Best Miro Alternatives in 2026: Free, Open-Source and Self-Hosted Online Whiteboards

The best Miro alternatives fall into two camps. Excalidraw is the best free, open-source choice for sketches and diagrams, AFFiNE suits teams that want docs and a whiteboard in one local-first app, and Mural, FigJam and Lucidspark are the hosted choices for facilitated workshops with templates and timers.

Every tool below is listed on Enlisted, so the table shows which are open source, which you can self-host and which have a free plan. If you are leaving Mural, FigJam or Lucidspark rather than Miro, the same list applies, and the decision guide near the end covers each.

Why people look for Miro alternatives

Miro is the best-known online whiteboard, and its own pages describe an infinite, multiplayer canvas with docs, tables, slides, diagrams and AI. These are the reasons teams still look elsewhere.

• Closed source, hosted only. Enlisted lists Miro as proprietary with no self-hosted version, so boards live on Miro's servers. Teams with data residency rules or a policy of running their own tools cannot use it.
• Free-plan limits. Miro has a free plan, but Enlisted's pricing data shows it caps the number of editable boards, which small teams with many projects run into.
• Per-member pricing. Paid plans are priced per member, so the bill grows with every person who needs to edit.
• More platform than you need. A team that only wants to sketch an architecture diagram or run a quick retro may not need a large workspace with AI, automations and thousands of templates.
• Freeform versus facilitation. Some people want a plain canvas, others want structured workshop tools, and a single product does not suit both.

Freeform whiteboards versus workshop tools

Online whiteboards do two different jobs, and the picks below are ordered to reflect that. Freeform sketching and diagramming tools, such as Excalidraw, tldraw, Drawnix and draw.io, give you an open canvas for drawing shapes, arrows and quick diagrams. They are usually open source, light and easy to self-host. Workshop and facilitation tools, such as Mural, FigJam, Lucidspark and Stormboard, add templates, sticky notes, voting, timers and other features for running a session with a group, and they are almost always hosted and commercial.

Decide which job you are doing before you compare features. A product team mapping a flow needs a different tool from a facilitator running a two-hour retrospective with fifteen people.

How we picked

Each tool had to give a group a shared canvas for visual work. Enlisted's data decided the rest. Open-source projects needed recent activity on GitHub, licences are quoted as listed, and each pick notes whether you can self-host and whether a free plan exists. Facts come from Enlisted's listings and each vendor's own pages, with no testing of our own. For the wider ranking method, see how Enlisted ranks tools.

1. Excalidraw: best free open-source whiteboard for sketches and diagrams

Excalidraw is an open-source, browser-based whiteboard that draws shapes, arrows and text in a deliberately hand-drawn style, so diagrams look like quick sketches rather than polished slides. It works on an infinite canvas with shape libraries, image support, dark mode and labeled arrows that stay attached to shapes. It is used for architecture diagrams, wireframes, brainstorming and teaching.

The hosted app adds real-time collaboration with end-to-end encryption, offline use as a progressive web app, autosave in the browser and read-only share links. Drawings export to PNG, SVG or an open JSON-based .excalidraw file. The code is MIT-licensed, excalidraw.com is free to use, and a paid Excalidraw+ plan is also offered. See the Excalidraw page.

• Best for: teams and individuals who want a free whiteboard for sketches, system diagrams and quick collaboration.
• Watch out for: Enlisted's feature list for Excalidraw is about drawing, not workshop facilitation, so voting, timers and template-driven sessions are what you add by pairing it with another tool.

2. tldraw: best for developers building their own canvas

tldraw is an SDK for building infinite canvas applications in React, with a default whiteboard tool set you can use as is or replace. It offers pressure-sensitive drawing, shapes, rich text, arrows with snapping and image export, and developers can add their own shapes, tools and interface components through an Editor API. Multiplayer collaboration is available through a self-hostable sync package, and the project includes canvas primitives for building with LLMs.

Enlisted lists the licence as Other. According to tldraw's pricing page, production use needs a commercial licence, there is a free hobby licence for projects built for fun, and early-stage startups can get discounted pricing. If you only want a desktop canvas, tldraw offline is an app that works without accounts or servers and saves portable .tldraw files.

• Best for: developers adding a whiteboard to a product or building a custom collaborative canvas.
• Watch out for: it is a developer SDK rather than a finished team whiteboard, and commercial use needs a paid licence.

