Excalidraw vs AFFiNE
Both are alternatives to Miro. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as AFFiNE vs Excalidraw — same comparison, one verdict.
Excalidraw
TOP PICKHand-drawn style diagrams, instantly, for nothing.
Excalidraw opens in a browser tab with no account and produces diagrams in a deliberate hand-drawn style — which sounds cosmetic and is not. A sketchy diagram signals 'this is a draft, argue with it', where a polished one signals 'this is decided', and for architecture discussions that difference changes how people respond. MIT licensed, self-hostable, with real-time collaboration and end-to-end encryption. Around 100k stars. For engineering diagrams specifically it has quietly become the default, and the reason is that it removes every step between having an idea and drawing it.
AFFiNE
Docs and canvas in one — write a page, flip it to a whiteboard.
AFFiNE merges the document and the canvas: the same content can be read as a written page or arranged as a whiteboard, switching between the two. That removes a real annoyance — the diagram in Miro and the decision record in Confluence drifting apart until nobody knows which is current. MPL-2.0, self-hostable, local-first, around 50k stars. It is ambitious and still maturing, and the honest caveat is that doing two things well is harder than doing one, which shows in places.
Side by side
| Excalidraw | AFFiNE | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 95 | 91 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | MPL-2.0 |
| Pricing | Free and open source. Excalidraw+ is an optional paid hosted tier. | Free and open source to self-host. AFFiNE Cloud is a paid hosted option. |
Excalidraw is Macrostack's recommended Miro alternative, so it's our pick here.
Excalidraw
Strengths
- +Opens instantly with no account, no loading, no onboarding
- +Hand-drawn style invites argument rather than closing it down
- +MIT and self-hostable, with end-to-end encrypted collaboration
- +Exports cleanly to SVG and PNG, and embeds in most documentation tools
Trade-offs
- −No workshop facilitation tools — no voting, timers or templates
- −Weaker for large structured boards
- −Real-time collaboration needs the hosted service or your own server
- −Not a Miro replacement for cross-business workshops
AFFiNE
Strengths
- +Document and whiteboard modes over the same content
- +Local-first — works offline and syncs after
- +MPL-2.0, self-hostable, with no enterprise carve-out
- +Removes the drift between a diagram and its written decision
Trade-offs
- −Still maturing; rough edges in both modes
- −Neither mode is quite best-in-class alone
- −Smaller community than the focused tools
- −Self-hosting is more involved than Excalidraw's
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-08-04. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.