Excalidraw vs tldraw
Two Design products side by side.
| Excalidraw | tldraw | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Whiteboard sketching with a hand-drawn look | An infinite canvas you can embed in your own app |
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Categories | Design | Design, Developer Tools |
| Tags | Whiteboard, Diagrams, Collaboration, Open Source, Web | Whiteboard, SDK, JavaScript, Collaboration |
| Score | 50%16 votes | 50%10 votes |
| Website | excalidraw.com | tldraw.com |
| Founder | Not listed | Not listed |
| Listed | Sep 6, 2025 | Sep 8, 2025 |
Which should you pick?
- Both are listed as free with paid plans, so price alone will not settle it.
- Too close to call: 50% for Excalidraw and 50% for tldraw.
- Only Excalidraw is tagged Diagrams, Open Source and Web.
- Only tldraw is tagged SDK and JavaScript.
- Both list themselves as alternatives to Miro, so they are aimed at the same job.
Positioning is from each listing, not an endorsement.
About Excalidraw
Excalidraw is a virtual whiteboard for diagrams and sketches. Everything is rendered in a deliberately rough, hand-drawn style, which keeps early diagrams feeling provisional rather than final.
It runs in the browser with no account required, and the core is open source.
About tldraw
tldraw is a drawing and diagramming canvas, available both as a hosted whiteboard and as a React library you can drop into your own product.
The SDK is the interesting half: it gives you shapes, selection, undo and multiplayer without building a canvas engine yourself.