Penpot Now Available in FastComet Marketplace

If you are a web designer, then you are probably aware of the draught, or flat-out absence, of any non-commercial, big-name, open-source tools. Many designers have been frustrated by this, but there is a ray of hope yet! Penpot is here to fill that rather obvious void in the market.

It is as if the developers of this open-source design tool were aiming to create something that would answer all of the grumblings concerning the other tools. That is precisely what they did! So, please read on to find out how Penpot is revolutionizing the web design market. We are entering a new era of FastComet with our brand-new Cloud Apps, and Penpot is one of them!

What is Penpot?

Let us start by explaining exactly what Penpot is. From our introduction, you might have surmised that it is an open-source design tool, but it is so much more than that.

The first public version of the tool was released in February 2021, but its story stretches a bit further back than that. It is the brainchild of the Kaleidos Foundation, founded in 2011. It started off as a software consultancy company, but in 2015, it expanded its team to include designers with the coal to bridge the gap between development and design. That new direction lays the foundation for Penpot, which was first conceived in 2019 under the name UXBOX. As we mentioned, it eventually became Penpot and became available to the public in 2021. Since then, it has gained a lot of popularity due to the niche it fills and the features it offers.

Before we discuss those features, though, there are three key aspects of Penpot that are unique to the current designer landscape.

• Open-source and Free – Probably the most stand-out feature of Penpot. In a sea of corporation-owned, commercial products, Penpot is a tool created by the community for the community, as cheesy as cliche sounds, by a team of people who understand people’s needs. The software – all of it, no cut features for selling them later – is free for all operating systems and will remain that way. Anyone can review and edit the code to ensure maximum security, customizability, and ease of cooperation;
• Open Web Standards – Penpot strives to follow as many of these standards as possible to promote designer-developer cooperation and make it easy. For example, all graphics made with Penpot are in the .SVG format, which is what the web standards recommend. That is unlike most other designer tools for which hand-off and developer-friendly features are either not a priority or not even on their radar;
• Browser-based – While you can run Penpot on any operating system, they also offer a browser-based version of the tool. It is, once again, entirely free, and the sign-up process is extremely easy. Go to the page, create an account (or sign in with Google, GitHub, or GitLab), and that is it! From then on, the website will ask you to pick what other tools you have worked with and what you are looking to create. Even when it asks you if you would like to subscribe to their newsletter, the box is unticked by default. How wholesome is that?

If those three points did not make Penpot sound appealing, read on as we explore its features and uses in more detail.

Why Use Penpot With FastComet?

Let us start with the first part of that question: Why use Penpot if there are other tools on the market from recognizable and established brands?

You would not be wrong to ask such a question. While newer than more established tools, its rapid development and focus on user needs ensure it continually adds features and refines its experience. However, the fact that it is free, open-source, and packed with features already makes it an attractive option for designers and developers alike who want a tool that promotes collaboration transparency and is not a proprietary solution. So, if you have a team that falls under that description, we strongly recommend trying Penpot. The upside is that all it will cost you is time if you do not like it.

If that is not convincing enough, here is a summary of Penpot’s features.

• Vector Design Tools – Penpot comes with a full set of such tools. Users will find everything they are familiar with from other such applications;
• Prototyping – Much like with the tools above, you will also find a solid set for prototyping. Users can create their prototypes and then simulate user interactions from the app directly;
• Collaborative – Teams can work together in real-time on the same project without getting in each other’s way;
• Cross-platform – You can install Penpot on any of the major operating systems (Linux, Windows, or macOS), or you can even run it in your browser;
• Templates and Libraries – Penpot has an ever-expanding trove of template libraries, which are free for anyone to download and use with their project.

