- Infinite Canvas: Create diagrams and brainstorm freely without size limitations.
- Real-Time Collaboration: Share a link and co-edit whiteboards instantly with teammates.
- Cloud Workspaces: Securely store, sync, and organize scenes in shared team environments.
- Access Management: Control edit/view permissions with read-only and embeddable links.
- Voice Hangouts & Screensharing: Communicate directly inside the whiteboard during sessions.
- Presentation Mode: Turn frames into live presentations with slide navigation and laser pointer.
- Generative AI: Use AI assistance to generate diagrams and enhance brainstorming.
- Libraries: Access public libraries or save personal and workspace libraries in the cloud.
- Export Options: Export boards as PNG, SVG, JSON, PDF, or PPTX files.
Plus Excalidraw
Simple, open‑source whiteboard for real-time team collaboration.
Updated August 3, 2026
Plus Excalidraw Overview
Plus Excalidraw is a collaborative whiteboard platform built on the popular open‑source Excalidraw editor. It combines an infinite canvas, hand-drawn style visuals, and real-time collaboration with cloud workspaces, access controls, and presentation tools.
Teams can brainstorm, wireframe, diagram, and present ideas together while benefiting from secure cloud storage, extended AI features, and workspace management in the Plus plan.
Key Features
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Featured |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Free forever; one infinite scene, unlimited collaborators and local export |
| Plus | $6/user/month | Cloud-saved unlimited scenes and folders, access management, presentations and voice hangouts |
Pricing source: https://plus.excalidraw.com/pricing
Pros
Competitor |
Pros |
|---|---|
| Miro | Plus Excalidraw keeps the fast, hand-drawn feel of Excalidraw while adding cloud-saved scenes, folders, access management, presentations, and voice hangouts. It is approachable for teams that want a lightweight shared canvas. |
| FigJam | The intentionally sketch-like visual language makes Plus Excalidraw quick for rough diagrams and brainstorming. Teams can start from the free whiteboard and add collaboration controls only when cloud persistence is needed. |
| Lucidspark | Plus Excalidraw is less process-heavy and more immediate than a structured workshop suite. That simplicity can help engineers and designers communicate rough ideas without spending time configuring a formal board. |
Cons
Competitor |
Cons |
|---|---|
| Miro | Miro has more mature workshop templates, integrations, permissions, and reporting. Plus Excalidraw’s intentionally lightweight canvas may not cover complex enterprise facilitation programs. |
| FigJam | FigJam provides deeper design-system and Figma workflow integration. Plus Excalidraw is better for quick sketching than for teams that need a full product-design handoff environment. |
| Lucidspark | Lucidspark offers more structured activities, revision controls, and formal diagramming. Plus Excalidraw users may need additional tools for governance, detailed process mapping, or reporting. |
Reviews
- G2 Review (Rating: 4.4/5): Excalidraw helped one team build wireframes and rough database structure diagrams fast, and the npm package made it simple to integrate with other CMS tools and web apps. The collaborative canvas and “view only collaboration” mode worked well for brainstorming and live presentations, and the dashboard kept recent work in one place. The main gripe was the lack of templates and a shared library compared to competitors.
- pesky.moe Review: Switching from drawio felt surprisingly intuitive, and the subtly labelled shortcuts made it easy to get productive within an hour. The “frames” feature stood out because it groups and labels elements, lets users search frame labels, and even export a selected frame as an image for presentations. The missing layers feature changed the author’s presentation workflow, since they could no longer progressively reveal components the way drawio allows. The hand-drawn aesthetic works well for day-to-day whiteboarding, and switching lines and fonts reduces the “sloppy” look for more professional docs.
- Capterra Review (Rating: 5/5): Excalidraw earned praise for its simplicity and ease of use, with one project manager using it to plan software deployment projects and share visuals in Teams meetings. The clean UI made brainstorming and collaboration straightforward, and the free license added extra appeal. One reviewer wanted a broader feature set and more integrations, but no major issues came up.
- Product Hunt Review (Rating: 4.9/5): The clean, distraction-free interface and handy shortcuts made diagram creation feel fast, and several reviewers said the hot keys simplified interviews and presentations. Dark mode, the built-in library, and cross-platform use on desktops and tablets got positive mentions. One user lost work in live collaboration mode because it did not auto-save, and another pointed out limits in the free version like only one scene and no granular access control.
