Is OpenDesign really free?

Yes. OpenDesign is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Claude Design, on the other hand, costs €18 a month. One nuance for OpenDesign: the software is free, but the engine is your coding agent. With Claude Code it runs on your Claude subscription; with an API key you pay as you go. The cloud credits sold by the vendor (from 20 dollars a month, around €18) are optional.

Do I need to code to install OpenDesign?

No. The level is intermediate and the install takes about 10 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.

How is it different from Claude Design?

OpenDesign does most of what Claude Design does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.

Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

Free alternative

Free alternative to Claude Design

Claude Design costs €18 a month. OpenDesign does the same job for free, in open source: you install it on your machine or a small server, and you stop paying.

Public entry price, taken from Claude Design’s website (claude.com). Over a year, that is €216 that stays in your pocket.

What replaces Claude Design

The main alternative

OpenDesign

🟡 Intermediate⏱️ ~10 min to installSave €18/mo

OpenDesign calls itself "the open source Claude Design alternative", and the repository is one of the liveliest on GitHub: over 96,000 stars since April 2026, Apache-2.0 licence, over 400 contributors, a release every week. The idea: the same loop as Claude Design (you describe, the AI proposes, you critique, it delivers), but with the coding agent you already use as the engine, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot or twenty others, and your files on your machine. Six kinds of output in one project: web or mobile prototype, dashboard, slide deck, document, image, HTML motion video exported to MP4. Every render follows a DESIGN.md file, your brand's charter, with 150 design systems shipped and over 260 plugins. A desktop app for macOS and Windows to download, no configuration, or an MCP server inside your agent to work without the interface. The nuance: the software is free, but you bring the intelligence, your Claude subscription through Claude Code, or your own API key paid as you go. The vendor also sells cloud credits, from 20 dollars a month, optional.

Loucash’s verdict on OpenDesign

8/10

It is the most impressive open source project I have added in months: 96,000 stars in five months, over 400 contributors, a release every week, and above all a sound idea. Claude Design showed an AI could deliver mockups instead of text; OpenDesign takes the same loop and makes it open, local, and free of the model. You keep your coding agent, you keep your files, and you get real deliverables: HTML, PDF, PPTX, MP4. What I liked in use: the DESIGN.md file that holds the brand from one render to the next, the 150 systems shipped to get started, and the MCP server that lets you drive everything from Claude Code without opening the interface. What may bite: it is not free end to end, the intelligence comes from your subscription or your API key. You need a coding agent installed already, which is a step for a pure creative. It is not a Figma: no canvas to push pixels, you work by describing and critiquing. And the project is five months old, with the pace of change that comes with it.

Who it is for: You already use Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, you produce pages, slides or mockups, and you want files of your own rather than a render locked inside a conversation. If you have no coding agent, start by installing one.

See the full page →See the tool ↗

OpenDesign versus Claude Design: the match

Price
OpenDesign
€0 for the software; your agent or API key as the engine
Claude Design
Included in Claude Pro at €18/month, and above
AI engine
OpenDesign
Your coding agent of choice: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and 18 others
Claude Design
Claude only
Where it runs
OpenDesign
On your machine (macOS, Windows) or your server
Claude Design
In Anthropic's cloud

Claude Design ↗

VS	OpenDesign	Claude Design ↗
Price	€0 for the software; your agent or API key as the engine	Included in Claude Pro at €18/month, and above
AI engine	Your coding agent of choice: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and 18 others	Claude only
Where it runs	On your machine (macOS, Windows) or your server	In Anthropic's cloud
Outputs	Prototype, dashboard, slides, document, image, video	Mockups, one pagers and visuals inside the conversation
Export	HTML, PDF, PPTX, MP4: real files	Sharing, or handing off to connected tools (Canva, Miro…)
Brand system	DESIGN.md, 150 systems shipped or extracted from your site	Your organisation's design system, depending on the plan
Code	Open, Apache-2.0, over 400 contributors	Closed

The prompt that installs OpenDesign

Paste this prompt into Claude: it checks the repository, asks you its questions and installs the tool step by step.

Je veux installer OpenDesign (le studio de design open source, dépôt GitHub nexu-io/open-design, site open-design.ai) à la place de Claude Design. Guide-moi pas à pas, en me posant des questions : télécharger l'appli de bureau pour mon système depuis open-design.ai ou les releases GitHub, l'ouvrir, et vérifier qu'elle détecte mon agent de code (Claude Code de préférence ; sinon propose-moi de renseigner ma propre clé d'API en mode BYOK). Explique-moi la différence entre utiliser mon abonnement Claude via Claude Code et payer une clé d'API à l'usage, et préviens-moi que les crédits cloud d'OpenDesign sont facultatifs. Fais-moi choisir un système de design parmi ceux fournis, ou en créer un à partir de mon site, puis lance-moi sur un premier rendu : une landing page pour mon activité, exportée en HTML. Montre-moi ensuite comment brancher OpenDesign à Claude Code en serveur MCP (od mcp install claude) pour travailler sans l'interface, et comment mettre l'appli à jour.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

Frequently asked questions

Is OpenDesign really free?: Yes. OpenDesign is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Claude Design, on the other hand, costs €18 a month. One nuance for OpenDesign: the software is free, but the engine is your coding agent. With Claude Code it runs on your Claude subscription; with an API key you pay as you go. The cloud credits sold by the vendor (from 20 dollars a month, around €18) are optional.
Do I need to code to install OpenDesign?: No. The level is intermediate and the install takes about 10 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.
How is it different from Claude Design?: OpenDesign does most of what Claude Design does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.
Do I own my data?: Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

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