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Excalidraw vs Lucidchart
Short answer: Pick Excalidraw if you want hand-drawn style collaborative whiteboarding; pick Lucidchart if you want AI-assisted diagramming and real-time collaboration. Excalidraw is free; Lucidchart has a free plan.
ExcalidrawOpen-source virtual whiteboard for hand-drawn style diagrams
LucidchartOnline diagramming and flowchartsWhich to pick
Pick Excalidraw if you want…
- Hand-drawn style collaborative whiteboarding
- Free virtual whiteboard
- A free, open-source tool
Pick Lucidchart if you want…
- AI-assisted diagramming and real-time collaboration
Side by side
- What it is
- Excalidraw:Excalidraw is an open-source virtual whiteboard for creating hand-drawn style diagrams.
- Lucidchart:Lucidchart is an online diagramming tool that uses AI, data linking and collaboration features to create flowcharts, org charts, technical diagrams and more.
- Best for
- Excalidraw:Hand-drawn style collaborative whiteboarding
- Lucidchart:AI-assisted diagramming and real-time collaboration
- Who it’s for
- Excalidraw:Designers, developers, and teams needing quick sketching and collaborative diagrams.
- Lucidchart:Teams and individuals who need to visualize processes, systems or organizational structures.
- Pricing
- Excalidraw:Free
- Lucidchart:Freemium
- Starting price
- Excalidraw:Free
- Lucidchart:—
- Free plan or trial
- Excalidraw:Free to use
- Lucidchart:Free plan (Free) · Free trial
- Plans
- Excalidraw:—
- Lucidchart:Free $0 · Individual $9 per month when billed yearly · Team $10 per user per month when billed
- Open source
- Excalidraw:Yes, 133,502 GitHub stars
- Lucidchart:—
- Works with
- Excalidraw:—
- Lucidchart:Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, Slack, Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Teams, Notion, Figma
Excalidraw features
- Hand-drawn style canvas. Create diagrams that look hand-sketched with a simple drawing interface.
- Live collaboration. Invite others to edit the same canvas in real time after signing up.
- Export options. Save your work to a file to avoid loss from browser storage clearing.
- Keyboard shortcuts. Quickly open files (Ctrl+O) and access help via the UI.
- Canvas navigation. Move the canvas using scroll wheel, space-drag, or the hand tool.
Lucidchart features
- Lucid AI. Generate diagrams from text prompts and get AI-summaries of existing visuals.
- Data linking. Connect Google Sheets, Excel or CSV files to auto-populate diagrams.
- Real-time collaboration. Multiple users can edit and comment on diagrams simultaneously.
- Conditional formatting. Highlight patterns in data-driven diagrams with visual cues.
- UML markup. Create sequence diagrams from text markup and edit them directly.
- Layers. Organize complex visuals with multiple visibility layers.
Excalidraw vs Lucidchart FAQ
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Lucidchart?+
Excalidraw: Open-source hand-drawn style diagrams, less AI and enterprise features.
Should I use Excalidraw or Lucidchart?+
Pick Excalidraw if you want hand-drawn style collaborative whiteboarding, free virtual whiteboard or a free, open-source tool. Pick Lucidchart if you want AI-assisted diagramming and real-time collaboration.
Is Excalidraw or Lucidchart free?+
Excalidraw is free. Lucidchart has a free plan and paid plans.
Is Excalidraw or Lucidchart open source?+
Excalidraw is open source (excalidraw/excalidraw on GitHub, MIT license). DevHunt has no public source repository on record for Lucidchart.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.