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Top 10 Digital Whiteboards in 2026

Excalidraw, Creately, Eraser, xTiles, Weje, Scrintal, Spreo, Witeboard, Sketchlie and Sticky Studio are ten of the most capable digital whiteboards available in 2026, covering everything from a quick hand-drawn sketch to a fully facilitated agile retrospective. Each one earns its place on this list for a different reason — one is built for developers, another for agile teams, another for distraction-free brainstorming — but all ten turn a blank canvas into a shared space where ideas can be drawn, arranged and refined together in real time, no matter where each contributor is sitting.

A digital whiteboard solves the problem of trying to plan or brainstorm with a distributed team: instead of a photo of a physical board after the fact, everyone sees and edits the same canvas at once, from anywhere, on any device. This list is organized from the most broadly capable, general-purpose whiteboards through to more specialized picks for engineering diagrams, agile ceremonies and quick, no-signup sketches, so a reader can match a tool to how their team actually works, whatever the budget and whatever the occasion — a single workshop or a tool used every day.

How we picked these digital whiteboards

Every product on this list was researched against the same five criteria, so the ranking reflects genuine usefulness rather than how familiar a name is or how it is marketed.

  • Capability — how much of the whiteboarding and diagramming workflow the tool covers
  • Ease of use — how quickly a new user or guest can start contributing to a board
  • Pricing and value — what the free tier includes, and whether paid plans are worth the upgrade
  • Reliability — how consistently the canvas performs for large boards and real-time collaboration
  • Who it suits — the team size, skill level and use case each tool is genuinely built for
Tool Best for Key features Pricing Free trial
Excalidraw Teams and individuals who want a fast, minimalist whiteboard for sketching diagrams together. Hand-drawn style, Real-time collaboration, End-to-end encryption Free forever — full editor, 1 infinite scene, unlimited collaborators 14-day free trial
Creately Teams that want one visual workspace for brainstorming, planning and diagramming projects. Infinite canvas, Built-in video calls, Diagramming library Free plan — unlimited canvases, up to 45 items per canvas Free plan
Eraser Engineering teams that want AI-generated technical diagrams tied to their codebase and docs. AI diagram generation, Diagram-as-code, Codebase integration Free — $0/member/month, 3 files and 3 AI diagrams Free plan
xTiles Creative professionals and planners who want a visual alternative to a traditional document editor. Visual pages, AI assistant, Templates Free — $0/month, no credit card required Free plan
Weje Individuals and small teams who want an unlimited whiteboard without a subscription. Unlimited whiteboards, Visual cards, Mind maps Free — the entire collaborative workspace, no paid tiers Free plan
Scrintal Writers, researchers and thinkers who want to brainstorm visually and write in the same tool. Infinite canvas, Bidirectional links, Document view Pricing on request — Scrintal Pro is billed monthly or annually —
Spreo Agile teams that run regular retrospectives, sprint planning and estimation sessions. Retrospective templates, Facilitation controls, Jira sync Starter — $4 per member/month billed annually 30-day free trial
Witeboard Anyone who needs a whiteboard open and shared in seconds, with no account required. Instant boards, Shareable links, Cross-device Pricing on request —
Sketchlie Remote teams that want a straightforward real-time canvas for brainstorming and planning. Real-time ideation, Flexible layers, Team workspaces Free plan — 3 boards, basic tools Free plan
Sticky Studio Teams untangling a complex problem who want a focused, no-frills collaborative canvas. Collaborative canvas, Structured sticky notes, Simple interface Pricing on request —

The best digital whiteboards in 2026

1. Excalidraw

Excalidraw — hand-drawn style diagram on an infinite canvas

Excalidraw is best for: Teams and individuals who want a fast, minimalist whiteboard for sketching diagrams together.

Its hand-drawn aesthetic and open-source roots have made it the default lightweight whiteboard embedded across dozens of other apps.

Key Excalidraw features

  • Hand-drawn style — sketches diagrams with a distinctive, informal look
  • Real-time collaboration — multiple people can draw on the same canvas live
  • End-to-end encryption — shared boards stay private by default
  • Library integrations — works inside Notion and Obsidian
  • Export anywhere — save to PNG, SVG or a local file

Excalidraw pricing

  • Free forever — full editor, 1 infinite scene, unlimited collaborators
  • Plus — $6 per user/month, unlimited scenes and cloud sync
  • Free trial: 14-day free trial

Visit Excalidraw

2. Creately

Creately — visual workspace with diagramming canvas

Creately is best for: Teams that want one visual workspace for brainstorming, planning and diagramming projects.

Built-in video calls and a huge shape library make it one of the most complete all-in-one visual workspaces on this list.

