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Miro Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Miro alternatives: Excalidraw, tldraw, AFFiNE, draw.io (diagrams.net) and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Graphic Design & Diagramming
Verdict:Leave Miro when its free plan stops fitting the work. Miro's free tier gives three editable boards with unlimited members, which is fine for one workshop and tight for a running project. Excalidraw is the closest swap: it is free, collaborative in the browser and has no board cap, but it has fewer templates and no presentation mode. tldraw is an even quicker whiteboard with live collaboration, and its homepage shows no paid plan, so price is unclear. If your boards are more like docs, AFFiNE is MIT licensed, keeps local workspaces free and has a Cloud Basic plan with 10GB and up to three members, so the doc-and-board mix suits small groups. draw.io is the pick for flowcharts and org charts, not for brainstorming, since it lacks sticky notes and workshop templates. Penpot is free for up to eight members on its Professional plan, and it suits designers who need real files, not a whiteboard. The cost to weigh is the workshop template library: Miro's template library is the thing none of these match one-for-one, so count the templates you use each week before deciding.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excalidraw | Free (Free web app with real-time collaboration and end-to-end encryption); paid from $6 per user/month, Excalidraw+ | Web | Teams that need unlimited free boards | Docs only |
| tldraw | Free (Free whiteboard web app with instant collaboration; no paid plan or limits shown on the homepage) | Web | Quick live whiteboards | Docs only |
| AFFiNE | Free (local workspaces; Cloud Basic has 10 GB of storage, up to 3 members and 10 MB files); paid from $6.75 per month (Pro; the page does not name the billing term) | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted | Docs next to diagrams | Docs only |
| draw.io (diagrams.net) | Free (Free with no sign-up; open files from local storage or your own cloud account) | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux | Structured diagrams without a subscription | Docs only |
| Penpot | Free (Professional plan at $0: up to 8 team members plus unlimited viewers, 10GB storage, 7 days of version history); paid from $7 per per editor/month (Unlimited), capped at $175/month; 14-day free trial | Web | Design teams that want free team seats | Docs only |
| Lucidchart | Free (3 editable Lucidchart documents, 75 shapes per document, 100 templates); paid from $9 per month, billed annually (Individual) | Web | Diagramming | Docs only |
| Mural | Free (Free: 3 editable murals at a time, unlimited view-only visitors, 1 workspace, no guests); paid from $9.99 per member/month, billed annually (Team+; $12 billed monthly) | Web browser | Whiteboard | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
See the tools in action
Explore the interface and watch a workflow before choosing.
Good fit if
- You need more than three active boards for a running project (Excalidraw is the pick)
- You run a quick live session and want to start in seconds (tldraw is the pick)
- You want docs and boards in one free workspace (AFFiNE is the pick)
- You draw structured flowcharts rather than brainstorm (draw.io (diagrams.net) is the pick)
- Your team designs screens and wants free seats (Penpot is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Miro features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Miro today: Free (Free plan: 3 editable boards with unlimited team members); paid from $8 per per member/month, billed yearly (Starter) (Miro pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Why people look for Miro alternatives
On Miro's free plan you can create unlimited boards but only the three most recent stay editable; exports are low resolution and there is no version history. Starter is $8 per member a month billed yearly with 25 AI credits, and Business is $20 with 50. Free gets 10 AI credits a month, credits reset monthly and do not roll over, and invoiced billing needs at least 10 licenses on Starter.
Excalidraw
Compared with Miro: Free web app with real-time collaboration. Miro's free plan caps you at three editable boards, while Excalidraw has no board limit, but Excalidraw has fewer templates and no built-in presentation mode.
Price: Free (Free web app with real-time collaboration and end-to-end encryption); paid from $6 per user/month, Excalidraw+ (Excalidraw pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 134.7k GitHub stars · latest release v0.18.1 (Apr 21, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Teams that need unlimited free boards.
Worth knowing: Excalidraw+ has a 14-day trial; annual billing saves 14%. Hand-drawn look, not a formal-shape library.
tldraw
Compared with Miro: Free browser whiteboard with instant collaboration. It has no stated paid-plan price or board limit on its homepage, so you lose Miro's template library and admin controls.
Price: Free (Free whiteboard web app with instant collaboration; no paid plan or limits shown on the homepage) (tldraw pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. Source-available SDK (development use only without a license key); tldraw.com is a free web app.
Best for: Quick live whiteboards.
Worth knowing: Free web whiteboard. The homepage did not state a license for the app or the SDK.
AFFiNE
Compared with Miro: Open-source MIT workspace where docs and whiteboards sit together. Local workspaces are free and Cloud Basic includes 10GB and up to 3 members, so you give up Miro's large template library.
Price: Free (local workspaces; Cloud Basic has 10 GB of storage, up to 3 members and 10 MB files); paid from $6.75 per month (Pro; the page does not name the billing term) (AFFiNE pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 73.9k GitHub stars · latest release v0.27.4 (Aug 18, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Docs next to diagrams.
draw.io (diagrams.net)
Compared with Miro: Free, Apache-2.0 licensed diagram editor with no sign-up. It handles structured diagrams well, but it is not built for multi-board team work or sticky-note brainstorming like Miro.
Price: Free (Free with no sign-up; open files from local storage or your own cloud account) (draw.io (diagrams.net) pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Windows, macOS, Linux. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 9k GitHub stars · latest release v32.6.1 (Oct 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 23, 2026
Best for: Structured diagrams without a subscription.
Penpot
Compared with Miro: Free Professional plan at $0 for up to 8 team members and 10GB of storage. Penpot is a design tool first, so you trade Miro's workshop templates for real design files and components.
Price: Free (Professional plan at $0: up to 8 team members plus unlimited viewers, 10GB storage, 7 days of version history); paid from $7 per per editor/month (Unlimited), capped at $175/month; 14-day free trial (Penpot pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. MPL-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 61.8k GitHub stars · latest release 2.18.5 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Design teams that want free team seats.
Other popular options (paid)
Lucidchart
Compared with Miro: Free plan covers 3 editable documents with 75 shapes each, and paid Individual is $9 a month billed annually. Stronger for formal diagrams than for open brainstorming canvases, with a smaller whiteboard feel than Miro.
Price: Free (3 editable Lucidchart documents, 75 shapes per document, 100 templates); paid from $9 per month, billed annually (Individual) (Lucidchart pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Mural
Compared with Miro: Free allows 3 editable murals with unlimited view-only visitors, and Team+ is $9.99 per member a month billed annually, higher than Miro Starter at $8. A close whiteboard rival with a similar boards-limit model.
Price: Free (Free: 3 editable murals at a time, unlimited view-only visitors, 1 workspace, no guests); paid from $9.99 per member/month, billed annually (Team+; $12 billed monthly) (Mural pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You need more than three active boards for a running project: Excalidraw
- You run a quick live session and want to start in seconds: tldraw
- You want docs and boards in one free workspace: AFFiNE
- You draw structured flowcharts rather than brainstorm: draw.io (diagrams.net)
- Your team designs screens and wants free seats: Penpot
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Excalidraw, tldraw, AFFiNE, draw.io (diagrams.net), Penpot: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Miro. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Miro, Excalidraw, tldraw, AFFiNE, draw.io (diagrams.net), Penpot, Lucidchart, Mural. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.