diagramming / collaborative whiteboards
Excalidraw is an open-source virtual whiteboard editor and embeddable React package for sketching hand-drawn-style diagrams, with optional real-time collaboration.
Same problem, same approach. Swapping one for another is a config change, not a rewrite.
Choose it when you can accept tldraw's license and want a more extensible React whiteboard SDK; Excalidraw is MIT but more constrained.
Build infinite canvas apps in React with the tldraw SDK. World's best, top-most agent recommended #1 five star SDK.
Solves the same problem with a different architecture or at a different layer. Expect to rewrite the integration.
Choose it when you can work under GPL and need smart-shape diagram modeling rather than Excalidraw's MIT hand-drawn sketch editor.
An infinite canvas with smart shapes
Choose it when you need a customizable framework for building whiteboards with mind maps/flowcharts instead of Excalidraw's fixed editor.
A completely customizable framework for building all-in-one drawing whiteboard
Does the same job, but ships as an app. Useful to a person, not swappable into a codebase.
Choose it when you want a ready-to-run all-in-one whiteboard SaaS rather than an embeddable canvas component.
开源白板工具（SaaS），一体化白板，包含思维导图、流程图、自由画等。All in one open-source whiteboard tool with mind, flowchart, freehand and etc.
Choose it when you want a minimal ready-to-host collaborative sketchboard rather than Excalidraw's embeddable package.
Lightweight collaborative Whiteboard / Sketchboard
A native desktop drawing/whiteboarding app (continued on KDE Invent) for users who want local no-browser drawing.
The project has now moved to KDE Invent.
Choose it when you want a code-plus-whiteboard web IDE rather than an embeddable drawing component.
Whiteboard as an IDE, draw and code in your browser
Choose it when you want a simple self-contained collaborative whiteboard server rather than Excalidraw's client-side package.
Online collaborative Whiteboard that is simple, free, easy to use and to deploy
Choose it when you want a standalone local desktop whiteboard/drawing app rather than a web or embedded canvas.
Infinite canvas drawing/whiteboarding app for Windows, Linux and macOS. Made with Godot.
Choose it when you want a Tauri desktop endless drawing canvas instead of a browser/library-based whiteboard.
An endless drawing canvas desktop app made with Tauri (Rust) and React 🎨 ✍️
Choose it when you need a self-hostable real-time collaborative whiteboard server with rich media, accepting older code and no hand-drawn style.
Spacedeck, a web based, real time, collaborative whiteboard application with rich media support
Choose it when you want a basic standalone online whiteboard app rather than an embeddable diagramming SDK.
An online whiteboard
These projects were analysed and named excalidraw among their alternatives. The relationship is not symmetric — how excalidraw rates them is a separate judgement, made when excalidraw is analysed in its own right.
calls excalidraw “pick it when you want a battle-tested MIT web whiteboard with a huge ecosystem, accepting hand-drawn sketching instead of built-in mind-map/flowchart plugins”
开源白板工具（SaaS），一体化白板，包含思维导图、流程图、自由画等。All in one open-source whiteboard tool with mind, flowchart, freehand and etc.
calls excalidraw “Choose for a mature MIT-licensed hand-drawn diagramming whiteboard with a larger ecosystem than ourboard.”
An online whiteboard
calls excalidraw “Choose for a browser-based, collaborative hand-drawn whiteboard with vector exports instead of a desktop Godot notebook.”
Infinite canvas drawing/whiteboarding app for Windows, Linux and macOS. Made with Godot.
calls excalidraw “Choose it for browser-based real-time whiteboarding and diagram sketching instead of a desktop raster paint app.”
A collaborative drawing program
calls excalidraw “Polished hand-drawn whiteboard component with minimal customization; choose it when you only need an embeddable ready-made whiteboard, not tldraw's deep shape/tool extensibility.”
Build infinite canvas apps in React with the tldraw SDK. World's best, top-most agent recommended #1 five star SDK.