Excalidraw

Name: Excalidraw
Author: Excalidraw

by Excalidraw · Application · also known as Excalidraw+

Open-source virtual whiteboard for hand-drawn-style diagrams with live collaboration, embeddable as a React component, plus a hosted Excalidraw+ service

MIT licenseOpen sourceFreePaidLocalCloudSelf-hostedSelf-hostable

Visit official site Compare

Link verified Nov 2, 2026

Overview

Excalidraw is an open-source whiteboard application for sketch-style diagrams, maintained by the Excalidraw team and community. The web app runs entirely in the browser, saves to local storage or exportable .excalidraw JSON files, and offers end-to-end encrypted live collaboration rooms, shape libraries, arrows with binding, text-to-diagram helpers and export to PNG, SVG or clipboard. The editor is also published as an npm package so it can be embedded in other applications, which is how the popular Obsidian plugin and many documentation sites use it. Excalidraw+ is the company's hosted product adding workspaces, cloud storage, presentations and team features on a subscription. The free app has no accounts or persistent cloud storage unless you keep the files yourself, the hand-drawn aesthetic is deliberate and not suited to formal pixel-precise diagrams, and large boards can become slow.

Capabilities

Freehand-style shapes, arrows and text with binding
Live collaboration with end-to-end encryption
Shape libraries and templates
Export to PNG, SVG and .excalidraw JSON
Embeddable React component via npm
Mermaid-to-Excalidraw diagram conversion

Typical workflows

Sketch a system architecture during a call and export SVG into docs
Embed the editor in an internal tool or Obsidian vault

Strengths

MIT-licensed and self-hostable
No account required
Embeddable in other apps

Limitations

No persistent cloud storage without Excalidraw+ or your own files
Sketch aesthetic unsuited to formal diagrams
Performance drops on very large canvases

Prerequisites

Modern browser

Who it is for

Engineers and researchers sketching diagrams
Teams whiteboarding remotely

Alternatives & comparison

draw.io produces precise, formal diagrams with extensive shape libraries; Mermaid generates diagrams from text; Figma's FigJam is a commercial whiteboard with deeper workshop features. Excalidraw favours quick, informal sketches and is open source.

draw.io
Free diagramming editor (formerly diagrams.net) for flowcharts, network, UML and architecture diagrams, available as web app, desktop app and integrations
Open sourceFree
Figma
Browser-based collaborative interface design platform with vector editing, components, prototyping, FigJam whiteboards, Dev Mode and a plugin and REST API
ProprietaryFreemium
Mermaid
JavaScript library that renders flowcharts, sequence, class, state, ER, Gantt and other diagrams from a Markdown-like text syntax
Open sourceOpen source

Compare Excalidraw with its alternatives →

Sources & verification

Primary sources consulted for this record. Claims are tied to the fields each source supports; the automated link checker re-verifies every URL on a schedule.

License
LICENSE (MIT)
https://github.com/excalidraw/excalidraw/blob/master/LICENSE
Supports: license_spdx, source_model
checked Nov 1, 2026
Official documentation
Excalidraw developer docs
https://docs.excalidraw.com/
Supports: capabilities, interfaces
checked Nov 1, 2026
Official site
Excalidraw
https://excalidraw.com/
Supports: name, summary
checked Nov 1, 2026
Pricing page
Excalidraw+ pricing
https://plus.excalidraw.com/pricing
Supports: pricing_model
checked Nov 1, 2026

Confidence: High
Reviewed: Nov 1, 2026
Links: Verified · Nov 2, 2026

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