Penpot Slow and Laggy

How to fix it

// try these in order, the most common fix is first

1. FIX 1Switch to Chrome or another Chromium browser

   Copy steps
   1. 01Open Penpot in Chrome (Penpot staff call it the fastest browser for Penpot)
   2. 02Close other heavy tabs
   3. 03Disable extensions that inject into pages
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. FIX 2Split the file

   Copy steps
   1. 01Move screens to separate pages
   2. 02Split big design systems into library files
   3. 03Duplicate-and-trim instead of one giant page
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. FIX 3Cut expensive effects

   Copy steps
   1. 01Reduce blur radius on shadows
   2. 02Remove effects from groups of many objects
   3. 03If slow after selecting many items, switch page and come back
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Panning, zooming and selecting lag; typing is delayed; the tab sometimes freezes.

Why it happens

• C-01Too many layers on one page
• C-02High-blur shadows and effects on many objects
• C-03Non-Chrome browser
• C-04Many other tabs open
• C-05Large files migrated from other tools

// this guide also covers

• penpot slow
• penpot laggy
• why is penpot so slow
• penpot performance

The same problem in other apps

All slow, laggy or resource-hungry guides →

• Figma Slow and Laggy With Large Files (Figma)
• Why Is Sketch So Slow or Lagging? (Sketch)
• Framer Editor Slow or Laggy (Framer)
• Why Is Canva So Slow and Laggy? (Canva)
• Why Is Inkscape So Slow on Mac? (Inkscape)

Other Penpot errors

• Penpot Freezing: Page Not Responding
• Penpot New Render Engine Slow
• Penpot Figma Import Not Working
• Penpot PDF Export Blank or Empty
• Penpot Not Starting After Upgrade
• Penpot Self-Hosted Stuck on localhost:9001
• Penpot Custom Fonts Not Working
• Penpot 2.0 Broke My Designs