Excalidraw
Miro
| Feature | Excalidraw | Miro |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $7/mo | Free / from $8/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, product-teams, educators, brainstorming-sessions | designers, product-teams, remote-teams, facilitators |
| Founded | 2020 | 2011 |
| Freehand Drawing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Real Time Collaboration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Component Library | ✓ | ✗ |
| Export Options | ✓ | ✗ |
| End To End Encryption | ✓ | ✗ |
| Embeddable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shapes And Arrows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Whiteboard | ✗ | ✓ |
| Templates | ✗ | ✓ |
| Voting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Timer | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Video Chat | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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+
✓ Miro Pros
- Infinite canvas
- Great for workshops
- Templates
- Integrations
✗ Miro Cons
- Can be slow with large boards
- Free plan limited
- Learning curve
The Verdict
Excalidraw is built for developers and product teams, with a focus on freehand-drawing and real-time-collaboration. Miro targets designers and product teams and leads with whiteboard and templates.
Pricing is close: Excalidraw starts at $7/mo versus $8/mo for Miro — 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, Excalidraw offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Miro 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.
