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It's a split decision.
Choose Milanote for moodboards, storyboards and creative project planning that brings notes, images, links and tasks together. Choose Excalidraw for sketching diagrams, wireframes and workflows on an infinite canvas, with local autosave and export options. Both have free plans, but the limits differ: Milanote caps free use at 100 notes, images or links and 10 uploads; Excalidraw Free allows one scene. According to the pricing details, paid individual plans start at $9.99/month billed annually for Milanote and $6/user/month billed annually for Excalidraw.
01Side by side
| Milanote | Excalidraw | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free; paid $9.99/month annual or $12.50 monthly | Free; Plus $6/user/month annual or $7 monthly |
| Free-plan cap | 100 notes/images/links; 10 uploads; unlimited shared boards | 1 scene; unlimited collaborators; 10 AI requests daily |
| Best for | Moodboards, storyboards and creative project plans | Diagrams, wireframes and visual workflows |
| Core strength | Organizing creative material and tasks visually | Hand-drawn diagrams on an infinite canvas |
| Learning curve | Not published | Not published |
| Web capture and data | Save web content to visual boards | Local autosave; PNG, SVG, clipboard and JSON export |
| Team and seat costs | Annual $49/team (up to 10), $99/team (up to 50); monthly unpublished | Plus $6/user/month annually; Enterprise price unpublished |
| Support | Not published | Not published |
Milanote Choose Milanote if
- Choose Milanote if you plan moodboards, storyboards or shot lists.
- Choose Milanote if you need notes, images, links and tasks together.
- Choose Milanote if unlimited shared boards matter on the free plan.
Excalidraw Choose Excalidraw if
- Choose Excalidraw if you sketch diagrams, wireframes or workflows.
- Choose Excalidraw if local autosaving without an account matters.
- Choose Excalidraw if you want PNG, SVG or editable JSON exports.
02Pricing compared
Both have free plans, but the caps work differently. Milanote Free includes 100 notes, images or links, 10 file uploads and unlimited shared boards. Its individual plan costs $12.50 per person/month billed monthly or $9.99 per person/month billed annually, according to the pricing details. Annual team pricing is $49 per month for up to 10 people or $99 per month for up to 50; monthly team prices are not published.
Excalidraw Free includes one infinite scene, unlimited collaborators and 10 generative AI requests per day. Plus costs $7 per user/month billed monthly or $6 per user/month billed annually, with unlimited scenes and folders. Enterprise pricing is not published. If you need more than one Excalidraw scene, the free plan’s limit is the deciding constraint; for Milanote, watch the notes and upload caps.
03Features and depth
Milanote is built around collecting and arranging creative project material. Its boards can bring together notes, images, videos, sketches, links and tasks, with options to invite people to edit, comment or view. The listed use cases include moodboards, storyboards, project plans and shot lists. That makes it the closer fit when the work involves gathering references and keeping project information together.
Excalidraw is a drawing canvas for diagrams, wireframes, system architectures and workflows. It has shapes, arrows, freehand drawing, text, labels, images and alignment guides, plus community shape libraries. Drawings can be exported as PNG, SVG, clipboard content or .excalidraw JSON; images can retain editable scene metadata. The docs describe local autosaving in browser storage without an account and encrypted real-time collaboration, with keys in the URL fragment. These are different tools, not interchangeable feature-for-feature: Milanote organizes creative material, while Excalidraw centers on drawing and diagramming.
04Ease of use and learning curve
The choice mostly comes down to which workspace feels natural for the job. Milanote groups notes, references and tasks on visual boards, and its simple text editing is suited to jotting down ideas. People who want a project overview alongside its materials may find that board-based approach more direct.
Excalidraw opens up a canvas for drawing and arranging diagram elements. It autosaves locally without requiring an account, according to the product details, and offers familiar diagram tools such as shapes and arrows. Its free plan is limited to one scene, though, so users who want separate canvases need to account for the Plus plan. Neither product’s learning curve is quantified in the published materials.
Questions people ask
What is similar to Excalidraw?
Milanote and Excalidraw both let people work visually and collaborate, but their core jobs differ. Milanote collects creative material on boards; Excalidraw is a canvas for sketching diagrams, wireframes and workflows. If you want diagramming rather than project boards, Excalidraw is the closer fit.
Which is better, Milanote or Miro?
We can’t make a grounded Milanote-versus-Miro recommendation from the available product information because it contains no sourced Miro features or pricing. For the two products covered here, choose Milanote for creative project boards and Excalidraw for diagrams, wireframes and workflows.
How secure is Excalidraw?
The published product details say Excalidraw supports end-to-end encrypted real-time collaboration, with keys kept in the URL fragment, and autosaves locally in browser storage without an account. Those details do not establish a broader security assessment, so check Excalidraw’s current documentation for your specific requirements.
What are some good alternatives to Milanote?
Excalidraw may suit you if your main need is sketching diagrams, wireframes or workflows: it offers an infinite canvas, local autosave and several export formats. It is not a like-for-like replacement for Milanote’s boards for collecting notes, images, links and tasks.