Excalidraw vs FigJam
Both are alternatives to Miro. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as FigJam vs Excalidraw — same comparison, one verdict.
Excalidraw is open source (MIT) and FigJam is not (Proprietary (hosted service)) — so the real question is whether you want to own the whiteboards & diagramming stack or rent it.
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.
FigJam
If your designers already pay for Figma, this is included.
FigJam is Figma's whiteboard, and for organisations already paying for Figma it is often included or nearly so — which makes buying Miro alongside it a duplicated cost worth noticing. It handles sticky notes, voting, timers and workshops competently, and the ability to pull real design components onto the canvas is something Miro cannot do. Proprietary and hosted. Listed because the most common way to stop paying for Miro is to discover you already own something that does the job.
Side by side
6 points of comparison, every one read from a verified field. Green marks the side that wins a row outright. A dash means we do not hold that fact — never that it is zero.
| Excalidraw | FigJam | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty ScoreOur transparent 0–100 composite for data ownership and exit cost. | 95 | 30 |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Local-first data | Yes | No |
| License | MIT | Proprietary (hosted service) |
| Pricing | Free and open source. Excalidraw+ is an optional paid hosted tier. | Free tier available; included or heavily discounted with existing Figma seats. Checked 2026-08-04. |
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
FigJam
Strengths
- +Frequently already paid for if your team uses Figma
- +Real workshop tools — voting, timers, templates
- +Design components drop straight onto the canvas
- +Familiar to anyone who already uses Figma
Trade-offs
- −Proprietary and hosted with no self-host path
- −Only compelling if you are already a Figma customer
- −Fewer templates than Miro
- −Another Adobe-owned dependency
Which one fits you
The trade-offs above, turned into a decision. Find the line that describes your team.
Choose Excalidraw
if you want the source and the option to fork it, and you would rather run it on your own hardware, and your data should stay on machines you control.
Choose FigJam
if frequently already paid for if your team uses Figma.
Neither, yet
if both carry a real cost you should weigh first — no workshop facilitation tools — no voting, timers or templates, and proprietary and hosted with no self-host path. If either of those is a dealbreaker for your team, the shortlist is wrong rather than the choice.
Excalidraw vs FigJam — common questions
Is Excalidraw a better fit than FigJam for whiteboards & diagramming?
It depends on what you are optimising for, and the honest split is this: Excalidraw scores 95 to FigJam's 30 on data ownership and exit cost, so it is the safer choice if you care about being able to leave. FigJam earns its place on a different axis — frequently already paid for if your team uses Figma. Neither is a wrong answer for every team; the table above is the actual comparison.
What happens if we want to switch later?
Excalidraw keeps its data local or in open formats, so leaving is an export rather than a negotiation. FigJam keeps your data on its own infrastructure, which is the part to plan for: confirm the export path before you commit, not when you are already trying to leave.
Can I self-host Excalidraw?
Excalidraw can be self-hosted; FigJam cannot, so it stays on the vendor's infrastructure whatever you do.
Are Excalidraw and FigJam both alternatives to Miro?
Yes — both appear in our Miro comparison, which is why they are worth putting side by side. People usually arrive here already having decided to move off Miro and now choosing between the two replacements, which is a narrower and much easier question.
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-08-04. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.