Home / Online Whiteboards & Diagramming / Alternatives to Miro

3 open source alternatives to Miro

Online whiteboard for workshops, retros and diagrams. Here are the open source projects real teams use instead — ranked by fit, with honest pros and cons for each.

What people don't love about Miro

  • Pricing scales with boards and seats.
  • Cloud-only — no self-host for confidential workshops.
  • Large boards can lag in the browser.

Current Miro pricing (for reference): Free up to 3 boards; Starter from $8/user/month.

Ad slot — above comparison

Quick comparison

Alternative Best for License Self-host Hosted cloud?
Excalidraw
Virtual whiteboard for sketchy diagrams. 		Quick sketchy wireframes and brainstorms with zero setup. MIT ★☆☆☆☆ Yes
Drawpile
Collaborative drawing and painting in real time. 		Real-time collaborative drawing on a shared canvas. GPL-3.0 ★★☆☆☆ Yes
OpenBoard
Interactive whiteboard designed for teaching. 		Teachers and classrooms wanting a purpose-built whiteboard. GPL-3.0 ★☆☆☆☆ Self-host only

1. Excalidraw — Quick sketchy wireframes and brainstorms with zero setup.

Virtual whiteboard for sketchy diagrams.

Strengths

  • Great for wireframes and brainstorms.
  • End-to-end encrypted rooms on official instance.
  • Embeddable in docs and wikis.

Weaknesses

  • Not a full design tool — sketch-style only.
  • Limited component/library system.
  • Real-time plus is behind a paid tier.
License: MIT Self-host difficulty: 1/5 Hosted cloud optionDesktop: Windows, macOS, LinuxMobile: iOS, Android

Excalidraw homepage · Source on GitHub · Miro vs Excalidraw →

2. Drawpile — Real-time collaborative drawing on a shared canvas.

Collaborative drawing and painting in real time.

Strengths

  • Real-time multi-user drawing.
  • Self-host your own session server.
  • Natural feel for artists and designers.

Weaknesses

  • More painting-focused than diagramming.
  • No sticky notes / Miro-style UX.
  • Limited integrations.
License: GPL-3.0 Self-host difficulty: 2/5 Hosted cloud optionDesktop: Windows, macOS, LinuxMobile: Android

Drawpile homepage · Source on GitHub · Miro vs Drawpile →

3. OpenBoard — Teachers and classrooms wanting a purpose-built whiteboard.

Interactive whiteboard designed for teaching.

Strengths

  • Purpose-built for teachers and classrooms.
  • Desktop-first — no server needed.
  • Stylus and tablet friendly.

Weaknesses

  • Not a real-time multi-user whiteboard.
  • Desktop-only; no cloud collaboration.
  • Smaller community than Excalidraw.
License: GPL-3.0 Self-host difficulty: 1/5 Desktop: Windows, macOS, Linux

OpenBoard homepage · Source on GitHub · Miro vs OpenBoard →

Ad slot — below body

Not what you're looking for?

Browse other tools in Online Whiteboards & Diagramming, or check out open source projects by category on the full category index.