Best Online Whiteboard Tools for Virtual Teaching & Collaboration

Quick Summary:

Online whiteboard tools act like digital canvases, letting you draw, write, and add multimedia in real-time. They boost collaboration, making ideas visual and communication easy. We’ll help you find the perfect tool—let’s make your virtual sessions more effective!

It seems like ages ago when people would draw things on a whiteboard to present their ideas or lectures. Today, virtual whiteboarding has become the norm among educators and distributed teams as it’s cleaner, more engaging, and supports better collaboration between team members or students. 

The best online whiteboard tools include features like infinite canvas, media embedding, and pre-built templates, making whiteboard online classes a more appealing option than traditional classes.

We researched and compared every online whiteboard tool for virtual teaching and collaboration on the market. Here’s our list of the 10 best.

Best Whiteboard Online Comparison Chart (Top 10 Highest Rated)

Before we dive into each tool in greater detail, let’s quickly look at the top 10 highest-rated, along with their pricing and what they’re best for. 

What Are the Best Online Whiteboard Tools? Here’s Our Top 10 List:

It’s time to dive into the best online whiteboard tools. The list includes top online whiteboards like Miro, Limnu, and Google Jamboard. Some of the whiteboard platforms will be more suitable for virtual interactive teaching, and others for remote work. There are also a few that can support both cases. 

We’ll look at the main features of these apps, check out the pros and costs, and see whether some of the tools offer a free plan. 
 

1. Limnu Whiteboard (Best Online Whiteboard Overall)

Why We Chose It:

Limnu is an online collaboration platform designed with teams and students in mind. Remote teams can use it for brainstorming sessions; tutors can collaborate with students on math problems; freelance designers can use it to review storyboards with clients. With Limnu, you’ll have all the tools for creativity and teamwork to create the flowcharts you envision.

You can have as many whiteboards as you want and add as many team members as you need. You control when and what to share with your team. Boards can be private or shared. You can even assign administrative roles to team members.

There’s a 14-day free trial that lets you give Limnu a test drive to see if you should invest in a monthly subscription. The Pro plan is ideal for individuals who work with many clients, while the Team plan is suitable for all kinds of teams. There’s also an Enterprise plan, but you must contact customer service for a custom quote. 

Pros:

• Free trial
• A good option for tutors and teachers 
• Suitable for team collaboration and brainstorming meetings
• Super easy to use
• Slack integration
• iOS app
• Works on all the latest web browsers

Cons:

• Paid plans can be expensive for some teams
• Lacks an Android app 

Pricing:

• Pro, $5/month 
• Team, $8/month/team member
• Enterprise, custom pricing

Visit site
_{Go to Limnu Whiteboard’s official website}
 

2. Miro: previously Aww (Best Digital Whiteboard for Collaborative Online Meetings)

Why We Chose It:

Miro is one of the leading digital whiteboarding tools, trusted by 40 million users. The whiteboard platform is very flexible and can be used by all kinds of teams, both co-located, distributed, and fully remote, to improve their workflow. 

Some users use Miro for brainstorming sessions, while others for hosting retrospectives. Teachers should also try this tool, as the platform comes with all the features educators need to create resources, lead a class, and give assignments.

The app is swift and easy to use, even for beginners. What makes Miro one of the best digital whiteboard apps is the infinite canvas so that you never run out of space for your visualizations.

Other features include video conferencing, annotations, screen sharing, presentation mode, online sticky notes, and digital markers. Additionally, you’ll be able to embed documents, spreadsheets, and PDFs to your whiteboards.

If you want to kick off a project faster, you can choose one of the pre-built templates for use cases like mind mapping, product roadmaps, and fishbone diagrams.

Pros:

• Integrates with apps like Jira, Trello, Zoom, and Slack
• Infinite canvas
• Pre-built templates
• Free version
• Suitable for businesses of all sizes

Cons:

• Little offline functionality
• Not 100% user friendly

Pricing:

• Free plan
• Team, $8/team member/month billed annually 
• Business, $16/team members/month billed annually 
• Enterprise, custom pricing 

Miro review

Visit site
_{Go to Miro’s official website}
 

3. Explain Everything (Best Virtual Whiteboard for Online Teaching)

Why We Chose It:

Explain Everything is the best whiteboard app for teaching and remote learning. Teachers can use the app to give presentations and create engaging lectures students can watch in their own time. You can even integrate the app into third-party video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Google Meet. 

You can annotate and record everything that happens on the whiteboard. You can even make your presentations fun by adding videos, photos, and documents. 

Once you’re done creating a lecture, you can export and post the video link anywhere, including on any Learning Management System (LMS).

The generous free plan that includes all the basic features makes Explain Everything the best online whiteboard for teaching. There’s an affordable plan for solo teachers and a separate plan for schools that need more advanced features.

