FigJam through Figma: Best for pleasant design

Figma, a collaborative interface design utility corporate, introduced FigJam (Figure A) in 2021. FigJam helps drawing gear, shapes, stickers, notes, textual content, connectors, and stamps, along side segment and desk control options. You may additionally import photographs or insert hyperlinks to internet assets, together with shared Google Drive recordsdata. Cursor chat allows an ephemeral dialog with collaborators that disappears whilst you go out the mode, whilst the remark machine permits standard feedback on content material any place at the board. FigJam gives a couple of extra options than Jamboard, delivered with a cleanly designed consumer interface, as you may be expecting. Included with the ones is FigJam AI, a brand new collaboration software that is helping groups brainstorm with AI-generated tips, text-to-image functions, and automations.

Figure A

Figma’s possession deserves point out since Adobe, an artistic content material large, introduced an settlement to procure Figma in September 2022; then again, the deal was once terminated in December 2023. While possession doesn’t without delay have an effect on product options, the truth that Figma as soon as sought to merge with a bigger corporate might sign a long run possible for acquisition.

Pricing

Figma gives 4 FigJam pricing plans: Starter, Professional, Organization, and Enterprise.

• Starter, which is unfastened and allows you to create as much as 3 Figma and 3 FigJam recordsdata, with limitless private recordsdata and limitless collaborators, amongst different options.
• Professional, $5 consistent with complete seat per 30 days. Includes all Starter options and provides limitless FigJam recordsdata, open periods, password protections, vote casting, and extra. Students and educators might get right of entry to this version at no cost.
• Organization, $5 consistent with complete seat per 30 days. Includes all Profesional options plus customized colours and templates, centralized management, centralized content material control, and extra.
• Enterprise, $5 consistent with complete seat per 30 days. Includes all Organization options, plus devoted workspaces, visitor get right of entry to controls, along side many different consumer control and security measures.

Miro: Best for endeavor integrations

Miro (Figure B), previously referred to as RealtimeBoard, supplies a powerful set of options all targeted round visible collaboration. Standard drawing gear are to be had to attract, upload shapes (together with flowchart and Unified Modeling Language symbols), sticky notes, and textual content, along side many templates. Miro additionally means that you can upload an enormous number of content material varieties, together with photographs, spreadsheets, tables, kanban, code blocks, charts, diagrams, and extra. Timer, vote casting, chat, video chat, and notes allow you to collaborate with others in more than a few techniques in your board content material, whilst the brand new “Create with AI” characteristic generates concepts from a instructed or pieces on a board.

Figure B

Miro means that you can provide your board to people in numerous techniques. The Talktrack characteristic means that you can document a video together with your webcam (inset in a circle at the display screen) as you navigate and talk about the board. The ensuing video is stored and is also shared. Alternatively, you could provide both all the board, which hides many menus to emphasise your content material; or provide frames, which lets you outline and navigate decided on sections of content material so as. Business and Enterprise editions be offering get right of entry to to facilitation gear to enhance actions equivalent to vote casting and including sticky notes or reactions.

Pricing

Miro gives 4 pricing plans for pro use: Free, Starter, Business, and Enterprise.

• Free, which incorporates one workspace with 3 editable forums, 5 Talktracks, get right of entry to to templates, and enhance for integrations.
• Starter, $8 consistent with member per 30 days, paid once a year. This plan provides limitless forums, high-resolution exports, collaboration with limitless guests on public forums, limitless Talktracks, limitless mission folders, Private Mode sticky notes, model historical past, assembly options (e.g., timers, vote casting, and video chat), and personal forums.
• Business, $16 consistent with member per 30 days paid once a year. This plan contains all Starter options, plus limitless forums for each group and consumer, safe collaboration with limitless visitors on personal and group forums, complex form get right of entry to, enhanced assembly options (e.g., breakouts and vote casting), and extra.
• Enterprise, which calls for contacting gross sales for pricing. This plan contains all Business options plus added safety, compliance, control, and reporting functions, along side top class enhance.

Students, educators, and non-profits might get right of entry to other Miro pricing plans.

• Educator plans are designed for workforce individuals and scholars of instructional institutes. For educators, the plan is legitimate indefinitely, however for college kids they’re legitimate for 2 years. They include limitless energetic forums, board audience, and commenters, coaching and discussion board assets, and extra.
• Nonprofits can get a 30% bargain on paid Miros plans.

SEE: How to make use of Miro as your whiteboard in a digital assembly

Lucidspark through Lucid Software: Best for experimental AI

Lucidspark (Figure C) supplies a board on which you will draw and upload photographs, shapes, sticky notes, textual content, and features. The feedback and activity machine shall we board collaborators now not most effective touch upon explicit board content material but additionally assign paintings to a colleague. To help clarification, you could outline body spaces and designate paths as a way to display sections of the board in collection. Visual actions templates enhance more than a few sorts of sorting, ranking, and board engagement, along side further timer and vote casting gear.

Figure C

Lucidspark additionally gives menu customization and an experimental AI characteristic. Customize the left-side on-screen menu with a Tool pinning characteristic to turn most effective the choices you choose. For instance, for those who hardly want Jira integration, you could unpin that possibility and it is going to now not show on-screen, despite the fact that you should still get right of entry to it from the More menu. And a Collaborative AI possibility generates concepts from an entered instructed. For instance, a instructed of “Best features of Lucidspark” created a three×3 set of sticky notes, every full of two or 3 phrases describing options equivalent to “Integrated Video Chat,” “Seamless Integrations,” and “Presentation mode.”

