Excalidraw
Rocket.Chat
| Feature | Excalidraw | Rocket.Chat |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $7/mo | Free / from $4/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5 | 4.1 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, product-teams, educators, brainstorming-sessions | security-conscious-organizations, government, self-hosters, enterprises |
| Founded | 2020 | 2015 |
| Freehand Drawing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Real Time Collaboration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Component Library | ✓ | ✗ |
| Export Options | ✓ | ✗ |
| End To End Encryption | ✓ | ✗ |
| Embeddable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shapes And Arrows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Channels | ✗ | ✓ |
| Direct Messaging | ✗ | ✓ |
| Video Calls | ✗ | ✓ |
| Federation | ✗ | ✓ |
| E2e Encryption | ✗ | ✓ |
| Marketplace | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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+
✓ Rocket.Chat Pros
- Fully open-source and self-hostable
- End-to-end encryption
- Federation support between instances
- Highly customizable
✗ Rocket.Chat Cons
- Self-hosted requires maintenance
- Mobile apps less polished than Slack
- Smaller app ecosystem
The Verdict
Excalidraw is built for developers and product teams, with a focus on freehand-drawing and real-time-collaboration. Rocket.Chat targets security conscious organizations and government and leads with channels and direct-messaging.
Pricing is close: Rocket.Chat starts at $4/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.
Excalidraw edges out on user ratings (4.7 vs 4.1). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Feature-wise, Excalidraw offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Rocket.Chat takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Bottom line: Excalidraw has a slight overall edge — but if fully open-source and self-hostable matters most to you, Rocket.Chat may still be the right call.