Deploy and Host self hosted Penpot vs Figma (Open-Source Figma Alternative) on Railway

This template runs a self-hosted Penpot, the open-source design and prototyping tool, on Railway, so you can compare it with Figma and move your existing files over.

About Hosting Penpot vs Figma open-source software on Railway (self hosted Penpot as a Figma alternative template)

Your design files live in a Postgres database and an asset volume on your own Railway project, not in a vendor's cloud.

Why Deploy Penpot vs Figma, the Figma alternative on Railway (Railway Free Trial)

Figma bills per editor and keeps your files in its cloud, while self-hosted Penpot is free under MPL-2.0 and runs on a server you control, so you can invite every editor without a seat bill.

Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it.

By deploying Penpot vs Figma on Railway, you are one step closer to supporting a complete full-stack application with minimal burden. Host your servers, databases, AI agents, and more on Railway.

Railway vs Other Hosting Providers and VPS for Penpot vs Figma self hosting

Penpot runs as a Docker stack with Postgres, Valkey and a Java backend, so your provider decides how much you assemble yourself.

Provider	What You Get with Railway	What You Get with the Other Provider
DigitalOcean	Five services from one template, with Postgres and Valkey attached.	A Droplet where you install Docker, write Compose, add TLS and handle backups.
AWS	The stack deployed in a few clicks, with no VPC to design first.	Full EC2, RDS and load balancer control, but you build the whole topology.
Hetzner	A managed deploy that handles variables, secrets and private links.	Low cost per gigabyte of RAM, but you run Compose, the proxy and upgrades yourself.

Pick Railway when you want Penpot running fast, and a VPS when raw cost matters more than saved effort.

Common Use Cases for hosted Penpot vs Figma

Avoiding per-editor design seat costs: Penpot is free to self-host under MPL-2.0, so a growing design team does not add a paid seat for every new editor the way a Figma plan does. You pay for the Railway resources the stack uses instead.
Keeping design files on your own server: Every design file lives in your Postgres database and uploaded assets sit on the backend volume, so the files stay on infrastructure you control rather than in a vendor's cloud.
Design systems with native tokens: Penpot handles design tokens natively, which suits teams that want their color, spacing and type scales defined once and reused across components.
Developer handoff with CSS and SVG: Inspect mode gives developers CSS, SVG and HTML for each element, and flex and grid layout maps closely to CSS, so handoff needs fewer translation steps.
Migrating a Figma library gradually: Run the Penpot Exporter plugin on one Figma file at a time, import the zip, and fix what did not convert before moving the next file over.

Dependencies for Penpot vs Figma Docker hosted on Railway

This template runs Penpot as five services. penpot-frontend is the only public one, while the backend, exporter, Postgres 18.6 and Valkey 8.1.10 stay private.

Deployment Dependencies for Managed Penpot vs Figma Service (Design Tool)

penpot-frontend: penpotapp/frontend:2.18.3 on port 8080, health check on /.
penpot-backend: penpotapp/backend:2.18.3 on port 6060 (assets on 6070), health check on /readyz, volume at /opt/data/assets.
penpot-exporter: penpotapp/exporter:2.18.3 on port 6061, headless Chromium for exports.
Postgres 18.6: Railway postgres-ssl image with a volume, holding every design file.
Valkey 8.1.10: password required, no volume, used for real-time notifications.

Implementation Details for Penpot vs Figma (Using Penpot official docker image)

Assets use the filesystem backend, and nginx fetches them from the backend's private port.

PENPOT_PUBLIC_URI=https://your-domain
PENPOT_FLAGS=enable-registration enable-login-with-password disable-email-verification enable-prepl-server
PENPOT_SECRET_KEY=generated-64-character-value
PENPOT_OBJECTS_STORAGE_BACKEND=fs
PENPOT_OBJECTS_STORAGE_FS_DIRECTORY=/opt/data/assets
JAVA_OPTS=-Xms256m -Xmx1g

Generate PENPOT_SECRET_KEY per deploy, because changing it logs everyone out.

How does Penpot vs Figma compare against other Figma alternatives

Penpot is one of several tools teams weigh when Figma's per-editor pricing or cloud-only storage stops fitting.

Penpot vs Figma (Figma Alternative Comparison)

Where Figma wins: Figma has the larger plugin ecosystem and FigJam for whiteboarding.
Where Penpot wins: Penpot is open source under MPL-2.0 and runs on your own server, so you pay for hosting, not per editor.
Standards fit: Designs are stored as SVG and use CSS flex and grid layout, so Inspect mode feels closer to the code.
Migration reality: The Penpot Exporter plugin converts a Figma file to a zip you import, but budget time to fix components and fonts afterward.

