tldraw
tldraw.com
Infinite canvas that feels like a native app in a browser tab
No sign-upOn device
Loading page
excalidraw.com
Hand-drawn-looking whiteboard that opens instantly with no sign-up.
A sketching canvas whose deliberately rough style signals 'this is a draft', which is exactly why people use it for system sketches on a call — nobody argues with the box placement in a wobbly drawing. Drawings live in your browser's storage by default, and the live collaboration room is end-to-end encrypted and opt-in. Export is PNG, SVG or a `.excalidraw` file. There is no version history and no automatic backup: clear your site data and the drawing is gone.
Questions
Works the moment the page loads. No account, no email, no trial. Local drawings have no version history — clearing browser storage loses them permanently.
No. Excalidraw does the work inside your browser, so the file never leaves your device — you can load the page, disconnect from the network, and it still works. That makes it a reasonable choice for material containing personal data.
Local drawings have no version history — clearing browser storage loses them permanently.
Alternatives
Same category or same task, ordered by how closely they overlap.
tldraw.com
Infinite canvas that feels like a native app in a browser tab
asciiflow.com
Draws boxes and arrows as plain ASCII you can paste into a comment
diagrams.net
Full diagram editor that works without an account or a saved file
lucidchart.com
Polished diagramming with real-time collaboration and smart layout
markmap.js.org
Turns a Markdown outline into a collapsible mind map as you type
mermaid.live
Write a diagram as text and watch it render beside you