Excalidraw
FigJam
| Feature | Excalidraw | FigJam |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $7/mo | Free / from $5/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, product-teams, educators, brainstorming-sessions | design-teams, product-teams, workshop-facilitators, remote-teams |
| Founded | 2020 | 2021 |
| Freehand Drawing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Real Time Collaboration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Component Library | ✓ | ✗ |
| Export Options | ✓ | ✗ |
| End To End Encryption | ✓ | ✗ |
| Embeddable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shapes And Arrows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sticky Notes | ✗ | ✓ |
| Drawing Tools | ✗ | ✓ |
| Stamps Reactions | ✗ | ✓ |
| Templates | ✗ | ✓ |
| Figma Integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ai Features | ✗ | ✓ |
| Voting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Timers | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Excalidraw Pros
- Beautiful hand-drawn sketch aesthetic
- Completely free and open source core
- Real-time collaboration with shared links
- Library of reusable components and templates
- Embeddable in other applications
✗ Excalidraw Cons
- Limited formatting compared to structured diagramming tools
- No presentation mode built-in
- File management basic without Excalidraw+
✓ FigJam Pros
- Seamless integration with Figma design files
- Generous free tier with unlimited files
- Fun and engaging collaboration features (stamps, emotes)
- AI-powered features for summarizing and organizing
- Templates for common workshop activities
✗ FigJam Cons
- Less powerful than dedicated diagramming tools
- Requires Figma account to use
- Limited offline functionality
The Verdict
Excalidraw is built for developers and product teams, with a focus on freehand-drawing and real-time-collaboration. FigJam targets design teams and product teams and leads with sticky-notes and drawing-tools.
Pricing is close: FigJam starts at $5/mo versus $7/mo for Excalidraw — 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, FigJam offers broader built-in capabilities (8 features vs 7), while Excalidraw takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Both tools are a solid fit for product teams — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
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.
