draw.io
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you need capable, free diagramming. especially inside Confluence/Jira or where data privacy matters.
New check
Comparison
draw.io vs Excalidraw
draw.io and Excalidraw both land on Worth it.
Excalidraw
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy the free, open-source version for quick diagrams and sketches . it costs nothing and reviewers love it.
| Compare | draw.io | Excalidraw |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Worth it |
| Best for | Atlassian Confluence/Jira teams | Quick sketches and wireframes |
| Who it's not for | Teams wanting Miro-style real-time brainstorm whiteboards | Enterprises wanting Miro-style workshop templates and facilitation |
| Privacy | Strong local-data privacy model; several patched CVEs exist . keep versions current.⁸ | Open-source with past medium-severity XSS CVEs; Excalidraw+ adds SOC 2 certification and E2E encryption. |
| Support quality | No support evidence in sources | No support evidence in sources |
| Public sentiment | Users consistently praise ease of use, shape libraries, and diagram range; G2 sentiment is positive but the small Trustpilot sample is lukewarm.⁵ | Users love Excalidraw for quick, effortless sketching and rate it around 4/5, with minor gripes about scaling and drawing-tool limits.15 |
| Biggest gotcha | Versions under 18.0.0 vulnerable to stored XSS . do not run old builds⁹ | Excalidraw+ ($7/mo) needed for team persistence and workspaces; free version stores locally |
Pick draw.io when
- Atlassian Confluence/Jira teams
- Engineers diagramming architecture, UML, networks
- Privacy-sensitive orgs wanting local storage
- Any team needing free diagramming
When draw.io is not a fit
- Teams wanting Miro-style real-time brainstorm whiteboards
- Buyers needing vendor SLAs or dedicated enterprise support
- Guess: non-technical execs wanting polished presentation-grade visuals
- Self-hosters unwilling to keep versions patched
Pick Excalidraw when
- Quick sketches and wireframes
- Dev teams diagramming architecture
- Students and teachers
- Obsidian note-takers via plugin
When Excalidraw is not a fit
- 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
Sources
official
- Security - draw.iodrawio-app.comsecurity
- draw.io Diagrams - Microsoft Storeapps.microsoft.comreview
- Draw.io Reviews - G2g2.comreview
- draw.io Reviews - TrustRadiustrustradius.comreview
- Read Customer Service Reviews of draw.io - Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
- CVE-2026-46642 Detail - NVDnvd.nist.govsecurity
- CVE-2022-1575 Stored XSS - GitHubgithub.comsecurity
- draw.io CVEs - HackMDhackmd.iosecurity
- draw.io Zero Egress on Forgeforge-apps.comnews
review
- Excalidraw honest thoughts (4/5) | Mediumaibenchmarked.medium.comreview
- Why is Excalidraw so good? | Off by oneoffbyone.usreview