Affinity Designer vs Penpot
Affinity Designer and Penpot are both design tools tools. Affinity Designer is aimed at freelancers and agencies, while Penpot is aimed at developers and agencies. Both have a free plan.
Affinity Designer
Professional vector design app, free since Canva
Penpot
Open-source design and prototyping platform
| Pricing | Free | Open source · $7 |
| Starting price | Not published | $7/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | 14 days |
| Built for | Freelancers, Agencies | Developers, Agencies |
| Platforms | macos, windows, ios | web |
| Country | GB · 2014 | ES · 2020 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Affinity Designer if
Designers wanting a professional Illustrator alternative.
- Free (2025)
- Professional quality
- Fast performance
Look elsewhere if: Collaborative UI design (Figma).
Choose Penpot if
Teams that want open source, self-hosting or zero seat costs and can live without Figma's ecosystem.
- Free and open source with no seat limits
- Self-hostable for privacy and compliance
- Designer-developer friendly output
Look elsewhere if: Agencies collaborating with clients on Figma or teams dependent on Figma plugins.
Affinity Designer vs Penpot pricing
Affinity Designer
- Affinity$0Free for individuals; org SSO via sales
Penpot
- Professional$0Free and fully featured, cloud or self-host
- Unlimited$7/editor/moCapped at $175/mo; extra storage, extended history
- Enterprise$25/member/moGovernance, central admin, team permissions
- Private Server$50k/yrDedicated infrastructure, enterprise support
Affinity Designer · Key features
- Vector and raster workflows in one app
- Artboards and symbols
- Precise typography and print tools
- iPad version
- PSD, AI, PDF compatibility
- Unified with Photo and Publisher
Cons
- Less collaboration than Figma
- Smaller plugin ecosystem
- Some Adobe file incompatibilities
Penpot · Key features
- Browser-based collaborative design with components and variants
- Flex and grid layout aligned with CSS
- Prototyping with interactions and flows
- Design tokens and SVG/CSS export
- Figma file import
- Self-hosting with Docker; unlimited users on SaaS
Cons
- Smaller plugin and template ecosystem
- Performance on very large files
- Fewer prototyping and Dev Mode features
Affinity Designer vs Penpot: FAQ
Do Affinity Designer and Penpot have a free plan?
Yes, both Affinity Designer and Penpot have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.