Most companies buy a whiteboard by accident. Someone opens a free board for a Friday retrospective, ten colleagues join, and three months later the team has forty boards, no owner, and a finance manager asking who approved the invoice. The real question is what the board is for. A product team mapping a roadmap needs structure and integrations with its ticket system. A trainer running a half-day workshop needs timers, voting and a way to keep participants from dragging each other's notes around. A developer sketching an architecture wants speed and nothing else. This ranking looks at twelve products an operations lead or a department head could realistically buy, and it judges them on how fast a first session starts, what the invoice looks like after the free plan runs out, whether the work leaves the tool cleanly, and who controls the data. The order is the verdict, and the largest vendors sit below the top three.
Visibility in this ranking 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. The largest vendors in online whiteboard software
cannot hold places 1 to 3. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
How we ranked these
Setup: from link to a first running session
Whiteboards win or lose on the first ten minutes. A facilitator sends a link, eight people click it, and anything that makes them create an account, install a client or wait for approval eats the session. We looked at whether guests can join without paying, whether a browser is enough, and whether the vendor offers templates that match a retrospective or a customer journey so nobody starts from a blank canvas. Tools that sit inside something the company already uses, such as a Microsoft 365 tenant or a Canva login, avoided most of that friction. For the larger deployments we also checked for single sign-on, SCIM and an admin console, since a hundred unmanaged workspaces is the usual outcome of a free start. Products that kept administration separate from the canvas ranked higher than ones that merged the two.
The real price: seats, editors and the free-plan wall
Every vendor in this list has a free entry, and nearly every free entry is limited in a way that bites after a few weeks. Miro, Mural, Lucidspark and Conceptboard each cap the number of editable or active boards at three. Whimsical caps objects per month, and Padlet caps the number of boards. The paid tiers then count something different each time: members, editors, hosts, or full seats and collab seats in FigJam's case. A company with two builders and twenty reviewers pays very differently under each rule, so we priced a plausible team rather than the headline figure. Where a vendor publishes no number for its top tier, we say so and treat the missing price as a cost of its own, because the SSO and audit controls security teams ask for usually sit there.
Getting your data out: exports, boards and what remains editable
A whiteboard is easy to fill and awkward to empty. The common exports are image and PDF snapshots, which preserve the picture and lose the structure; a sticky note exported as a pixel cannot be re-sorted in a spreadsheet. We looked for exports that keep objects separate, such as CSV for cards, Office or Google reports, and for backups of whole boards that another tool can open. Stormboard stands out for reports that reach Word, PowerPoint and Excel, while Excalidraw keeps its scene as an open file format. We also checked what happens when a plan lapses: several free tiers keep every board but let only the newest ones be edited, which is a quiet form of lock-in. We ranked tools higher when leaving them costs a copy-paste rather than a rebuild.
Independence from the vendor: ownership, hosting and roadmap
Ownership matters more in this category than in most, because the cheap independent whiteboards of five years ago have been absorbed or overshadowed. Klaxoon now belongs to Wrike, Whiteboard is a feature of Microsoft 365, FigJam comes with Figma seats and Canva Whiteboards comes with Canva. Where the data lives is the second test. Conceptboard hosts in Germany by default, Klaxoon lets customers pick EMEA or US data centers, Miro offers regional hosting on Enterprise, and Excalidraw's editor is open source. Others publish less. Microsoft has also announced that its standalone apps retire on October 16, 2026, a reminder that the roadmap belongs to the vendor. We gave extra weight to buyers who can choose a region and to products with an open core.
Who it's for: facilitators, builders and note-takers
There are three kinds of buyer hiding behind the word whiteboard. Facilitators run sessions for other people and need timers, voting, breakouts and templates, so Miro, Mural and Klaxoon are built around them. Builders draw systems and flows, and they want shapes, connectors and links to other documents, which suits Lucidspark, Whimsical, FigJam and Excalidraw. Collectors gather input from a large group and want almost no learning curve, which is Padlet's job and, in a lighter way, Canva's. We scored each product against the buyer it serves best, then placed generalists above specialists when a small company would have to pick one tool for all three jobs. A company with a single Microsoft 365 licence pool and no appetite for a new vendor can reasonably stop at Whiteboard.
