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Developer Tools · head to head

Penpot vs Rill Data

Penpot logo

Penpot

Developer Tools

Open source design and prototyping platform

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit PenpotFull review
Rill Data logo

Rill Data

Business Intelligence

Local-first BI on DuckDB and ClickHouse with dashboards defined as code

From
$20/month
Free plan
No
Visit Rill DataFull review

The short version

  • Penpot has a free plan, then $7/mo; Rill Data starts at $20/mo.
  • Only Penpot lists vector editing; only Rill Data lists local development.
  • Where Penpot falls short: smaller user base and community compared to Figma means fewer templates and resources.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Penpot and Rill Data actually diverge.

Attributes where Penpot and Rill Data differ
AttributePenpotRill Data
Starting priceFree$20/month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, LinuxWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows
CategoryDeveloper ToolsBusiness Intelligence

Not yet recorded: pricing model for Penpot, founded for Rill Data.

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 Penpot

  • Vector editing
  • Interactive prototyping
  • Design systems
  • Components & libraries
  • Real-time collaboration
  • SVG support
  • CSS Grid & Flexbox
  • Code export

Only in Rill Data

  • Local development
  • Dashboards as code
  • Embedded DuckDB
  • Bring your own database
  • Alerts and scheduled reports
  • Embedded analytics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Penpot

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

Rill Data

  • An analytics team that wants dashboard changes to go through code review rather than being edited in a web UInot Penpot
  • Interactive exploration of event-scale data where a warehouse round trip per filter click is too slownot Penpot
  • Embedding fast slice-and-dice dashboards into a product where the underlying store is already ClickHouse or Druidnot Penpot
  • A data engineer prototyping a metrics layer locally on a laptop before committing to any cloud spendnot Penpot

Where each one falls short

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

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

Rill Data

  • The seat price of 20 dollars is misleading as a budget figure: Rill’s own calculator puts a small two-seat project at around 256 dollars a month, with compute making up the great majority
  • Dashboards are defined in YAML and SQL, so business users cannot create or change one without a developer and a Git workflow, which stalls self-service adoption
  • It is built for the explore-a-metric pattern and does not produce pixel-perfect financial or operational reports, so most organisations still need a second reporting tool
  • AI tokens and API calls are quota-limited per seat, with API overage at a cent per call, so programmatic consumers can create an unbudgeted line item
  • As a smaller vendor competing against Looker, Tableau and Power BI, the ecosystem of consultants, templates and trained analysts is thin, which raises the cost of hiring for it

Pricing, plan by plan

Penpot

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Cloud-based design
    • Real-time collaboration
    • Components and variants
  • Unlimited$7/mo
    • All free features
    • Priority support
    • Advanced cloud features
  • Enterprise$950/mo
    • Custom enterprise features
    • Dedicated support
    • Advanced security

Rill Data

$20/month
  • Starter$20/mo
    • Per seat, up to twenty seats
    • Three projects
    • Compute at 0.15 USD per compute unit hour
  • Growth$30/mo
    • Per seat, up to one hundred seats
    • Ten projects
    • Compute at 0.20 USD per compute unit hour
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Annual platform licence with negotiated capacity
    • Unlimited seats and projects
    • Dedicated infrastructure

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Rill Data if

  • You need local development.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want dashboards as code.
Rill Data review

Questions people ask

Is Penpot or Rill Data better?
Neither clearly leads. Penpot starts at Free and Rill Data at $20/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Penpot or Rill Data?
Penpot has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Penpot and $20/month for Rill Data.
Does Penpot or Rill Data run on more platforms?
Penpot runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux. Rill Data runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Penpot for free?
Yes. Penpot has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Rill Data starts at $20/month.
What is Penpot best used for?
Penpot is most often used for ui/ux design, prototyping, design systems, developer handoff. Of those, ui/ux design and prototyping are not what Rill Data is typically brought in for.
What can Penpot do that Rill Data cannot?
Penpot covers Vector editing, Interactive prototyping, Design systems, Components & libraries. Rill Data covers Local development, Dashboards as code, Embedded DuckDB, Bring your own database.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
Rill Data: Is Rill open source?

The Rill developer binary is open source and free to run locally; Rill Cloud is the paid product.

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
Rill Data: How much does it actually cost?

Seats start at 20 USD per month, but hosted compute at 0.15 USD per compute unit hour typically dominates the bill. Bringing your own database removes the usage fee.

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
Rill Data: Can business users build dashboards?

Not directly. Dashboards are YAML and SQL under version control.

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
Rill Data: Which databases can back a deployed project?

DuckDB, ClickHouse, Druid, Pinot, Snowflake and others.

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