Best Online Whiteboard Apps for Small Teams

Online whiteboard apps have split into two distinct categories: full-featured collaboration platforms for teams running workshops, design sprints, and async project planning, and lighter tools for quick brainstorming and diagramming. Picking the wrong category wastes money and onboarding time.

This guide compares the main options for small teams in 2026, focused on what each tool actually handles well and where it falls short.

What type of whiteboard work are you doing?

Before comparing tools, clarify the primary use case. The apps on this list are not interchangeable:

• Remote workshops and design sprints — need templates, facilitation tools, and smooth real-time collaboration for multiple simultaneous participants
• Ongoing project planning and diagramming — need boards that stay live and are updated over weeks or months, not just during a session
• Quick brainstorming and light sketching — need low friction, fast load, and minimal setup

Miro

Miro is the dominant tool for professional workshops and design sprints. Its template library is extensive — retrospectives, affinity mapping, customer journey maps, flowcharts, Kanban boards, and dozens of others. Real-time collaboration works reliably for large groups, and facilitation features (timers, voting, sticky note sorting) are built in.

The free plan includes three editable boards. Paid plans start at $8/member/month for the Starter tier. For teams that run workshops regularly, Miro’s depth justifies the cost. For teams that need a whiteboard occasionally for brainstorming, the free tier may be enough, but three boards is a real constraint.

The main criticism: Miro becomes slow with very large boards and complex workflows. It’s also cloud-only — there’s no self-hosted option and no offline mode.

FigJam

FigJam is Figma’s whiteboard tool, designed primarily for teams already using Figma for design work. It integrates directly with Figma files, so designers can move between wireframing and whiteboarding without switching tools. The interface is simple enough that non-designers can use it comfortably — sticky notes, shapes, connectors, and voting features require minimal learning.

FigJam is included in paid Figma plans and has a free tier for up to three files. For design teams, it’s often the logical choice because the workflow integration is seamless. For teams without a Figma subscription, it’s less compelling — the template library is smaller than Miro’s and the collaboration features are lighter.

Mural

Mural competes directly with Miro for facilitated workshops and design thinking sessions. It has strong facilitation tools — summon participants, anonymous sticky notes, timer, and structured voting — and is often preferred over Miro by teams running formal design sprints or organizational workshops.

Mural’s free plan is limited to three active murals. Paid plans are comparable in price to Miro. The choice between Miro and Mural often comes down to template preference and whether the team’s facilitators have an existing preference — both tools cover the same professional workshop use case well.

Excalidraw

Excalidraw is open source, free, and completely browser-based with no account required. It’s a lightweight sketching tool — diagrams, flowcharts, and quick visual explanations — with a hand-drawn aesthetic that many people find easier to read in shared documents than polished vector diagrams.

Real-time collaboration works via shared links. There’s no template library, no facilitation tools, and no persistent project boards — if you close the tab, the work can be lost unless saved or shared. It’s also available as a self-hosted deployment for teams that want control over their environment.

Best for: engineers who need to sketch architecture diagrams quickly, teams embedding visual explanations in documentation, anyone who needs a whiteboard without account setup or cost.

ClickUp Whiteboard

ClickUp includes a whiteboard feature on its free plan. If your team already uses ClickUp for task management, the whiteboard is a convenient addition — you can convert sticky notes directly into ClickUp tasks, linking visual brainstorming to your project board without copying anything manually.

The whiteboard feature is less mature than Miro, FigJam, or Mural. Template selection is limited, and the tool hasn’t received the same level of investment as ClickUp’s core task features. For teams that need occasional brainstorming integrated with their ClickUp workflow, it works. For teams where the whiteboard is a primary work surface, look elsewhere.

AFFiNE Edgeless mode

AFFiNE’s Edgeless mode is an infinite canvas where you can combine drawn shapes, sticky notes, embedded databases, and document blocks — all in the same workspace. It’s open source and can be self-hosted, which matters for teams with data residency requirements or strong privacy policies.

The collaboration experience is less polished than Miro or Mural, and the tool doesn’t have the facilitation features (timers, voting, structured templates) that workshop facilitators rely on. Its strength is integration with the rest of an AFFiNE workspace — if you’re using AFFiNE for documentation and planning, the canvas mode extends naturally into visual work.

The practical decision

Running regular workshops with large groups: Miro or Mural. The template libraries and facilitation tools are purpose-built for this. Design teams already on Figma: FigJam is the natural choice. Quick sketching and diagramming without cost or accounts: Excalidraw. Teams in ClickUp who want light whiteboarding integrated with their tasks: ClickUp’s built-in option. Teams wanting open-source and self-hosted with docs and canvas in one: AFFiNE.

For most small teams, Excalidraw handles the majority of whiteboard needs at no cost. The step up to Miro or Mural makes sense when you’re running structured facilitation sessions and need templates, voting, and real-time coordination of larger groups.