OpenApps Canvas

Free alternative to Miro

A free online whiteboard. No sign-up, no board limit.

Canvas is a free alternative to Miro: an online whiteboard for brainstorming, diagrams and planning. Make as many boards as you like, share a link, and draw together live with everyone's pointer on screen. Nobody needs an account.

  • Unlimited boards, every one editable
  • Shapes, arrows that stay attached, sticky notes, frames and drawing
  • An edit link and a view-only link, both free
  • Export PNG and SVG, or copy as an image

How it works

  1. Start a board

    Start blank or from a template. It takes one click and no account.

  2. Share a link

    Send the edit link to people who should draw, or the view link to people who should only look.

  3. Work together live

    See everyone's pointer and changes as they happen, on a laptop, a tablet or a phone.

Everything a whiteboard needs

  • Shapes and arrows that stay attached

    Rectangles, ellipses, diamonds, lines and arrows. Move a shape and its arrows follow.

  • Sticky notes and frames

    One click adds a sticky note. Frames group notes and drawings into named areas.

  • Draw with a pen or a finger

    Freehand drawing, pinch to zoom and drag to move around. A stylus such as an Apple Pencil works too.

  • Live with everyone

    See each person's pointer, name and selection. Changes show up for everyone right away.

  • Text and images

    Write anywhere. Add PNG, JPEG or WebP images up to 2 MB each; bigger ones are shrunk to fit.

  • Export and copy

    Download PNG or SVG, copy to the clipboard as an image, or save an .excalidraw file as a backup.

  • Templates to start from

    Brainstorm, retro, user flow and weekly plan boards, ready in one click.

  • Links you control

    The board's owner gets an admin link to rename it, turn the edit or view link off, make a new edit link or delete it.

Start from a template

Like Miro, without the board limit

Free plans of paid whiteboards let you keep only a few boards editable, so you end up deleting old work or paying. Canvas has no limit because a board costs almost nothing to keep, and OpenApps pays for it.

CanvasMiro FreeFigJam StarterMural Free
PriceFree, no paid planFree; Starter $8 per member a month, billed yearlyFree; Professional Collab seat $3 a monthFree; Team+ $9.99 per member a month, billed yearly
Editable boardsNo limit3; older boards turn view-only3 files in the team folder, plus drafts3 murals
Who can editAnyone with the edit link, no accountMembers; visitors can only viewInviting editors to drafts needs a paid planMembers; visitors can only view
API for AI assistantsYes, no keyMCP, 100 calls a dayNot comparedNot compared
Comments, voting, timers, AINoNot comparedNot comparedNot compared

Updated October 2026. Other apps' free plans as reported in 2026 on their pricing pages (Miro, Figma, Mural); they change, so check their sites.

Canvas is built on Excalidraw's open-source editor (MIT license). Excalidraw's own site is free too; saved cloud boards and read-only links are part of its paid Excalidraw+ plan, as reported in 2026. Canvas gives you saved boards, edit and view links, templates and an API for free.

What Canvas does not do

  • No comments, voting, timers or presentation mode.
  • No AI features, video or voice calls, or web embeds.
  • No offline editing: changes save while you are online.
  • Images up to 2 MB each (PNG, JPEG or WebP).
  • Boards are stored on OpenApps servers and are not end-to-end encrypted. Do not put passwords or other secrets on a board.

For AI assistants

Your assistant can draw the diagram.

Canvas has a public API with no key and no account. An assistant can turn a plan into a flowchart, a mind map or columns of sticky notes, and hand you a link to a board that is laid out and ready to edit.

Reading a board needs only its id while the view link is on. Renaming, turning links off and deleting need the admin key, sent in the x-admin-key header. Full reference: llms.txt and openapi.json.

