Best whiteboard apps for diagrams
Infinite canvases for sketching diagrams with a team: what's free, what's open source, and which ones work offline.
Excalidraw
Excalidraw
The hand-drawn look, free and open source (MIT), works offline in the browser and can be self-hosted. Live collaboration is free for any number of people on one scene.
All Excalidraw facts- How you draw
- Sketch, Words
- Paid from
- $6/user/mo
- Free for work
- YesYes
- Works offline
- YesYes
tldraw
tldraw
A clean infinite canvas that works offline and has desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux. Its code is source-available under its own licence rather than open source, and it's also sold as an SDK for building canvases into products.
All tldraw facts- How you draw
- Sketch
- Paid from
- Free
- Free for work
- Not statedNot stated
- Works offline
- YesYes
FigJam
Figma
Figma's whiteboard, a natural fit if your team already designs in Figma. The free Starter plan allows 3 FigJam files and its terms allow business use, but FigJam AI needs a paid seat and there's no SVG export.
All FigJam facts- How you draw
- Sketch, Shapes, Words
- Paid from
- $5/user/mo
- Free for work
- YesYes
- Works offline
- PartlyPartly
Miro
Miro
The biggest all-round whiteboard, with diagram shapes, Mermaid and PlantUML support and AI. The free plan has 3 editable boards and free exports carry a watermark; Starter is $8 per member a month billed yearly.
All Miro facts- How you draw
- Sketch, Shapes, Code, Words
- Paid from
- $8/user/mo
- Free for work
- Not statedNot stated
- Works offline
- Not statedNot stated
Every app that could fit, checked
6 apps, with the facts that matter here. Picks are outlined. The count is facts documented, out of 4.
Worth knowing. Whiteboards are fast for workshops and slow for precise diagrams. If the result needs to look exact in a document, redraw it in a shapes app once the thinking is done.
