Penpot vs Whimsical 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
- Penpot starts cheaper, at $7.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Penpot | Whimsical | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $7 | From $10 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free trial | 14 days | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | None | None |
| Runs on (they differ) |
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.
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.
Our note
The capped bill is the quietly good part of this: it removes the sting from adding the ninth person to a team. Take it seriously if you are choosing tools for an organisation that cares about lock-in, and stay on Figma if you just need to draw a thumbnail.
Whimsical
Diagrams where viewers cost nothing
Whimsical draws flowcharts, wireframes, mind maps and sticky-note boards in one file type rather than four applications, and it opts for speed over precision: shapes snap, connectors route themselves, and a diagram is finished before a general drawing tool has been configured. Only editors are billed, and viewers are free on every tier including the free one. Guests, team count and file size are what separate the plans. Anybody wanting pixel-exact control over a diagram will find the automatic routing gets in the way.
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.