# Draw a flowchart and get a link to the board
curl -X POST https://functions.bounded.sh/apps/788ba0fa01083b300ad50913/api/boards \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"title": "Checkout flow",
       "nodes": [{"id": "cart", "label": "Cart"},
                 {"id": "pay", "label": "Paid?", "shape": "diamond"},
                 {"id": "done", "label": "Order placed", "shape": "ellipse"}],
       "edges": [{"from": "cart", "to": "pay"},
                 {"from": "pay", "to": "done", "label": "Yes"}]}'

# Sticky notes in columns, for a retro or a brainstorm
curl -X POST https://functions.bounded.sh/apps/788ba0fa01083b300ad50913/api/boards \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"title": "Sprint 12 retro",
       "columns": [{"name": "Went well", "color": "green",
                    "notes": ["Shipped search"]},
                   {"name": "To improve", "color": "red",
                    "notes": ["Flaky tests"]}]}'

# Read what is on a board
curl https://functions.bounded.sh/apps/788ba0fa01083b300ad50913/api/boards/BOARD_ID

Questions

Is there a free alternative to Miro?
Yes. Canvas is a free alternative to Miro: an online whiteboard with shapes, arrows, sticky notes, frames and freehand drawing that you share with a link and edit together live. It has no sign-up and no limit on boards. Miro's free plan keeps only 3 boards editable, as reported in 2026. Canvas has no comments, voting, timers or AI features.
Is there a free online whiteboard with no sign-up?
Yes. Canvas makes a board in one click with no account, and everyone you send the edit link to can draw on it right away, also without an account.
Does Miro's free plan limit boards?
Yes. As reported on Miro's pricing page in October 2026, you can make as many boards as you like on the free plan, but only the 3 most recent stay editable; older ones turn view-only. Canvas keeps every board editable, with no limit.
Is Canvas really free?
Yes. There is no paid plan and no limit on boards or people. There are no ads and no third-party trackers, nothing is sold, and the hosting counts visits. Each change is a tiny write and images are capped at 2 MB, so a board costs almost nothing to keep, and OpenApps pays for it.
How do I share a whiteboard so others can edit it?
Press Share. The edit link lets people draw and change the board; the view link lets them look and export without changing anything. Whoever made the board also gets a private admin link to rename it, turn either link off, make a new edit link or delete the board.
Can several people draw on one board at the same time?
Yes. Everyone on a board sees the others' pointers, names and selections, and changes show up for everyone right away. There is no limit on how many people can open a board.
What can I put on a board?
Rectangles, ellipses and diamonds, arrows that stay attached when you move shapes, lines, text, sticky notes, frames to group things, freehand drawing, and images (PNG, JPEG or WebP up to 2 MB each).
Can I export my whiteboard?
Yes. Export the board or a selection as PNG or SVG, copy it to the clipboard as an image, or save an .excalidraw file as a backup.
Does Canvas work on an iPad or a phone?
Yes. Draw with a finger or a pen such as an Apple Pencil, pinch to zoom and drag to move around. It works in any modern browser, with nothing to install.
Is Canvas the same as Excalidraw?
Canvas is built on Excalidraw's open-source editor (MIT license), so drawing feels the same. Excalidraw's own site is free too; saved cloud boards and read-only links are part of its paid Excalidraw+ plan, as reported in 2026. Canvas gives you saved boards, edit and view links, an admin link, templates and an API for free.
Who can see my board?
Only people with one of its links. Board links are long and random, so they cannot be guessed. Boards are stored on OpenApps servers so they are there when you come back; they are not end-to-end encrypted, so do not put passwords or other secrets on a board.
Can my AI assistant draw a diagram on Canvas?
Yes. Canvas has a public API with no key. An assistant can send steps and arrows (a flowchart or a mind map) or columns of sticky notes, and gets back a link to a board that is laid out automatically and ready to edit. See llms.txt.
Is Canvas a free alternative to FigJam or Mural?
For shared whiteboards, yes. FigJam's free plan keeps 3 FigJam files in a team folder and Mural's free plan has 3 editable murals, as reported in 2026. Canvas has no board limit, but it has no comments, voting, timers, stamps or AI.
What does Canvas not do?
It has no comments, voting, timers or presentation mode, no AI features, no video or voice calls, no web embeds and no offline editing. Images are limited to 2 MB each, and boards are not end-to-end encrypted.

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