4B Pen vs Pencil

4B Pen

4B Pen is a standalone design IDE built for designers first: no git or editor setup, .fig files open as they are, and Deploy is one click.

Pencil is a design canvas that runs inside your code editor, such as VS Code or Cursor, and saves designs as .pen files in your repository.

Feature	4B Pen	Pencil
Design canvas	Pages, layers, auto layout, components and variables. Opens .fig files.	A vector design canvas inside your editor, also available as a desktop app.
Code	Code files open in tabs beside the canvas. Build turns a design into an app in your project folder.	Lives in your code editor, beside your source files.
AI agent	Bring your own: Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and others run in the built-in terminal with your subscription.	Works with agents such as Claude Code and Codex through MCP.
Deploy	One click to Cloudflare from the app.	Not built in; you deploy the code yourself.
Where files live	On your computer, as a project folder. Works offline.	.pen files in your project, which you can keep in git.
Price	Free on your computer. Cloud and Team are coming later.	Early access. See pencil.dev for current pricing.

About Pencil as of October 2026, from www.pencil.dev and public reviews. Something changed? Tell us and we’ll fix it.

Pick Pencil when you are a developer who lives in VS Code or Cursor and wants the canvas inside it.

Pick 4B Pen when you want to design, build with your own agent and ship a live app without leaving one window, and keep the files on your computer.