Buyers look past Mural when the free plan's three editable murals is too tight, when Team+ allows only one workspace and no guests, or when they want a canvas that sits closer to design, code or Microsoft 365. Most go to Miro for a like-for-like canvas, FigJam or Lucidspark for product work, and Klaxoon or Conceptboard for facilitation with European hosting.
Visibility in our rankings can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within
the shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review or of this page. The first three alternatives
go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the
established names follow in their ranked order. How it works:
placement disclosure · editorial process.
What each alternative does differently
1. Miro
The most widely used online whiteboard · United States
The closest like-for-like canvas. Its free plan keeps the three most recent boards editable, much as Mural does, and adds Docs, Tables, Slides and Kanban on the canvas. Miro lists regional data hosting in the EU, US, Australia and Japan, and SCIM provisioning for Okta and Entra ID.
Switch from Mural if you want a similar canvas with docs, tables and regional data hosting options.
Pricing: Free with three editable boards; Starter $8 and Business $20 per member per month on annual billing; Enterprise by quote with a 30-member minimum. (free plan)
Full review: #6 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Miro →
2. FigJam
Figma's whiteboard for product and design teams · United States
Part of Figma, and included with every Figma seat. Figma's pricing page lists a shared timer, stamps, tables and code blocks, and a cheaper collab seat for people who only contribute. It suits teams already inside Figma but carries no Mural-style facilitation program behind it.
Switch from Mural if your product and design work already lives in Figma.
Pricing: Included in all Figma plans: Starter free, Professional $16 for a full seat and $3 for a collab seat, Organization $55 full seat, Enterprise $90 full seat per month. (free plan)
Full review: #9 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit FigJam →
3. Lucidspark
Whiteboard from the maker of Lucidchart · United States
The whiteboard half of the Lucid suite, built to sit beside the Lucidchart diagramming product. We could not open Lucid's pricing page from our fetch tools, so we state only what the category file records. It fits teams that move between loose ideas and formal diagrams.
Switch from Mural if your team also needs formal diagrams next to the whiteboard.
Pricing: Free tier with three editable boards; Individual is listed at $9 per month billed annually, Team at roughly $9 to $10 per user per month annually, Enterprise by quote. (free plan)
Full review: #4 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Lucidspark →
4. Klaxoon
Visual collaboration for meetings and training · France
A French product now branded Klaxoon by Wrike, built around activities such as questions and voting, with a Session mode of up to 300 participants. Its pricing page lists private, dedicated and self-hosted options on request, which Mural does not publish. It is a workshop tool first, a canvas second.
Switch from Mural if you run large live sessions and may need dedicated or self-hosted deployment.
Pricing: Free tier with 500 MB; Starter $24.90 per host per month billed annually for up to 4 Pro users; Enterprise by quote with 5 Pro users minimum. (free plan)
Full review: #2 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Klaxoon →
5. Conceptboard
German-hosted whiteboard with euro pricing · Germany
German vendor with data centers in Germany, listed on AWS, IONOS and StackIT, with some at extra cost. Boards carry tasks, approval requests and board history. Its free plan caps boards at 100 objects and 250 MB of storage. Integrations are narrower than Mural's.
Switch from Mural if you want German hosting and tasks and approvals attached to boards.
Pricing: Free plan limited to three active boards; Starter 5 EUR, Advanced from 10 EUR and Corporate & Government from 14 EUR per user per month. (free plan)
Full review: #1 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Conceptboard →
6. Microsoft Whiteboard
Free whiteboard inside Microsoft 365 and Teams · United States
Microsoft's own app, with content stored in OneDrive by default and handled under OneDrive retention, legal hold and DLP controls. There is no facilitation toolkit like Mural's. It fits a Microsoft 365 estate where IT wants one set of controls and no extra vendor.
Switch from Mural if you run on Microsoft 365 and want boards governed like other OneDrive files.
Pricing: No separate price; Microsoft states the app is free and can be signed into with a free Microsoft account or a Microsoft 365 account. (free plan)
Full review: #8 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Microsoft Whiteboard →
7. Stormboard
Structured brainstorming that exports reports · Canada
Organizes work as sticky notes inside storms and sections rather than a free canvas. Paid plans export to Word, PowerPoint and Excel, and raw data to CSV, JSON, XML and OPML. It has audit logs on Enterprise. The result is closer to a structured report than to a freeform wall.
