Figma alternatives for designers who ship HTML
Most Figma alternatives copy the canvas. A few change what the canvas is made of. Here is how the main options compare if your designs end up as websites.
Why people look for a Figma alternative
The reasons we hear most are simple: an open source license, files you keep on your own machine, a free plan without limits that matter, or a workflow closer to code.
That last one is the reason this article exists. In most design tools, the canvas is a vector drawing. A browser never sees it. Someone still has to rebuild every frame in HTML and CSS, and fix what got lost on the way.
The short version
| Tool | Open source | How you design | Agents and MCP | Where files live |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Figma | No | Vector canvas | MCP server, writing to the canvas in beta | Figma's cloud |
| Penpot | Yes | Canvas with CSS Flex and Grid layouts | Open MCP server | Penpot cloud or self-hosted |
| Paper | No license published | HTML and CSS canvas | MCP, 100 tool calls a week on the free plan | Paper workspace, web and desktop apps |
| OpenDesign | Yes, Apache-2.0 | Prompt first, an agent writes HTML prototypes | Works with coding agents | Local folder |
| Kalka | Yes, MIT | Figma-style canvas, every layer is HTML | Built-in local MCP, no usage cap | Local folder, Git |
Penpot
Penpot is the best known open source alternative. It runs in the browser, you can self-host it, and its free plan comes with unlimited files and seats. Its layouts follow CSS Flex and Grid, and its Inspect tab gives code in SVG, CSS and HTML. It also offers an open MCP server, and you can bring Figma files in through the Penpot Exporter.
Choose it if you want a mature, open source tool your whole team can use today, with self-hosting.
Paper
Paper is the closest idea to Kalka: the canvas is HTML and CSS, and agents read and write on it through MCP. It has web and desktop apps, syncs tokens and components with a codebase, and exports HTML and CSS. The free plan includes 100 MCP tool calls per week. Pro costs $16 per editor per month billed yearly ($20 monthly) and raises that to one million.
Choose it if you want an HTML canvas now, with a funded team behind it, and you are fine with a proprietary, hosted tool.
OpenDesign
OpenDesign is open source (Apache-2.0) and works differently: you pick a design system, describe your screens, and a coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor writes an HTML prototype. You can then move, resize and recolor elements. Projects are HTML and CSS files in a local folder. The desktop app is free with your own API key, and paid plans add hosted model credits.
Choose it if you want to start from a prompt rather than from a blank canvas.
Kalka
Kalka is the tool we are building. It keeps the interface you know from Figma, but every frame, layer and shadow on the canvas is a real HTML element styled with real CSS, laid out by the browser. Your project is a plain folder you can open in any code editor and version with Git. A built-in MCP server lets any agent read and draw on the canvas, locally, with no usage cap. You can bring your work with you: Kalka imports .fig and .pen files.
Kalka is in development and open source under the MIT license. We share every step on X while we build it.
Choose it if you want to design by hand, the way you already do, and skip the rebuild in code.
How to choose
- You need something stable today, open source: Penpot.
- You want an HTML canvas today and don't need open source: Paper.
- You would rather prompt than draw: OpenDesign.
- You want Figma's habits, real HTML underneath, and files you own: join the Kalka waitlist.