Collaboard vs Microsoft Whiteboard (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Microsoft Whiteboard grades higher than Collaboard: 3.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Microsoft Whiteboard grades higher on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Collaboard
Swiss online whiteboard with regional cloud hosting options
Microsoft Whiteboard
Free collaborative canvas built into Microsoft 365 and Teams
Which one is for you
Pick Collaboard if
- Fits if your data has to stay in Switzerland, Germany or the Netherlands
- Works for workshop facilitators who need an MCP server or self-hosting
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, as it is 3 boards and 5 participants per board
- Watch out: voting, timers, presentation mode and the icon library need Advanced
- Watch out: hosting in Germany costs extra and is not in the listed price
- Watch out: single sign-on, SCIM, LDAP and audit logs are Enterprise only, with no published price
Pick Microsoft Whiteboard if
- Fits if your meetings are in Teams and you want everyone drawing on one board
- Works for pen users on a Surface Hub or an iPad
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your team isn't on Microsoft 365, because a personal account loses cursors and the recycle bin
- Not for you if you want a desktop app on a Mac or Linux, as Microsoft lists neither
- Too light for detailed diagrams and big workshops, with no voting, no timer and image-only export
- Watch out: at work an admin can switch it off, and Copilot features need a separate license
How we grade them
| 2.2GPACollaboardFair | 3.4GPAMicrosoft WhiteboardVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$6 per user a month billed yearly sits between the category's cheaper quarter at $5 and its middle at $8.25. | AFree, where the rest of this category wants about $8.33 a month. There's nothing to buy with a personal Microsoft account, and at work or school it arrives with your organization's Microsoft 365 tenant. It isn't sold on its own at any price. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree plan with 3 whiteboards and 5 participants per board, which most teams will outgrow. | AThe web, Windows, iPhone and Android apps are all free with a Microsoft account, and so are the 60-plus templates, with no cap on boards to walk into. Copilot is the one thing that costs extra, needing its own license. |
| Features | CCore whiteboard tools, templates and guests, but voting, timers and presentation mode need Advanced at $11.50 a seat. | CThe basics of a board: pens, a highlighter, sticky notes, shapes, 60-odd templates and Loop components that stay in sync elsewhere. The listing's gaps are plain, though. Personal-account boards lose collaborative cursors, the laser pointer and the recycle bin, export is an image, and there's no voting or timer. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and facilitation boards take building. | B4.6 from 12,309 App Store ratings. It takes a mouse, a finger or a pen, there are templates to start from, and in Teams it's one click to put a board in front of the whole meeting. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with Teams, Webex, Pexip, Nextcloud and Rocket.Chat integrations. | ABrowser, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android and Surface Hub, tied into Teams, Loop, OneNote and OneDrive. The hole is Apple and Linux desktops: Microsoft lists no Mac app, so there it runs in a browser or inside Teams. |
| Best for | workshop whiteboards with a choice of hosting country | sketching together in a Teams meeting |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Collaboard and Microsoft Whiteboard. How we grade
Price against what you get
Collaboard starts at $6 a month for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Microsoft Whiteboard has no paid plan and scores 3.0.
Microsoft Whiteboard scores higher and starts $6 a month lower. Of the other whiteboard and mind map tools on the chart, 9 score higher than Collaboard for less, and none scores higher than Microsoft Whiteboard for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Collaboard also covers mind mapping.
At a glance
| Collaboard | Microsoft Whiteboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $6 per user / month, billed yearly ($7.20 billed monthly) | Free |
| Free plan | Up to 3 whiteboards, 5 participants per board and access to 200+ templates. | Free with a personal Microsoft account or a Microsoft 365 work or school account. Boards made with a personal account lack collaborative cursors, the laser pointer and a recycle bin. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | BOC Information Technologies Consulting GmbH | Microsoft Corporation |
| Price read from | collaboard.app | microsoft.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Collaboard
- The free plan is limited to 3 whiteboards and 5 participants per board.
