Penpot vs Smocker

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?
FeaturePenpotSmocker
CategoryDeveloper Tools & GitDeveloper Tools & Git
LicenseMPL-2.0MIT
LanguageClojureTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM2,048 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetesdocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 58,249★ 1,284
First released20202019
ReplacesFigmaWireMock, Mockoon

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 Smocker if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
Smocker details

Frequently asked questions

Is Penpot or Smocker better?

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

Are Penpot and Smocker free and open-source?

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

Can I run Penpot and Smocker with Docker?

Penpot: yes. Smocker: yes.

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