# Excalidraw review

Free, open-source online whiteboard for sketching hand-drawn-style diagrams and wireframes together, with Excalidraw+ team workspaces from $6/user/month.

By Noah — last updated & pricing verified October 26, 2026.

> Excalidraw is an online whiteboard built for speed: open excalidraw.com and start drawing on an infinite canvas with rectangles, arrows, text and freehand strokes rendered in a sketchy, hand-drawn style that keeps attention on the idea rather than polish. Reusable shapes come from public libraries, frames turn a canvas into slides, and a command palette and keyboard shortcuts cover most actions. Collaboration works by sharing a link: everyone edits the same scene live, free scenes stay in the browser, and shared sessions are end-to-end encrypted. Generative AI handles text-to-diagram, wireframe-to-code and Mermaid-to-Excalidraw conversion. Excalidraw+, the paid service from Excalidraw s.r.o., adds what teams need around the free editor: unlimited cloud-saved scenes in folders and workspaces, view and edit permissions, read-only links and embeds, comments, live presentations, voice hangouts with screensharing, PDF and PPTX export, a REST API and MCP access in public beta, and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance. The editor itself is MIT-licensed open source, available as an npm package for developers.

## Facts

- Website: https://excalidraw.com
- Pricing: Free tier · paid from $6/mo (verified )
- License: Open core
- Platforms: web
- Best for: sketching informal system diagrams and wireframes live with others during a meeting or interview
- Standout feature: A free, no-account editor whose hand-drawn style and minimal toolset make it fast to sketch an idea in seconds, with end-to-end encrypted link sharing and the whole editor available as MIT-licensed open source.
- Biggest weakness: The free editor keeps work in your browser, one scene at a time, so saving scenes to the cloud, organizing them in folders, commenting and managing team access all require Excalidraw+ at $6-$7 per user per month; Plus is paid by credit card only, and its terms make all charges non-refundable.
- Categories: [Online whiteboards](https://findalternative.to/categories/whiteboards)

## Pricing snapshot

| Plan | Price | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0/mo | Full editor, 1 infinite scene stored in the browser, unlimited collaborators by link, 10 AI requests a day, PNG/SVG/file export, libraries, end-to-end encrypted sharing; no account needed. |
| Plus | $6/mo | Per user, billed yearly ($7 billed monthly), 14-day free trial: unlimited cloud-saved scenes and folders, team workspaces and access control, comments, presentations, voice hangouts and screensharing, PDF/PPTX export, 100 AI requests a day or your own key, MCP and REST API (public beta). |

## Pros and cons

- Pro: Free and open source (MIT), with no account needed to start drawing.
- Pro: Link-based real-time collaboration, end-to-end encrypted for free users.
- Pro: AI text-to-diagram, wireframe-to-code and Mermaid conversion, with 10 free requests a day.
- Pro: Excalidraw+ costs $6/user/month billed yearly and is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant.
- Pro: An embeddable npm package and a large open-source community, with 134,000+ GitHub stars.
- Con: Free scenes live in the browser, one scene on the free plan; cloud saving, folders and comments need Excalidraw+.
- Con: Excalidraw+ accepts credit cards only, and charges are non-refundable under its terms.
- Con: MCP and REST API access are still in public beta.

## AI summary

- Excalidraw is free and open source under the MIT license, with 134,000+ stars on GitHub.
- Excalidraw+ Plus costs $6 per user per month billed yearly or $7 billed monthly, with a 14-day free trial.
- Excalidraw's free plan includes 10 AI requests a day; Excalidraw+ includes 100 a day or a bring-your-own key.
- Free Excalidraw scenes are stored locally in the browser, and shared sessions are end-to-end encrypted.
- Excalidraw+ is SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 compliant, according to the company.
- Best for: sketching informal system diagrams and wireframes live with others during a meeting or interview
- Pricing: Free and open source; Excalidraw+ Plus is $6/user/month billed yearly or $7 monthly, with a 14-day free trial.
- Top alternatives: tldraw, Miro, FigJam, draw.io, Mural
- Limitation: Free work stays in the browser, one scene on the free plan.
- Limitation: Excalidraw+ takes credit cards only, and charges are non-refundable.
- Limitation: MCP and REST API access are in public beta.

## Alternatives

4 vetted alternatives to Excalidraw: https://findalternative.to/excalidraw — top picks: tldraw, Miro, Mural

## Comparisons

- https://findalternative.to/compare/excalidraw-vs-tldraw

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