Excalidraw alternative
Prompt Board vs Excalidraw for boards your team keeps
Excalidraw is the open source whiteboard with the hand-drawn look. You open the editor and draw, with no account, and anyone you send the link to can draw with you. The free editor holds one scene, saved in your browser. Saved scenes, comments and presentations come with Excalidraw+ at $7 per user a month. This page is for teams whose quick sketches have turned into retros, plans and diagrams they want to keep and comment on.
Excalidraw details come from Excalidraw's own pages: the Excalidraw+ pricing page, the home and AI pages, the self-hosting docs, and the README and licence in its GitHub repository. Checked on 2 November 2026. Prices are in US dollars. Check Excalidraw's pricing page before you decide.
Pick Prompt Board if
- You need more than one board. Prompt Board saves every board to your account with no board limit, where Excalidraw's free editor keeps one scene in your browser
- You want comments and a slide-by-slide walkthrough without buying seats. Both are free here and part of Excalidraw+ there
- Your boards are made of sticky notes. The AI sorts them into themed frames and writes a summary, up to 20 times a day per person
Stay with Excalidraw if
- You want to draw without signing up. Excalidraw opens straight into the editor, and people you invite by link need no account either
- You need open source. The editor is MIT-licensed, you can host it yourself, and .excalidraw files are open JSON
- Live sessions must be end-to-end encrypted, or you draw offline
- You like the hand-drawn look, or you want Mermaid pasted in as shapes and wireframes turned into code
| Feature | Prompt Board | Excalidraw |
|---|---|---|
| Account to start | Prompt BoardNeeded to create or edit. People with a view link need none | ExcalidrawNone. Open the editor and drawAhead |
| Boards on the free plan | Prompt BoardUnlimited, up to 5,000 objects eachAhead | Excalidraw1 infinite scene. Unlimited scenes and folders on Plus |
| Where boards are saved | Prompt BoardEvery board, in your account on our serversAhead | ExcalidrawIn your browser on Free. On Excalidraw's cloud with Plus |
| Offline | Prompt BoardNo, the editor needs a connection | ExcalidrawWorks offline as an installable web appAhead |
| Feature | Prompt Board | Excalidraw |
|---|---|---|
| Look | Prompt BoardClean shapes and text | ExcalidrawHand-drawn styleAhead |
| Tools | Prompt BoardSticky notes, 5 shapes, text, connectors, a pen, frames and images | ExcalidrawRectangle, circle, diamond, arrows and lines that bind to shapes and carry labels, free draw, eraser |
| Ready-made content | Prompt Board51 starter templates for meetings and planning, plus your own saved from any board | ExcalidrawPublic libraries of ready-to-use sketches. Your own library stays in the browser on Free |
| Images | Prompt BoardUp to 10 MB each, 300 per board | ExcalidrawCompressed on Free, up to 4K on Plus |
| Feature | Prompt Board | Excalidraw |
|---|---|---|
| Live editing | Prompt BoardLive cursors, changes sync about once a second | ExcalidrawReal-time collaboration by link with unlimited collaborators, freeAhead |
| Encryption | Prompt BoardBoards are stored on our servers, not end-to-end encrypted | ExcalidrawEnd-to-end encrypted in the browser on Free. Plus adds encryption at rest and in transitAhead |
| Comments | Prompt BoardThreads pinned to the board, with replies and resolve, freeAhead | ExcalidrawOn Plus |
| Presenting | Prompt BoardPresent frames as slides, freeAhead | ExcalidrawPresentations and live presentations on Plus |
| Sharing | Prompt BoardView or edit links. Viewers need no account, editors sign in | ExcalidrawCollaboration links on Free. View-only access, embeds and access management on Plus |
| Voice and screen sharing | Prompt BoardNo | ExcalidrawVoice hangouts and screen sharing on PlusAhead |
| Feature | Prompt Board | Excalidraw |
|---|---|---|
| AI on the free plan | Prompt Board20 requests a day per personAhead | Excalidraw10 requests a day. 100 a day on Plus, or your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Grok or OpenRouter key |
| Draft from a sentence | Prompt BoardA board of frames and sticky notes, a flowchart or a mind map | ExcalidrawText to diagram, and wireframe to code for interactive mockups |
| Sort and summarise sticky notes | Prompt BoardClusters sticky notes into themed frames and writes a summary noteAhead | ExcalidrawNot listed on its pricing or AI pages |
| Mermaid | Prompt BoardNo | ExcalidrawPaste Mermaid code and get editable shapes, with no request limitAhead |
| Agents and API | Prompt BoardNo | ExcalidrawMCP server and REST API on Plus, both in public betaAhead |
| Feature | Prompt Board | Excalidraw |
|---|---|---|
| Export formats | Prompt BoardPNG and SVG, whole board or a selection | ExcalidrawPNG, SVG and .excalidraw files on Free. PDF and PPTX of frames on PlusAhead |
| Open source and self-hosting | Prompt BoardNo | ExcalidrawMIT licence, and you can host the editor yourselfAhead |
| Integrations | Prompt BoardNone yet | ExcalidrawNotion, Obsidian and others on FreeAhead |
| Security certification | Prompt BoardNone yet | ExcalidrawSOC 2 Type 2 for PlusAhead |
| Saved boards, comments and presenting | Prompt BoardFreeAhead | ExcalidrawPlus, $7 per user a month, or $6 a month billed annually, with a 14-day trial |
Our take
If you sketch alone or with a few engineers, stay with Excalidraw. It opens without an account, encrypts live sessions end to end and works offline. The MIT licence lets you host the editor yourself, and its AI turns wireframes into code and Mermaid into shapes, which ours does not do.
Prompt Board is for the point where a sketch becomes a team board. Every board saves to your account with no board limit, and comments and presenting frames as slides cost nothing. On Excalidraw, saved scenes, comments and presentations come with Plus at $7 per user a month. In return you sign up to edit, changes reach the others about once a second, and a board holds up to 5,000 objects.
Where to go next
Keep every board your team draws
Sign up free and every board saves to your account as you draw. No card needed.