Around
Mural
| Feature | Around | Mural |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $10/mo | Free / from $9.99/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | remote-teams, hybrid-teams, developers, creative-teams | enterprise-teams, facilitators, agile-teams, design-thinking |
| Founded | 2019 | 2011 |
| Floating Bubbles | ✓ | ✗ |
| Noise Cancellation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Auto Leveling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Screen Sharing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Reactions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Meeting Notes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calendar Integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Digital Whiteboard | ✗ | ✓ |
| Facilitation Tools | ✗ | ✓ |
| Templates | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ai Clustering | ✗ | ✓ |
| Voting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Timers | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Enterprise Security | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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
- Excellent facilitation features for workshops
- Strong enterprise security and compliance
- AI-powered features for clustering and summarizing
- Built-in timer, voting, and icebreaker activities
✗ Mural Cons
- Can feel overwhelming with many features
- Performance issues with very large murals
- More expensive than simpler alternatives
The Verdict
Around is built for remote teams and hybrid teams, with a focus on floating-bubbles and noise-cancellation. Mural targets enterprise teams and facilitators and leads with digital-whiteboard and facilitation-tools.
Both tools come in at similar price points ($10/mo for Around, $9.99/mo for Mural), so pricing won't make the decision for you.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Mural offers broader built-in capabilities (8 features vs 7), while Around 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.