The 12 tools, reviewed
#1 Lucidspark
Whiteboard from the maker of Lucidchart · United States · lucid.co
Pairs with Lucidchart Free tier SAML on Enterprise
Lucidspark earns the top place by being the whiteboard that does not strand its output. The Lucid pricing page lists a free plan with three editable boards, an Individual plan near $9 a month and a per-user Team plan at a similar annual price, while the Enterprise tier is described as including Lucidchart. That matters to a company that workshops a process on Tuesday and has to turn it into a clean flowchart by Friday without exporting images. Lucid, based in South Jordan, Utah, was founded in 2010 and also sells Lucidchart and airfocus. The price band stays low enough for a department to pay for it without a procurement round.
Where it falls short
The free tier locks you to three editable boards, so a team that keeps every workshop will hit the wall within a month. Several features that facilitators ask for sit on Team or above, and the Enterprise price is not published. The pricing page for Team is a range, not a single figure.
Wrong for
A design studio that thinks in moodboards and loose imagery will find the structured, diagram-first feel limiting; Milanote-style tools or Canva Whiteboards fit that style better.
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)
Visit Lucidspark →
#2 Conceptboard
German-hosted whiteboard with euro pricing · Germany · conceptboard.com
Hosted in Germany Published euro prices Government tier
Conceptboard sits second because it answers a question the American vendors answer with a sales call: where is the data. Its pricing page states that services are hosted in Germany on AWS by default, with IONOS or StackIT available for an extra fee, and lists plans in euros at 5, from 10 and from 14 per user per month. The top tier adds single sign-on, audit logs and phone support, and a separate Corporate & Government label signals that public bodies are a target customer. The company is based in Halle (Saale). For a Dutch, German or Nordic mid-sized company with a works council, that clarity shortens the review considerably.
Where it falls short
The free plan is tight: three active boards, 100 objects per board and 250 MB of storage. The published feature list centers on facilitation and approval flows rather than a wide integration catalog. Sovereign hosting beyond the AWS default costs extra.
Wrong for
A product organization that runs hundreds of agile ceremonies a quarter and expects deep Jira and Figma plug-ins should start with Miro, where the add-on ecosystem is far wider.
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)
Visit Conceptboard →
#3 Whimsical
Light whiteboards, flowcharts and docs · United States · whimsical.com
Free viewers Flowcharts SAML on Business
Whimsical is third because its pricing rule fits how small companies really behave: a few people build, many people look. The pricing page states that viewers are always free and guests are unlimited on every plan, so an agency can share a flow with ten client reviewers and pay for two editors. Pro is $10 and Business $20 per editor per month on annual billing, with SAML SSO and SCIM held back for Business. The product leans toward tidy flowcharts, wireframes and short docs more than free-form workshops, which makes it quick to learn. Whimsical, Inc. gives a Denver address in its privacy notice.
Where it falls short
It is not built for a facilitator running a 40-person remote workshop with timers, voting and breakout areas. The free plan allows only 50 board objects per month and watermarks exports. Version history on Pro is 90 days, and enterprise features arrive only at the $20 tier.
Wrong for
A consultancy that sells workshop facilitation as a service needs timers, voting and templates for large sessions; Miro or Mural cover that far better than Whimsical.
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)
Visit Whimsical →
#4 Miro
The most widely used online whiteboard · United States · miro.com
Largest ecosystem Regional data hosting Enterprise tier
Miro is the whiteboard other tools are compared with, and for a mid-sized company running product, design and operations workshops in one place it is still the safe choice. Its pricing page lists a free plan with three editable boards, Starter at $8 and Business at $20 per member per month billed annually, and states that more than 250 integrations are available. Enterprise needs at least 30 members and offers regional hosting in the EU, US, Australia and Japan. It sits at position four only because the ranking rules keep the biggest vendors out of the top three; on features alone it would contend. It was started in 2011 as RealtimeBoard.