Pricing

There are 4 Lucidspark plans: Free, Individual, Team, and Enterprise.

• Free, which incorporates 3 editable forums, limitless shapes, drawing, emoji reactions, commenting, presentation mode, fundamental visible actions to assemble comments and combination effects, fundamental collaborative AI, and different options.
• Individual, $7.95 consistent with consumer per 30 days billed once a year ($95.40/once a year consistent with consumer). This plan provides limitless editable forums, 1 GB of garage, top class visible actions to assemble comments, and combination effects, and extra.
• Team, 3 group consumer licenses for $27 per 30 days billed once a year ($324/once a year for the three licenses, which is $108/consumer consistent with yr). This plan provides complex controls for visible actions, chat, revision historical past and versioning, vote casting, a timer and facilitator gear, contact display screen whiteboards, developer platform, and extra.
• Enterprise licenses require contacting gross sales. This plan gives get right of entry to to Lucidchart for diagramming and provides Team folders, Universal Canvas, many app integrations, and get right of entry to to more than a few consumer control and security measures.

Educators might get right of entry to a variant of the Team plan at no cost; this offers academics and scholars get right of entry to to the cell app and lots of Team options at no fee. An not obligatory improve to a paid group plan for schooling provides centralized account control, audit logs, and get right of entry to to precedence enhance.

Microsoft Whiteboard: Best at no cost use

Microsoft Whiteboard (Figure D) is unfastened, but it surely does require a Microsoft account to view, create, or collaborate on forums; subsequently, this selection might take advantage of sense for people or organizations who already use different Microsoft products and services, equivalent to Microsoft 365.

Figure D

Microsoft Whiteboard gives a normal set of gear that features a pen, highlighter, ruler, notes, emoji-style reactions, textual content and shapes. You may additionally add photographs to a board. Plus, Microsoft Whiteboard gives a lot of templates for every type of brainstorming, making plans, assembly, and studying actions. You might customise the board background colour and make a choice from a suite of 9 background grid designs. And there’s an integrated timer. Share the hyperlink to offer collaborators get right of entry to to all of those gear, too.

Pricing

Microsoft Whiteboard is unfastened, despite the fact that you will have to check in with a Microsoft account to make use of it. A Microsoft account is also got at no cost.

Zoom Whiteboard: Best for Zoom conferences

The Zoom conferencing platform gives Zoom Whiteboard (Figure E), that may be used both with a internet assembly or one by one. For any individual with an present Zoom account, Zoom Whiteboard deserves attention.

Figure E

Zoom Whiteboard gives a lot of templates for brainstorming, diagramming, assembly, schooling, or leisure; or you could merely create a brand new clean board. The machine contains gear equivalent to pens, shapes, strains, textual content, sticky notes, and feedback. You might add photographs and PDFs on your board or upload a thoughts map, desk, kanban board, or playing cards. In specific, playing cards allow you to assign duties and observe each dates and activity standing. Zoom forums additionally allow you to create more than one pages. As a presentation help, you could upload frames round your board content material, then arrange and provide the frames in collection. The timer and laser pointer is also helpful throughout shows or collaborations as neatly.

Pricing

Three Zoom Whiteboard editions are to be had: Whiteboard Basic, Whiteboard, and Whiteboard Plus.

• Whiteboard Basic, which is integrated with Zoom Workplace Basic and Zoom Workplace Pro, contains 3 concurrent editable forums owned and 25 MB of garage, along side all core drawing, annotation, picture, and collaboration options.
• Whiteboard, $24.90 consistent with consumer consistent with yr, and is also added to both the Zoom Workplace Basic or Zoom Workplace Pro plan. This plan provides limitless concurrent editable forums, same old options, and complex report regulate. It may be integrated in Zoom Workplace Business, Zoom Workplace Business Plus, and Zoom Workplace Enterprise.
• Whiteboard Plus, $70 consistent with consumer consistent with yr and is also added to both Zoom Workplace Basic or Zoom Workplace Pro plans, provides complex whiteboard options and enhance for customized and organizational templates. Also, Zoom Whiteboard Plus is integrated as a part of Zoom Rooms plans and Zoom Workplace Enterprise Plus.

SEE: How to make use of the brand new Zoom Whiteboard for hybrid conferences

Apple Freeform: Best for Apple tool customers

Freeform (Figure F), a visible collaboration software through Apple, is integrated with present units that run iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The app is unfastened, despite the fact that most effective individuals who use Apple units might use it. For instance, Freeform could be a very good possibility for a study room the place a instructor and scholars all use iPadOS or macOS units, however would now not be appropriate for a scenario the place collaborators would possibly use Windows, ChromeOS, or Android units.

Figure F

Freeform gives a lot of writing and drawing types, together with a pen, pencil, highlighter, crayon, ink, and watercolor choices. On units that enhance an Apple pencil, you could leverage the machine’s integrated handwriting popularity machine, Scribble, to transform pencil strokes into textual content. Freeform means that you can upload notes, hyperlinks, shapes, and typed textual content. You might use a digital camera to seize a photograph or add a picture, video, audio report, or PDF to a board. Freeform works offline, so you’ll use it to seize concepts nearly any place. Freeform permits as much as 100 folks to collaborate on a board, and it can be used with Messages or FaceTime.

Pricing

Freeform is to be had as one of the most default apps on all fashionable Apple units, together with iPhone, iPad, and macOS programs.