Excalidraw vs Penpot: Which Design Tool to Self-Host?

Quick Verdict

Excalidraw and Penpot solve different problems. Excalidraw is a whiteboard for quick sketches and diagrams — deploy it in 30 seconds, draw something, export it. Penpot is a full design platform competing with Figma — component libraries, prototyping, design systems. Pick based on what you’re actually designing.

Overview

Excalidraw is a virtual whiteboard with a hand-drawn aesthetic. It runs entirely in the browser — the server just delivers static files. No database, no backend state, minimal resources. Ideal for architecture diagrams, flowcharts, and quick visual explanations.

Penpot is an open-source design and prototyping platform. It’s the self-hosted answer to Figma — vector editing, components, design tokens, interactive prototypes, and real-time collaboration. It runs as a multi-service Docker stack with PostgreSQL and Redis.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Excalidraw	Penpot
Primary use case	Whiteboard & diagrams	UI/UX design & prototyping
Drawing style	Hand-drawn aesthetic	Professional vector graphics
Collaboration	Requires custom build	Built-in, real-time
Component libraries	Community libraries (shapes)	Full component system with variants
Prototyping	No	Interactive prototypes with flows
Design tokens	No	Yes (CSS variables export)
SVG support	Basic export	Full SVG editing engine
Data storage	Browser only (localStorage)	Server-side (PostgreSQL)
Plugin system	No	Yes
File format	.excalidraw (JSON)	Native + SVG + PDF export
Mobile support	Browser (responsive)	Browser (responsive)
Offline mode	Yes (once loaded)	No (server required)

Setup Complexity

Excalidraw is about as simple as self-hosting gets:

services:
  excalidraw:
    # No semver Docker tags published — :latest only
    image: excalidraw/excalidraw:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:80"

One container. No database. No volumes. Deploy in under a minute.

Penpot requires a multi-service stack — the application (frontend + backend + exporter), PostgreSQL, and Redis. Typical Docker Compose is 50+ lines with environment variables for SMTP, storage, and authentication.

Metric	Excalidraw	Penpot
Containers	1	5+
RAM (idle)	~30 MB	~1.5 GB
Disk	~50 MB	~2 GB
Setup time	1 minute	15-30 minutes
Database	None	PostgreSQL

Performance and Resources

Excalidraw is negligible on server resources — Nginx serving static files. All rendering happens in the browser. You could run it on a Raspberry Pi Zero.

Penpot’s backend processes SVG rendering and file operations server-side. The exporter service uses headless Chrome for PDF generation. Expect 1.5+ GB RAM usage even at idle.

Collaboration

Excalidraw: The pre-built Docker image routes collaboration through Excalidraw’s hosted relay server. To fully self-host collaboration, you need to build a custom image pointing to your own excalidraw-room WebSocket relay. It works, but it’s extra effort.

Penpot: Real-time collaboration is built-in and fully self-hosted. Multiple users can edit the same design simultaneously with live cursors. No external dependencies.

Use Cases

Choose Excalidraw If…

• You need a quick whiteboard for architecture diagrams
• You want minimal server overhead
• Privacy matters and you don’t want server-side data storage
• You’re drawing flowcharts, mind maps, or technical sketches
• You want hand-drawn aesthetics for presentations or documentation

Choose Penpot If…

• You’re designing user interfaces or web layouts
• You need component libraries and design systems
• You want interactive prototyping with click-through flows
• Multiple designers need real-time collaboration
• You’re replacing Figma and need a comparable feature set

Final Verdict

These tools barely overlap. Excalidraw is a whiteboard. Penpot is a design platform. Run both if you need both — Excalidraw’s resource footprint is so small it’s practically free to add alongside any other service.

If forced to pick one: Penpot covers more ground. You can sketch diagrams in Penpot (less charming than Excalidraw’s hand-drawn style, but functional). You cannot do UI design in Excalidraw.

Related

• How to Self-Host Excalidraw
• How to Self-Host Penpot
• Best Self-Hosted Photo Editing & Design Tools
• Docker Compose Basics
• Best Self-Hosted Office Suites