Online whiteboards have come a long way in recent years and now function as a key component for many agile development teams.
Miro has been a “go-to” tool for many a scrum master or agile team. But, today, there are many alternatives that compete with, and, in many ways, even outperform Miro, sometimes at a fraction of the cost.
At Metro Retro, we recognize that there are some seriously competitive tools in this space right now. So, we thought we’d take a closer look at some of the best for your benefit.
If you’re looking for a Miro alternative, we reckon there’s a high probability you will find the right solution for your business in our list. Sound good? Great, let’s go!
What is Miro?
Miro is an online whiteboard with an open workspace and large digital canvas. It comes with a wide array of pre-made templates and a range of design tools and collaboration features for diagramming, flow-charts, mind-mapping and other core development processes.
It has been held in high regard as one of the best online, multimedia, collaboration tools for some time, and has won numerous awards since it came to market.
Miro’s biggest strengths are around mind-mapping and brainstorming using its templates, but it does suffer from a couple of fairly major drawbacks. For instance, it can take new users a longer time to get acquainted with all the tools available. And considering the free trial is extremely limiting, beginners aren’t given enough features or resources that will help them get to grips with the platform before making an investment.
Why Look for a Miro Alternative?
On review sites, such as G2, many Miro users have complained about the following:
- Limited free version
- Miro CSV exports are often glitchy
- It can be hard to navigate larger mind maps on Miro
- Other tools do the same job for a much lower cost
These are the primary reasons that users look for a Miro alternative, along with Miro not facilitating great virtual meetings.
Criteria to Consider When Choosing a Miro Alternative
The main criteria when identifying your Miro alternative are:
- Your specific use cases
- User-friendliness
- Whiteboard canvas functionalities
- Cost
- Real-time collaboration capabilities
Best Miro Alternatives
Key Takeaways
- Metro Retro – Best for Agile Meetings
- Lucidspark – Best for Diagramming
- Mural – Best for Large Remote Meetings
- Conceptboard – Best for File Sharing
- Figjam – Best For Group Design Concepting
#1 Metro Retro
Metro Retro is a new digital whiteboard and collaboration tool optimized for software and product teams.
It comes with a powerful range of intuitive features and tools that simplify and accelerate every element of remote collaboration.
Relevant Features
Retrospectives
Metro Retro helps remote teams run productive, engaging and fun retrospectives to help inspect and adapt their processes.
All boards are completely customizable, and boast all the tools you’ll ever need (private writing, grouping & themes, voting, actions, import & export) so you can tailor your retro to the needs of the team, including running anonymous retrospectives.
Agile Processes
Metro Retro lets you keep an agile team’s pace consistent, sustainable and enjoyable with unique templates for retrospectives, sprint planning, backlog refinement, poker planning & estimation, and standups.
However you want to do it, Metro Retro works the way you want it to.
Design Collaboration
With Metro Retro you can Import your designs to review, annotate and co-create with colleagues and clients and then collect instant input from all stakeholders to rapidly progress to the next stage of your vision.
Better remote meetings
Metro Retro comes with a variety of different templates to choose from, allowing users to run high-energy remote meetings that’s sure to keep participants engaged.
With templates for ice-breakers, agenda votes, retrospectives, and more, you can quickly bring a whole new level of interactivity to your meetings.
Pricing
Free – Limited board objects | A single shared workspace | Up to 30 team members
Team – Everything in Free plus unlimited board objects | Private workspaces | 2 free guests | Custom templates | $6/team member/month
Host – Pay for just hosts | Unlimited free guests | custom templates | Priority support | $25/host/month
#2 Lucidspark
Lucidspark is an online whiteboard app primarily known for its ease-of-use, that allows team members to work asynchronously or in real time.
With Lucidspark you have the choice to work on a blank canvas or on a number of their ready-to-use templates.
Relevant Features
Breakout Boards
Improve collaboration sessions by splitting up into smaller groups to work on Breakout Boards. When you’re done, present your work to the larger group and automatically sync it all back to the main board.
Timer
Grab everyone’s attention and drive focus by incorporating timeboxing activities. The built-in timer shows the countdown on everyone’s screens so you can keep things moving.
Voting
Easily tally votes on ideas, visualize the results, and group ideas by number of votes.
It’s a quick way to highlight trends and pinpoint the ideas with the most potential.
Pricing
Free – 3 editable Lucidspark boards | freehand drawing | basic visual activities
Individual – 3 editable Lucidspark boards | 1 GB of storage | premium visual activities | $7.95/month
Team – Everything in Individual plus | advanced controls | guest collaborations | voting + other advanced features | $9/user/month
Enterprise – Everything in Team plus advanced customizations, controls, features and integrations | Price available on request.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy to use
- Good free version
- Freehand drawing
Cons
- Lacks support for key features
- No native video or audio calls
- Limited number of available icons
#3 Mural
Mural lets teams work together in a shared and dynamic visual environment. From brainstorming to workshops you can improve your collaborative processes with a number of key features from its infinite canvas through to mapping and diagramming functionality.
