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Documentation · head to head

Outline vs Penpot

Outline logo

Outline

Documentation

Team knowledge base under the Business Source Licence, self-hostable or vendor hosted

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Penpot logo

Penpot

Developer Tools

Open source design and prototyping platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Outline the Business Source Licence is not an open source licence, so anyone planning to host Outline for clients, resell it or embed it in a commercial service is prohibited until the per-release change date passes, and this is regularly discovered only at legal review.; Penpot smaller user base and community compared to Figma means fewer templates and resources
  • They diverge on capability: Outline covers Structured collections, Penpot covers Vector editing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Outline and Penpot actually diverge.

Attributes where Outline and Penpot differ
AttributeOutlinePenpot
Pricing modelFree to self-host, per user per month when hosted by the vendorUnknown
PlatformsWeb, Self-hosted, Docker, iOS, AndroidWeb, Windows, macOS, Linux
CategoryDocumentationDeveloper Tools
FoundedUnknown2021

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 Outline

  • Structured collections
  • Block editor
  • Search
  • Backlinks and mentions
  • Templates
  • API and webhooks
  • Single sign-on
  • Self-hosting

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.

Outline

  • Running an internal wiki on your own infrastructure when documentation cannot leave a specific jurisdictionnot Penpot
  • Replacing a general-purpose workspace tool with something narrower where search speed and writing flow matter mostnot Penpot
  • Keeping engineering decision records and postmortems in templated documents that link to each other automaticallynot Penpot
  • Giving a company already standardised on Google or Okta a wiki that inherits identity and group membership directlynot Penpot

Penpot

  • UI/UX designnot Outline
  • Prototypingnot Outline
  • Design systemsnot Outline
  • Developer handoffnot Outline
  • Open source projectsnot Outline

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Outline

  • The Business Source Licence is not an open source licence, so anyone planning to host Outline for clients, resell it or embed it in a commercial service is prohibited until the per-release change date passes, and this is regularly discovered only at legal review.
  • There is no local password authentication, so self-hosting requires an identity provider to be in place first, which turns a small internal wiki into a project with a dependency on Google, Okta, Entra or a Keycloak instance somebody has to run.
  • Self-hosting needs Postgres, Redis and S3-compatible object storage together, so the operational footprint is larger than the single database most internal wikis require.
  • The hosted plans offer no customer-selectable hosting region, so buyers with data residency obligations are pushed to self-hosting even when they would have paid to avoid running servers.
  • It is built for internal knowledge rather than public documentation, with no versioned documentation sets, no static output and limited public publishing, so it will not serve as a product documentation site.
  • Because it is a single-vendor project rather than a foundation-governed one, a future licence or pricing change applies to new releases and the only defence is staying on an older version.

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

Outline

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • Source available under the Business Source Licence
    • No licence fee for use inside your own organisation
    • Requires Postgres, Redis and S3-compatible storage
  • Team (hosted)$undefined/month
    • Charged per user per month
    • Hosted and maintained by the vendor
    • Single sign-on through Google, Slack or Microsoft
  • Enterprise (hosted)$undefined/month
    • SAML single sign-on and provisioning
    • Administrative controls and audit visibility
    • Negotiated terms and support

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 Outline if

  • You need structured collections.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, iOS, Android.
  • You also want block editor.
Outline review

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.
Penpot review

Questions people ask

Is Outline or Penpot better?
Neither clearly leads. Outline 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, Outline or Penpot?
Outline starts at Free and Penpot at Free.
Does Outline or Penpot run on more platforms?
Outline runs on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, iOS, Android. Penpot runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
Can I use Outline for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Outline best used for?
Outline is most often used for running an internal wiki on your own infrastructure when documentation cannot leave a specific jurisdiction, replacing a general-purpose workspace tool with something narrower where search speed and writing flow matter most, keeping engineering decision records and postmortems in templated documents that link to each other automatically, giving a company already standardised on google or okta a wiki that inherits identity and group membership directly. Of those, running an internal wiki on your own infrastructure when documentation cannot leave a specific jurisdiction and replacing a general-purpose workspace tool with something narrower where search speed and writing flow matter most are not what Penpot is typically brought in for.
What can Outline do that Penpot cannot?
Outline covers Structured collections, Block editor, Search, Backlinks and mentions. Penpot covers Vector editing, Interactive prototyping, Design systems, Components & libraries.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Outline: Is Outline open source?

No, not in the OSI sense. It is source available under the Business Source Licence, which permits internal use and self-hosting but not offering it as a service to others, with each release converting to an open source licence after its change date.

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.

Source
Outline: Can I run it for free?

Yes, for your own organisation. Self-hosting carries no licence fee, only the cost of running Postgres, Redis, object storage and an identity provider.

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.

Source
Outline: Can I choose where the hosted version stores data?

No. The hosted plans do not offer a region choice, so residency requirements mean self-hosting.

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.

Source
Outline: Does it work for public product documentation?

Poorly. It has no versioned documentation sets or static site output, so it is best kept for internal knowledge.

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.

Source
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