4/5
User rating
Medium reviewer after non-stop use
Report
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.
Worth it
Worth itBuy the free, open-source version for quick diagrams and sketches — it costs nothing and reviewers love it.
Free open-source whiteboard, great for quick sketches. Pay $7/mo only if you need team workspaces and persistence.
Confidence: Medium
$7/mo
Starting price
Excalidraw+, 2 plans total
Yes
Free tier
Open-source core
$0 raised
Funding
Bootstrapped, revenue-funded
Value for money
5
Free open-source core; paid tier just $7/mo
Ease of use
5
Reviewers praise how easy sketching is
Feature depth
3
Simple by design; fewer templates than Miro
Security posture
3
E2E encryption and SOC 2, but past XSS CVEs
Pros
Cons
Gotchas
- mediumExcalidraw+ ($7/mo) needed for team persistence and workspaces; free version stores locally⁶
- mediumSOC 2 compliance is Excalidraw+ only — free tier lacks enterprise compliance⁸
- mediumPast XSS CVEs mean self-hosted setups need prompt updates
- lowOpen-source project: community worries what happens if the dev stops updating14
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
Pricing
Free (open source)
$0
- 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?”
“Why is Excalidraw so fucking good?”
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 WhimsicalAFFiNE
Open-source all-in-one combining docs, canvas, and whiteboard
Excalidraw vs AFFiNEFull analysis
Based on 14+ public sources. Some review snippets were truncated, limiting verbatim quote extraction; Google usage inferred from a truncated Wikipedia snippet.
Sources
review
- Excalidraw honest thoughts (4/5) | Mediumaibenchmarked.medium.comreview
- Why is Excalidraw so good? | Off by oneoffbyone.usreview
- Excalidraw Pricing 2026 | Costbenchcostbench.comofficial
- Excalidraw+ Pricingplus.excalidraw.comofficial
- Excalidraw+ Is Now SOC 2 Certifiedplus.excalidraw.comofficial
- End-to-End Encryption in the Browserplus.excalidraw.comofficial
- CVE-2024-32472 XSS | Snyksecurity.snyk.iosecurity
- Excalidraw Revenue, Funding | Prospeoprospeo.ionews
- Excalidraw - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.orgnews
- DrDroid case studyplus.excalidraw.comreview
- r/ObsidianMD: Should I use Excalidraw?reddit.comreview
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