3. AFFiNE: best open-source workspace that combines docs and a whiteboard

AFFiNE is an open-source, local-first workspace that puts documents, an edgeless whiteboard and table views on a shared canvas, and it is presented as an alternative to both Notion and Miro. You can place rich text, sticky notes, embedded pages, shapes and database views anywhere on one canvas, and an AI assistant helps write, summarize and build slides.

Local-first means your data lives on your own device first, with real-time collaboration on top, and the desktop app is built on Electron. Enlisted lists a free plan with local use and cloud storage, paid tiers and a self-hostable option. The licence is listed as Other, so read the terms before you deploy. See the AFFiNE page and Notion alternatives for the docs side.

• Best for: people who want to replace Notion and Miro with one app.
• Watch out for: it is broader than a whiteboard, so it is heavier than Excalidraw, and the licence is not a single standard open-source licence in Enlisted's data.

4. Drawnix: best open-source canvas for mind maps and flowcharts

Drawnix is a free, open-source whiteboard that brings mind maps, flowcharts and freehand drawing together on one infinite canvas. You can convert Mermaid syntax into flowcharts and Markdown text into mind maps, insert images and switch between light and dark themes, with a layout that adapts to mobile devices.

Work saves automatically in the browser and exports as PNG images or .drawnix JSON files. It is MIT-licensed and has a plugin architecture. The listing does not mention real-time collaboration, so treat it as a solo or small-scale tool until you confirm otherwise. See the Drawnix page.

• Best for: individuals who think visually and want mind maps and diagrams in one free tool.
• Watch out for: Enlisted's listing does not mention live multi-user collaboration, and its releases are still pre-1.0.

5. draw.io: best open-source editor for structured diagrams

draw.io is a configurable diagramming and whiteboarding editor written in JavaScript that runs entirely in the browser, and the same code powers the hosted app at diagrams.net. It has shape libraries, stencils and ready-made templates for flowcharts and architecture diagrams, and it exports to image and document formats.

The repository's source code uses the Apache License 2.0, while icon sets, stencil libraries and diagram templates come with extra terms, including a restriction on using them in Atlassian products without written permission. The repository also says this version does not offer real-time collaborative editing. For a paid diagram tool, see Lucidchart or Creately.

• Best for: teams that mostly document systems and processes with precise diagrams rather than brainstorm.
• Watch out for: no real-time collaborative editing in this version, per the repository, and the extra terms on libraries and templates.

6. WBO: best simple self-hosted shared board with no accounts

WBO, short for Whitebophir, is an open-source online whiteboard where many people draw at the same time on one large shared board. Every change appears in real time for everyone connected, and each board's state is saved, so you can return to it later. Boards are reachable by name, including an anonymous board, so people can start without creating an account.

It runs directly on Node.js or from an official Docker image, and a public demonstration server lets you try it first. It is released under AGPL-3.0, and the project's suggested uses include teaching, design sketches and casual drawing. See the WBO listing.

• Best for: teachers and groups that want a quick, accountless shared drawing board they can host themselves.
• Watch out for: its feature list centers on drawing, so it has no workshop templates or facilitation tools.

7. Mural: best hosted whiteboard for facilitated workshops

Mural is a commercial digital workspace for visual collaboration that comes with facilitation tools and a library of templates. Teams use shared canvases to brainstorm, map processes and customer journeys and run strategy sessions. Its site describes expert-designed methods and templates paired with AI guidance, and lists a separate product called Mural AI.

Enlisted lists a free plan that limits the number of editable murals, a per-member Team+ plan, a higher Business tier and Enterprise by contact. The vendor also lists a partnership with Microsoft and professional services such as LUMA Services and Mural Accelerate. Visit Mural alternatives for a ranked list of similar tools.

• Best for: facilitators, consultants and enterprise teams that run structured workshops.
• Watch out for: it is closed source and hosted only, and the free plan limits how many murals you can edit.

8. FigJam: best whiteboard for teams that already use Figma

FigJam is Figma's online whiteboard for workshops, brainstorming and diagramming, and it sits inside the wider Figma product family. Figma's page lists sticky notes, voting, timers and hundreds of ready-made templates, plus AI features that can generate templates, sort stickies into themes and summarize action items. It connects with Asana, Jira and GitHub, and guest invites can be shared without a login.

Enlisted lists a free plan, and Figma says FigJam is included with all seats on every plan. It is a natural choice for design and product teams that move from whiteboard to prototype in the same ecosystem. See FigJam alternatives.

• Best for: design and product teams already working in Figma.
• Watch out for: it is closed source, hosted only and built around Figma, so it fits less well for teams outside the design workflow.

