Excalidraw vs Excalidraw Plus (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Excalidraw grades higher than Excalidraw Plus: 2.6 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
Excalidraw grades higher on the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Excalidraw
Open-source whiteboard for hand-drawn style sketches and diagrams
Excalidraw Plus
Paid workspace for Excalidraw with cloud scenes and team access
Which one is for you
Pick Excalidraw if
- Fits if you want to sketch an idea in a meeting without anyone signing up
- Works for developers who want an open-source editor to embed or self-host
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free and keep many boards, with 1 scene and no cloud saving
- Skip it if you want comments, view-only sharing or presentations for free, as those need Excalidraw+
- Not for you if you want a desktop or phone app, as it only runs in a browser
- Watch out: Excalidraw+ bills every seat in every workspace, takes credit cards only and won't refund
Pick Excalidraw Plus if
- Fits if you already use the free Excalidraw and want scenes saved and shared
- Works for teams that want comments and presentations on a simple canvas
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan for Plus, as there is only a 14-day trial
- Watch out: payment is by credit card only, and bank transfer is not supported
- Watch out: workspace libraries and library search are marked coming soon
- Watch out: the MCP server and REST API are in public beta
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAExcalidrawGood | 2.2GPAExcalidraw PlusFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CExcalidraw+ is $6 a user a month billed annually, or $7 monthly, which sits in the middle of this category rather than under it. It bills every seat in every workspace, takes credit cards only, and its terms make charges non-refundable. Students and teachers pay $4. | C$6 a seat billed yearly sits between the category's cheaper quarter at $5 and its middle at $8.25. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe full editor is free with no account at all: every drawing tool, unlimited collaborators by link, libraries and PNG or SVG export. The cap is 1 scene and no cloud saving, so you keep your boards as files. | C14-day free trial of Plus; the card requirement is not stated, and the free editor is a separate product with local storage. |
| Features | CIt does sketchy diagrams completely, and that's a smaller job than this category's: an infinite canvas, deliberately elementary drawing tools, ready-made libraries, live link sessions and AI that turns a prompt into a diagram. Cloud scenes, comments, access control, presentations and voice all need Plus. | CCloud scenes, sharing, comments, presentations and 100 AI requests a day, but workspace libraries are coming soon and the API and MCP server are in beta. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record, but there is nothing to set up: open excalidraw.com and draw, no account, no plan, no template to pick. Guests join from a link, and the toolset is kept small on purpose. | CNo store rating on record, and you draw everything yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web app, with no desktop or mobile apps on the vendor's pages. Being open source it can be embedded or self-hosted, it shows up in Notion and Obsidian, and Plus runs an MCP server so AI agents can draw into a workspace. | BWeb only, with Notion and Obsidian links and a beta API. |
| Best for | quick hand-drawn sketches and diagrams | hand-drawn whiteboards saved to the cloud |
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: Excalidraw and Excalidraw Plus. How we grade
Price against what you get
Excalidraw starts at $6 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Excalidraw Plus starts at $6 a month for each person and scores 2.3.
Excalidraw scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other whiteboard and mind map tools on the chart, 5 score higher than Excalidraw for less, and 9 score higher than Excalidraw Plus 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
- Excalidraw is open source, self-hostable and end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
At a glance
| Excalidraw | Excalidraw Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $6 per user / month, billed annually | $6 per user / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Free editor: full drawing tools on 1 infinite scene, unlimited collaborators, export to PNG, SVG or a file, libraries and limited generative AI. No account and no cloud saving. | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of Excalidraw+ | 14-day free trial of Plus |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Excalidraw | Excalidraw |
| Price read from | plus.excalidraw.com | plus.excalidraw.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Excalidraw
- The free editor has 1 scene and no accounts or cloud saving; anything else has to be exported or saved to a file.
- Unlimited scenes, comments, access management, presentations and voice hangouts all need Excalidraw+.
- The vendor's pages list no desktop or mobile apps; Excalidraw runs in a web browser.
- Excalidraw+ bills every seat in every workspace, accepts credit cards only, and its terms make charges non-refundable.
Excalidraw Plus
- Plus has no free plan; the free Excalidraw editor is a separate product with local, browser-based storage.
- Payment is by credit card only; the pricing FAQ says bank transfer is not supported.
- Workspace libraries and library search are marked as coming soon.
- The MCP server and REST API are in public beta.
Key features
Excalidraw
- Hand-drawn style canvas
- An infinite canvas with elementary drawing tools and a sketched, hand-drawn look. Keyboard shortcuts and a command palette speed up drawing.
- Collaboration by link
- Sharing a link starts a live session that anyone can join without an account. Excalidraw+ adds read-only links, edit or view rights, comments and embeds.
- Libraries
- Public libraries supply ready-made sketches to drop into a scene. A personal library is kept in the browser on the free editor and on the server with Excalidraw+.
- Generative AI
- Text to diagram builds and edits diagrams from a prompt, and wireframe to code turns a sketch into an interactive mockup. AI use is limited on Free and extended on Plus.
- Excalidraw+ workspace
- Scenes sync to the cloud and are organized into collections, with user accounts, team management and access control. An MCP server lets AI agents draw into a workspace.
- Presentations and voice
- With Plus, frames become slides for live presentations, scenes export to PDF and PPTX, and collaborators can talk over voice hangouts with screen sharing.
Excalidraw Plus
- Cloud scenes and folders
- Scenes are saved to the vendor's cloud with no limit on their number and can be organized into folders and collections.
- Access management
- Share with edit or view rights, send read-only links and embeds, and manage team members in a workspace.
- Presentations and export
- Frames can be shown as slides, including live presentations, and exported to PDF and PPTX.
- Voice hangouts and comments
- Collaborators can talk and share screens on the canvas and leave comments on a scene.
- AI requests
- Text to diagram and wireframe to code run at 100 requests a day on Plus, or with your own API key.
- MCP and REST API
- A public beta MCP server lets an AI agent draw into a workspace, and a REST API is also in public beta.
Plans
Excalidraw
Free$0
Full editor with 1 infinite scene, unlimited collaborators by link, PNG and SVG export, libraries, and end-to-end encryption in the browser.
Plus$6
per user / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly)
Unlimited scenes and folders saved to the cloud, edit or view-only sharing, comments, team management, presentations, voice hangouts and extended AI.
Excalidraw Plus
Plus$6
per user / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly)
Unlimited scenes and folders saved to the cloud, sharing with edit or view rights, comments, 100 AI requests a day.
Ways to pay less
Excalidraw
- Annual discount
Save 14% with annual billing
Excalidraw+ is $6 per user a month when billed annually and $7 when billed monthly. The pricing page states the annual saving as 14%.
- Education
Excalidraw+ for $4 a month with a school email
Students and teachers with an educational email address can get Excalidraw+ for $4 monthly or $36 yearly, shown at checkout or after verification.
Excalidraw Plus
- Annual discount
Save 14% with annual billing
The pricing page lists $6 per user a month billed annually against $7 billed monthly, and labels the annual option as a 14% saving.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Excalidraw or Excalidraw Plus?
As of Nov 13, 2026, they start at the same price. Excalidraw starts at $6 per user / month, billed annually, and Excalidraw Plus starts at $6 per user / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Excalidraw or Excalidraw Plus?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Excalidraw has a free plan. Excalidraw Plus does not, though it has a free trial.
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.