Where it falls short
Business jumps to $20 per member, so a 40-person rollout costs more than most competitors for the same sticky notes. Regional hosting sits behind a 30-seat Enterprise contract. Free workspaces keep only the three newest boards editable.
Wrong for
A ten-person company that wants a cheap shared sketchpad will pay for features it never opens; Excalidraw or Whimsical cost far less for that job.
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)
Visit Miro →
#5 Mural
Visual workspace built for facilitated workshops · United States · mural.co
Facilitation tools Free visitors SCIM on Enterprise
Mural suits the person who runs the session rather than the person who draws on it. Its pricing page lists three editable murals on the free plan, Team+ at $9.99 per member per month annually ($12 monthly), Business at $17.99 and a quote-only Enterprise tier with SCIM, multiple workspaces and tighter security controls. Visitors can view for free in unlimited numbers, which helps when a leadership team wants to watch without paying. The company, Tactivos, Inc., describes itself as fully remote and as headquartered in San Francisco. It earns fifth place as a dominant incumbent rather than on any weakness in the core product.
Where it falls short
The price ladder jumps from $9.99 to $17.99, and Enterprise has no published figure. Free users keep only three editable murals at a time, so any team running monthly workshops needs a paid seat for the person who builds the boards.
Wrong for
A development team that wants diagrams living next to code and tickets will find the surface too workshop-oriented; FigJam or Lucidspark sits closer to the work.
Pricing: Free with three editable murals at a time; Team+ $9.99 (monthly billing $12) and Business $17.99 per member per month on annual billing; Enterprise by quote. (free plan)
Visit Mural →
#6 Microsoft Whiteboard
Free whiteboard inside Microsoft 365 and Teams · United States · microsoft.com
Teams integration No extra licence Pen and touch
For a company already paying for Microsoft 365, Whiteboard is the answer that needs no purchase order. Microsoft calls it a free-form canvas where people, content and ideas come together, tuned for pen, touch and keyboard, and its admin documentation covers access control, sharing, data storage in Azure and OneDrive for Business, GDPR requests and deployment through Intune. It runs in Teams meetings and on Surface Hub. It ranks sixth because the tooling is basic next to dedicated vendors and because it is Microsoft; its value is that IT already manages it.
Where it falls short
Microsoft has announced that the standalone Whiteboard apps for Windows, iOS and Android retire on October 16, 2026, leaving the web and Teams. Templates, voting and facilitation tools are thin compared with specialist products, and sessions with external guests are clumsier.
Wrong for
A workshop-heavy product team that needs templates, timers and voting for large sessions will outgrow it quickly; Miro or Mural are the usual next steps.
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)
Visit Microsoft Whiteboard →
#7 FigJam
Figma's whiteboard for product and design teams · United States · figma.com
Seat-based pricing Free viewers Design handoff
FigJam makes most sense when the people already live in Figma. Figma states it is included in all paid tiers, with Starter free and Professional at $16 for a full seat and $3 for a collab seat, and that viewers can comment or export without a paid seat. Organization at $55 and Enterprise at $90 per full seat are steep but cover design work too. A product manager can drop a live design frame into a workshop board without screenshots. It is set seventh for the dominant-vendor rule and because the pricing is built around design seats.
Where it falls short
Costs rise with Figma seat tiers rather than whiteboard needs, so a team that wants only a canvas is paying for a design platform. The free Starter plan is basic, and facilitation tools for large workshops are thinner than Miro or Mural.
Wrong for
A finance or operations team with no designers gets almost nothing from Figma seats; Conceptboard or Lucidspark is a cleaner purchase for that group.
