Penpot vs Limbas

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?
FeaturePenpotLimbas
CategoryDeveloper Tools & GitDeveloper Tools & Git
LicenseMPL-2.0GPL-2.0
LanguageClojurePHP
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetesbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 58,249★ 58
First released20202025
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 Limbas if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Written in PHP
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Limbas details

Frequently asked questions

Is Penpot or Limbas better?

Neither is universally better. Penpot has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Penpot and Limbas free and open-source?

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

Can I run Penpot and Limbas with Docker?

Penpot: yes. Limbas: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons