ERP · head to head
ADempiere vs Penpot
ADempiere
ERP
Community-run open source ERP forked from Compiere, with no vendor behind it
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: ADempiere there is no company behind it, so there is no support contract to buy, no SLA, no escalation path and no roadmap commitment; if your implementation partner leaves the market you own the problem entirely.; Penpot smaller user base and community compared to Figma means fewer templates and resources
- They diverge on capability: ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Penpot covers Vector editing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which ADempiere and Penpot actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in ADempiere
- Application dictionary
- Financial accounting
- Order to cash and procure to pay
- Inventory and warehouse
- Manufacturing
- Point of sale
- Workflow engine
- Java and PostgreSQL stack
Only in Penpot
- Vector editing
- Interactive prototyping
- Design systems
- Components & libraries
- Real-time collaboration
- SVG support
- CSS Grid & Flexbox
- Code export
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
ADempiere
- A manufacturer in Latin America with an existing ADempiere consulting partner that needs localised tax and accounting behaviour a global vendor will not buildnot Penpot
- A company that wants to modify ERP screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than codenot Penpot
- An organisation with a hard requirement to keep financial data on its own servers under its own control with no cloud dependencynot Penpot
- A systems integrator building a vertical ERP product on a permissive base it can fork and ship without paying a licence feenot Penpot
Penpot
- UI/UX designnot ADempiere
- Prototypingnot ADempiere
- Design systemsnot ADempiere
- Developer handoffnot ADempiere
- Open source projectsnot ADempiere
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
ADempiere
- There is no company behind it, so there is no support contract to buy, no SLA, no escalation path and no roadmap commitment; if your implementation partner leaves the market you own the problem entirely.
- The official website adempiere.net does not resolve, which strands most of the historic documentation and tutorials that search engines still point at and makes onboarding a new developer considerably harder.
- The last conventional stable release, 3.9.4, is from January 2023, so despite ongoing GitHub activity a buyer evaluating on release cadence sees a project moving slowly.
- iDempiere, a later fork of the same codebase, absorbed much of the developer community, so ADempiere competes for contributors with its own descendant and is the smaller of the two ecosystems.
- The interface and the Java Swing heritage feel dated, and staff coming from a modern cloud ERP will need training and will complain; expect resistance from finance and warehouse users during rollout.
Penpot
- Smaller user base and community compared to Figma means fewer templates and resources
- Self-hosting requires Linux server and Docker knowledge for technical setup
- Real-time collaboration features may have performance issues with very large design files
Pricing, plan by plan
ADempiere
Free- Community editionFree
- GPL v2 licensed, no licence fee
- Full ERP, CRM, supply chain and POS modules
- Self-hosted on your own infrastructure
Penpot
Free- FreeFree
- Cloud-based design
- Real-time collaboration
- Components and variants
- Unlimited$7/month
- All free features
- Priority support
- Advanced cloud features
- Enterprise$950/month
- Custom enterprise features
- Dedicated support
- Advanced security
Which should you pick?
Choose ADempiere if
- You need application dictionary.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted.
- You also want financial accounting.
Choose Penpot if
- You need vector editing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
- You also want interactive prototyping.
Questions people ask
- Is ADempiere or Penpot better?
- Neither clearly leads. ADempiere starts at Free and Penpot at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, ADempiere or Penpot?
- ADempiere starts at Free and Penpot at Free.
- Does ADempiere or Penpot run on more platforms?
- ADempiere runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted. Penpot runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
- Can I use ADempiere for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is ADempiere best used for?
- ADempiere is most often used for a manufacturer in latin america with an existing adempiere consulting partner that needs localised tax and accounting behaviour a global vendor will not build, a company that wants to modify erp screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than code, an organisation with a hard requirement to keep financial data on its own servers under its own control with no cloud dependency, a systems integrator building a vertical erp product on a permissive base it can fork and ship without paying a licence fee. Of those, a manufacturer in latin america with an existing adempiere consulting partner that needs localised tax and accounting behaviour a global vendor will not build and a company that wants to modify erp screens and document workflows without a vendor change request, using the application dictionary rather than code are not what Penpot is typically brought in for.
- What can ADempiere do that Penpot cannot?
- ADempiere covers Application dictionary, Financial accounting, Order to cash and procure to pay, Inventory and warehouse. Penpot covers Vector editing, Interactive prototyping, Design systems, Components & libraries.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
ADempiere: Should I choose ADempiere or iDempiere?
Look at iDempiere first. It is a later fork of the same codebase with a more active community and a modular OSGi architecture. Choose ADempiere if a specific partner or localisation you need only exists there.
Penpot: Is Penpot really free?
Yes. Penpot is completely free with no feature gates. The open-source version can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure for zero cost beyond server expenses.
SourceADempiere: Is ADempiere free?
The software is GPL licensed with no licence fee. The cost is implementation, customisation and permanent in-house maintenance, which for a real deployment is substantial.
Penpot: Can I self-host Penpot?
Yes. Penpot can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure with no licensing costs. Organizations with specific privacy or governance needs can run Penpot on their own servers.
SourceADempiere: Is the project still alive?
Development continues on GitHub with commits into 2026, but the official website is down and the last stable release is from January 2023. Treat it as maintained rather than actively advancing.
Penpot: What are the paid plans if I use Penpot cloud?
Penpot's cloud service offers a free tier, Unlimited plan at $7 per user per month for professionals and medium teams, and Enterprise starting at $950 per month for larger organizations.
SourceADempiere: What is the application dictionary?
It is the metadata layer inherited from Compiere that stores the definition of every window, field and validation rule as data, so you can change the application without touching source code.
Penpot: What platforms does Penpot support?
Penpot runs in the browser, so it works on Windows, Mac, Linux, and any OS with a web browser. No platform-specific downloads required.
SourceRelated pages
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