- Voting, timers, presentation mode and the icon library need Advanced.
- Hosting in Germany is available for an additional charge and is not part of the listed price.
- Single sign-on, SCIM, LDAP and audit logs are Enterprise only, and Enterprise has no published price.
Microsoft Whiteboard
- Microsoft lists apps for Windows, iOS, Android and Surface Hub but none for Mac or Linux, where Whiteboard runs in a browser or in Teams.
- Boards made with a personal account are stored in Azure and lack collaborative cursors, the laser pointer, the roster, a recycle bin and retention policies.
- Whiteboard is not sold on its own: work and school use depends on the organization's Microsoft 365 tenant, where an admin can turn it off.
- Copilot features need a separate Microsoft Copilot license.
Key features
Collaboard
- Core whiteboard tools
- Sticky notes, text, shapes, connectors, drawing pens, mind maps, frames, tables and chat on the board.
- Workshop facilitation
- Voting and ratings, a timer, presentation and focus modes and a way to bring participants to your position (Advanced and up).
- Guest access
- Guests can view and edit a board without logging in: up to 20 on Basic, unlimited on Advanced.
- Templates
- The vendor lists over 250 templates, and Advanced adds personal and organization templates.
- Hosting choice
- Cloud hosting in the Netherlands, Switzerland or Germany, with self-hosted and private deployment on Enterprise.
- MCP server
- A beta MCP server connects AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Mistral to whiteboards on the Advanced plan.
Microsoft Whiteboard
- Infinite canvas with ink and sticky notes
- Pens, a highlighter, an eraser and a lasso sit alongside sticky notes, text, images and shapes, and the canvas works with a mouse, a touchscreen or a pen.
- Whiteboard in Microsoft Teams
- A board can be shared in a Teams meeting, chat or channel and stays available afterwards. The meeting organizer can put other participants in read-only mode.
- Templates
- More than 60 free templates give a starting structure for exercises such as brainstorming, sprint planning and project development.
- Loop components
- Microsoft Loop components can be placed on a board and stay in sync with the same component in chats, meetings, emails and documents.
- Copilot in Whiteboard
- Copilot suggests ideas as sticky notes, sorts notes into categories and summarizes a board. It requires a Microsoft Copilot license.
- Automatic saving and share links
- Boards save to the Microsoft cloud automatically, a share link invites others to collaborate, and a board can be exported as an image or sent to a OneNote class notebook.
Plans
Collaboard
Free$0
Up to 3 whiteboards, 5 participants per board, core whiteboard features and templates.
Basic$6
per user / month, billed yearly ($7.20 billed monthly)
Unlimited boards, 50 participants per board, up to 20 guests who can edit without a login, exports.
Advanced$11.50
per user / month, billed yearly ($13.80 billed monthly)
Unlimited participants and guests, facilitation tools, custom templates, branding, cloud region choice.
EnterpriseCustom
Self-hosting, single sign-on, SCIM and LDAP, audit logs and a dedicated customer success manager.
Microsoft Whiteboard
Free$0
The web, Windows, iOS and Android apps with a free Microsoft account. Work and school access comes with an organization's Microsoft 365 tenant, not as a separate purchase.
Ways to pay less
Collaboard
- Annual discount
Save 17% with yearly billing
The pricing page shows a yearly option labelled as a 17% saving over monthly billing, in dollars, euros or Swiss francs.
Microsoft Whiteboard
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Collaboard or Microsoft Whiteboard?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Microsoft Whiteboard is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $6 a month for each person for Collaboard. Collaboard starts at $6 per user / month, billed yearly ($7.20 billed monthly), and Microsoft Whiteboard is free.
Which has a free plan, Collaboard or Microsoft Whiteboard?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Collaboard and Microsoft Whiteboard have a free plan.
Which platforms do Collaboard and Microsoft Whiteboard run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Microsoft Whiteboard lists Windows, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.