Around
Mural
| Feature | Around | Mural |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $10/mo | Free / from $12/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | remote-teams, hybrid-teams, developers, creative-teams | design-teams, facilitators, consultants, enterprise |
| Founded | 2019 | 2011 |
| Floating Bubbles | ✓ | ✗ |
| Noise Cancellation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Auto Leveling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Screen Sharing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Reactions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Meeting Notes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calendar Integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sticky Notes | ✗ | ✓ |
| Templates | ✗ | ✓ |
| Facilitation Tools | ✗ | ✓ |
| Voting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Timers | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Around Pros
- Minimal screen footprint with floating video bubbles
- Excellent AI noise cancellation
- Auto-equalizes audio levels between participants
- Designed for casual always-on collaboration
✗ Around Cons
- Limited features for formal presentations
- Smaller user base than major platforms
- No recording on free plan
✓ Mural Pros
- Great facilitation tools
- Extensive templates
- Design thinking focus
- Enterprise ready
✗ Mural Cons
- Expensive
- Can be slow
- Learning curve
The Verdict
Around is built for remote teams and hybrid teams, with a focus on floating-bubbles and noise-cancellation. Mural targets design teams and facilitators and leads with sticky-notes and templates.
Pricing is close: Around starts at $10/mo versus $12/mo for Mural — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Around offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Mural takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.