Home / Directory / Whiteboards & diagrams
Alternatives to Miro
Draw, diagram and think together on a shared canvas without paying for every seat.
Ranked by score out of 30, most convivial first.
Excalidraw
A browser whiteboard for sketching diagrams that look hand-drawn.
draw.io
A diagram editor that runs in the browser, with open source code.
WBO
A small self-hosted whiteboard where many people draw at once.
AFFiNE
A workspace where documents and an endless whiteboard live together.
tldraw
A canvas toolkit for developers, with a hosted whiteboard app built on it.
For comparison
The big names these tools are measured against. We review them as benchmarks, so they sit outside the directory.
About these tools
A shared canvas is the closest thing most teams have to a wall they can all write on, and the best known one is a subscription. On Miro's free plan only the three most recent boards stay editable, and its export page lists images, PDF and CSV and mentions no backup you could load back into an editor. Excalidraw is a free browser whiteboard that needs no account for basic use, and AFFiNE puts documents and a whiteboard together in a workspace you can host yourself.
WBO is a small self-hosted board where many people draw at once, draw.io is a diagram editor with open source code, and tldraw is a canvas toolkit with a hosted app and a license that asks for a key in production.
How to choose
Ask what you are making and who has to edit it. A quick sketch with colleagues suits Excalidraw, a diagram you draw alone suits draw.io, and a workspace that holds your notes beside your boards suits AFFiNE. If you plan to keep your boards for years, check how each tool exports before you fill it.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Miro?
Excalidraw is a free browser whiteboard that needs no account for basic use, and its code is MIT licensed.
Is there an open source alternative to Miro that I can host myself?
AFFiNE is MIT licensed and can be run with Docker, and WBO is AGPL-3.0 licensed and runs with Docker or Node.js.
Can I draw diagrams with other people in real time?
Excalidraw offers live collaboration that is end-to-end encrypted, and WBO updates its board in real time for everyone connected. The draw.io repository says its version does not support real-time collaborative editing.