9. Lucidspark: best whiteboard that pairs with Lucidchart diagrams

Lucidspark is Lucid's virtual whiteboard for brainstorming, workshops and planning, designed to take ideas through planning and into delivery. It belongs to the Lucid suite, which also includes Lucidchart for diagramming and airfocus for product management and roadmapping, plus AI features, an MCP server and integrations.

If you already use Lucidchart for flowcharts and org charts, Lucidspark comes from the same vendor and suite, so the two products are designed to work together. Enlisted lists a free plan, and plan details are on Lucid's pricing page. See Lucidspark alternatives.

• Best for: teams that diagram in Lucidchart and want a whiteboard from the same vendor.
• Watch out for: it is part of a commercial suite, closed source and hosted only.

10. Whimsical: best lightweight tool for flowcharts, wireframes and mind maps

Whimsical is a lightweight visual workspace that combines flowcharts, wireframes, mind maps and an infinite board for people who build products. Its AI can turn a prompt into a structured flowchart, expand an idea into a mind map or generate editable wireframes, and teams can edit the same file in real time.

Enlisted lists a free plan with monthly limits on board objects and doc blocks, and paid plans priced per editor, with viewers free. It leans toward product documentation rather than running workshops. See Whimsical alternatives.

• Best for: product managers and designers documenting flows and sketching low-fidelity interfaces.
• Watch out for: it is not a workshop facilitation tool, and the free plan has limits on boards.

11. Microsoft Whiteboard: best free canvas if you use Microsoft 365

Microsoft Whiteboard is a free-form digital canvas in Microsoft 365 for sketching, sticky notes and collaborating on ideas. Enlisted lists it as free, and because it belongs to the Microsoft 365 family teams can use it alongside Microsoft's other tools, including meetings.

It is a proprietary hosted service, and Microsoft's site has the detailed feature information. See Microsoft Whiteboard alternatives.

• Best for: teams already in Microsoft 365 that want a no-cost canvas for meetings.
• Watch out for: it is tied to the Microsoft ecosystem and is a simpler canvas than a dedicated workshop product.

12. Stormboard: best for brainstorms that produce structured data

Stormboard is a digital whiteboard built around sticky notes and smart templates, with a data-first angle: interactions are captured as structured data that can be exported or turned into reports. It integrates with other work tools and is used for agile and PI planning and remote brainstorming, with an enterprise offering that includes StormAI.

Enlisted lists a free Personal plan, plus Business billed per member with a trial and Enterprise by contract. See Stormboard alternatives.

• Best for: agile teams and enterprises that want workshop output as reports, not just a board.
• Watch out for: it is closed source and hosted only, and beyond the free plan Business is billed per member and Enterprise by contract.

Other whiteboards and canvases worth knowing

Klaxoon combines a whiteboard with quizzes and interactive meeting tools and is now branded Klaxoon by Wrike. Padlet is a board tool where people post notes, links and media, common in classrooms. Creately covers many specialized diagram types. Kinopio is a spatial note-taking canvas, and Heptabase is a visual knowledge base for learners. Among open-source options, InfiniPaint is a GPL-3.0 infinite-canvas drawing app, Ideon is a self-hosted visual workspace for notes, files and repositories, and drafft.ink is a self-hostable whiteboard built with Rust and WebGPU that needs no account.

Can you self-host an online whiteboard?

Yes, and it is one of the main reasons to leave Miro. Several of the tools above are self-hostable according to Enlisted: Excalidraw, WBO, AFFiNE, draw.io and tldraw's sync package. WBO is the simplest, since it runs on Node.js or from an official Docker image. Excalidraw and AFFiNE are larger deployments, and tldraw's self-hosted multiplayer is meant for developers who also hold a commercial licence for production use. Plan for backups of saved boards and for updates, because a shared canvas is something people stop using the day it loses their work.

Which Miro alternative should you choose?

If you are leaving one of Miro's direct competitors, the guidance shifts a little. For Mural alternatives, FigJam, Lucidspark and Miro are the closest hosted options, and Excalidraw or AFFiNE if you want open source. For FigJam alternatives, Miro and Mural cover workshops, and Excalidraw covers sketching. For Lucidspark alternatives, Miro and Mural cover brainstorming, and draw.io or Lucidchart cover diagrams.

For a wider view, see all open-source Miro alternatives on Enlisted, or browse the whiteboard category. If your workshops happen on video calls, the Zoom alternatives guide covers the meeting side, and the best productivity apps guide has more tools for planning work.