Penpot vs Sketch

Penpot and Sketch both cover interface design, but they split on who holds the files and who may edit them. Penpot is open source under MPL-2.0, made by Kaleidos in Madrid, with a cloud plan at $0 per user and a self-host route. Sketch B.V. in Eindhoven has no free plan, charges per editor and edits only in a native Mac app, though viewers use any browser for free. Sketch also sells a $120 Mac-only licence that keeps documents on your own disk. The choice usually comes down to Windows editors and budget versus Mac habits and a local exit.

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Both are reviewed in full in our wireframing and prototyping tool ranking: Penpot and Sketch.

1. 01

   Who can open the editor

   Sketch editing runs in the native Mac app. Subscriptions include unlimited free viewers who browse and comment in a browser, and there is a web app plus an iPhone and iPad app for viewing. A Windows designer therefore cannot edit a Sketch file. Penpot lists cloud and self-host options and nothing we read ties editing to one operating system. For a mixed Windows and Mac team, Penpot removes a hard blocker.

   Edge: Penpot

2. 02

   The $0 Professional plan against 30 days of Sketch

   Penpot lists Professional at $0, per user per month, for up to 8 team members and unlimited viewers. Sketch has no free plan; subscriptions start with a 30-day trial and ask for no credit card, and the Mac-only licence has no trial at all. A small team can stay on Penpot indefinitely, while a Sketch team starts paying once the trial ends. Penpot's paid tiers add a 14-day trial on Unlimited and Enterprise.

   Edge: Penpot

3. 03

   Standard, Professional, Enterprise: Sketch's per-editor ladder

   Sketch lists Standard at $12, Professional at $24 and Enterprise at $44 per editor per month, billed yearly, shown without a currency code and excluding VAT. Standard includes 50 GB per editor; Professional adds SSO and permission groups; Enterprise adds SCIM and BYOK and needs 15 or more editors. Penpot's Unlimited costs $7 per editor with a cap of $175 a month, and Enterprise is $25 per member. Penpot is cheaper at each step we compared.

   Edge: Penpot

4. 04

   Keeping your files: licence and the offline option

   Penpot's source sits on GitHub under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, and the README says it is designed for self-hosting. The self-host page names Docker, Kubernetes, Elestio, Rancher by SUSE, OpenShift and TrueNAS. Sketch offers a $120 per seat Mac-only licence with one year of updates that saves documents locally, but with no collaboration or online sharing. Each gives an exit; Penpot's is open code, Sketch's is a local file.

   Depends on the buyer

5. 05

   Where the data lives

   Sketch states that it and its payment providers run on Amazon Web Services, with data in AWS us-east-1 in North Virginia; its Private Cloud option offers US or EU hosting in an isolated environment. Penpot says Enterprise adds SSO and a choice of hosting region, and self-hosting lets you pick the servers yourself. Penpot also names Kaleidos Subsidiary S.L. in Madrid as controller. A buyer who needs data in the EU has more routes with Penpot.

   Edge: Penpot

6. 06

   Single-vendor polish against a smaller plugin pool

   Sketch positions itself as a Mac-native editor, includes developer hand-off and version history, and adds a free MCP server to every subscription and the Mac-only licence, with Claude, Codex and Cursor named. Penpot's own trade-offs are a plugin ecosystem smaller than Figma's, an editor built for interface design rather than print or illustration, and upgrades that fall to you when self-hosting. For a Mac team, Sketch is the tighter fit.

   Edge: Sketch

Is there a way to use Sketch without a Mac?

Only for viewing and commenting. Subscriptions include unlimited free viewers in a web browser, but editing uses the native Mac app. No Windows editor is mentioned on the pricing page.

How does Penpot's $175 monthly cap work?

Its Unlimited plan costs $7 per editor per month and is capped at $175 per month regardless of team size. That means the price stops rising once you pass 25 editors. The plan also adds extra space, extended history and early features.

Which one is the European company, and where exactly?

Both name a European entity. Penpot's terms and privacy policy name Kaleidos Subsidiary S.L. in Madrid, Spain, while Sketch's terms define Sketch B.V. at Flight Forum 40, Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Sketch's pricing page itself names no country.

• Penpot pricing page: $0 Professional with 8 members, $7 Unlimited with $175 cap, $25 Enterprise, 14-day trials, SSO and hosting region.
• Penpot GitHub repository: MPL-2.0 licence and the statement that it is designed for self-hosting.
• Penpot self-host page: the list of install options such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Penpot privacy policy: Kaleidos Subsidiary S.L. in Madrid named as controller.
• Sketch pricing page: per-editor tiers, Mac-only licence, 30-day trial, viewers, AWS us-east-1 hosting, Private Cloud regions, MCP server, no free plan.
• Sketch terms of service: Sketch B.V. at Flight Forum 40, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.