Comparison - Open-source sketch whiteboard

Winy vs Excalidraw

Excalidraw is the quickest way to sketch a diagram and share it; Winy is a native canvas where your coding agents run next to your sketches.

Excalidraw is a free, MIT-licensed whiteboard with a hand-drawn look, end-to-end encrypted live collaboration, an installable offline web app and AI that turns text into diagrams.

Winy is a native infinite-canvas notebook for Mac, iPad and iPhone where real agent sessions like Claude Code and Codex run as live cards on the board.

Excalidraw's MCP app lets an assistant draw a diagram for you, while Winy puts the agent session itself on your board, where it can see your notes and ink.

At a glance

Question	Winy	Excalidraw
What it is	Native canvas notebook with live agent cards	Open-source hand-drawn style whiteboard
Platforms	Native apps for Mac, iPad and iPhone	Web app, installable as an offline PWA
Real-time collaboration	No, single user today	Yes, end-to-end encrypted
Coding agents	Claude Code, Codex or any CLI run live on the board	MCP app draws diagrams from Claude, ChatGPT or VS Code
Built-in AI	None; you bring your own agents	Text to diagram, wireframe to code, Mermaid to Excalidraw
Live terminals on the canvas	Yes, and you can draw across them	No
Open source	No	Yes, MIT license
Pricing	Early access waitlist, no public pricing	Free; Excalidraw+ is $6 per user/month

Which one is for you

Choose Excalidraw if

You want a free sketch whiteboard that opens instantly in any browser.
You want to share a link and draw with others live, end-to-end encrypted.
You want open-source software you can self-host or embed.
You want quick diagrams from a prompt or a Mermaid snippet.

Choose Winy if

You want Claude Code, Codex or any CLI agent running live on the board, not in a chat window.
You want a native iPad canvas with Pencil ink that shares one board with your Mac.
You want your notes, ink and arrows visible to the agents you work with.
You want live terminals on the canvas that you can draw across while they run.

Questions

Is Excalidraw free?

Yes. Excalidraw is free and open source under the MIT license, with live collaboration and 10 AI requests a day. Excalidraw+ costs $6 per user per month and adds cloud saving, unlimited scenes, presentations and more AI.

Can I use Excalidraw with AI agents?

Yes. Excalidraw's MCP app works in clients that support MCP Apps, such as Claude, ChatGPT and VS Code, and streams hand-drawn diagrams into the chat. Excalidraw+ also lets an agent draw into your workspace. Winy works the other way round: the agent session runs on your board.

What is a good whiteboard for Claude Code?

If you want Claude Code to draw a diagram for you, Excalidraw's MCP app is a fast option. If you want the Claude Code session itself on a canvas next to your notes and Pencil ink, that is what Winy is built for.

Can I collaborate with my team in Winy?

Not today. Winy is single user, with the same board on your Mac, iPad and iPhone. For live shared sketching, Excalidraw is the better choice.

Thinking is Winning