Published 19 July 2026 · Source dated 10 September 2025
A community-built Figma plugin lets you export files across to Penpot, so you can test the open-source alternative without abandoning your existing Figma work. It's unofficial and early, so treat it as an experiment, not a production workflow.
If you're already juggling Figma and Penpot (a lot of juniors are, given cost pressures on teams), this Penpot Exporter plugin removes some of the friction of trying Penpot properly — you don't have to rebuild a file from scratch just to poke around. It's community-maintained, not built by either company, so expect rough edges: components and constraints won't always translate cleanly.
We're calling this **adoption**, not hype — it exists because enough designers wanted to move files between the two tools, not because a vendor is pushing it. Good excuse to actually compare the two properly instead of just reading hot takes about which is 'better'.
Coach
take one small personal Figma file, run it through the plugin into Penpot, and write down three things that broke or translated badly — that's a real comparison, not a hunch.
Penpot's open-source pitch is maturing, not just noise
Penpot keeps getting pitched as the open-source Figma alternative — built on SVG/CSS, self-hostable, no vendor lock-in. It's real and improving, but it's adoption-stage, not a mass switch yet.
medium.com ·
Adoption
Penpot hype cooled — most teams are still on Figma
A r/web_design thread notes the Penpot-vs-Figma buzz spiked when the Adobe acquisition talks were live, then faded once the deal collapsed. Real migrations are still rare, even among people curious enough to try it.
reddit.com ·
Adoption
91% of designers now use AI weekly, tools still shift
The State of AI Design report found 91% of designers now use AI at least weekly, up from 54% a year prior. But nearly half still haven't settled on go-to tools — this space hasn't stabilised yet.