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)
Visit FigJam →
#8 Klaxoon
Visual collaboration for meetings and training · France · klaxoon.com
EMEA or US hosting Quizzes and surveys Owned by Wrike
Klaxoon takes eighth place as the whiteboard that treats the meeting as the product. Besides boards it offers live sessions, quizzes, surveys and mission tracking, which suits trainers and managers who run recurring rituals with a mixed audience. The pricing page distinguishes Pro users who create activities from audience members who contribute, and states customers can choose EMEA or US data centers at no extra cost from Starter upward. Wrike announced the acquisition in 2025, and Klaxoon is described as based in Rennes, France. The $24.90 host price looks high until you notice it covers up to four Pro users.
Where it falls short
Hosts and Pro users are a different unit from seats, which confuses budgeting. The audience cap on Starter is 20 participants. The Wrike acquisition raises questions about packaging and roadmap, and its Enterprise price is not published. Third-party add-ons are fewer than at Miro.
Wrong for
A distributed engineering team wanting free-form diagramming next to code should skip it; Excalidraw or Lucidspark is closer to that need.
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)
Visit Klaxoon →
#9 Stormboard
Structured brainstorming that exports reports · Canada · stormboard.com
Report exports Free guests Agile integrations
Stormboard is ninth, and it is the pick when a workshop must end with a document. Its plans table shows Word, PowerPoint and Excel reports and Google Docs, Slides and Sheets reports on Business, plus idea grouping, import and substorms. Business is stated at $10 per user per month monthly or $8.33 annually, with a 30-day trial that requires a credit card. The free Personal plan allows five members per Storm. The company, Edistorm Inc., lists an Edmonton, Alberta address and was founded in 2009. For PI planning and structured sessions in agile teams the report output saves real time.
Where it falls short
The free Personal plan caps storage at 20 MB per user and five members per Storm. The visual style is more rigid than a free canvas. Audit logs and Surface Hub support are Enterprise only.
Wrong for
A creative team that wants loose moodboards and drawn sketches will find the sticky-note structure restrictive; Canva Whiteboards or Milanote fit that style better.
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)
Visit Stormboard →
#10 Canva Whiteboards
Whiteboards inside Canva · Australia · canva.com
Free whiteboards Design assets Marketing teams
Canva Whiteboards is tenth, and it is mostly a convenience. Canva states whiteboards are free with unlimited boards on web, desktop and mobile, and included in all plans, so a marketing team can brainstorm a campaign and drag the same fonts, photos and brand kit into the board. Pro is listed at US$120 a year for one person and Business at US$250 a year per person, with Teams closed to new sign-ups. The company is based in Surry Hills, Sydney. It is the least friction route for non-technical staff who already have a Canva login.
Where it falls short
The vendor positions boards as a brainstorming add-on to its design suite, so workshop tooling and diagram depth are not its focus. Pricing for teams follows the design seat, not whiteboard use, and Canva closed its Teams plan to new sign-ups.
Wrong for
A product team that needs structured retrospectives or system diagrams will outgrow it; Lucidspark or Miro handle that better.
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)
Visit Canva Whiteboards →
#11 Excalidraw
Open-source, hand-drawn style whiteboard · Czech Republic · excalidraw.com
Open source Hand-drawn look Cheapest paid tier
Excalidraw is eleventh, a different kind of tool: small, fast and free. The editor is open source, and the Plus product page lists a free forever plan with unlimited collaborators on one scene, plus a $6 per user per month tier with unlimited scenes, cloud storage, team management and a 14-day trial. Developers use it to sketch architecture in minutes because it does not impose templates, accounts or toolbars. The legal entity is Excalidraw s.r.o. in Brno, Czech Republic. For a team with engineers it often replaces a more expensive subscription, but it does not replace a facilitation platform.
Where it falls short
It has no templates library, voting, timers or facilitator controls, and the Plus plan only accepts credit card payment today. The free tier is limited to one scene in the hosted workspace. The hand-drawn look will not suit a board shown to a client.
Wrong for
A facilitator who runs workshops with 30 participants needs structured activities; Miro, Mural or Klaxoon is the better starting point.
