Excalidraw vs Miro for Business Analysts: Price, Speed and Sharing
Excalidraw and Miro both give you a whiteboard, but they fit different parts of a business analyst's day. Sketch a small online order flow in Excalidraw and hear when its speed wins and when a big Miro board for the whole team is the better pick.
Step by step
Two whiteboards
- Excalidraw vs Miro. Excalidraw and Miro are both online whiteboards, but they suit different parts of a business analyst's day. Here you sketch a small online order flow in Excalidraw and see where Miro is the better pick.
- Start in seconds. Go to excalidraw.com. There is no account to make and nothing to install, so you can start drawing straight away. Miro asks you to sign up before you can make your own board.
Sketch it fast
- Sketch fast. The flow is a customer buying from an online shop. Draw a rectangle, press Enter and type Place order. Next, the shop checks the shelf. Draw a diamond and type a short question: In stock? Drag an arrow from the edge of the Place order box to the edge of the diamond. The arrow sticks to both shapes, so they stay joined when you move them. If the item is in stock, the order gets packed. Put a Pack order box to the right of the diamond. Draw an arrow from the diamond to Pack order, press Enter and type Yes to label it. If the item is not in stock, the customer needs to be told. Put an Email customer box under the diamond. Draw an arrow down from the diamond to Email customer and label it No. That's the whole flow, done in about a minute.
Change it live
- Change it live. In the meeting, someone says the warehouse packs orders. Select the Pack order box, press Enter and retype it as Warehouse packs. Excalidraw keeps up with the talk, and its share link lets others draw with you live for free.
When Miro wins
- When Miro wins. Miro is the better pick for big workshops. It has sticky notes, voting, timers and ready-made templates, and one large board can hold a whole project for a team of 20 people.
Price
- Price. Excalidraw is free and open source, with a paid plan if you want more. Miro has a free plan too, but it limits how many boards you can edit, so teams usually pay per person.
- The finished sketch. Click an empty spot on the canvas to see the finished sketch: 4 shapes and 3 arrows, with both paths out of the In stock? decision labelled Yes and No.
Recap
- The rules. Use Excalidraw for a quick sketch, a first draft or a small call. Pick Miro when a whole team works on one big board with sticky notes and templates.
Common mistakes
- Losing the sketch when the browser data is cleared. Without an account, excalidraw.com keeps your drawing in your browser. Save it to a file or export an image before you clear your browser or move to another computer.
- Arrows that don't stay attached. If you start or end an arrow away from a shape, it isn't joined, and it gets left behind when you move the box. Start and end the arrow right on each shape's edge.
- Leaving the decision paths unlabelled. A diamond with 2 plain arrows makes readers guess which way is which. Select each arrow, press Enter and type Yes or No.
- Running a large team workshop in Excalidraw. Excalidraw has nothing like Miro's built-in voting, timers or workshop templates. For a big group adding sticky notes and voting, use Miro.
When a business analyst uses this
In a discovery call, a stakeholder talks through how orders are handled. You sketch the current process live in Excalidraw, fix the labels as they correct you, and share the link so they can add to it. For a full-day workshop with 20 people and voting on priorities, you set up a Miro board instead.
Questions people ask
Is Excalidraw free?
Yes. Excalidraw is free and open source, and live drawing with others through a share link is free too. There is a paid plan if you want more features.
Do you need an account to use Excalidraw?
No. Go to excalidraw.com and start drawing straight away. Miro asks you to sign up before you can make your own board.
Is Miro free?
Miro has a free plan, but it limits how many boards you can edit. That's why teams usually pay per person.