Relevant Features
Mapping and Diagramming
Mural enables you to build quick and easy visualizations of flows, maps, processes, hierarchies, and journeys, to give you clearer insights into team and project performance.
Icons, GIFs, & images
Express complex ideas visually or lead an engaging team-building activity with Noun Project, GIPHY, and Unsplash integrations.
Sticky Notes & Text
Add ideas, action items, and more as a sticky note or text box — then change the colors and cluster to identify patterns and new solutions.
Pricing
Mural has four different licensing tiers:
Free – 3 Murals | unlimited team members | full template library
Team + – Everything in Free plus unlimited murals | unlimited visitor access | in-app chat + email support plus more | $9/member/month
Business – Everything in Team + plus single sign on | unlimited guests | advanced user admin + priority support | $17.99/member/month (billed annually)
Enterprise – All business features + enhanced features, control, and security | Price available on request.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Good for workshops and sprints
- Simple-to-use
- Whiteboards support many file types
Cons
- Can’t create interactive charts, reports, or tables
- No support for video calls
- Lacks functionality that is expected with contemporary tools
#4 Conceptboard
Conceptboard is a GDPR-compliant and ISO 27001-certified collaboration tool for digital teamwork. It is hosted in Germany and is now available on IONOS.
As you can see, Conceptboard is most known for its security and privacy features, but they’ve also got a host of useful features, including the ability to hold workshops and meetings and brainstorming sessions.
Relevant Features
Live Cursors
Conceptboard’s Live Cursors lets you follow everyone’s actions in real-time with cursors that come with participant names. Very simple but an effective and helpful feature, especially in collaborative environments.
Drawing Tools
Conceptboard’s Drawing Tools let you create sketches & low-fidelity prototypes. A handy feature still lacking in other solutions.
Easy Board Sharing
Conceptboard allows you to share boards with internal & external collaborators via a password-protected link quickly and securely.
Pricing
Conceptboard has 6 different licenses:
Free – 3 Murals | for individuals | basic visual collaboration tools
Premium – For small teams (under 10 members) | $6/member/month (billed annually)
Business – For larger businesses and teams | 10+ members | $9.50/member/month (billed annually)
Enterprise, Public Sector, and Data Center Edition – licence features & prices available on request.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Video + audio calls
- Screen-sharing
- Clean UI
Cons
- Pop-ups on the free version
- Limited integrations
- Struggles with embedded media
#5 Figjam
Figjam’s online whiteboard is used for brainstorming, diagramming, meetings & workshops, agile workflows, and strategy & planning sessions by some of the world’s most recognizable companies, including Square, Netflix, and Spotify, to name just three.
Relevant Features
Brainstorms
Run online brainstorms that empower everyone to contribute so that you can generate better creative solutions.
Intuitive Flow Charts
With Figjam, anyone can instantly create and share flowcharts without any training or previous experience.
Widgets and Plugins
You can connect FigJam to tools like Jira, Asana, and Github to keep work in sync and moving forward.
Pricing
Figjam has four different licenses:
Free – 3 Murals | unlimited personal profiles | unlimited collaborators | Mob App & music player + more
Figjam Professional – Everything in Free plus unlimited FigJam files | open sessions | sharing permissions | audio conversations & voting | $3/editor/month (billed annually)
Figjam Organization – Everything in Professional plus CCM | custom templates and color palettes | private widgets and plugins | single sign-on + more | $5/editor/month (billed annually)
Enterprise – Everything in Organization plus dedicated workspaces| advanced design systems and a ton more features, controls and support | $5/editor/month (billed annually)
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Anyone can use it immediately
- Figma compatibility
- Feature-rich
Cons
- Mind Maps aren’t the best
- Can have issues handling images
- No video calls/chat
Conclusion
In 2023 there is no longer any reason a scrum master or agile team should be struggling to deliver perfect virtual meetings and collaboration sessions.
We now have a number of tools that work as viable Miro alternatives which deliver a greater range of functionality at a lower price point.
If you are currently looking for an alternative to Miro, we humbly suggest trying Metro Retro today for free.
Experience for yourself a tool that not only provides a fun and easy way to achieve all your agile goals, but also delivers the best retrospectives in the game, bar none.
But don’t just take our word for it – take a look at the real props from real people. With Metro Retro’s help, they were able to take their remote meetings to a new level with engaging real-time collaboration (plus confetti!). We hope to see you soon!