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Developer Tools · head to head

Penpot vs Sigstore

Penpot logo

Penpot

Developer Tools

Open source design and prototyping platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sigstore logo

Sigstore

Cybersecurity

Free public signing and transparency infrastructure for open source artifacts

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Penpot smaller user base and community compared to Figma means fewer templates and resources; Sigstore the security model depends on somebody watching the log. The documentation states that compromise of an identity provider or of Fulcio itself is detectable only if third parties monitor the transparency log, the monitoring tool is a community-tier rather than core project, and almost no consumer runs one.
  • They diverge on capability: Penpot covers Vector editing, Sigstore covers Fulcio.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Penpot and Sigstore actually diverge.

Attributes where Penpot and Sigstore differ
AttributePenpotSigstore
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, public instance free to use
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, LinuxWeb, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
Founded2021Unknown

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 Penpot

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

Only in Sigstore

  • Fulcio
  • Rekor
  • Keyless signing
  • Multi-language clients
  • Timestamp authority
  • Neutral governance

What people use each for

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

Penpot

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

Sigstore

  • Open source projects signing releases without running a certificate authoritynot Penpot
  • Organisations meeting a signed-artifact requirement without buying a signing productnot Penpot
  • Publishing provenance that a consumer can verify independently of younot Penpot
  • Self-hosting the same components where a public log is unacceptablenot 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

Sigstore

  • The security model depends on somebody watching the log. The documentation states that compromise of an identity provider or of Fulcio itself is detectable only if third parties monitor the transparency log, the monitoring tool is a community-tier rather than core project, and almost no consumer runs one.
  • It is a 99.5 percent objective with no service level agreement, which permits several hours of downtime a month and offers no remedy. A pipeline that signs on every build has taken a hard dependency on a free service with no contract behind it.
  • Log scale is a live engineering problem rather than a theoretical one. The active shard holds billions of entries, the log has already been sharded twice, and sharding version 1 requires stopping traffic, which is why a replacement was built.
  • Ten-minute certificates make trust depend on log availability. Verifying an older signature relies on the log entry proving it was made inside that window, so a lost or unreachable entry can render a valid artifact unverifiable.
  • Migration debt is substantial and ongoing. Version 2 of the log is generally available but not the public default, the signing client has an announced breaking release ahead, some official clients lag the new log format, and a post-quantum migration is named as the next break after that.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Sigstore

Free
  • Public good instanceFree
    • Free to everyone with no contract
    • 99.5 percent availability objective, not an agreement
    • 100KB cap per attestation upload
  • Self-hostedFree
    • Apache-2.0
    • Run your own Fulcio and Rekor
    • Rekor v2 available for self-hosters

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 Sigstore if

  • You need fulcio.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
  • You also want rekor.
Sigstore review

Questions people ask

Is Penpot or Sigstore better?
Neither clearly leads. Penpot starts at Free and Sigstore at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Penpot or Sigstore?
Penpot starts at Free and Sigstore at Free.
Does Penpot or Sigstore run on more platforms?
Penpot runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux. Sigstore runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
Can I use Penpot for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 Sigstore is typically brought in for.
What can Penpot do that Sigstore cannot?
Penpot covers Vector editing, Interactive prototyping, Design systems, Components & libraries. Sigstore covers Fulcio, Rekor, Keyless signing, Multi-language clients.

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
Sigstore: Is the public instance really free?

Yes, with no contract and no paid tier. That is also the weakness: a 99.5 percent objective with no agreement, no remedy and support through Slack.

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
Sigstore: Has the public log moved to Rekor v2?

No. Version 2 reached general availability in October 2025 and self-hosters can use it, but the public instance still defaults to version 1 and the project has said it will for the foreseeable future.

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
Sigstore: Does Sigstore make my dependencies safe?

No, and this is a category error worth avoiding. It tells you who published something. It has no knowledge of what the artifact contains or whether it is vulnerable.

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
Sigstore: What are the rate limits?

Not published. Only the 100KB cap per attestation upload is documented, so do not design a high-volume pipeline around assumed throughput.

Sigstore: Should we self-host it?

If a public record of every signature is unacceptable, or if a free service with no agreement cannot sit in your build path, then yes. Otherwise the public instance is what most projects use.

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