# Penpot API + MCP vs Zeplin (slim)

> Zeplin scores 47.5 (D) to Penpot's 43.5 (E) for design files. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/penpot-vs-zeplin.md (~2,200 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/penpot-vs-zeplin.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/penpot-vs-zeplin
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Zeplin scores 47.5 (D) on agent readiness against Penpot API + MCP's 43.5 (E), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Penpot API + MCP leads on reliability, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do design files.

- Penpot API + MCP: E 43.5, rank #882 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/penpot.min.md
- Zeplin: D 47.5, rank #834 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeplin.min.md
- Penpot API + MCP, good for Teams that want design files on their own servers and an agent working alongside a person in the editor. Ahead on Reliability, 46 against 36; Maintenance & community, 76 against 33; Transparency & trust, 66 against 58. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install; Free to start without a card; Open source.
- Zeplin, good for Teams that already publish designs to Zeplin and want an agent to read screens, components, tokens and notes, or turn a screen into code through the MCP server. Ahead on Agent ergonomics, 55 against 41; Security & auth, 47 against 33. Also Runs on your own machine; No incidents deducted, where Penpot API + MCP loses 5 points for them.

| Category | Penpot API + MCP | Zeplin |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 46 | 36 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 66 | 70 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 41 | 55 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 33 | 47 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 30 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 76 | 33 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 66 | 58 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Penpot API + MCP | Zeplin |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Penpot (Kaleidos) | Zeplin, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://design.penpot.app/api/rpc/command` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | Token | OAuth or key |
| Licence | MPL-2.0 | Proprietary hosted service under Zeplin's Terms of Service and Developer Terms. The JavaScript SDK and the MCP server on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 5 | 4 |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-08-03 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-08-05 | 2026-01-12 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-08-05 | 2025-08-29 |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 61k stars, 1.3k npm/wk | 10 stars, 8.9k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |