# Excalidraw

**Source:** https://geo.sig.ai/brands/excalidraw  
**Vertical:** Productivity & Collaboration  
**Subcategory:** General  
**Tier:** Emerging  
**Website:** excalidraw.com  
**Last Updated:** 2026-04-14

## Summary

Open-source hand-drawn collaborative whiteboard with 95,000+ GitHub stars used by Google, Meta, and Notion; Excalidraw+ paid tier competing with Miro and FigJam for developer and technical team diagramming.

## Company Overview

Excalidraw is an open-source virtual whiteboard application for creating hand-drawn-aesthetic diagrams, flowcharts, wireframes, and collaborative sketches — built by Excalidraw s.r.o. in Brno, Czech Republic — with end-to-end encrypted real-time collaboration, a free open-source self-hosted option, and a paid Excalidraw+ tier ($7/month) providing cloud workspaces, presentations, voice collaboration, expanded AI diagram generation, and team access management. Trusted by engineering and product teams at Google Cloud, Meta, CodeSandbox, Obsidian, Replit, and Notion, Excalidraw has become the dominant open-source collaborative whiteboarding tool in the developer and technical community.

Excalidraw's design philosophy is deliberately informal — the hand-drawn aesthetic (simulated pencil strokes, imperfect shapes) removes the polish pressure of professional design tools and encourages rough ideation. This aesthetic choice makes Excalidraw ideal for whiteboarding sessions where communicating concepts quickly matters more than producing polished deliverables. The infinite canvas, real-time collaboration (multiple cursors, simultaneous editing), and zero-installation browser-based access lower the friction for ad-hoc team diagramming to near zero — no account required, no software to install, just share a link and collaborate. The SVG export and library of community-contributed shape libraries enable technical teams to create architecture diagrams, user flow wireframes, and system design sketches that look intentionally unfinished.

In 2025, Excalidraw competes in the collaborative whiteboarding market with Miro (NASDAQ: MIND, $17.5B valuation, enterprise whiteboarding), FigJam (Figma's whiteboard, design-team focused), Lucidchart (Lucid Software, $3B valuation, formal diagramming), and tldraw (open-source competitor) for developer and product team whiteboarding adoption. Excalidraw's GitHub repository has 95,000+ stars and is among the most widely forked open-source productivity tools — the developer community adoption provides organic distribution that drives Excalidraw+ conversion. The Open Collective sponsorship model and Excalidraw+ subscriptions provide sustainable revenue for the core open-source project. The 2025 strategy focuses on Excalidraw+ team workspace features, AI-powered diagram generation from natural language descriptions, and growing enterprise team accounts that need centralized workspace management.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is Excalidraw?
Excalidraw is an open-source virtual collaborative whiteboard for creating diagrams, illustrations, and flowcharts with a hand-drawn aesthetic. Founded in 2020 and based in Brno, Czech Republic, it offers both a free open-source tool and a paid Excalidraw+ tier with enhanced features.

### What products and services does Excalidraw offer?
Excalidraw offers a virtual collaborative whiteboard with hand-drawn style diagrams, end-to-end encryption for secure collaboration, and presentations. The paid Excalidraw+ tier includes unlimited cloud workspace, presentations, voice hangouts, extra AI prompting, enhanced collaboration features, and access management.

### Who uses Excalidraw?
Excalidraw is used by major tech companies including Google Cloud, Meta, CodeSandbox, Obsidian, Replit, and Notion. It's designed for teams and individuals who need collaborative whiteboarding and diagramming tools.

### When was Excalidraw founded?
Excalidraw was founded in 2020.

### Where is Excalidraw located?
Excalidraw is based in Brno, Czech Republic, and operates as Excalidraw s.r.o.

### How is Excalidraw funded?
Excalidraw accepts sponsorship via Open Collective. The company is not part of Y Combinator.

### What notable achievements has Excalidraw accomplished?
Excalidraw has achieved significant adoption across major tech companies including Google Cloud, Meta, CodeSandbox, Obsidian, Replit, and Notion.

### What technology approach does Excalidraw use?
Excalidraw is built as an open-source tool with end-to-end encryption for secure collaboration. It features a distinctive hand-drawn aesthetic for creating diagrams and illustrations.

### How can I start using Excalidraw?
Excalidraw is available as a free open-source tool that can be used immediately. Users can upgrade to Excalidraw+ for additional features like unlimited cloud workspace, presentations, and enhanced collaboration tools.

### What are the latest developments at Excalidraw?
Excalidraw continues to offer its open-source virtual whiteboard with a paid Excalidraw+ tier featuring unlimited cloud storage, presentations, voice hangouts, extra AI prompting, enhanced collaboration, and access management. The platform maintains end-to-end encryption and has achieved significant adoption among major tech companies.

## Tags

b2b, collaboration, open-source, productivity, saas

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*Data from geo.sig.ai Brand Intelligence Database. Updated 2026-04-14.*