Excalidraw
Stormboard
| Feature | Excalidraw | Stormboard |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $7/mo | Free / from $10/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5 | 4.1 / 5 |
| Best For | developers, product-teams, educators, brainstorming-sessions | facilitators, meeting-leaders, teams, consultants |
| Founded | 2020 | 2011 |
| Freehand Drawing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Real Time Collaboration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Component Library | ✓ | ✗ |
| Export Options | ✓ | ✗ |
| End To End Encryption | ✓ | ✗ |
| Embeddable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Shapes And Arrows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sticky Notes | ✗ | ✓ |
| Templates | ✗ | ✓ |
| Voting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ai Reports | ✗ | ✓ |
| Video Conferencing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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+
✓ Stormboard Pros
- Good for brainstorming
- Meeting templates
- AI report generation
- Easy to use
✗ Stormboard Cons
- Limited free tier
- Less polished than Miro
- Fewer integrations
The Verdict
Excalidraw is built for developers and product teams, with a focus on freehand-drawing and real-time-collaboration. Stormboard targets facilitators and meeting leaders and leads with sticky-notes and templates.
Pricing is close: Excalidraw starts at $7/mo versus $10/mo for Stormboard — 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 Stormboard takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Bottom line: Excalidraw has a slight overall edge — but if good for brainstorming matters most to you, Stormboard may still be the right call.