Key Creately features

  • Infinite canvas — brainstorm, plan and map processes without running out of space
  • Built-in video calls — discuss a board without switching to another app
  • Diagramming library — thousands of shapes for flowcharts, org charts and maps
  • Real-time collaboration — co-edit boards with cursors and comments
  • Data-linked shapes — connect diagrams to live data and spreadsheets

Creately pricing

  • Free plan — unlimited canvases, up to 45 items per canvas
  • Starter, Team and Business plans — tiered per-user pricing, billed monthly or annually
  • Enterprise — custom pricing with SSO and on-premise options
  • Free trial: Free plan

Visit Creately

3. Eraser

Eraser — AI-generated technical diagram and documentation view

Eraser is best for: Engineering teams that want AI-generated technical diagrams tied to their codebase and docs.

Pairing AI-generated diagrams with diagram-as-code makes it the most developer-friendly whiteboard on this list.

Key Eraser features

  • AI diagram generation — turns natural-language prompts into polished diagrams
  • Diagram-as-code — defines diagrams in text so they stay version-controlled
  • Codebase integration — diagrams can auto-update as the underlying code changes
  • Markdown notes — pairs technical docs with diagrams on the same page
  • Unlimited guests — invites reviewers without paying for extra seats

Eraser pricing

  • Free — $0/member/month, 3 files and 3 AI diagrams
  • Starter — $15/member/month billed annually
  • Business — $45/member/month billed annually
  • Enterprise — custom pricing
  • Free trial: Free plan

Visit Eraser

4. xTiles

xTiles — visual workspace with pages and tiles

xTiles is best for: Creative professionals and planners who want a visual alternative to a traditional document editor.

Its blend of visual canvas and document structure makes it a strong pick for anyone who thinks in pages as much as boards.

Key xTiles features

  • Visual pages — mix text, images, files and tasks on one flexible canvas
  • AI assistant — generates suggestions and summaries inside a page
  • Templates — 100+ premade layouts for planning and note-taking
  • Calendar integration — syncs with Google and Outlook calendars
  • Collections — groups related pages into one organized workspace

xTiles pricing

  • Free — $0/month, no credit card required
  • Plus — $12.42/month billed annually
  • Pro — $24.92/month billed annually
  • Enterprise — custom pricing
  • Free trial: Free plan

Visit xTiles

5. Weje

Weje — online whiteboard with visual cards and mind map

Weje is best for: Individuals and small teams who want an unlimited whiteboard without a subscription.

A genuinely unlimited free tier, supported by optional donations, makes it one of the best-value whiteboards here.

Key Weje features

  • Unlimited whiteboards — create as many boards as needed at no cost
  • Visual cards — organizes ideas with color-coded text and image cards
  • Mind maps — branches out ideas directly on the canvas
  • Website embeds — drops live links and embedded pages onto a board
  • Real-time collaboration — works on the same board with a team

Weje pricing

  • Free — the entire collaborative workspace, no paid tiers
  • Optional one-time contribution — $19
  • Optional monthly contribution — $9/month
  • Free trial: Free plan

Visit Weje

6. Scrintal

Scrintal — visual canvas with linked note cards

Scrintal is best for: Writers, researchers and thinkers who want to brainstorm visually and write in the same tool.

Bidirectional links turn a simple canvas into a connected web of notes, closer to a visual wiki than a typical whiteboard.

Key Scrintal features

  • Infinite canvas — places notes, files and PDFs anywhere on the board
  • Bidirectional links — connects related cards to build a web of ideas
  • Document view — turns canvas blocks into a structured, linear document
  • Real-time collaboration — brainstorms and writes together live
  • Multimedia cards — embeds images, links and files directly on cards

Scrintal pricing

  • Pricing on request — Scrintal Pro is billed monthly or annually

Visit Scrintal

7. Spreo

Spreo — agile retrospective board with sticky notes and voting

Spreo is best for: Agile teams that run regular retrospectives, sprint planning and estimation sessions.

A track record with 125,000+ agile teams and a genuine 30-day trial make it a low-risk pick for recurring team ceremonies.

Key Spreo features

  • Retrospective templates — 100+ expert templates for agile ceremonies
  • Facilitation controls — timers, voting and grouping keep sessions on track
  • Jira sync — two-way sync turns board action items into tracked tickets
  • Time machine replay — reviews how a board evolved during a session
  • Action tracking — turns retro outcomes into follow-up tasks

Spreo pricing

  • Starter — $4 per member/month billed annually
  • Business — $6 per member/month billed annually
  • Enterprise — custom pricing
  • Free trial: 30-day free trial

Visit Spreo

8. Witeboard

Witeboard — instant shareable online whiteboard

Witeboard is best for: Anyone who needs a whiteboard open and shared in seconds, with no account required.

