Comparison
Excalidraw vs Apple Freeform
Both are free infinite canvases, and that is roughly where the resemblance ends. One is an open-source web app that opens anywhere and answers to nobody; the other is the best pencil-and-paper feel on an iPad and cannot be opened outside Apple's ecosystem at all.
Reviewed · written by the team behind Drawdy, which competes with both
Feature by feature
| Feature | Excalidraw | Apple Freeform |
|---|---|---|
| Your AI draws on your boards (MCP)Excalidraw's free MCP app draws inside the chat, and Excalidraw+ edits saved workspace scenes; Apple offers no MCP server for Freeform | Paid plan only | No |
| Extensions run on the boardExcalidraw offers shape libraries, not extensions; Freeform has no extension or plugin support | No | No |
| Opens on Windows, Android, or any browserFreeform is macOS, iPadOS, iOS and visionOS only, and is not one of the apps on iCloud.com | Yes | No |
| Free to use | Yes | Yes |
| No account needed to startFreeform sync and every form of sharing need an Apple Account | Yes | No |
| Hand-drawn look as the defaultFreeform's default is clean vector shapes; freehand is a separate drawing tool | Yes | No |
| Open source and self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Real-time collaborationExcalidraw live sessions are end-to-end encrypted; Freeform invites ride on Messages and FaceTime, Apple Accounts required | Yes | Yes |
| Native iPad app with Apple Pencil supportExcalidraw runs in the browser | No | Yes |
| Sketched-shape recognitionExcalidraw calls it Draw to shape; Freeform calls it Snap to Shapes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in document scanner and Continuity capture | No | Yes |
| Boards synced to the cloudFreeform syncs over iCloud; Excalidraw's free app keeps drawings in your browser | Paid plan only | Yes |
| Version historyExcalidraw lists versioning as in progress on its roadmap. Apple documents no version history; a deleted board sits in Recently Deleted for 30 days | No | No |
| Presentation modeFreeform calls it Scenes; Excalidraw's presentation export is a Plus feature | Paid plan only | Yes |
| Works offlineApple publishes no offline guarantee for Freeform either way, so we do not claim one | Yes | Not published |
| Export to PNG, SVG, and an editable file formatFreeform exports PDF only; Apple's documented route to an image is opening that PDF in Preview | Yes | No |
| End-to-end encrypted by defaultFreeform is end-to-end encrypted only with Advanced Data Protection turned on; otherwise Apple holds the keys | Yes | No |
| Community shape libraries and integrationsVS Code extension, Obsidian plugin, hundreds of shared libraries | Yes | No |
The short answer
They fail in opposite directions, so the choice is usually made for you. Excalidraw opens anywhere and exports to open formats; Freeform is the nicer place to think on an iPad and cannot be opened outside Apple's ecosystem.
Pick Excalidraw when…
Anyone who will ever touch the board is on Windows, Android or Linux, or you want open source, self-hosting, or an export you can edit later.
Pick Apple Freeform when…
Your work is solo or all-Apple and you sketch on an iPad with a Pencil: better drawing feel, media straight onto the canvas, and nothing to install.
Before you commit
- Freeform boards cannot even be viewed outside Apple's ecosystem, so one non-Apple collaborator settles it.
- The tiebreaker is what happens to the board afterwards. Excalidraw gives you PNG, SVG and an open file format; Freeform gives you a PDF.
Where each one shines
Excalidraw
Excalidraw is the reason the hand-drawn whiteboard category exists. The free app at excalidraw.com gives you the full editor with no account, live-collaboration sessions are end-to-end encrypted, it works offline in the browser, and the source is public and self-hostable.
Around it sits an ecosystem nothing else in the category matches: hundreds of community shape libraries, a VS Code extension, and an Obsidian plugin.
Its limits are commercial rather than technical: cloud boards, comments, and presentation export live in Excalidraw Plus at $7 per user per month ($6 billed yearly).
Apple Freeform
Freeform is Apple's free whiteboard, preinstalled on every supported iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro. On an iPad with Apple Pencil it is the nicest sketching experience in the category: native latency, real brush styles, and Snap to Shapes cleaning a rough stroke into a clean one.
Photos, video, audio, PDFs, and paper you scan with the built-in document scanner drop straight onto the board, and collaboration rides on Messages and FaceTime.
Its limit is the wall around it. Apple requires everyone who opens a shared board, to view as much as to edit, to be signed in to an Apple Account on iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1 or later, and Freeform is not one of the apps on iCloud.com, so there is no web fallback.
