Excalidraw vs Ziteboard (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Excalidraw grades higher than Ziteboard: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 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
Ziteboard
Lightweight online whiteboard for tutoring and live teamwork
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 Ziteboard if
- Fits if you run live lessons and need math tools on the board
- Works for tutors who share a board link
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, with 3 owned boards and public boards only
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $9 against $85 for the year
- Watch out: letting people in without registration needs a paid add-on on top of Pro
- Watch out: payment is through PayPal, with bank transfer only on request
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAExcalidrawGood | 2.2GPAZiteboardFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CMonthly Pro is $9, or $85 a year, which is about $7.08 a month. That's around the middle of what whiteboards charge. |
| 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. | CA free Starter plan with 3 owned boards, public boards only and limited data traffic. |
| 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, shape recognition, math tools, import and live chat. Private boards, full PDF import and backup export are Pro. |
| 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. The homepage and the FAQ disagree about whether there are native apps. |
| 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, iOS and Android plus a Chrome extension, WordPress and an enterprise API. No desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | quick hand-drawn sketches and diagrams | a simple tutoring whiteboard |
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 Ziteboard. 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. Ziteboard starts at $9 a month and scores 2.3.
Excalidraw scores higher and starts $3 a month lower. Of the other whiteboard and mind map tools on the chart, 5 score higher than Excalidraw for less, and 16 score higher than Ziteboard 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 | Ziteboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $6 per user / month, billed annually | $9 per month, billed monthly ($85 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. | Starter plan: 3 boards owned, unlimited shared boards and collaborators, 3 basic colors, low-resolution images and first-page PDF import. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of Excalidraw+ | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Excalidraw | Ziteboard |
| Price read from | plus.excalidraw.com | ziteboard.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.
Ziteboard
- The Starter plan allows 3 owned boards, public boards only, and limits data traffic unless a Pro user is on the board.
- Inviting people to a board without registration needs a paid anonymous whiteboard add-on on top of a Pro plan.
- The homepage mentions apps for iPad and Android, while the FAQ says no native app is needed; the Android listing is on Google Play.
- Payment is currently through PayPal, with bank transfer available on request.
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.
Ziteboard
- Realtime collaboration
- Unlimited people can share a board live. An integrated chat adds text, audio and video, and the video runs peer to peer.
- Math tools
- A formula editor takes LaTeX or a virtual keyboard, and a graph plotter and interactive compass cover functions and geometry.
- Drawing helpers
- Freehand strokes are smoothed, and rough circles and other shapes are recognized and redrawn. Sticky notes are included.
- Image and PDF import
- Images can be dragged in, and PDF pages or page ranges imported. Free accounts get lower-resolution images and the first PDF page.
- Export
- Boards export as PNG, SVG or PDF; a backup export is a paid feature.
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.
Ziteboard
Starter$0
3 owned boards, unlimited collaborators, public boards only, limited data traffic, low-resolution image import.
One Week Pro$5
one-time payment for one week
All Pro features for a week: unlimited boards, private boards, audio and video chat, custom colors.
Monthly Pro$9
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited boards, private boards, custom colors, highlighter pens, HQ images, full PDF import, backup export and audio and video chat.
Annual Pro$85
per year
The Monthly Pro features, billed once a year.
Teams$8
per user / month for 2-5 users, billed monthly
Pro features for the whole team. Per-user price falls with team size and period: $4.50 at 21-100 users billed yearly.
EnterpriseCustom
Quoted by email: REST API, white label license, single sign-on, encryption and a dedicated server.
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.
Ziteboard
- Other savings
Team discounts for longer periods
The team price per user drops with team size and with 6-month, 1-year or 2-year periods, from $8 to $4.50 per user a month on the page's table.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Excalidraw or Ziteboard?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Excalidraw starts at $6 per user / month, billed annually, and Ziteboard starts at $9 per month, billed monthly ($85 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 Ziteboard?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Excalidraw and Ziteboard have a free plan.
Which platforms do Excalidraw and Ziteboard run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Ziteboard lists iOS and Android apps and a browser extension. 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.