Penpot vs Sketch (Sketch Alternative Comparison)

Where Sketch wins: Sketch is a mature macOS app with a long-established plugin library.
Where Penpot wins: Penpot runs in the browser on any operating system, so Windows and Linux designers join with no install.
Cost model: Sketch is a paid subscription, while self-hosted Penpot is free software whose only cost is the server.

Penpot vs Lunacy (Lunacy Alternative Comparison)

Where Lunacy wins: Lunacy is a free desktop app from Icons8 with a Figma-like interface and offline editing.
Where Penpot wins: Penpot keeps one live shared file on a server you run, so a whole team edits together.
Honest gap: Lunacy is simpler for a solo freelancer who only needs a local sketch tool.

Penpot vs Framer (Framer Alternative Comparison)

Where Framer wins: Framer publishes a design straight to a live website, with hosting and CMS features Penpot lacks.
Where Penpot wins: Penpot focuses on product UI, components and prototyping, and is open source and self-hostable.
Pick by job: Choose Framer for a marketing site and Penpot for a product interface a developer builds from the design.

How to use Penpot vs Figma (the OSS design and prototyping tool)?

Open your Railway Penpot domain and click Create an account. No email verification, so you are in right away. After your team signs up, add disable-registration to PENPOT_FLAGS on penpot-backend and redeploy the three Penpot services.
Create a team and a project from the dashboard. Match the team name to your Figma workspace.
In Figma, install the Penpot Exporter plugin from the Community tab and run it on your file. It produces a zip. Read its README first, since it lists what converts.

penpot-exporter-figma-plugin
output: .zip
import target: Penpot dashboard &gt; Import

In Penpot, choose Import from the dashboard and select the zip. Check components, fonts and layouts one by one.
Fix what did not convert. Rebuild missing components, reattach licensed fonts and re-create Figma-only effects by hand.
Invite teammates from team settings. Without SMTP, enable enable-log-invitation-tokens in PENPOT_FLAGS and copy invite links from the backend logs.

How to self host Penpot vs Figma on other VPS Services (Penpot self hosting guide)

Penpot runs anywhere Docker runs, so you can host it on your own VPS instead of Railway.

Clone the Repository

The upstream compose file lives in the docker/images folder of the Penpot repository.

git clone https://github.com/penpot/penpot.git
cd penpot/docker/images

Install Dependencies

Install Docker with the Compose plugin, then confirm it works.

docker compose version

Put a reverse proxy with HTTPS, such as Caddy, in front of the frontend container.

Configure Environment Variables

In docker-compose.yaml, set your public address on the frontend, backend and exporter.

PENPOT_PUBLIC_URI=https://your-domain

Generate a real PENPOT_SECRET_KEY, since the upstream file ships a placeholder.

openssl rand -hex 32

Start the Penpot vs Figma Application

Start the stack in the background, then watch the backend come up.

docker compose -p penpot -f docker-compose.yaml up -d
docker compose -p penpot logs -f penpot-backend

Open https://your-domain and create your account.

Official Pricing of Penpot vs Figma (Penpot pricing)

Self-hosting Penpot is free.

Penpot vs Figma cloud vs self hosted comparison (Pricing, features, costs, and more)

Self-hosting Penpot is free to start, so the real comparison is infrastructure cost versus Figma's per-editor pricing.

Monthly cost of self hosting Penpot vs Figma on Railway

Expect roughly $10 to $25 per month for the whole stack at light team use, mostly for RAM.

System Requirements for Hosting Penpot vs Figma on a VPS

Plan for about 1.5 GB of RAM at idle for the full stack, and at least Docker plus roughly 2 GB of RAM on your own VPS.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can I import my Figma files into Penpot?

Yes, but not with a one-click importer.

Do Figma plugins work in Penpot?

No. Figma plugins do not run in Penpot because Penpot has its own plugin system.

Do my Figma fonts carry over?

Usually only if the fonts are available to your Penpot instance.

Is Penpot free?

Self-hosting Penpot is free under the MPL-2.0 license, so you pay only for the server it runs on.

Does Penpot support real-time collaboration?

Yes.

What replaces Figma Dev Mode in Penpot?

Penpot's Inspect mode is free on all plans and gives developers CSS, SVG and HTML for the selected elements.