Excalidraw vs Limnu (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Excalidraw and Limnu share a 2.6 GPA, both have a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on whether you care more about ease of use, where Excalidraw grades higher, or value for money, where Limnu does.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on the free plan, 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
Limnu
Freehand online whiteboard for quick sketching with others
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 Limnu if
- Fits if you sketch with a stylus or marker and share the board live
- Works for tutors who lead students around a board
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you use Android or want a desktop app, as none is listed
- Watch out: exports are of the visible area, not the whole board
- Watch out: team security and admin controls are on the Team plan only
- Watch out: the Slack integration is not currently available
- Tight if you need video calls: the free plan has 30 minutes
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAExcalidrawGood | 2.6GPALimnuGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | BPro is $5 a month billed monthly or $50 a year, at the edge of the cheaper quarter ($5.00). Team is $8 a seat. |
| 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. | BThe free plan has unlimited collaborators and boards with no cap on the page, limited admin controls and 30 minutes of video. A 14-day test drive of paid features comes first. |
| 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. | CFreehand drawing, leading mode, file markup and an API. Gap the listing shows: export is the visible area only, like a screenshot, not the whole board. |
| 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. You draw everything yourself and decide how to lay out the board. |
| 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 and iOS. The Slack integration is described as being upgraded and unavailable, and there is no Android or desktop app. |
| Best for | quick hand-drawn sketches and diagrams | freehand sketching with other people |
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 Limnu. 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. Limnu starts at $5 a month and scores 2.3.
Excalidraw scores higher, and starts $1 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other whiteboard and mind map tools on the chart, 5 score higher than Excalidraw for less, and 8 score higher than Limnu 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.
- Excalidraw also covers diagrams.
At a glance
| Excalidraw | Limnu | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $6 per user / month, billed annually | $5 per month, billed monthly ($50 billed yearly) |
| 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. | Free plan with unlimited collaborators, limited admin and security controls and 30 minutes of video conference time. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of Excalidraw+ | 14-day test drive of Pro or Team features, then the Free plan |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Made by | Excalidraw | Limnu |
| Price read from | plus.excalidraw.com | limnu.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 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.
Limnu
- Exports are of the area visible in the viewport, like a screenshot, not the whole board.
- Team security controls and admin controls are on the Team plan; the Free plan has limited ones.
- Limnu lists a browser and an iOS app; no Android or desktop app appears on the pages we read.
- The Slack integration is described as being upgraded and not currently available.
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.
Limnu
- Freehand drawing
- Boards have no edge boundaries and support markers, shapes, text, sticky notes and stylus or Wacom tablet input.
- Leading mode
- A board admin can lead, so that everyone on the board sees the same area. Leading works in solo-draw and collaboration modes.
- File and image markup
- PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, JPEG, PNG, GIF and SVG files can be added. They upload as images, one per page, and can be marked up.
- Team controls
- Team plans add admin controls over who can share and invite, and security settings that can restrict boards to an organization.
- Whiteboard API
- A separate API product lets a company embed whiteboards in its own app or website, priced through sales.
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.
Limnu
Free$0
Unlimited collaborators, collaborative or solo-draw boards, limited admin controls and 30 minutes of video conference time.
Pro$5
per month, billed monthly ($50 billed yearly)
For individuals: unlimited boards and collaborators, private and collaborative boards, unlimited video conference time.
Team$8
per team member / month, billed monthly ($80 billed yearly)
Unlimited boards, team or private boards, team security controls and unlimited video conference time.
EnterpriseCustom
Team features plus a customer success manager and a training and onboarding program; sold through sales.
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.
Limnu
- Annual discount
Yearly billing saves $10 (Pro) or $16 (Team)
The pricing page shows Pro at $50 a year (save $10) and Team at $80 a year per team member (save $16).
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Excalidraw or Limnu?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Excalidraw starts at $6 per user / month, billed annually, and Limnu starts at $5 per month, billed monthly ($50 billed yearly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Excalidraw or Limnu?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Excalidraw and Limnu have a free plan.
Which platforms do Excalidraw and Limnu run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Limnu lists an iOS app. 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.