Open source alternatives to Figma

By GitHub stars it is Penpot, with 62,334 stars and a commit on 13 Nov. Choose Penpot when you want unlimited editors for free, design files on your own server and layouts that map to real CSS. Next come OpenPencil (9,834 stars) and Quant-UX (2,757 stars).

Yes. The code of all 4 is public under MPL 2.0, MIT, GPL 3.0 or Apache 2.0, so you can use them with no licence fee. Running one yourself costs the server and your time to look after it, and some makers also sell a hosted plan.

Start from the job you use Figma for. Choose Grida when you want a free design canvas that imports .fig files and stores your work as real files in your own folders. Choose OpenPencil when you want to keep editing .fig files in a free local app that scripts and coding agents can change, not only read.

3 of the 4: Penpot, OpenPencil and Quant-UX. Each tool's page says what it needs to run.

All 4 we track had a commit in the last 30 days, among them Penpot, OpenPencil, Quant-UX and Grida. A recent commit shows the project is kept up, not that it will stay that way.

MPL 2.0 (1), MIT (1), GPL 3.0 (1), Apache 2.0 (1). MIT, BSD and Apache let you change and reuse the code freely. GPL and AGPL ask you to share your changes under the same licence when you give the software to others, and AGPL also counts letting people use it over a network.

The hosting. Figma's maker runs the servers for you; with an open source tool the updates, backups, security fixes and support are yours, unless you take the maker's hosted plan. Features differ too, so check what each one imports and exports before you move your data.