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)
Visit Excalidraw →
#12 Padlet
Collaborative boards for posts and uploads · United States · padlet.com
Free plan Education plans Posts and uploads
Padlet closes the list because it solves a different problem. Participants post cards, files and links onto a shared wall in formats such as wall, grid and timeline, which suits collecting input from a large group that is not going to draw. The help center lists a free Neon plan with 3 padlets and 20 MB per upload, and Platinum at $15 per month or $120 per year with unlimited padlets and 500 MB per upload. School plans are priced separately. The company, Wallwisher, Inc. doing business as Padlet, gives a San Francisco address.
Where it falls short
It is not an infinite canvas for diagrams and workshops. The free plan permits three padlets and short audio and video, so a busy team runs out quickly and must upgrade to keep creating boards.
Wrong for
A company that wants a working surface for process mapping or agile planning should look at Lucidspark or Miro; Padlet only collects and displays contributions.
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)
Visit Padlet →
What the data says about this market
Seven of the twelve products ranked here are headquartered in the United States: Lucidspark, Whimsical, Miro, Mural, Microsoft Whiteboard, FigJam and Padlet. The other five are spread across Germany (Conceptboard), France (Klaxoon), Canada (Stormboard), Australia (Canva) and the Czech Republic (Excalidraw). That spread is wider than in most B2B categories, partly because a whiteboard is cheap to host and partly because European buyers have pushed for data residency. Every one of the twelve offers some free entry, whether a free plan, an open-source editor or a bundled feature, which makes the pricing contest about what you pay after the first three boards, not whether you can start.
Pricing is published for most paid tiers. Eleven of the twelve show a number for at least one paid plan, from Excalidraw+ at $6 per user per month and Conceptboard's Starter at 5 euro up to FigJam's Enterprise full seat at $90. Five of the twelve (Lucidspark, Miro, Mural, Klaxoon and Stormboard) keep their top tier quote-only, which is where single sign-on, audit logs and regional hosting tend to sit. Microsoft Whiteboard has no separate price, and Padlet publishes a monthly figure for its Platinum plan with school plans sold elsewhere. The spread between the cheapest paid editor and the dearest is well over tenfold, and the jump from the entry paid tier to the business tier is often a doubling, as at Miro ($8 to $20).
The structural story is consolidation. Wrike bought Klaxoon in 2025, Figma folded a whiteboard into its design seat, Canva added boards to its design suite and Microsoft treats Whiteboard as a Teams surface. The independent specialists left are Miro, Mural, Lucid, Conceptboard, Whimsical, Stormboard, Padlet and Excalidraw. For buyers, the practical consequence is that a whiteboard is increasingly a feature of a larger contract, so check whether you already own one before adding a new vendor. The World Bank's indicator for ICT service exports as a share of service exports shows the European Union rising from 10.58% in 2013 to 17.55% in 2023, a sign of how much software and digital service work now sits in the region.
The 12 ranked vendors, counted
- Headquarters by region: North America 8, Europe 3, Asia-Pacific 1
- By country: United States 7, Australia 1, Canada 1, Czech Republic 1, France 1, Germany 1
- Pricing model: Per user / month 3, Per member / month 2, Flat monthly 1, Free + per user / year 1, Included with Microsoft 365 1, Open source + paid tiers 1, Per editor / month 1, Per host / month 1, Per seat / month 1
- Free option: Free plan 11, Open source 1
Counted from the 12 vendors on this page. More in our market data.
For the wider market behind online whiteboard software, read our report The Global Shift to ICT Services,
or browse all industry reports.
Questions and answers
What is the best online whiteboard software in 2026?
For a small or mid-sized company, Lucidspark ranks first: its free plan has three editable boards, paid plans sit near $9 per user per month on annual billing, and the Enterprise tier brings in Lucidchart for follow-up diagrams. Conceptboard is the better pick when data must stay in Germany or the EU, with published prices from 5 euro per user. Whimsical suits teams that mostly draw flows and want free viewers. Miro, Mural and Microsoft Whiteboard are large vendors and sit lower in the order, even though Miro offers the broadest template and integration catalog.
Is there a free online whiteboard that works for a team?
