Inkscape vs Penpot Comparison 2026
Both cover design & graphics. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Inkscape | Penpot | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | From $7 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | 14 days |
| API | Not stated | Yes |
| Data export | Everything, in an open format | Not stated |
| Their cut | None | None |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Inkscape
Free vector drawing that writes plain SVG
Inkscape draws vector artwork and saves it as ordinary SVG rather than a format only it can read, which is what makes a logo drawn here openable in a browser, a build pipeline or somebody else's editor years later. It covers illustration, clip art, typography and diagramming on Linux, Windows and macOS. There is no account, no seat count and no upload step. The interface has its own habits and will feel strange to anybody arriving from a commercial editor, which is the real cost of it being free.
Our note
Reach for this over a paid editor when the output is going into code, because it writes SVG a browser will render rather than SVG exported from a proprietary format. Buy Affinity Designer instead if you want the same freedom from subscriptions with an interface that will not cost you a week.
Penpot
Open source design you can host yourself
Penpot does the job Figma does and is open source, which matters if you would rather keep design files on a server you control than on somebody else's. The free plan is fully featured rather than crippled, and paying mostly buys storage, version history and a bill that stops rising past a point. Files are standards-based, so what comes out is SVG and CSS rather than a format only one company reads.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.