Looking for a modern alternative to Knapsack?
A design system shouldn’t start as an engineering project. In the era of AI agents it has to hold the real decisions — tokens, assets, components, patterns, and rules — and hand them to every team and every agent, without a pipeline standing in the way.
Why teams choose
Supernova instead?
to value — connect Figma and Storybook, then ask questions through Supernova Agent or MCP
vs. a Git repo, CI/CD pipeline, and renderer wired up before Knapsack does much
of day-to-day design-system work automated by Supernova agents
vs. Knapsack’s read-only MCP — every change still goes through Git and a human
fewer tokens spent on every prompt your team or agent runs
vs. Knapsack’s single, unscoped MCP view for every agent
What is the difference between Supernova and Knapsack?
Supernova is a modern, agentic design system platform for AI-first teams — real technology, backed by real experts and premium support.
Knapsack leans on custom implementation and services to get you there — a sales-led, agency-style engagement to configure the platform around your stack.
Supernova is built and supported as a product from day one. Knapsack is something you’re implemented into.
Renato Michalischen
Design System Manager, Userlane
All the support we've received
since our arrival shows just
how much better it is to be here.
Knapsack customers
have spoken
Even with a solid 4.6/5 average on Capterra, four patterns keep showing up — straight from those same reviews and Knapsack’s own pricing page.
Priced in before you’ve tried it
Cost is the complaint reviewers raise most, and there is no trial to test the claim. Plans start at a 5, 10, or 20 paid-seat minimum, on an annual contract, quoted by sales.
Slow in daily use
Reviewers repeatedly describe the platform as sluggish, and the interface as overwhelming at first. A system people find heavy to open is a system people stop opening.
Engineering is the on-ramp
The system of record lives in Git. Repos, CI/CD, and renderers have to be wired up before the platform does much, so value starts on an engineering timeline, not a design one.
The good parts sit behind Pro
Custom domain, SSO, prototyping, analytics, multiple workspaces, and more than one code framework are all gated. Modes and collections are capped by plan, too.
Sourced from G2 and Capterra reviews, and Knapsack’s published pricing and feature pages.
Supernova laps Knapsack
Linked design system graph
Components in a repo are a great start. Now link everything else — tokens, assets, docs, rules, skills, knowledge, feedback — into one graph, instead of a workspace that points at other systems.
Agents that take action
Reading your system is table stakes. Supernova agents write docs, contribute tokens, and update components — the day-to-day work, done, not just described to an assistant.
No implementation project
You don’t need a repo, a renderer, and a pipeline before you get value. Connect Figma, and the system is live the same afternoon — engineering joins when it’s useful, not as a prerequisite.
Real-time multiplayer
A best-in-class Notion-like editing experience where everything happens real-time. Write together and ship together too, as a team — no branch, no review round-trip, no waiting.
Precise data distribution
One workspace-wide view isn’t distribution. Supernova contexts scope exactly what each team and agent receives — by platform, by brand, by department — so the right knowledge shows up and nothing else.
Built-in feedback loop
A design system doesn’t improve on its own. Supernova watches how people and agents use it, surfaces the gaps they hit, and helps the whole system get better.
What makes Supernova the best
Knapsack alternative — a deep dive
Documentation
Structure docs with groups and nesting
Edit docs live with your team
Multiplayer for up to 50 people
Cloud authoring is web-based, but not live multiplayer
Attach files directly in your docs
Publish private or public doc sites
Private behind a login, or public with unlimited viewers
Capped at one public workspace
Hide selected pages from public sites
Handled by workspace permissions, not per page
Lock an entire docs site behind a password
Password is not a secure way to protect business critical design system data
Publish only pages that are ready
No per-page control — everything in a branch ships together on merge
Review and approve before publishing
Approvals and change management through code review
Propose changes without publishing rights
Keep old links working after moves
Both site-wide redirects and per-page configuration
Host docs on your own domain
Brand your documentation site visually
You can use your own design system token to style the site
Style docs with custom CSS/JS
Full control over all aspects of the docs site, visual and functional
Through custom components you build and maintain yourself
Track visits across your docs site
View and restore past page versions
Unlimited
Git-backed — you read history in the repo, not the product
Design system data
Manage multiple systems in one place
No unified view — each system needs its own separate workspace
Import components and assets from Figma
Only Figma variables and only in limited capacity
Import stories into interactive playgrounds
Knapsack positions itself as a Storybook replacement, not a consumer of it
Auto-update when sources change
All changes propagate autonomously in the background once per hour
Docs follow the source, but the loop runs through your pipeline
Create and manage design tokens in-product
Full token manager with bulk actions through AI, option to create and manage tokens from Supernova, 23 token types (spacing, typography etc.), fully customizable custom properties, theming, branding and more
Limited support for advanced features like extended collections
Manage design and code components together
Custom components, design components, code components, custom properties such as component statuses, health and more
Strong support for code components, but only code components
Manage assets from Figma and uploads
Read-only asset manager, sourced by Figma data, custom asset uploads for docs
No dedicated asset manager — assets live in docs blocks
Import Figma variables, modes, and collections
Create a snapshot of design system in time
Semantic versioning of tokens via Git and private npm packages
Split data by platform or brand
Modes and collections cover some of this
Measure design system usage and impact
Docs usage tracking, component usage tracking
Workspace analytics tracks site visits, not component or token adoption
Data Contexts
Distributable packages of tokens, components, assets, docs, skills, knowledge and other information
Full control over how your design systems get distributed, full control over segmentation of data (prepare data packages for humans and AI separated by platform, by team, by department - fully up to you)
The workspace is the unit. There is no way to package a scoped slice of tokens, components, docs, skills and knowledge for a specific team or agent.
