vioscaleAI
Comparison

Balsamiq vs Penpot

On the evidence we track, Balsamiq leads this comparison with a composite score of 69/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Balsamiq full profile →Penpot full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★Balsamiq69
Penpot63
Score
vioscaleAI score
Balsamiq69 / 100medium · 69%
Penpot63 / 100medium · 68%
Pricing
Free tier
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Model
Balsamiqcommercial
Penpotfreemium
Price level
Balsamiqmid
Penpotlow
Starting price
Balsamiq–
Penpot$7
Transparent
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Integrations
Count
Balsamiq5
Penpot5
Security
Gdpr
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Scorecard
Balsamiq–
Penpot4.9
Soc2
Balsamiq✓
Penpot–
Trust center
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Sla pct
Balsamiq99.9
Penpot–
Status page
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Balsamiq–
Penpot0
Github stars
Balsamiq–
Penpot60,714
Activity
Commits last 30d
Balsamiq–
Penpot100
Release
Cadence days
Balsamiq–
Penpot9
History
Balsamiq–
Penpot20 items
License
Spdx
Balsamiq–
PenpotMPL-2.0
Language
Primary
Balsamiq–
PenpotClojure
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
Balsamiq6 items
Penpot8 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for ui/ux & prototyping tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Design
Vector UI design
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Component / design-system libraries
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Auto layout / responsive
Balsamiq-
Penpot✓
Prototyping
Clickable prototyping
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Advanced interactions (variables / conditions)
Balsamiq-
Penpot✓
Collaboration
Real-time multiplayer collaboration
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Handoff
Dev handoff / spec export
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Platform
Platform breadth (Web / macOS / Windows / Linux / self-hosted)
BalsamiqWeb (Cloud), Desktop, Confluence, Jira
PenpotWeb-based; self-hosted on Linux with Docker; cloud-hosted with data residency op
Licensing
Self-hostable / open-source
Balsamiq-
Penpot✓
AI
AI design assist
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Pricing
Pricing model
BalsamiqSubscription
PenpotOpen-source
Ecosystem
Plugin / community ecosystem
BalsamiqSlack, Jira, Confluence, Notion, MCP server for Claude/Cursor
PenpotOpen plugin API with community contributions and MCP Server for multi-directiona

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Balsamiq

Leader

A wireframing and prototyping platform that combines AI-assisted design with real-time collaboration to help teams turn rough ideas into validated, interactive prototypes before handing off to developers.

Independently observed

Penpot

A web-based design and prototyping tool built on open web standards (SVG, HTML, CSS) that facilitates real-time collaboration between designers and developers. It supports responsive UI design with CSS-based layouts, design systems with components and tokens, interactive prototyping, and integrates with AI workflows through an extensible plugin ecosystem.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Balsamiq

Leader
from $16/moSubscriptionFree tier14-day trial

From $16/editor/month. Free 14-day trial. Save 30% with annual billing.

  • Starter$16/editor/month billed annually ($192/year)
    • Up to 10 projects
    • Unlimited reviewers
    • 500 monthly AI credits per editor
    • Balsamiq MCP server
    • Slack integration
    • +2 more
  • Teams$24/editor/month billed annually ($288/year)
    • Up to 100 projects
    • Unlimited reviewers
    • 1,000 monthly AI credits per editor
    • Balsamiq MCP server
    • Billing admin role and permissions
    • +3 more
  • Enterprise$35/editor/month billed annually ($420/year)
    • Everything in Teams, plus:
    • Up to 400 projects
    • 2,500 monthly AI credits per editor
    • Balsamiq MCP server
    • SSO with SAML
    • +3 more
as of verify ↗

Penpot

from $7/editor/mofreemiumFree tier14-day trial

Free Professional plan with full features. Unlimited plan at $7/editor/month (capped at $175/month) with 14-day trial. Enterprise at $25/member/month. Private Server at $50k/year.

  • ProfessionalFree
    • No file limits
    • Unlimited teams
    • Open source
    • Unlimited team size (8 members + unlimited viewers)
    • 10GB storage
    • +2 more
  • Unlimited$7/editor/month (capped at $175/month). 14-day free trial.
    • All Professional features
    • Extra storage
    • Extended history
    • Early access to features
    • 30 days autosave versions
    • +1 more
  • Enterprise$25/member/month
    • All Unlimited features
    • Advanced governance
    • Centralized administration
    • Team permissions
    • Secure collaboration
    • +4 more
  • Private ServerContact sales
    • Dedicated infrastructure
    • Custom hosting
    • Advanced security
    • Enterprise-grade support
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Balsamiq✓
Penpot✓
Self-hosted
Balsamiq✗
Penpot✓
On-premise
Balsamiq✗
Penpot✓
Air-gapped
Balsamiq✗
Penpot✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Balsamiq

Leader
5 total
  • Slack
  • Jira
  • Confluence
  • Notion
  • MCP server (Claude, Cursor)
Independently observed

Penpot

5 total
  • Open API
  • MCP Server
  • Webhooks
  • Access tokens
  • Plugins
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Balsamiq or Penpot: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.