Excalidraw started in January 2020 as a side project by Christopher Chedeau (vjeux), an engineer at Meta. Within days of publishing it on GitHub, the project went viral and attracted contributors from around the world.
The tool’s signature look is its hand-drawn, sketch-like aesthetic. Shapes, arrows, and text all look like they were drawn by hand, which makes diagrams feel informal and approachable. This turns out to be surprisingly useful — rough-looking diagrams invite feedback and iteration in a way that polished ones don’t.
Excalidraw runs entirely in the browser with no account required. You can start drawing immediately at excalidraw.com. Real-time collaboration works through shareable links, and end-to-end encryption keeps your diagrams private.
The open-source nature means anyone can self-host it, embed it, or build on top of it. The Excalidraw component library lets developers add the canvas to their own apps. There are community-created libraries with icons, UI components, and diagram elements.
Excalidraw+ is the commercial offering with features like persistent storage, team workspaces, and links to external tools. It’s priced modestly and aimed at teams that want the Excalidraw experience without managing their own infrastructure.
The project has over 70,000 GitHub stars, making it one of the most popular open-source drawing tools ever. The core team is small, but the contributor community is active.
For quick architectural sketches, system diagrams, or brainstorming sessions, Excalidraw’s combination of simplicity and that distinctive hand-drawn style is hard to beat.
