Excalidraw
Hasura
| Feature | Excalidraw | Hasura |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $7/mo | Free / from $99/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, product-teams, educators, brainstorming-sessions | backend-developers, startups, api-developers, full-stack-teams |
| Founded | 2020 | 2017 |
| Freehand Drawing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Real Time Collaboration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Component Library | ✓ | ✗ |
| Export Options | ✓ | ✗ |
| End To End Encryption | ✓ | ✗ |
| Embeddable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shapes And Arrows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Graphql Api | ✗ | ✓ |
| Rest Api | ✗ | ✓ |
| Real Time | ✗ | ✓ |
| Authorization | ✗ | ✓ |
| Event Triggers | ✗ | ✓ |
| Remote Schemas | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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+
✓ Hasura Pros
- Instant APIs
- Real-time subscriptions
- Great developer experience
- Performance
✗ Hasura Cons
- PostgreSQL-focused
- Complex authorization
- Pricing changes
The Verdict
Excalidraw is built for developers and product teams, with a focus on freehand-drawing and real-time-collaboration. Hasura targets backend developers and startups and leads with graphql-api and rest-api.
On pricing, Excalidraw is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $7/mo compared to $99/mo for Hasura. That $92/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Feature-wise, Excalidraw offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Hasura takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Bottom line: Excalidraw has a slight overall edge — but if instant apis matters most to you, Hasura may still be the right call.