Comparison
Drawdy vs tldraw
These two look alike and aim at different people. tldraw is a canvas you build with; Drawdy is a canvas you draw on. The choice is mostly about which of those you actually need.
Feature by feature
| Feature | tldraw | Drawdy |
|---|---|---|
| Your AI draws on your boards (MCP)tldraw's plugin for ChatGPT and Codex draws on saved tldraw.com boards with a free account; its MCP app for other AI apps draws inside the chat | ChatGPT and Codex | Yes |
| Extensions run on the boardtldraw.com has none; the free tldraw offline desktop app runs scripts saved with each file, written by hand or by a coding agent, and there is no marketplace | Offline app | Yes |
| Infinite canvas with a hand-drawn style | Yes | Yes |
| Free to use as an app | Yes | Yes |
| No account needed to start | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time collaboration | Yes | Yes |
| Guests can edit from a link without an account | Yes | Yes |
| Export to PNG, SVG, and JSON | Yes | Yes |
| Embeddable SDK for your own producttldraw's main product; Drawdy does not offer one | Yes | No |
| Downloadable offline desktop app | Yes | No |
| End-to-end encrypted snapshot linkstldraw does not advertise end-to-end encrypted sharing | No | Yes |
| Sketched-shape recognitionRough rectangle in, clean rectangle out | No | Yes |
| Presentation modetldraw does not list one for tldraw.com; its blog offers presentation mode as a script for the free tldraw offline desktop app | Offline app | Yes |
| Version history | No | Yes |
What tldraw gets right
tldraw is one of the best-engineered canvases on the web, and its team has done more than anyone to make infinite-canvas UX feel obvious. The app at tldraw.com is free, needs no account, and the interaction polish is the reference other tools get measured against — including us.
Its real product, though, is the SDK. tldraw is built to be embedded: if you are putting a canvas inside your own app, tldraw hands you the whole thing with documentation, a sync service, and a downloadable offline app alongside it. Drawdy has no SDK and no plans to compete there.
Drawdy is the other shape: a finished whiteboard for people who just want to sketch and share. That is where our differences live — end-to-end encrypted snapshot links, local-first boards, shape recognition, presentation mode, and history, all in the free app, with no license key to think about when you use it at work.
Which one should you pick?
Choose tldraw if…
- You are a developer embedding a canvas in your own product — that is exactly what tldraw is for.
- You want to read and fork the source, or extend the canvas with custom shapes and tools.
- You want a downloadable desktop app rather than a browser tab.
- You are studying canvas interaction design and want the reference implementation.
Choose Drawdy if…
- You want your own AI, such as Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or VS Code, to draw on the board with your team: connect it over MCP and it works on your cloud boards, free on both plans.
- You want to add the feature you are missing yourself: install one from the extension marketplace, or have a coding agent build one from the extension docs.
- You want a whiteboard to use, not a toolkit to build with.
- You want snapshot links that are end-to-end encrypted, and boards that stay on your device unless you choose cloud.
- You want shape recognition, presentation mode, and version history without paying for them.
- You never want to think about a licence key for using a canvas at work.
- You want extensions running inside the whiteboard itself rather than a toolkit to build your own with.
What each one costs
tldraw
The tldraw.com app is free to use. The SDK is free while you develop and offers a free hobby licence at its discretion, but shipping it in production needs a licence key — priced on request, with a 100-day trial and discounts for early-stage startups.
Drawdy
Free to start and free to keep using: unlimited boards on your device and three cloud boards for syncing and sharing, with no card. Pro lifts the cloud-board limit and starts with one month free; the free tier itself does not expire.
See Drawdy pricingFAQ
Questions people actually ask
Is tldraw free?+
The app at tldraw.com is free to use. The SDK is free during development, and hobby projects can apply for a free licence, but putting it into a commercial product in production requires a paid licence key from tldraw, priced on request.
What is the actual difference between tldraw and Drawdy?+
tldraw's product is an embeddable canvas SDK, with tldraw.com as its showcase app. Drawdy's product is the whiteboard itself. If you are building a canvas into software, use tldraw; if you want to draw on one, either works, and Drawdy adds encrypted sharing, local-first boards, shape recognition, and history for free.
Does Drawdy have an SDK I can embed?+
No. Drawdy is an end-user whiteboard, not a toolkit. If embedding a canvas is your requirement, tldraw is the right answer.
tldraw vs Excalidraw — which should I use?+
Both are free canvases with different centres of gravity. tldraw is a developer SDK with a very polished demo app; Excalidraw is an open-source whiteboard with a large community-library ecosystem and a Plus tier for cloud boards and teams at $7 per user per month ($6 billed yearly). Pick tldraw to build with, Excalidraw to draw with and self-host.
Are my Drawdy boards stored on your servers?+
Only if you ask for it. Boards stay on your device unless you choose cloud, and keep working offline; cloud sync is optional and per board, and snapshot links are encrypted in your browser before anything is uploaded.
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