Switch from Mural if you want structured idea capture that exports straight into Office reports.
Pricing: Personal plan is free; Business is $10 per user per month billed monthly or $8.33 billed annually with a 30-day trial; Enterprise by contract. (free plan)
Full review: #3 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Stormboard →
8. Whimsical
Light whiteboards, flowcharts and docs · United States
Mixes boards with docs, flowcharts, mind maps and wireframes, with timer and voting included on every plan. Viewers and guests are unlimited and free. The free plan caps board objects at 50 a month and watermarks exports, so it is a tool for small, diagram-heavy teams.
Switch from Mural if you mostly draw flowcharts and wireframes and want unlimited free viewers and guests.
Pricing: Free with caps on board objects; Pro $10 and Business $20 per editor per month on annual billing; viewers and guests are free. (free plan)
Full review: #5 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Whimsical →
9. Excalidraw
Open-source, hand-drawn style whiteboard · Czech Republic
Open source under the MIT license, with a free editor that allows unlimited collaborators and exports to PNG, SVG and JSON. Excalidraw+ adds cloud-saved scenes, comments and PDF or PPTX export. The hand-drawn style suits quick sketches, and it has no workshop facilitation features.
Switch from Mural if you want an open source sketch tool and do not need facilitation controls.
Pricing: Open source and free to use; Excalidraw+ is $6 per user per month with a 14-day trial, and annual billing saves 14%. (open source)
Full review: #11 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Excalidraw →
10. Canva Whiteboards
Whiteboards inside Canva · Australia
Whiteboards sit inside Canva, so a board can share assets with presentations and graphics. Per the category file the whiteboards are free and Canva sells Pro and Business per person per year. Facilitation depth is thinner than Mural's, and the fit is design and marketing teams already on Canva.
Switch from Mural if your team already designs in Canva and wants whiteboards in the same account.
Pricing: Whiteboards are free and unlimited; Canva states Pro is US$120 per year for one person and Business US$250 per year per person. (free plan)
Full review: #10 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Canva Whiteboards →
11. Padlet
Collaborative boards for posts and uploads · United States
Pitched as boards to collect, organize and present anything, and priced as a flat monthly fee rather than per member. It is a wall of posts more than a freeform canvas, so it suits classes, intake and showcase boards, and handles diagramming and workshop sequencing poorly.
Switch from Mural if you gather contributions from many people and want a flat monthly price instead of seats.
Pricing: Free Neon plan allows 3 padlets; Platinum is $15 per month or $120 per year; school and classroom plans are sold separately. (free plan)
Full review: #12 of 12 in our ranking ·
Visit Padlet →
Questions and answers
Can I export my murals before I leave Mural?
Yes while the subscription runs, but we could not read Mural's help-center page on export formats. Mural's EU Data Act addendum says content can be extracted through features in the service in commonly accepted formats, including pdf. Test an export of one complex mural before you commit to a date.
How long do I keep access after I cancel Mural?
Until the end of the paid term. The terms say cancelling keeps your plan features for the rest of the Subscription Term, and prepaid fees are not refunded. After termination Mural may delete content under its standard retention policies, so export first.
Does Mural renew automatically?
Yes. The terms say paid subscriptions renew for the term chosen at checkout until you cancel, and that annual customers are notified before renewal. Cancel through Manage Workspace and Billing, or write to support@mural.co for help, which the terms name.
Where does Mural store my data?
By default in the United States on Microsoft Azure, according to Mural's trust page. Enterprise customers can set regional data residency per workspace. If storage in Europe is a requirement, compare Conceptboard, which lists German data centers, or Miro, which lists EU data hosting.
Do I need Business to work with outside clients on Mural?
Unlimited guests are listed from Business upward. On the lower plans one-time collaborators can join as free visitors with view-only rights. If clients must edit, that is the main reason a team pays for Business or looks at another tool.
What do I lose by moving to a plain whiteboard?
Mural's facilitation features: timer, voting, private mode, summon, hide and reveal in the outline, and facilitator lock. Some alternatives cover part of this. Whimsical and Conceptboard list timer and voting, and Klaxoon has facilitation controls such as synchronized screens.
