Comparison
CanvasKeep vs Miro: different tools for different jobs
Miro is a team whiteboard built for workshops, planning, and collaboration. CanvasKeep is a personal diagram organizer built on the Excalidraw canvas. They overlap on “drawing on a canvas,” but the rest is different. Here is an honest breakdown of where each one fits.
When Miro is the right choice
Miro is built for teams. If your workflow involves any of these, Miro is a better fit than CanvasKeep:
- Real-time collaboration with live cursors, multiple people editing the same board at once.
- Workshops and retrospectives with voting, timers, sticky notes, and facilitation templates.
- Integrations with Jira, Slack, Confluence, and other team tools.
Miro's free plan gives you 3 editable boards. Paid plans start at $8/member/month. The paid plans add version history, more integrations, and admin controls.
When CanvasKeep is the right choice
CanvasKeep is built for people who draw a lot of diagrams and need to keep them organized. It fits when:
- You want the Excalidraw hand-drawn style and prefer its informal, sketchy look over Miro's clean geometric shapes.
- You need folders and version history on a free plan. CanvasKeep gives you nested folders, workspaces, and named checkpoints without upgrading. Miro's version history requires a paid plan.
- You work solo or in a small team and your main problem is organizing a growing library of diagrams, not running workshops.
- Privacy matters. CanvasKeep encrypts every diagram in your browser before it reaches the server. Only you hold the key.
Feature comparison
A side-by-side look at how CanvasKeep and Miro compare on the features that matter most for diagramming.
| Feature | Miro | CanvasKeep |
|---|---|---|
| Completely free | 3 boards | |
| Hand-drawn sketch style | ||
| Named version history (free) | ||
| Real-time collaboration | ||
| Workshop tools (voting, timers) | ||
| Integrations (Jira, Slack, etc.) | ||
| End-to-end encryption |
Based on each product's publicly documented features and free-plan positioning as of 2026. Miro is a product of RealtimeBoard Inc.; CanvasKeep is an independent tool built on the open-source Excalidraw editor.
Frequently asked questions
- Is CanvasKeep a Miro alternative?
- They solve different problems. Miro is a team whiteboard with facilitation tools, integrations, and real-time collaboration for workshops and planning sessions. CanvasKeep is a personal diagram organizer built on the Excalidraw canvas, focused on folders and version history. If you need team collaboration, Miro is the better fit. If you need to organize a growing library of hand-drawn diagrams, CanvasKeep is built for that.
- Is CanvasKeep free?
- Yes. CanvasKeep is completely free right now. You get workspaces, nested folders, version history, and end-to-end encryption with no limits. No credit card, no trial timer.
- Can I collaborate in real time on CanvasKeep?
- Not yet. CanvasKeep is focused on solo and small-team diagram organization. If real-time collaboration with live cursors is a requirement, Miro or FigJam are better choices today.
- Does Miro have version history?
- Miro has board-level version history on paid plans. CanvasKeep offers named version history per diagram on the free plan, so you can save, preview, and restore checkpoints of individual diagrams without upgrading.
- Which one has the hand-drawn sketch style?
- CanvasKeep uses the open-source Excalidraw canvas, which has the hand-drawn look. Miro has a clean, geometric style. If you specifically want the sketchy Excalidraw look, CanvasKeep keeps that.
Want the Excalidraw canvas with folders?
Sign up free and start drawing on the Excalidraw canvas with folders, version history, and encryption built in.