Pros:

• Free plan
• A good option for plans
• Suitable for solo teachers and schools 
• Works on iPads, iPhones, Chromebooks, and Android devices

Cons:

• There’s a learning curve 

Pricing:

• Free plan
• Solo Teacher, $34.99/year
• Class, $129.99/year
• School, custom pricing 

Visit site
_{Go to Explain Everything’s official website}
 

4. Ziteboard (Best Free Collaborative Whiteboard for Interactive Teaching Sessions)

Why We Chose It:

Ziteboard is a free online collaborative whiteboard software that acts like a video conferencing /whiteboard platform. It can be used for conducting remote meetings and interactive teaching sessions.

One great feature of this free online whiteboard collaboration app is the anonymous whiteboard functionality that lets your clients or students join the link instantly without even registering or logging in to Ziteboard. 

You can draw freehand, and then Ziteboard gives you line smoothing and shape recognition. You can insert images and PDFs, graphs, sticky notes, and navigation boxes. You can even export your online whiteboards as PDFs.

Pros:

• Free shared whiteboard forever
• Weekly plan available
• Android app 
• Optimized for Wacom & iPad
• WordPress plugin for embedding
• Smart Shapes & Shape tools
• Export to Illustrator

Cons:

• The free plan limits your use to 3 boards

Pricing:

• Starter, free to use
• One Week Pro, one-time payment of $5
• Monthly Pro, $9/month 
• Annual Pro, $85 per year 
• Enterprise, custom pricing

Visit site
_{Go to Ziteboard’s official website}
 

5. Google Jamboard: the App (Free Virtual Whiteboard for Ideation)

Why We Chose It:

Google Jamboard is a virtual whiteboarding software that’s part of the G Suite package. Jamboard is used on any web browser or mobile app, or you can buy a 55-inch cloud-powered touchscreen whiteboard.

If you’re using Jamboard on a computer, you can write and draw using a mouse or trackpad. You’ll be able to insert images or webpages, drag and resize text and images, and present your jam to a Google Meet video call. 

You can also add Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides to a jam. All jams will be saved to your Google Drive, from where you can view and edit them at any time. Jamboard is also one of the best free whiteboard app tools, as it’s free to use for tablets, smartphones, and web browsers.

Pros:

• Real-time co-authoring
• Available on web browsers and mobile devices
• Easy to use
• Great for team collaboration and presenting ideas
• Geared toward businesses and educational institutions
• Among the best free whiteboarding tools

Cons:

• Not suitable for individual use

Pricing:

• Free to use via tablets, smartphones, and web browsers

Visit site
_{Go to Google Jamboard’s official website}
 

6. Microsoft Whiteboard (Good Online Whiteboarding Tool for Startups)

Why We Chose It:

Microsoft Whiteboard is a lightweight real-time collaboration and teaching platform. It’s a fantastic tool for various purposes, like holding workshops, brainstorming, team sprint planning, online teaching, and more. To get started faster, you can insert pre-made templates into the whiteboard. 

You can use the software for free with a Microsoft account on iPhone, iPad, Android device, desktop, or web; you just need a Microsoft account. Microsoft Whiteboard also works great with other Microsoft apps like 365 and Teams.

Some of its best features include sketching, line straightening, form recognition, voting options, inserting files and images, and more.

Pros:

• Free to use 
• Suitable for startups 
• Solid ease of use 
• Pre-built templates

Cons:

• No integrations, except with Teams
• It’s a lightweight software 

Pricing:

• Free to use for anyone with a Microsoft account

Visit site
_{Go to Microsoft Whiteboard’s official website}
 

7. Mural (Best Collaborative Whiteboard Software for Team Brainstorming and Mind-Mapping)

Why We Chose It:

MURAL is a whiteboard collaboration software that has a suite of visual collaboration tools suited for any business size.

You’ll never run out of space as there’s an infinite canvas; you can also resize the canvas to meet your collaboration goals. To make your presentations or meetings more engaging and productive, you can add all kinds of files to the whiteboard, like images, GIFs, sticky notes, and text boxes. 

The software goes further to let you build quick and easy visualizations of flows, maps, processes, hierarchies, journeys, and more. There’s a handy timer feature you can use to stay focused and on schedule by timing activities for a group.

And if you want to communicate with your team or class, you surely can, as there are multiple ways to connect, including via comments, chat, and quick voice calls. 

You can connect the software with a range of third-party apps like Google Drive, Airtable, Asana, and Google Docs.

There’s even a solid free plan that gives you three boards, unlimited visitors (view only), pre-made templates, core integrations, and more.

Pros:

• Private mode
• Plenty of integrations
• Timer feature
• A good deal of collaboration features
• Built-in templates
• Free plan

Cons:

• No support for video calls
• Slightly pricier than its competitors

Pricing:

• Free
• Team+, $9.99/member/month billed annually 
• Business, $17.99/member/month billed annually 
• Enterprise, custom pricing 

Mural review

Visit site
_{Go to Mural’s official website}
 

8. Confluence Whiteboards (Great Whiteboard Software for Agile Teams)

Why We Chose It:

Whiteboards for Confluence is the best software for agile teams. It’s a whiteboard app built especially for Confluence to ensure a native collaboration experience allowing you to share your board safely with other Confluence users.

The platform comes with all the key features needed to support agile meetings and retros, as well as mind-mapping, brainstorming, and diagramming sessions. 

