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Miro vs Drawpile
Miro vs Drawpile
A side-by-side look at Miro (the paid SaaS) and Drawpile (the open source alternative). Use this page to decide if the switch fits your team and workflow.
| Miro | Drawpile | |
|---|---|---|
| Tagline | Online whiteboard for workshops, retros, and diagrams. | Collaborative drawing and painting in real time. |
| License | Proprietary SaaS | GPL-3.0 |
| Pricing | Free up to 3 boards; Starter from $8/user/month. | Free to self-host · optional paid hosted plan |
| Self-host option | No | Yes — difficulty 2/5 |
| Hosted cloud available | Yes (only option) | Yes |
| Desktop apps | Varies by product | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Mobile apps | Official apps typically available | Android |
Ad slot — between tables
Best for
Real-time collaborative drawing on a shared canvas.
Drawpile strengths
- Real-time multi-user drawing.
- Self-host your own session server.
- Natural feel for artists and designers.
Drawpile weaknesses
- More painting-focused than diagramming.
- No sticky notes / Miro-style UX.
- Limited integrations.
What's the catch with Miro?
- Pricing scales with boards and seats.
- Cloud-only — no self-host for confidential workshops.
- Large boards can lag in the browser.
Still unsure?
Check the full list of alternatives to Miro: see Miro alternatives, or learn more about Drawpile on its project page.
Recommended reading
When self-hosting goes wrong: seven failure modes and how to avoid them
An honest retrospective on the ways self-hosted setups break — not in theory, but in practice — and the small habits that prevent most of them.
Will the open source project you depend on still exist in three years?
Bus factor, maintainer burnout, funding models, and the signals that separate OSS projects that survive from those that quietly decay.
From SaaS to self-hosted: a 30-day migration playbook
A week-by-week plan to move one service off SaaS and onto your own server without breaking your team's workflow.