Penpot vs Adobe Creative Cloud
Penpot is a European alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud — same other use case, built under EU data-protection law.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Design tool that connects designers and developers seamlessly. Create prototypes, UI designs, and generate code in one platform with no handoff drama.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- GDPR by default
- Yes
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- Yes
- Free tier
- Yes
Adobe Creative Cloud by Adobe.
- Jurisdiction
- US
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
About Penpot
Penpot is the world's first open-source design tool built on open standards — SVG, CSS, and HTML — so every design file is readable without proprietary software. Made by Kaleidos in Madrid, Spain, it covers the full design workflow: vector editing, component libraries, responsive prototyping, and CSS-ready developer handoff, all running in the browser.
Teams use penpot.app (EU-hosted cloud) or deploy a self-hosted instance via Docker in minutes. Native design tokens link design decisions directly to code variables, eliminating the back-and-forth of traditional handoff. Developers inspect real CSS values, copy HTML snippets, and export assets — no separate handoff tool required.
Key benefits:
- Open standards (SVG/CSS/HTML) — files are vendor-neutral and parseable by any tool
- Design tokens as a native feature linking design decisions directly to code variables
- Real-time collaboration with multiplayer editing, comments, and shared cursors
- Prototyping with transitions, interactions, scroll behaviour, and presentation mode
- Developer inspect mode with copy-paste CSS, HTML, and asset export
- Self-hosting via Docker for complete data sovereignty on your own infrastructure
- Free and open-source under AGPL — no per-seat pricing in the community edition
- Component libraries with master components, overrides, and nested instances
Penpot's cloud service is hosted in the EU with GDPR-compliant data practices. As a fully open-source project (AGPL) maintained by Kaleidos in Spain, self-hosting teams keep all design data on their own servers — no telemetry, no lock-in, and no dependency on U.S. design SaaS infrastructure.
Used by hundreds of thousands of designers and developers worldwide, with 40,000+ GitHub stars and an active community that includes contributors from across Europe.
Why choose Penpot over Adobe Creative Cloud?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Adobe Creative Cloud is headquartered in US, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes — the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Penpot removes that overhead. As a Spain-based provider, it operates natively under GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors — health, public administration, finance — that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single non-EU jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.