7 Best Alternatives to Mural for Visual Collaboration in 2026

Why look beyond Mural

Mural provides a digital canvas for visual collaboration, facilitating activities such as agile sprint planning, design sprints, and brainstorming sessions. Its feature set includes an extensive template library, facilitation tools like voting and timers, and integrations with video conferencing platforms. However, organizations may seek alternatives for various reasons, including specific feature requirements, pricing structures, or ecosystem compatibility.

Some teams may find Mural's interface less intuitive for certain workflows, or they may require more specialized diagramming capabilities than those offered. Cost considerations can also be a factor, particularly for smaller teams or educational institutions. Additionally, organizations with existing tech stacks heavily invested in a particular vendor, such as Microsoft or Adobe, might prefer solutions that offer deeper native integrations and a more unified user experience within their established ecosystem. Performance on large boards with many collaborators can also influence the decision to explore other platforms that might offer different rendering or synchronization approaches.

Top alternatives ranked

1. 1. Miro — A comprehensive online whiteboard for diverse teams

   Miro is a widely adopted online collaborative whiteboard platform offering an expansive canvas for brainstorming, project planning, and design thinking. It provides a rich set of templates, real-time collaboration features, and integrations with numerous third-party applications, including popular project management and communication tools. Miro's versatility makes it suitable for various use cases, from agile retrospective meetings to strategic planning and customer journey mapping. The platform supports a broad range of visual tools, including sticky notes, shapes, connectors, and freehand drawing, alongside advanced features like voting, timers, and presentation modes. Its robust API and marketplace extend its functionality, allowing for custom integrations and workflows.

   • Best for: Large enterprises, remote and hybrid teams, design thinking, agile development, strategic planning.

   Learn more at the Miro profile page or visit the official Miro website.

2. 2. Figma (FigJam) — Collaborative whiteboarding for design-centric workflows

   FigJam is Figma's online whiteboarding tool, designed to complement its popular interface design platform. It offers a more casual and expressive space for brainstorming, diagramming, and conducting workshops. FigJam emphasizes ease of use with a straightforward interface, featuring sticky notes, drawing tools, connectors, and a library of components. Its strength lies in its tight integration with the broader Figma ecosystem, allowing design teams to seamlessly transition from ideation in FigJam to high-fidelity design in Figma. This makes it particularly appealing for product development teams, UX/UI designers, and anyone involved in the design process. FigJam also includes features like emotes, stamps, and audio chat to enhance real-time collaboration and engagement.

   • Best for: Design teams, UX/UI designers, product development, brainstorming, design sprints.

   Learn more at the Figma profile page or visit the official FigJam website.

3. 3. Lucidspark — Dynamic online whiteboarding integrated with diagramming

   Lucidspark is an online whiteboard by Lucid Software, designed for collaborative ideation and organization. It provides a flexible canvas that supports various activities, including brainstorming, team workshops, and project planning. Key features include sticky notes, freehand drawing, shapes, templates, and facilitation tools like grouping, voting, and timers. A significant advantage of Lucidspark is its integration with Lucidchart, the company's diagramming software. This allows users to move ideas from a brainstorming session directly into structured diagrams or flowcharts, streamlining the transition from ideation to documentation. Lucidspark also offers robust collaboration features, including real-time cursors, chat, and commenting, making it suitable for distributed teams.

   • Best for: Teams needing integrated whiteboarding and diagramming, project managers, business analysts, educators.

   Learn more at the Lucidspark profile page or visit the official Lucidspark website.

4. 4. Microsoft 365 — Integrated productivity suite with collaborative whiteboarding

   Microsoft 365 is a comprehensive suite of productivity applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. The suite also features Microsoft Whiteboard, an online canvas designed for freeform collaboration. Microsoft Whiteboard integrates directly with Microsoft Teams meetings, allowing participants to share ideas, draw, add sticky notes, and incorporate images in real time. For organizations heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, this integration provides a seamless experience for collaborative sessions without needing to switch platforms. While Microsoft Whiteboard may offer fewer advanced facilitation tools compared to dedicated whiteboarding solutions, its native integration with the broader Microsoft 365 suite provides convenience for users already familiar with Microsoft products, enhancing overall team productivity and communication within a unified environment.

   • Best for: Organizations using Microsoft 365, teams needing basic whiteboarding within Microsoft Teams, general productivity and collaboration.

   Learn more at the Microsoft 365 profile page or visit the official Microsoft 365 support site.

