I tested 5 open-source Figma replacements — one absolutely crushed the rest

A comparison of five open-source design tools as Figma alternatives reveals Penpot as the standout choice. Unlike competitors like Excalidraw, Plasmic, Lunacy, and Inkscape, Penpot offers native CSS grid support, production-ready code export, and SVG-based architecture that eliminates translation layers between design and development. The tool provides professional features without paywalls, allows Git version control of design files, and costs significantly less than Figma's Dev Mode for teams. Trade-offs include a limited plugin ecosystem and potential performance issues with large-scale design systems.