No sign-up and instant sharing make it the fastest option on this list for a one-off collaborative sketch.

Key Witeboard features

  • Instant boards — starts drawing with no sign-up or install required
  • Shareable links — sends a board link for anyone to join and draw
  • Cross-device — works on mobile, tablet and desktop alike
  • Real-time sync — every stroke appears instantly for all viewers

Witeboard pricing

  • Pricing on request

Visit Witeboard

9. Sketchlie

Sketchlie — real-time collaborative ideation canvas

Sketchlie is best for: Remote teams that want a straightforward real-time canvas for brainstorming and planning.

A free tier that already includes real-time collaboration makes it an easy starting point for small teams.

Key Sketchlie features

  • Real-time ideation — brainstorms with a team on one live canvas
  • Flexible layers — builds up complex boards with unlimited layers on paid plans
  • Team workspaces — organizes boards by team on higher tiers
  • Single sign-on — available on the Business plan for larger organizations

Sketchlie pricing

  • Free plan — 3 boards, basic tools
  • Starter and Business plans — unlimited boards, pricing shown in local currency on the vendor's site
  • Free trial: Free plan

Visit Sketchlie

10. Sticky Studio

Sticky Studio — collaborative canvas with clustered sticky notes

Sticky Studio is best for: Teams untangling a complex problem who want a focused, no-frills collaborative canvas.

Its narrow focus on structured sticky-note sessions makes it a simple, low-friction pick for problem-solving workshops.

Key Sticky Studio features

  • Collaborative canvas — maps out complex problems together in real time
  • Structured sticky notes — groups and clusters ideas as a team
  • Simple interface — minimal learning curve for new participants
  • Shareable boards — invites teammates straight into a working session

Sticky Studio pricing

  • Pricing on request

Visit Sticky Studio

Which digital whiteboard should you choose?

Teams that want a fast, minimalist canvas for sketching diagrams together should start with Excalidraw, while anyone who needs built-in video calls alongside a huge shape library will get more from Creately and its all-in-one visual workspace. Engineering teams documenting systems are better served by Eraser‘s AI-generated, code-linked diagrams, and anyone who wants an unlimited free whiteboard without a subscription should try Weje first.

Writers and researchers who want to brainstorm visually and then turn notes into a structured document will prefer Scrintal or xTiles, depending on how much planning structure they need day to day. Agile teams running regular retrospectives should look at Spreo for its Jira sync and facilitation tools, while a one-off sketch with no account needed is fastest on Witeboard. Small teams wanting a simple, free real-time canvas can start with Sketchlie or Sticky Studio before paying for anything else.

Frequently asked questions

A digital whiteboard is online software that recreates a physical whiteboard, letting one person or a whole team sketch, write and arrange ideas, diagrams and sticky notes on a shared, infinite canvas.

Yes. Excalidraw, Weje, Creately, Eraser, xTiles and Sketchlie all offer a genuinely free plan, and Witeboard can be used instantly without creating an account.

Spreo is built specifically for retrospectives, sprint planning and estimation, with Jira sync and facilitation controls that general-purpose whiteboards don't offer.

Match the tool to the task: pick a fast, no-signup option like Witeboard for a one-off sketch, a structured tool like Creately or Eraser for diagrams and documentation, and a note-first canvas like Scrintal or xTiles for ongoing research and planning.

Several tools on this list are free indefinitely, while paid plans for the rest typically range from around $4 to $45 per user per month depending on collaboration limits and AI features.

Real-time cursors, video calls and shared editing on tools like Creately and Sketchlie let distributed teams brainstorm and plan together as if they were in the same room.

Most tools on this list, including Witeboard and Weje, work directly in a mobile browser, so a board can be viewed or edited from a phone or tablet without installing a separate app.

Topics: CreatelyDesign & CreativeDigital whiteboardsExcalidrawOnline collaboration

David Hall

About the author

David Hall

Senior Editor at ShortlistMag

David Hall is the Senior Editor at ShortlistMag, where he researches, compares and ranks the software and products that make our shortlists. He spent more than a decade covering technology and consumer products for trade and business publications before moving into product research full-time, and has evaluated hundreds of SaaS tools, apps and gadgets along the way. His method is simple: start with what a category is actually for, check every feature and price on the maker’s own site, and keep only the picks he would recommend to a friend. Nothing on his lists is paid for, and every shortlist is revisited as products change. Away from the desk he is usually trialling a new note-taking app he will probably abandon, cycling, or hunting for the perfect flat white.

All shortlists by David Hall