FigJam vs Microsoft Whiteboard
We give FigJam a 3.6 GPA and Microsoft Whiteboard a 3.8, out of 4.0. FigJam grades higher on features. Microsoft Whiteboard grades higher on the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
FigJam
Online whiteboard from Figma for brainstorms, diagrams and meetings
Microsoft Whiteboard
Free collaborative canvas built into Microsoft 365 and Teams
How we grade them
| 3.6GPAFigJamExcellent | 3.8GPAMicrosoft WhiteboardExcellent | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AA Collab seat on Professional is $3 a month billed annually, where paid plans here typically start around $8.33. That's the cheapest seat with full access to FigJam. It isn't sold separately, though: you're picking a plan for the whole Figma product set. | AIt's free. There's nothing to buy with a personal Microsoft account, and at work or school it comes with your organisation's Microsoft 365 tenant. It isn't sold on its own at all. |
| Free plan and trial | BStarter is free with unlimited drafts, the timer, tables, diagramming tools and AI credits (150 a day, up to 500 a month). But the team folder holds 3 FigJam files, version history is 30 days, and voting, open sessions and audio are left out. | AThe web, Windows, iOS and Android apps are all free with a Microsoft account, and so are the 60-plus templates. The one thing that costs extra is Copilot, which needs its own license. |
| Features | AStickies, shapes and connectors, tables and code blocks, with a timer, stamps, voting and a Spotlight mode for guiding the group. AI builds templates and sorts stickies into themes. There are more than 300 templates, plus widgets and plugins. That's the whole whiteboard job with depth. | BPens, a highlighter, sticky notes, shapes, more than 60 templates and Loop components that stay in sync elsewhere. Solid basics. But personal-account boards lack collaborative cursors, the laser pointer and a recycle bin, and the export is an image. |
| Ease of use | BWe have no App Store rating on record for it, so a B is as high as this goes. The 300-plus ready-made templates for kickoffs, retros and flow charts mean you needn't start from a blank board. | A4.6 from about 12,300 App Store ratings. It works with a mouse, a finger or a pen, and in Teams it's one click to share a board with the whole meeting. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac and Windows, with phone apps and ties to Jira, Asana, GitHub, Slack and Notion. One catch: the iPhone and Android apps only view and comment. On mobile, sketching in FigJam is iPad only. | ABrowser, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android and Surface Hub, tied into Teams, Loop, OneNote and OneDrive. There's no Mac or Linux app, mind. On those it runs in a browser or inside Teams. |
| Best for | team whiteboards if you already use Figma | 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: FigJam and Microsoft Whiteboard. How we grade
Where they differ
- FigJam starts at $3 per Collab seat / month, billed annually. Microsoft Whiteboard is free.
- Only FigJam lists a macOS app.
- FigJam also covers diagrams.
At a glance
| FigJam | Microsoft Whiteboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $3 per Collab seat / month, billed annually | Free |
| Free plan | Starter plan: 3 FigJam files in the team folder plus unlimited drafts, 30 days of version history, and 150 AI credits a day up to 500 a month. No voting, open sessions or audio. | 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 | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Figma | Microsoft Corporation |
| Price read from | figma.com | microsoft.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
FigJam
- Teams that already design products in Figma
- Stand-ups, retrospectives and workshops run on a shared board
- Mapping user flows next to the designs they describe
- Classrooms: verified students and teachers get FigJam free
Microsoft Whiteboard
- Teams meetings where participants sketch on one shared board
- Organizations on Microsoft 365, where it is enabled by default
- Schools: free for students and educators through Microsoft 365 A1
- Pen and touch devices such as Surface Hub and iPad
Worth knowing
FigJam
- FigJam cannot be bought separately; access comes with a Figma seat, and plans and seats are chosen for the whole Figma product set.
- The free Starter plan allows 3 FigJam files in its team folder and leaves out voting, open sessions, audio conversations and advanced shapes.
- Custom color palettes and organization-wide custom templates need the Organization plan, which is billed annually only.
- The iPhone and Android apps view and comment on FigJam files; on mobile, sketching in FigJam is offered on iPad only.
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
FigJam
- Shapes and connectors
- Shapes and connectors snap to the grid for mapping user flows, processes and systems. Advanced shapes for AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure and Kubernetes need a paid plan.
- Facilitation tools
- A shared timer, stamps, emotes and a built-in music player are on every plan, and Spotlight mode lets a presenter guide the group. Voting starts at Professional.
- FigJam AI
- A prompt generates meeting templates and visuals, and one click sorts stickies into themes or summarizes them. These draw on the AI credits included with each plan and seat.
- Open sessions
- On paid plans, people outside the team can be invited to contribute to a board for 24 hours without a paid seat, with no limit on the number of sessions.
- Templates, widgets and plugins
- More than 300 ready-made templates cover kickoffs, retrospectives, flow charts and journey maps, and community widgets and plugins extend a board.
- Ties to Figma Design and Slides
- Screens and components from Figma libraries can be dropped into a diagram, and an AI feature in Figma Slides drafts a deck outline from a FigJam board.
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
FigJam
Starter$0
3 FigJam files plus unlimited drafts, with the timer, tables, code blocks, diagramming tools and the AI generate, sort and summarize features.
Professional$3
per Collab seat / month, billed annually
Unlimited files, voting, open sessions, audio, advanced shapes and unlimited version history. Dev seats are $12 and Full seats $16 a month.
Organization$5
per Collab seat / month, billed annually
Adds custom color palettes, custom templates shared across the organization, SSO and centralized administration. Full seats are $55 a month.
Enterprise$5
per Collab seat / month, billed annually
Adds custom workspaces, SCIM seat management, guest access controls and expiring public links. Full seats are $90 a month.
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
FigJam
- Education
Free for verified students and educators
Figma for Education gives students and teachers who verify their status free access to Figma and FigJam, including the paid professional tools, through an education team.
- Annual discount
Lower Professional seat prices on annual billing
Professional seats can be billed monthly or annually, and the pricing page shows the lower annual rates. Figma's help center prices a Dev seat at $15 on monthly billing against $12 on annual.
Microsoft Whiteboard
No public discounts listed.
