Penpot vs Koillection

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

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FeaturePenpotKoillection
CategoryDeveloper Tools & GitDeveloper Tools & Git
LicenseMPL-2.0free
LanguageClojurePHP
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetesdocker, one-click
GitHub stars★ 58,249★ 1,281
First released20202023
ReplacesFigma

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 Koillection if…

  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • One-click install on common self-host platforms
  • Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
Koillection details

Frequently asked questions

Is Penpot or Koillection better?

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

Are Penpot and Koillection free and open-source?

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

Can I run Penpot and Koillection with Docker?

Penpot: yes. Koillection: yes.

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