Best open-source alternatives to Canva

Penpot is an open-source design platform aimed at teams that build digital products and design systems at scale. It is positioned for both designers and developers, emphasizing a code-based workflow where designs can be expressed in familiar web formats such as SVG, CSS, HTML, and JSON. The project highlights real-time collaboration, design tokens, and a plugin system as key parts of its collaborative workflow. The software can be used as a hosted SaaS product or self-hosted on an organization’s own infrastructure, making it suitable for teams that need control over their design environment and compliance requirements. It also exposes integration capabilities through an API, webhooks, and an MCP server, enabling automation and toolchain connections. The README suggests it is meant for collaborative, team-based use rather than individual-only design work.

miniPaint is a browser-based image editor aimed at users who want a lightweight, install-free alternative for creating and editing images. It runs directly in the browser and emphasizes local editing with no server-side transfer, making it suitable for quick edits, browser-native workflows, and users who prefer not to install desktop software. The project includes a broad set of editing tools covering file import/export, layer-based composition, image adjustments, filters, and painting utilities. It also supports embedding in other websites and provides build instructions and a wiki for contributors or self-hosters who want to work with the codebase or integrate the app into their own pages.