Who is Excalidraw for?

Quick sketches and wireframes Dev teams diagramming architecture Students and teachers Obsidian note-takers via plugin

Who is Excalidraw not for?

Enterprises wanting Miro-style workshop templates and facilitation Polished, precise engineering diagrams — draw.io fits better Teams needing SOC 2 on the free tier — that's paid-only Buyers wanting vendor SLAs from a tiny bootstrapped team

shouldiuse.io

Excalidraw Review

Worth it

Should I use Excalidraw?

Excalidraw is a virtual collaborative whiteboard tool that lets you easily sketch diagrams that have a hand-drawn feel to them. - excalidraw.com

Analyzed September 17, 2026 · 1 month ago

Buy the free, open-source version for quick diagrams and sketches — it costs nothing and reviewers love it. Pay $7/mo for Excalidraw+ only if you need team workspaces, unlimited boards, and SOC 2 compliance.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 14+ public sources. Some review snippets were truncated, limiting verbatim quote extraction; Google usage inferred from a truncated Wikipedia snippet.

Ratings

Value for money
Ease of use
Feature depth
Support qualityNo support evidence in sources
Security posture

Pricing

Free (open source)

ModelNot disclosed

Monthly feesNot disclosed

HardwareNot disclosed

Free tierYes

Excalidraw+$7/mo

Best for

Quick sketches and wireframes
Dev teams diagramming architecture
Students and teachers
Obsidian note-takers via plugin

Not for

Enterprises wanting Miro-style workshop templates and facilitation
Polished, precise engineering diagrams — fits better
Teams needing SOC 2 on the free tier — that's paid-only
Buyers wanting vendor SLAs from a tiny bootstrapped team

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Excalidraw+ ($7/mo) needed for team persistence and workspaces; free version stores locally

medium

SOC 2 compliance is Excalidraw+ only — free tier lacks enterprise compliance

medium

Past XSS CVEs mean self-hosted setups need prompt updates

low

Open-source project: community worries what happens if the dev stops updating

Pros

Free, open-source core for basic sketching
End-to-end encryption in the browser for collaboration
Excalidraw+ is SOC 2 certified
Users appreciate how easy it is versus Miro
Bootstrapped and revenue-funded — sustainable, no VC pressure

Cons

Medium-severity XSS vulnerability in embed component (CVE-2024-32472)
Users report scaling problems — zooming needed for readable large drawings
Drawing tools could be a bit limited
Only 4/5 from heavy-use reviewer

Sources & method

Analyzed September 17, 2026 - 14 sources - Open-source with past medium-severity XSS CVEs; Excalidraw+ adds SOC 2 certification and E2E encryption.

official x4review x7security x1news x2

Cross-site scripting (CVE-2024-32472), Medium severity XSS in @excalidraw/excalidraw npm package.
Stored XSS in web embed component, Disclosed via GitHub security advisory GHSA-m64q-4jqh-f72f.

Key stats

Value for money: 5/5
Rating
$0
Starting price
14
Sources
September 17, 2026
Analyzed

Value for money: 5/5. Free open-source core; paid tier just $7/mo
Ease of use: 5/5. Reviewers praise how easy sketching is
Feature depth: 3/5. Simple by design; fewer templates than Miro
Support quality. No support evidence in sources
Security posture: 3/5. E2E encryption and SOC 2, but past XSS CVEs

4/5 User rating Medium reviewer after non-stop use
$7/mo Starting price Excalidraw+, 2 plans total
Yes Free tier Open-source core
$0 raised Funding Bootstrapped, revenue-funded

Pricing

Free (open source)

Hand-drawn sketching
Local browser storage
Basic sharing

Excalidraw+

$7/mo

Unlimited boards
Team workspaces
E2E-encrypted collaboration

Security

Open-source with past medium-severity XSS CVEs; Excalidraw+ adds SOC 2 certification and E2E encryption.

Cross-site scripting (CVE-2024-32472)Medium severity XSS in @excalidraw/excalidraw npm package.¹⁰
Stored XSS in web embed componentDisclosed via GitHub security advisory GHSA-m64q-4jqh-f72f.

What users say

Users love Excalidraw for quick, effortless sketching and rate it around 4/5, with minor gripes about scaling and drawing-tool limits.

“Anyone else obsessed with Excalidraw?”

Medium, AI Benchmarked (4/5 review)

“Why is Excalidraw so fucking good?”

Off by one blog

Alternatives

Compare Excalidraw with each alternative.

draw.io
Free, precise technical diagrams for polished architecture work
Miro
Enterprise whiteboard with deep templates; heavier and pricier
Whimsical
Cleaner, polished flowcharts and wireframes than hand-drawn style
Excalidraw vs Whimsical

AFFiNE
Open-source all-in-one combining docs, canvas, and whiteboard
Excalidraw vs AFFiNE

Companies that use it

DrDroid¹³
Google (developer relations)¹²

Full analysis

Based on 14+ public sources. Some review snippets were truncated, limiting verbatim quote extraction; Google usage inferred from a truncated Wikipedia snippet.

Free open-source whiteboard, great for quick sketches. Pay $7/mo only if you need team workspaces and persistence.

Methodology

Based on 14+ public sources. Some review snippets were truncated, limiting verbatim quote extraction; Google usage inferred from a truncated Wikipedia snippet.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

Excalidraw Reviews 2026 | G2g2.com
review
Excalidraw vs. Miro Comparison | G2g2.com
review
Draw.io vs. Excalidraw Comparison | G2g2.com
review
Excalidraw honest thoughts (4/5) | Mediumaibenchmarked.medium.com
review
Why is Excalidraw so good? | Off by oneoffbyone.us
review
Excalidraw Pricing 2026 | Costbenchcostbench.com
official
Excalidraw+ Pricingplus.excalidraw.com
official
Excalidraw+ Is Now SOC 2 Certifiedplus.excalidraw.com
official
End-to-End Encryption in the Browserplus.excalidraw.com
official
CVE-2024-32472 XSS | Snyksecurity.snyk.io
security
Excalidraw Revenue, Funding | Prospeoprospeo.io
news
Excalidraw - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
news
DrDroid case studyplus.excalidraw.com
review
r/ObsidianMD: Should I use Excalidraw?reddit.com
review

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Excalidraw Review

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