5. 5. Microsoft Teams — Centralized communication with built-in whiteboarding

   Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines workplace chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. Within Teams, users can leverage Microsoft Whiteboard directly during meetings or as a standalone tab within a channel. This integration provides a dedicated space for real-time visual collaboration, enabling teams to brainstorm, sketch ideas, and plan projects without leaving their communication hub. While Microsoft Teams' primary function is communication, its embedded Whiteboard functionality offers a convenient option for organizations already utilizing Teams for daily operations. It supports basic whiteboarding features suitable for quick ideation sessions and visual discussions, enhancing the collaborative capabilities of team meetings and project work within the Microsoft ecosystem.

   • Best for: Teams reliant on Microsoft Teams for communication, quick brainstorming during meetings, organizations seeking a unified collaboration platform.

   Learn more at the Microsoft Teams profile page or visit the official Microsoft Teams documentation.

6. 6. GitHub — Code collaboration with project boards for visual task management

   GitHub is a web-based platform for version control and collaborative software development, primarily using Git. While not a direct online whiteboard in the traditional sense, GitHub offers project boards and GitHub Issues, which provide visual tools for organizing and tracking tasks, features, and bugs. Project boards can be configured with columns representing different stages of a workflow, allowing teams to move cards (issues or pull requests) across columns, similar to a Kanban board. This visual approach helps development teams manage their sprint backlogs, track progress, and visualize their project's status. For software development teams, GitHub's project boards serve as a lean, code-centric alternative for visual project management and task organization, deeply integrated with their source code repositories.

   • Best for: Software development teams, open-source projects, code-centric project management, task tracking within a Git workflow.

   Learn more at the GitHub profile page or visit the official GitHub documentation.

7. 7. Amazon Web Services — Cloud platform for custom collaboration solutions

   Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a comprehensive, broadly adopted, and secure cloud platform, offering over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. While AWS does not provide a direct online whiteboarding application, it offers a robust set of infrastructure and platform services that can be used to build custom collaboration solutions. Developers can leverage AWS services like Amazon S3 for storage, Amazon EC2 for compute, AWS Lambda for serverless functions, and Amazon Chime SDK for real-time communication features, including video, audio, and screen sharing. For organizations with specific, highly customized collaboration needs or a desire to maintain full control over their data and infrastructure, building a solution on AWS offers maximum flexibility and scalability. This approach requires significant development effort but allows for a tailor-made platform that precisely fits unique requirements.

   • Best for: Organizations with unique, complex collaboration requirements, custom application development, strong control over infrastructure and data.

   Learn more at the AWS profile page or visit the official AWS documentation.

Side-by-side

How to pick

Selecting an alternative to Mural depends on your organization's specific needs, existing technology stack, and budget. Consider these factors:

Primary Use Case and Features

• For dedicated visual collaboration and diverse workshops: If your core requirement is a robust online whiteboard with extensive templates, facilitation tools, and broad integration capabilities, Miro is a strong contender. It offers a similar feature set to Mural but may provide a different user experience or specific integrations that align better with your workflows.
• For design-centric teams: If your team is primarily involved in UX/UI design, product development, or design sprints, Figma (FigJam) offers a seamless transition between ideation and high-fidelity design within the Figma ecosystem. Its focus on creative collaboration makes it ideal for designers.
• For integrated diagramming and whiteboarding: If you frequently need to move from brainstorming to structured diagrams, Lucidspark provides the advantage of deep integration with Lucidchart. This streamlines the process of translating raw ideas into professional flowcharts, mind maps, or technical diagrams.

Ecosystem Integration

• For Microsoft 365 users: If your organization is heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft 365 (Whiteboard) or Microsoft Teams (Whiteboard) will offer the most native and seamless experience. These options reduce context switching and leverage existing licenses, providing basic whiteboarding directly within your communication and productivity suite.
• For software development teams: If the visual collaboration is primarily for managing software projects, tracking tasks, and facilitating agile ceremonies within a development context, GitHub's Project Boards offer a lean, code-integrated solution. This keeps project management close to the codebase.

Customization and Control

• For highly specific or custom requirements: If your needs are highly specialized, or you require maximum control over data residency, security, and infrastructure, building a custom solution on Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides unparalleled flexibility. This path requires significant development resources but allows for a bespoke platform tailored precisely to your unique operational and compliance demands.

Cost and Scalability

• Budget considerations: Evaluate the pricing models of each alternative. Some offer free tiers for small teams or basic use, while others have per-user subscriptions that scale with your team size. Consider annual vs. monthly billing to optimize costs.
• Scalability needs: For rapidly growing teams or large enterprises, assess how each platform handles a high number of concurrent users and large boards. Solutions like Miro and Lucidspark are designed for enterprise-level scalability, while custom AWS builds offer infinite scalability limited only by your architecture.

By carefully evaluating these factors against your team's specific context, you can choose the Mural alternative that best supports your collaborative workflows and strategic objectives.