Explain Everything vs Microsoft Whiteboard (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Microsoft Whiteboard grades higher than Explain Everything: 3.4 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
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.
Explain Everything
Teaching whiteboard with slides, video recording and collaboration
Microsoft Whiteboard
Free collaborative canvas built into Microsoft 365 and Teams
Which one is for you
Pick Explain Everything if
- Fits if you record whiteboard lessons from an iPad or a browser
- Works for a school that hands out assignments through Canvas, Moodle or Blackboard
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: one slide per project and 3-minute videos run out fast
- Skip it if you want a Mac or Windows app, as none is named
- Watch out: free collaboration is one person for 15 minutes at a time
- Watch out: the $69 educator plan covers one educator account, and schools get custom quotes
- Watch out: deployment through MDM and group settings need the Team plan
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
| 2.2GPAExplain EverythingFair | 3.4GPAMicrosoft WhiteboardVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $7.49 a month billed yearly, between the category's cheaper quarter at $5 and the dearer quarter at $9.99. Education Advanced is $69 a year. | 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 | CThe free plan has 3 projects, 1 slide each, 3-minute videos, 500 MB and 15-minute sessions with one collaborator. No card is needed. | 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 | CInfinite canvas, video recording and classroom tools. Gaps the listing shows: the free tier's size limits, and larger collaboration needs Team or a school plan. | 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. You build lessons slide by slide. | 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, iOS and Android, with Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Canvas, Schoology, Moodle and Blackboard listed. No Mac or Windows download is named. | 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 | teachers recording lessons on a whiteboard | 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: Explain Everything and Microsoft Whiteboard. How we grade
Price against what you get
Explain Everything starts at $7.49 a month 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 $7.49 a month lower. Of the other whiteboard and mind map tools on the chart, 13 score higher than Explain Everything 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
- Explain Everything also covers screen recording and presentations.
- Microsoft Whiteboard also covers templates.
At a glance
| Explain Everything | Microsoft Whiteboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $7.49 per month, billed yearly ($9.99 billed monthly) | Free |
| Free plan | Up to 3 projects with 1 slide each, 3-minute videos, 500 MB storage and 15-minute sessions for 1 collaborator. | 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 | Promethean | Microsoft Corporation |
| Price read from | explaineverything.com | microsoft.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Explain Everything
- The Free plan allows 3 projects with a single slide each, 3-minute videos and 15-minute collaboration sessions.
- Group-wide settings, license deployment through MDM and larger collaboration need the Team plan or a custom school plan.
- The pricing page lists iPads, iPhones, Chromebooks, Android devices and a browser app, with no separate Mac or Windows download named.
- Schools buy custom plans with volume pricing; the $69 Advanced plan covers one educator account.
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
Explain Everything
- Infinite-canvas whiteboard
- All plans include the whiteboarding tools and an infinite canvas that takes PDFs, documents, images, presentations, audio and video.
- Video recording
- A project can be recorded as a video tutorial. Length is capped at 3 minutes on the free plan and unlimited on paid plans.
- Collaboration
- People can work in one project at the same time or at different times. Session length and group size depend on the plan.
- Classroom tools
- Education plans add polling, a timer and a spinner, and school plans can hand out assignments through Canvas, Schoology, Moodle and Blackboard.
- Projection and broadcast
- The whiteboard can be shown on a second display or shared into a video meeting app.
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
Explain Everything
Free$0
Up to 3 projects, 1 slide per project, 3-minute videos, 500 MB cloud storage, 1-on-1 collaboration for up to 15 minutes.
Pro$7.49
per month, billed yearly ($9.99 billed monthly)
Unlimited projects and slides, unlimited video length, 20 GB storage, up to 8 people collaborating with no time limit, email support.
Team$7.49
per user / month, billed yearly ($9.99 billed monthly)
Pro limits for a company, plus team settings, shared folders, 20 GB pooled storage per person and a choice of data region.
Education Advanced$69
per year
For educators: unlimited projects, slides and video length, Promethean polling, timer and spinner, 7.5 GB storage, 30-minute collaboration.
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
Explain Everything
- Education
Education plans for teachers and schools
The pricing page has a separate Plans for Education view with an Advanced plan at $69 per year and custom pricing for schools and districts.
Microsoft Whiteboard
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Explain Everything or Microsoft Whiteboard?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Microsoft Whiteboard is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $7.49 a month for Explain Everything. Explain Everything starts at $7.49 per month, billed yearly ($9.99 billed monthly), and Microsoft Whiteboard is free.
Which has a free plan, Explain Everything or Microsoft Whiteboard?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Explain Everything and Microsoft Whiteboard have a free plan.
Which platforms do Explain Everything and Microsoft Whiteboard run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Microsoft Whiteboard lists a Windows app. Both list a web app and iOS and Android apps. 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.