Construct data context using rule-based system
Powerful rule-based system so your AI, MCP and docs so you always distribute what you want, no matter what changes you make
Merge or layer contexts to enable data inheritance
AI & MCP
MCP server to access data from
Full access to tokens, components, resolved themes, assets, skills, knowledge, semantic search tools, skill hosting and 40+ more MCP tools
MCP server is live and gives agents system context, but it is not scoped per team or per agent — everyone gets the same workspace view
Local MCP server to access data from
Vast majority of users don't want to self-host and bother with local MCP servers, as remote server does everything local can, and more
Let agents create and update design-system data
Agents can write docs, modify components, and contribute tokens through MCP — the same day-to-day actions a maintainer would do by hand.
Agents read the system. Changing it still goes through Git and a human.
Assign Supernova agent onto task and let it work
Rolling out now to early-access customers — long-running tasks like full-system audits and proposed changes, running autonomously in the background.
Agents run in your tools, not inside the platform
Skills & Knowledge
Portable packages of instructions, scripts, and resources for agents
Give agents specialized capabilities and domain expertise. Attach them to a context and distribute via MCP.
Upload generic resources for agents to use
Generic uploaded resources made available through MCP alongside your design-system data.
Feedback
Collect feedback on contexts from AI usage
Your consumers can send feedback from their AI tool via MCP — missing guidelines, wrong tokens, gaps — and it is stored on the context for the owning team to act on.
Developer platform
Turn design system data into code
Export all data, tokens, components, assets, even skill packages as plugins.
Git-native CI/CD, with tokens published to private npm packages
Ship fully custom TypeScript code exporters
Full control over exported output, custom scripting via typescript routines and Supernova SDK
Token pipeline through Style Dictionary, not arbitrary exporters
Run exporters and SDK access in your own pipelines
Full access to data through Supernova SDK or exporters invokable through Supernova CLI
The whole model is built around your own pipeline
Read and write data via SDK
Fully matching the entire feature set of Supernova, both read and write
Admin
Sign in with Google, Okta, SAML
Provision users automatically from your IdP
Manage users and billing in one place
Restrict access by IP address
Also available for IP ranges or combinations
Security review and checklist
Pay via invoice instead of card
Named manager for ongoing support
A glimpse of what your
team can do with Supernova
- Generate a new button variant that matches our existing tokens
- What's the correct spacing token for card padding?
- Review accessibility of my login screen
- Create a dark-theme version of this component
- Which components use the primary color token?
- Update the border-radius across all form elements
- Show me the usage guidelines for the modal
- Does this component meet WCAG 2.2 AA?
- Generate React code for the data table using our system
- What patterns do we have for empty states?
- Flag any components that still use hard-coded colors
- Suggest a better token structure for our spacing scale
- Pull the latest API props for the Select component
- How should error messages be written in our system?
- Create documentation for the new badge component
- Which teams are still using the deprecated button?
- Convert this Figma frame into system-compliant components
- What's the recommended elevation for floating panels?
- Audit this screen for token and component consistency
- Propose a new status indicator based on our existing patterns
Switching is easier
than staying
“We were prepared for a steep learning curve, but it turned out to be a smooth glide.”
Every Enterprise plan includes a dedicated CSM, premium support, and on-demand expert sessions — hands-on help with onboarding and training, not just a help-center link.
- 1
Open Knapsack to your agent
Connect Knapsack’s MCP server so Claude, Cursor, or any agent can read your existing workspace — patterns, tokens, and docs included.
- 2
Give it the keys to Supernova
Hook Supernova’s edit capabilities into the same agent — it can write designs, code, Figma links, and docs straight into the system.
- 3
Say the word. Watch it move.
Ask your agent to port the workspace over. It rebuilds the structure in Supernova in minutes — no migration statement of work, no rebuild sprint.
- 4
Land upgraded, not just moved
While it’s there, the agent layers on the graph, contexts, and skills. You switch off Knapsack already ahead of where you started.
Matthias Fritsch
Design Lead, Celonis
It's easy to use, intuitive, and offers
many opportunities to scale across teams — a true single source of truth.