Is Affinity Designer better than Penpot?

Affinity Designer scores higher on Twinover (8.6/10 vs 8.0/10). Affinity Designer stands out for No subscription and Vector and raster in one app, while Penpot is worth picking when open source and self-hostable matters more.

Which is cheaper, Affinity Designer or Penpot?

Penpot has the lower entry cost — its plan is free. Open-source design and prototyping platform, self-hostable and free.

What are the main drawbacks of Affinity Designer and Penpot?

Affinity Designer: Fewer plugins than Illustrator, Smaller learning community. Penpot: Smaller plugin ecosystem, Performance on large files.

Head-to-Head Comparison

Affinity Designer vs Penpot

Detailed side-by-side analysis of features, pricing, pros, and trade-offs.

Winner at a glance

Affinity Designer wins overall

Twinover Score 8.6/10 versus 8.0/10 — 0.6 points clear of Penpot.

Best value: Penpot costs less to start (free (open source))
Why Affinity Designer: No subscription
Pick Penpot if: open source and self-hostable matters most to you

Pricing last checked Sep 19, 2026.

Yearly cost calculator

Team size5 users

Affinity Designer
$69.99/yr
Cheapest paid plan, flat price
Penpot
Not published
Cheapest paid plan, flat price · free plan also available

Based on each tool's lowest published paid price. Taxes and annual-billing discounts vary.