Penpot vs klaus

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted developer tools & git options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeaturePenpotklaus
CategoryDeveloper Tools & GitDeveloper Tools & Git
LicenseMPL-2.0ISC
LanguageClojurePython
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM2,048 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetesdocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 58,249★ 702
First released20202011
ReplacesFigmaGitHub

Why pick each one

Choose Penpot if…

  • Released under the MPL-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 58.2k GitHub stars
Penpot details

Choose klaus if…

  • Released under the ISC license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Python
klaus details

Frequently asked questions

Is Penpot or klaus better?

Neither is universally better. Penpot has the larger community, while klaus is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Penpot and klaus free and open-source?

Yes. Penpot is licensed under MPL-2.0 and klaus under ISC. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Penpot and klaus with Docker?

Penpot: yes. klaus: yes.

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