Yes, within caps. Miro, Mural, Lucidspark and Conceptboard each give three editable or active boards on free plans. Canva says its whiteboards are free and unlimited, Microsoft says Whiteboard is free, and Excalidraw is open source. Padlet's free Neon plan allows three padlets. The pattern is that one team can live on free for a while, but a company with several teams running monthly workshops will hit the cap and need paid seats for the builders.
How much does a whiteboard cost per user?
Paid editors range from $6 per user per month for Excalidraw+ to $20 for Miro Business or Whimsical Business, with Mural at $17.99 and Stormboard at $10 monthly. Conceptboard starts at 5 euro. FigJam depends on Figma seat type: $16 for a full Professional seat and $3 for a collab seat. Klaxoon charges $24.90 per host per month, covering up to four Pro users. Enterprise tiers at Miro, Mural, Lucidspark, Klaxoon and Stormboard are quote-only, and Microsoft Whiteboard has no separate price.
Which whiteboard keeps data in Europe?
Conceptboard states that services are hosted in Germany on AWS by default, with IONOS or StackIT as extra-cost options. Klaxoon lets customers choose EMEA or US data centers from its Starter plan, at no extra cost according to its pricing page. Miro lists regional hosting in the EU, US, Australia and Japan on Enterprise. Microsoft documents where Whiteboard content is stored in Azure and OneDrive for Business inside a tenant. Ask any vendor for the region in writing.
Is Microsoft Whiteboard enough for a company on Microsoft 365?
For quick sketches in a Teams meeting, yes, and it costs nothing extra. It lacks the template depth, voting and facilitator controls of Miro or Mural. Note that Microsoft has announced that the standalone apps for Windows, iOS and Android retire on October 16, 2026; for work or school accounts Whiteboard continues in Teams and on the web. If your sessions are small and informal, it is a sensible default.
What is the difference between Miro and Mural?
Both are large, template-rich whiteboards with a free tier of three editable boards. Miro lists Starter at $8 and Business at $20 per member per month and emphasizes a broad integration catalog. Mural lists Team+ at $9.99 and Business at $17.99 and builds around facilitation, with unlimited view-only visitors on every plan. If you run diagrams, roadmaps and many integrations, test Miro first. If you train or facilitate, test Mural first.
Do I need a whiteboard if I already pay for Figma or Canva?
Possibly not. FigJam is included in every Figma plan, and Canva says whiteboards are included in all plans and free. A design or marketing team can brainstorm in those with its existing assets and logins. They fall short for structured workshops with timers and voting, where specialist tools do more, and FigJam's cost rises with Figma seat types rather than with whiteboard use.
Can I use an open-source whiteboard at work?
Excalidraw is the main open-source option. Its editor is free, and Excalidraw+ at $6 per user per month adds cloud storage, unlimited scenes and team management, according to its pricing page. It suits developers who want to sketch quickly. It has no facilitation features such as voting and timers, so it will not replace Miro or Mural for a workshop with thirty participants.
What happens to my boards if I stop paying?
It depends on the vendor. Miro states that on its free plan three editable boards remain, with others retained but not editable. Mural's free plan likewise allows three editable murals at a time. Conceptboard's free plan limits you to three active boards. Before downgrading, export the boards you need as PDF or structured files, and check whether the notes can be pulled into a spreadsheet or document.
Which whiteboard is best for agile retrospectives and planning?
Stormboard is built around structured sessions and lists Jira and Azure DevOps integrations, with reports that export into Office and Google formats. Miro is the other common choice thanks to its integration catalog and templates, and Lucidspark lists visual activities. For a team with a monthly retrospective and nothing more, a free plan at any of them works until the board cap arrives.
Are there whiteboards for classrooms and training rather than companies?
Padlet sells school and classroom plans, with a free Neon plan of three padlets and a Platinum tier at $15 per month. Klaxoon offers quizzes and surveys alongside boards, which suits trainers who mix teaching with polling. Mural is built around facilitators. Check the education pricing separately, because school plans on Padlet are sold on different terms.