You can even add Jira cards directly to the whiteboard and populate the board with Jira epics, tasks, stories, and subtasks, and then estimate, brainstorm, or plan a product roadmap. 

There’s a freemium version available for up to 10 people. The price increases as you add more team members.

Pros:

• 20+ templates for your agile events
• Visualize diagrams, mockups, processes, plans, and more
• Use Post-it cards, images, videos, and drawing tools
• Share your board securely with external contractors or agencies
• Robust meeting controls
• Can be used with any process, such as Scrum, Kanban, Scrum@Scale, SAFE, Scaled Agile, LESS, etc

Cons:

• The price increases as you add more users

Pricing:

• Free plan
• Starts at $375 per year for 11-15 users

Visit site
_{Go to Confluence Whiteboards’ official website}
 

9. Whiteboard for Zoom (Top Online Whiteboard Tool for Virtual Study Sessions)

Why We Chose It:

Zoom Whiteboard is a visual collaboration tool that allows on-site and remote teams a space to capture ideas both in real time and asynchronously. It’s a fantastic tool for brainstorming, mapping out ideas, sharing lessons with students, training new hires, and more. 

Zoom’s online whiteboards are accessible with a web browser, the Zoom client, and Zoom Rooms for Touch. You can initiate a virtual whiteboard from within a Zoom meeting. 

The whiteboard supports interactive whiteboard collaboration with tools like sticky notes, advanced shapes, comments, dragging and dropping images, and more.

You can share a Zoom Whiteboard internally or externally with anyone who has a Zoom account; there’s also the option to export and save the whiteboard.

Pros:

• Add a Zoom Whiteboard to any Zoom Room
• Interactive whiteboard collaboration
• Access on any device

Cons:

• It’s a more lightweight option

Pricing:

• $2.49 /month/license or $24.90 /year/license

Visit site
_{Go to Whiteboard for Zoom’s official website}
 

10. Stormboard (Best Free Whiteboard Software for Teaching)

Why We Chose It:

Stormboard is a free virtual classroom whiteboard for holding meetings, project management, brainstorming ideas, and getting work done. It’s suitable for educators as well as for teams of all types and sizes. 

You get to work on an infinite canvas and add text, drawings, files, images, and videos. There are Substorms and index cards for collecting and organizing large amounts of ideas. 

You’ll also find a good deal of pre-built templates for all kinds of purposes, including templates for Agile Scrum, daily standups, presentations, brainstorming sessions, and more. Another great thing is that Stormboard is free to use if you’re an educator or an individual with basic needs. 

The free plan for educators gives you unlimited Storms, unlimited users per Storm, and access to Microsoft Office 365 and Google Drive. Startup plans are $5 per user per month, and the Business plan is $10 per user per month. 

Pros:

• Free plan for educators and individuals
• Free demo and 30-day trial 
• Competitively priced
• Integrates with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
• Available on the web and as Android and iOS apps

Cons:

• No calling features
• No support for charts or graphs

Pricing:

• Educator, $0
• Personal, $0
• Startup, $5/user/month billed monthly
• Business, $10/user/month billed monthly
• Enterprise, custom pricing 

Visit site
_{Go to Stormboard’s official website}

What is a Virtual Online Whiteboard Application & What Do They Do?

Online whiteboard applications are a collaboration platform that supports interactive collaboration between people who are not physically in the same room. Teams and students can come together to brainstorm, map out ideas, and otherwise work together. 

The main feature of whiteboard software is the infinite canvas. This is where all the collaboration takes place. You can use the whiteboard to build an idea, brainstorm, present a lecture, hold a retrospective meeting, and more. 

Many whiteboard software tools let you drop images onto the whiteboard, add text, use sticky notes, draw shapes, and more. Some good platforms also support screen sharing, which is an excellent feature for leading meetings or classes. The best whiteboard software allows live chatting where people can text, see each other, or just talk. 

Online collaboration tools such as whiteboard software support both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration. For instance, you can be working on the same whiteboard in real time with other users. In this case, when someone draws something on the canvas or adds an image, everyone sees the changes as they happen in real-time. 

It’s also possible to collaborate asynchronously, where everyone accesses the whiteboard to add their ideas in their own time. 

The best part is that the majority of whiteboard software solutions integrate with other tools for added functionality.

Which of the online whiteboarding tools is best for me? Key takeaways

The best online whiteboard tool for you will depend on the features you and your team/class need. We voted Limnu as the best app overall, as it can work well for both virtual teaching and online collaboration. 

This doesn’t mean it’s the best tool for you. If you’re already using platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet, consider using their respective built-in whiteboard tools—Zoom Whiteboard, Microsoft Whiteboard, and Jamboard. 

Suppose you’re looking for a dedicated whiteboard software that offers advanced features, integration options, and a good deal of collaboration capabilities. In that case, one of the other tools we mentioned might be a better pick. 

For instance, Confluence Whiteboard is a good pick if you’re an agile team. Miro can fit the bill if you need a powerful whiteboard platform that supports video conferencing, screen sharing, and presentation mode. 

Whichever whiteboard tool you end up choosing, rest assured they all offer a great collaborative whiteboard experience.