2 Free & Open-Source Miro Alternatives
Miro's free plan caps how many boards you can actively edit, and per-seat pricing on paid tiers adds up for larger teams. Excalidraw and tldraw both offer the same collaborative, infinite-canvas sketching experience for free, with self-hosting available if you want boards to stay off a third party's servers.
The best Miro alternatives
Excalidraw
Our top pickOpen sourceHostedA free, open-source virtual whiteboard with a hand-drawn style.
Excalidraw's distinctive sketchy, hand-drawn rendering style has made it a favorite for quick diagrams and architecture sketches — real-time collaborative, free to use in the browser, with self-hosting available.
- Real-time collaborative drawing
- Distinctive hand-drawn sketch style
- Shape libraries and diagram templates
- Free hosted app, or self-hosted, open-source
tldraw
FreeHostedA fast, flexible infinite-canvas whiteboard.
tldraw covers similar ground to Excalidraw with a cleaner, less sketch-styled default look — a solid pick if you want an infinite-canvas whiteboard without the hand-drawn aesthetic being the default.
- Infinite canvas with shapes, arrows, and text
- Real-time multiplayer collaboration
- Exports to SVG and PNG
- Free to use, open-source under the hood
Licensing and pricing models change over time — confirm current terms on each project's own site before making a procurement or compliance decision.
Frequently asked questions
Which is the better Miro alternative — Excalidraw or tldraw?
Excalidraw if you like (or don't mind) its hand-drawn visual style, which many teams have come to prefer for quick sketches. tldraw if you want a cleaner, more conventional-looking canvas by default.
Do these support the sticky-note brainstorming style Miro is known for?
Both support basic shapes and text that work well for sticky-note-style brainstorming, though neither has Miro's dedicated templates library for specific workshop formats out of the box.
Can a whole team collaborate on the same board in real time?
Yes — real-time multiplayer editing is a core feature of both tools, matching Miro's collaborative whiteboarding experience.
More free alternatives
Not sure which way to go?
A free Growth Audit can help you weigh self-hosting against the tool you already pay for.