Of course, being a new tool in a sphere dominated by other well-established names, Penpot has many challenges ahead of itself. Its popularity is not on par with those other tools, nor is its ecosystem of third-party libraries, integrations, and communities as developed. However, all of those things are a matter of time! The team realized that and even put forth a publicly available roadmap. Finally, free and open-source projects like Penpot – which are also good at what they do – are becoming increasingly popular nowadays, with customers looking for something different than what the “big names” can offer. Which also leads us to the answer of the second part of our initial question: why use Penpot with FastComet?

To address it, let us highlight the benefits of hosting Penpot with us compared to using an established SaaS provider.

• Cost Management – By choosing us to host Penpot for you you know exactly what you are paying for. There are no hidden costs, nor are there any fees for additional users or resources. You are paying for the hosting and that is it;
• Feature Integrity – Penpot prides itself on providing a feature-complete design and development solution with no tools hidden behind paywalls. That is precisely how it will remain if you decide to choose us as your Penpot hosting provider;
• Open-source Freedom – Since Penpot is open-source we impose no limitations on how you alter it. Tailor it to your team’s needs as you see fit;
• 24/7 Support – Lastly, our always-human technical support team is here to assist you round the clock with any issues you may encounter.

You can see for yourself that hosting your Penpot workspace with FastComet provides the control, ownership and flexibility any team needs to work in peace. With us you and your team can focus on your work and let us handle the rest.

How Does Penpot Compare?

Penpot is a new product on the market, so it is impossible not to compare it to others. Such comparisons are a good way to gauge how far Penpot has come and what still needs to be done.

Customers often compare Penpot to Figma, another design and prototyping solution. The most significant difference between the two – aside from the depth of features, which should even out as Penpot matures – is that Penpot offers all of its tools and features upfront. At the same time, Figma follows a freemium SaaS model. Its free plan offers basic functionality, and a subscription unlocks the rest. The table below shows the rest of the comparison.

	Penpot	Figma
Price and Plans	The software is entirely free with no paywalled features. Professional and Enterprise plans offer additional options for businesses.	Offers a basic plan for free. Feature availability is dictated by the user’s plan.
Design Tools	Offers vector design tools, basic prototyping, and design system support. May lack some advanced features.	Provides a comprehensive set of design tools, including advanced vector editing, constraints, layout grids, and auto-layout features.
Prototyping	Users can create interactive prototypes with transitions and basic animations. It supports linking between frames and simulating user flows.	Advanced prototyping features, including interactive components, smart animations, and detailed interaction design. Supports complex user flows and transitions with greater flexibility.
Design Systems	Supports design systems and component libraries. Needs improvements when it comes to managing component variants and design tokens.	Provides robust design system management with features for component variants, nested components, and design tokens.
Real-time Collaboration	Supports real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously.	Renowned for its seamless real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to work together on designs with live cursor presence and updates.
Integration and Ecosystem	Third-party plugin library is still growing and supports fewer integrations so far.	Well-recognized across the industry, boasting a large library of third-party plugins. Can integrate with other popular applications like Slack and Jira.
Version Control and History	Basic versioning and history functionalities.	Comprehensive version history features.

For teams that are looking for an established design and development tool, Figma could be a better choice, depending on the team’s budget and requirements. On the other hand, Penpot being open-source makes it infinitely customizable. Plus, it is also free and is rapidly gaining immense popularity.

Features it lacks may have already been added by the time we are done writing this post! The bottom line is that Penpot may be an up-and-coming underdog, but we have all seen those films about the underdog triumphing. Do not count it out just because it is new. Give it a try, and if you do not like it, you have lost nothing because it is free.

Bright Future Ahead

Penpot is just getting started. The design tool has an incredibly bright future ahead of itself, and we cannot wait to see how it develops. With so much passion from the developers and the community it has built around itself, we expect only great things from the project!

Why pay for an application that is free and can run in a browser, though? Because Penpot is, ultimately, an application that needs its own hosted environment in order to realize its full potential. That environment is what you are paying for, and we have optimized it specifically for Penpot. That way the application will run smoothly and without interruptions. Head over to our Marketplace, where you will find it under the Cloud Apps tab!