Excalidraw excalidraw/excalidraw

Hand-drawn style infinite whiteboard for sketches, diagrams and wireframes, with end-to-end encrypted collaboration on excalidraw.com.

Creator kit + Compare GitHub ↗ Install guide (official) ↗

Excalidraw at a glance

Checked 15 Oct 2026

Excalidraw is a widely used MIT-licensed whiteboard with a hand-drawn look, shape libraries, PNG/SVG export and an open .excalidraw JSON format. excalidraw.com adds offline PWA use, shareable links and end-to-end encrypted live collaboration. You can self-host the client with an official Docker image, but the docs say self-hosting does not yet support sharing or collaboration. It is a sketching whiteboard, not a template-based or UI design tool. Hardware needs are not documented.

Cite this pageRepoQuarry. “Excalidraw.” Checked 15 Oct 2026. https://repoquarry.dev/projects/excalidraw

How much of Canva does it replace?

1 of 5 jobs. Freeform sketch whiteboard; no Canva-style templates.

Template-based social and marketing graphics Not covered

Designed presentations and slide decks Not covered

Brand kits (shared colours Not covered

Online whiteboards Partial replacement

Print designs (posters Not covered

For template-based social and marketing graphics, designed presentations and slide decks, brand kits (shared colours, print designs (posters, see other Canva alternatives. You may also need to build an interface, an API server and hosting yourself.

How much of Figma does it replace?

1 of 4 jobs. Covers FigJam-style sketching and diagrams; self-hosted builds lack collaboration.

UI and product design with components and auto layout Not covered

Clickable prototypes and user flows Not covered

Developer handoff (inspect Not covered

Whiteboarding (FigJam) Partial replacement

For UI and product design with components and auto layout, clickable prototypes and user flows, developer handoff (inspect, see other Figma alternatives. You may also need to build an interface, an API server and hosting yourself.

How much of Miro does it replace?

2 of 3 jobs. Shared live drawing is available in the hosted app; the documented self-hosted client lacks sharing and collaboration, and Miro workshop facilitation, integrations and enterprise governance are not covered.

Shared whiteboards Partial replacement

Live collaboration Partial replacement

Workshop timers, voting and facilitation Not covered

For workshop timers, voting and facilitation, see other Miro alternatives. You may also need to build an interface, an API server and hosting yourself.

Facts, with sources

Every answer links to where we found it. We read the documentation; we did not install it.

Report a correction

QuestionAnswerSourceChecked

Runs on my machine? Self-hosted client via Docker, offline PWA, or hosted excalidraw.com We publish a Docker image with the Excalidraw client at excalidraw/excalidraw. You can use it to self-host your own client under your own domain docs.excalidraw.com · development#self-hosting ↗ 1d ago

Code licence MIT github.com · LICENSE ↗ 1d ago

Model weights licence No separate model weights github.com · excalidraw#readme ↗ 1d ago

Commercial use Yes, MIT github.com · LICENSE ↗ 1d ago

Paid services needed? None required Free & open-source. github.com · excalidraw#features ↗ 1d ago

Hardware Not documented Know the answer? —

Operating systems Runs in a web browser (PWA); self-host via Docker; no per-OS support documented PWA support (works offline). github.com · excalidraw#excalidrawcom ↗ 1d ago

Setup effort Easy to use at excalidraw.com; medium to self-host with Docker (no collaboration when self-hosted) At the moment, self-hosting your own instance doesn't support sharing or collaboration features. docs.excalidraw.com · development#self-hosting ↗ 1d ago