draw.io vs Excalidraw

One of these is a formal diagram editor that costs nothing and stores files wherever you point it, and the other is a sketch-style whiteboard with a free tier and one paid plan. draw.io is Apache 2.0 licensed, needs no account and says it has no enterprise tier for single sign-on. Excalidraw is MIT licensed, free for one scene, and charges USD 6 per user per month on Plus for cloud saving, comments and PDF export. The choice comes down to look, storage and collaboration, not price alone.

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Both are reviewed in full in our diagramming software ranking: draw.io and Excalidraw.

1. 01

   Where the files live

   draw.io has no hosted workspace to speak of: it saves to Google, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, GitHub, Confluence, Jira, VS Code, Notion or the desktop app's local disk, and says it cannot access the data. Excalidraw's free plan keeps scenes in the browser, with end-to-end encryption, and Plus adds cloud storage and sync. That means draw.io pushes storage and permissions onto you, while Excalidraw Plus offers a vendor-run workspace with access management.

   Depends on the buyer

2. 02

   One scene or as many as you like

   The free Excalidraw plan holds a single infinite scene, with unlimited collaborators, PNG, SVG and file export and 10 AI requests a day. Plus lifts that to unlimited scenes and folders and 100 AI requests a day, or your own key. draw.io lists no scene or file cap at all and no paywall, so a library of dozens of architecture diagrams costs nothing. For volume of diagrams without paying, draw.io wins this round plainly.

   Edge: draw.io

3. 03

   Sketch look versus formal diagrams

   Excalidraw describes its repository as a virtual whiteboard for hand-drawn-like diagrams and promotes a unique aesthetic, with UML and wireframe use cases on its home page. draw.io exports SVG, PNG and PDF or keeps files editable. Our pages do not describe shape libraries for either, so we compare on stated purpose only. If the diagram is meant to look like a workshop sketch, Excalidraw fits, and if it must look formal, draw.io is the better reading of its stated aims.

   Depends on the buyer

4. 04

   Running it on your own servers

   Excalidraw ships a Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml, yet its development docs state that a self-hosted instance does not support sharing or collaboration features. That is a firm limit for teams with on-premises rules. draw.io's site does not explicitly address self-hosting or offline web use, though the desktop app saves locally and the source sits on GitHub under Apache-2.0. Neither page gives a clean self-hosted collaboration story, but only Excalidraw states its gap openly.

   Depends on the buyer

5. 05

   Real-time work and paid collaboration

   Both show real-time collaboration: draw.io lists shared cursors, and Excalidraw's free plan allows unlimited collaborators. Excalidraw Plus then adds comments, read-only links and embeds, presentations, and voice and screen sharing, with a 14-day trial. draw.io lists comments nowhere on the pages we read and says nothing is paywalled. If review threads and live presentations matter, Excalidraw Plus has more written down, though it requires a USD 6 monthly seat per person.

   Edge: Excalidraw

6. 06

   Company details and payment limits

   Per its terms, draw.io Ltd sits in Northampton, England and Wales, and calls itself private and not venture funded. Excalidraw s.r.o. is named in the terms of service with a Brno address in Czechia, governed by Czech law. Excalidraw takes payment by credit card only, with no bank transfer, and shows a SOC 2 badge. draw.io's Confluence and Jira apps come from Seibert Group GmbH under a separate licence.

   Depends on the buyer

Can either tool be used without creating an account?

Yes, both say so. draw.io states no sign-up is required, and Excalidraw's home page says the open-source editor needs no account to start drawing. An account only becomes relevant on Excalidraw when you move to Plus.

Which file format makes leaving easier?

Excalidraw saves drawings as open .excalidraw JSON, so leaving is a file copy. draw.io says its files from 2005 still load in today's app and exports to SVG, PNG or PDF. Both are easy to walk away from.

Is there any scenario where draw.io costs money?

The apps themselves are free of charge under the terms of use. The Confluence and Jira apps are distributed separately by Seibert Group GmbH under their own end-user licence, and the pages we read do not give their prices.

• draw.io home page: licence and storage: free forever, no sign-up, Apache 2.0, bring your own storage, integrations, 2005 files, shared cursors, no enterprise tier for SSO.
• draw.io terms of use: draw.io Ltd English registration, Seibert Group GmbH distributes the Atlassian apps under a separate licence.
• draw.io source repository: source published under the Apache-2.0 licence.
• Excalidraw pricing: free plan limits: one infinite scene, unlimited collaborators, 10 AI requests a day, browser storage, credit card only.
• Excalidraw pricing: Plus plan: USD 6 per user monthly, 14% annual saving, 14-day trial, unlimited scenes, comments, 100 AI requests a day.
• Excalidraw home page: no account needed, UML and wireframe use, SOC 2 badge, Plus collaboration features.
• Excalidraw terms of service: Excalidraw s.r.o. in Brno, Czech law.
• Excalidraw development docs: self-hosted instance lacks sharing and collaboration.
• Excalidraw repository: MIT licence, Dockerfile, open .excalidraw format, whiteboard description.