Best Excalidraw alternatives, sorted by the job you’re actually doing (2026)

Let’s be honest up front, because it will save you time: Excalidraw and tldraw are excellent free whiteboards (Excalidraw is also open source), and they are built for diagramming and sketching. Flowcharts, wireframes, system diagrams, quick hand-drawn ideas: that hand-drawn, infinitely-zoomable canvas is exactly right for thinking in shapes and arrows.

But a lot of people land on “Excalidraw alternative” because they tried to use it for something else, a moodboard, an art reference board, or a visual inspiration canvas, and it fought them. You can paste an image onto an Excalidraw canvas, and even crop or flip it, but it isn’t an image-reference manager. There are no folders on the free plan, no reference library, no grayscale or background removal, and no way to organize hundreds of references so you can find them again.

So this guide splits by job. If you want diagrams, we’ll point you to the right whiteboards. If you want an image and reference canvas, we’ll show you DarkRef, a purpose-built, cross-platform reference board, and where Miro and FigJam fit.

First, which job are you doing?

Comparison table

The same tools, lined up by what they’re really for:

For an image / reference canvas: DarkRef

If your “Excalidraw alternative” search is really a search for a better place to collect and arrange images, DarkRef is the tool the whiteboards aren’t. It’s a reference board built from the ground up around visual material: drop images in, arrange them freely on a zoomable canvas, and, crucially, keep them organized as your collection grows.

Why it fits the reference job that Excalidraw doesn’t

• Built for images, not shapes: folders and organization keep hundreds of references findable instead of lost on an endless sketch canvas.
• Non-destructive image editing: crop, rotate, flip, and grayscale (plus background removal on Windows, iPhone, and iPad), with the original preserved and a one-tap Reset.
• Paste any link, GIF, or YouTube clip: preview cards, animated GIFs, and video clips with custom start and end points, ideal for motion and pose reference.
• Native apps: iPhone, iPad, Windows, and MacOS, plus a web app. Excalidraw lives in the browser, and tldraw adds a desktop app.
• Real-time live boards: collaborate on a shared reference canvas with live cursors and email invites (editor or view-only).

The core board is free. DarkRef Pro ($1.99/month or $19.99/year) is one flat plan that adds cloud sync across devices and hosting your own live boards. Download DarkRef for free if references, not diagrams, are what you’re building.

If you need a heavier team whiteboard: Miro

Miro is worth a look if the reason Excalidraw fell short is that you needed more structure for a team, workshops, mapping, retrospectives, and deep integrations. It can hold images too, but it’s a heavyweight whiteboard priced per seat, which is a lot to carry if all you wanted was a reference board.

If you live in Figma: FigJam

FigJam is Figma’s whiteboard, a friendly, collaborative canvas for design teams. If your work already sits in Figma, it’s a natural companion for brainstorms and diagrams. It’s cloud-based and design-team oriented rather than a reference manager.

Comparing whiteboards for design specifically? See our best FigJam alternatives.

Honest note: keep Excalidraw for what it’s great at

This isn’t a case for dropping Excalidraw. If you’re drawing diagrams, sketching UI, or mapping a system, Excalidraw and tldraw are some of the best free tools going, and Excalidraw’s open-source license is a genuine advantage: you can self-host it, export freely, and trust that it won’t disappear behind a paywall. DarkRef doesn’t try to replace that. It replaces the awkward experience of forcing a diagram tool to act like an image library.

A quick way to decide:

• Shapes, arrows, and hand-drawn diagrams: stay on Excalidraw or tldraw.
• Images you collect, edit, and arrange, moodboards and reference: DarkRef.
• A big team whiteboard with integrations: Miro.
• Whiteboarding inside a Figma workflow: FigJam.

Collaboration, but on a reference board

Excalidraw and tldraw collaborate well, on diagrams. DarkRef brings that same live, multi-cursor feeling to a reference canvas: host a live board, invite people by email as editors or view-only, and build a shared moodboard together in real time. We covered how it works in the live boards and collaboration update.

FAQ

Is Excalidraw good for moodboards or image references?

Not really. Excalidraw is a diagram and sketch whiteboard. You can paste an image onto the canvas and crop or flip it, but there are no folders on the free plan, no reference library, and no grayscale or background removal, so it gets unwieldy fast once you have more than a few images. For moodboards and art reference, a purpose-built reference board like DarkRef is a much better fit.

What is the best Excalidraw alternative?

It depends on the job. For diagramming, tldraw is the closest sibling, and Miro or FigJam suit heavier team needs. But if you were really trying to build an image or reference canvas, the best alternative is DarkRef, which is built for collecting, editing, and organizing visual references across iPhone, iPad, Windows, MacOS, and web.

Is DarkRef free and open source like Excalidraw?

DarkRef is free to download and use on every platform, with all core board features included, but it is not open source, whereas Excalidraw is. If open source is a hard requirement for you, that’s a genuine point in Excalidraw’s favor for diagramming. DarkRef Pro ($1.99/month or $19.99/year) adds cloud sync and live boards.

Does Excalidraw have a native iPad app like DarkRef?

Excalidraw is browser-based; it runs in a web browser and can be added to your home screen, but it isn’t a native App Store app. DarkRef ships native apps for iPad and iPhone (plus Windows, MacOS, and web), which is a smoother experience if you sketch on a tablet and want references beside your canvas.

Excalidraw vs DarkRef, which should I pick?

They solve different problems. Pick Excalidraw when you’re making diagrams, wireframes, or sketches. Pick DarkRef when you’re building a moodboard or reference board, collecting images, editing them non-destructively, organizing them into folders, and syncing them across devices. Many people happily use both.