-design leads on adoption by 8,883% (99,174 vs 1,104 stars). open-design is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; open-pencil-cloud is written in TypeScript under MIT. open-design has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, open-pencil-cloud 0%. open-design 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
| open-design | open-pencil-cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 99K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-09-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 5 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick open-design if
- You weight community size — 99K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick open-pencil-cloud if
- You want the open-pencil-cloud feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and open-pencil-cloud fits your workflow better
About open-design
OpenDesign is an open source, local first desktop design application for macOS and Windows that turns the coding agent already installed on a developer's machine into the design engine, producing prototypes, dashboards, decks, images, and motion graphics as real files exported to HTML, PDF, PPTX, and MP4.
read the full open-design overview →
About open-pencil-cloud
OpenPencil (Yoohoo fork) is an AI native, open source Figma alternative design editor for teams that want a self hosted .fig capable editor with cloud document storage, built on a React frontend and a Spring Boot backend.
read the full open-pencil-cloud overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is open-design or open-pencil-cloud more popular?
open-design has 99,174 GitHub stars and open-pencil-cloud has 1,104. open-design has the larger community by that measure.
Are open-design and open-pencil-cloud free?
Both are open source. open-design is licensed under Apache-2.0 and open-pencil-cloud under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between open-design and open-pencil-cloud?
open-design is written in TypeScript and open-pencil-cloud in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, open-design or open-pencil-cloud?
Choose open-design if you want the larger community (99,174 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose open-pencil-cloud if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.