What is the difference between Miro and Excalidraw?

Miro is best for Teams that need visual collaboration and whiteboarding, while Excalidraw is best for Anyone wanting quick hand-drawn diagrams. Miro starts at $8/user/mo and Excalidraw starts at Free.

Is Miro or Excalidraw cheaper?

Miro starts at $8/user/mo with a free tier. Excalidraw starts at Free and is free.

Is there a free alternative to Excalidraw?

Both Miro and Excalidraw offer free tiers.

Miro vs Excalidraw

Miro is online collaborative whiteboard platform for brainstorming, planning, and design, while Excalidraw is virtual whiteboard with a hand-drawn aesthetic for diagrams, sketches, and brainstorming. The biggest difference up front: Excalidraw is free, while Miro starts at $8/user/mo. Miro is built for teams that need visual collaboration and whiteboarding, whereas Excalidraw targets anyone wanting quick hand-drawn diagrams.

At a glance

	Miro	Excalidraw
Best for	Teams that need visual collaboration and whiteboarding	Anyone wanting quick hand-drawn diagrams
Starting price	$8/user/mo	Free
Free tier	✓	✓
Open source	—	✓
Free tier available	✓	✓
Open source	—	✓
Diagramming	✓	—
Embeddable	—	✓
Hand-Drawn Style	—	✓
Open Source	—	✓
Real-Time Collab	—	✓
Sticky Notes	✓	—
Templates	✓	—
Voting	✓	—
Whiteboards	✓	—

Miro

Strengths

Includes Whiteboards as a core feature, purpose-built for design workflows
Huge template library covers social media, presentations, marketing materials, and more
3 free boards — generous enough for most small teams to get real work done
Established product with 15+ years on the market and a mature ecosystem

Weaknesses

Free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade
Feature-rich interface takes time to learn — not the simplest option for quick adoption
Output quality depends on your design skills — templates only go so far
Mobile experience lags behind the desktop version in features and polish

Try Miro → Full review

Excalidraw

Strengths

Open source and transparent
Hand-drawn aesthetic makes diagrams feel informal and approachable — great for early ideas
Fully open-source — you can self-host, audit the code, and avoid vendor lock-in
The core product is free with no paywalled essentials

Weaknesses

May lack some advanced features
Self-hosting is free but requires server maintenance and DevOps knowledge
Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
Output quality depends on your design skills — templates only go so far

Try Excalidraw → Full review

The bottom line

Pricing: Excalidraw is completely free, which makes it the obvious pick if budget is the top concern. Miro starts at $8/user/mo, but 3 free boards. That cost buys you a more polished or feature-rich experience, so it comes down to whether the extras justify the spend.

Feature gaps: Miro offers Diagramming, Sticky Notes and Templates that Excalidraw lacks. Excalidraw brings Embeddable, Hand-Drawn Style and Open Source that Miro does not have.

Team fit: Both tools target any size teams, so the decision hinges on features and workflow fit rather than scale.

Open source: Excalidraw is open source, meaning you can self-host, audit the code, and avoid vendor lock-in. Miro is proprietary — you are trusting the vendor with your data and uptime.

Where each tool shines: Miro's biggest strengths are: includes whiteboards as a core feature, purpose-built for design workflows. huge template library covers social media, presentations, marketing materials, and more. Excalidraw's biggest strengths are: open source and transparent. hand-drawn aesthetic makes diagrams feel informal and approachable — great for early ideas.

Watch out for: With Miro, users commonly note that free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade. With Excalidraw, the main complaint is that may lack some advanced features.

Choose Miro if...

Your profile matches its sweet spot: teams that need visual collaboration and whiteboarding
You specifically need Diagramming and Sticky Notes
You care about huge template library covers social media, presentations, marketing materials, and more
The free tier works for you: 3 free boards

Choose Excalidraw if...

You need a tool built for anyone wanting quick hand-drawn diagrams
Budget is a hard constraint — Excalidraw is free, Miro is not
You need self-hosting, data sovereignty, or the ability to audit source code
You specifically need Embeddable and Hand-Drawn Style
You care about hand-drawn aesthetic makes diagrams feel informal and approachable — great for early ideas