Which one should you pick?
Choose Excalidraw if…
- Anyone who touches the board might be on Windows, Android, or Linux — Excalidraw is a browser tab, Freeform is a locked door.
- You want open source: self-hosting, forking, or embedding the canvas in your own product.
- You want an export that stays editable — PNG, SVG, or .excalidraw JSON rather than a flat PDF.
- You lean on the ecosystem: community shape libraries, the VS Code extension, or the Obsidian plugin.
- You want live collaboration that is end-to-end encrypted without touching a device-wide setting.
Choose Apple Freeform if…
- Everyone who will ever open the board has an Apple Account and an Apple device — this is the whole question, and if the answer is yes, Freeform is excellent.
- You sketch on an iPad with Apple Pencil and want native latency, brush styles, and Snap to Shapes.
- You want photos, video, audio, PDFs, and scanned paper on the canvas with no upload step.
- You want cloud sync across your devices without paying — iCloud sync is built in, where Excalidraw keeps cloud boards for Plus.
- You already run Advanced Data Protection and want the board covered by the same end-to-end guarantee as the rest of your iCloud data.
What each one costs
Excalidraw
The open-source app at excalidraw.com is free, with drawings kept in your browser.
Excalidraw Plus is $7 per user per month billed monthly, or $6 billed yearly, with a 14-day trial, and that is what unlocks cloud boards, workspaces, comments, voice and screensharing, and presentation export to PDF or PPTX.
Apple Freeform
Freeform ships free on every supported iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro, and the core app stays free.
Since 2026 three AI features, Image Generation, Super Resolution and Auto Crop, and watermark-free Content Hub images sit behind Apple Creator Studio at US $12.99 a month or $129 a year after a one-month trial. Cancel and you keep Freeform without those.
Full disclosure
We make a third option
We build Drawdy, a free whiteboard where people and AI draw together, in the same hand-drawn family as Excalidraw, so read this paragraph with that in mind. If the reason you are comparing these two is that Excalidraw keeps presentation mode for Plus and has no version history, while Freeform locks out everyone off Apple hardware, Drawdy sits in that gap: it runs in any browser, needs no account to start, includes version history, presentation mode, and shape recognition in the free tier, and snapshot links are end-to-end encrypted on their own. Your own AI can draw on your cloud boards with you: connect it over MCP.
It is not the answer if you want Excalidraw's open source and ecosystem, or Freeform's native Pencil feel — the head-to-heads below say where each of them beats us.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Can someone on Windows or Android open a Freeform board?+
No. Apple's sharing documentation states that to edit or view the board, everyone you share with must be signed in to their Apple Account on devices running iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1 or later, and Freeform is not one of the apps available on iCloud.com, so there is no web fallback. The nearest route Apple documents is exporting the board as a PDF and sending that flat copy. Excalidraw runs in any modern browser on any platform.
Is Excalidraw or Freeform better on an iPad?+
Freeform, and it is not close. It is a native app with Apple Pencil latency, brush styles, Snap to Shapes, and Scenes, and it is already installed. Excalidraw works on an iPad through the browser, which is serviceable for shapes and text but is not a native drawing experience.
Are Excalidraw and Freeform actually free?+
Both are genuinely free for the core product, with different edges. Excalidraw's free app is the full editor with encrypted live collaboration, but keeping boards in the cloud and presentation export need Excalidraw Plus at $7 per user per month ($6 billed yearly). Freeform is free and preinstalled, with iCloud sync included; since 2026 three AI features (Image Generation, Super Resolution, Auto Crop) and watermark-free Content Hub images need an Apple Creator Studio subscription at $12.99 a month, and everything else stays free.
Which is more private, Excalidraw or Freeform?+
Excalidraw's live-collaboration sessions are end-to-end encrypted by default, and the free app keeps drawings in your browser rather than on a server. Freeform reaches end-to-end encryption only if you turn on iCloud's Advanced Data Protection; under standard protection, Apple's published data-security table lists it as encrypted in transit and on server with Apple holding the keys.
Can I move a board between Excalidraw and Freeform?+
Only as a picture. Freeform exports PDF and nothing else, so an Excalidraw import of real, editable elements is not possible, and Excalidraw's PNG, SVG, and .excalidraw exports have no route into Freeform beyond dropping an image onto the canvas. Whichever you pick, assume the boards stay there.
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