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Excalidraw vs Thought Machine

Excalidraw logo

Excalidraw

Technology

Virtual whiteboard for sketching hand-drawn like diagrams

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Thought Machine logo

Thought Machine

Technology

Cloud native core banking where products are written as smart contracts

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Excalidraw has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Excalidraw advanced features (unlimited private scenes/folders, cloud storage, access management, presentations, extended AI, team management) are gated behind Excalidraw+; Thought Machine a core replacement is a two to four year programme at an established bank, and the licence is a minority of total cost against system integrator fees, parallel running and data migration.
  • They diverge on capability: Excalidraw covers Hand-drawn style diagrams, Thought Machine covers Smart contract product engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Excalidraw and Thought Machine actually diverge.

Attributes where Excalidraw and Thought Machine differ
AttributeExcalidrawThought Machine
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, API, Cloud
Founded2020Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Technology).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Excalidraw

  • Hand-drawn style diagrams
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Infinite canvas
  • Shape libraries
  • Text support
  • Image import
  • Export options
  • Keyboard shortcuts

Only in Thought Machine

  • Smart contract product engine
  • Cloud native architecture
  • Real time ledger
  • Vault Payments
  • API first design
  • Multi entity and multi currency
  • Product versioning and testing
  • Configurable posting rules

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Excalidraw

  • Wireframing and diagrammingnot Thought Machine
  • Real-time collaborative whiteboardingnot Thought Machine
  • Hand-drawn-style illustrations for docs and decksnot Thought Machine
  • Embedding a whiteboard into third-party apps via the npm packagenot Thought Machine
  • Visual planning and note-takingnot Thought Machine

Thought Machine

  • A large bank launching a separate digital brand on a clean core rather than migrating the back booknot Excalidraw
  • A bank whose product launches are blocked by vendor change requests on a legacy corenot Excalidraw
  • An institution needing real time balances and postings for instant payment obligationsnot Excalidraw
  • A group consolidating multiple country cores onto one multi entity platformnot Excalidraw

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Excalidraw

  • Advanced features (unlimited private scenes/folders, cloud storage, access management, presentations, extended AI, team management) are gated behind Excalidraw+
  • Free hosted version persists via scene links/local storage rather than a managed multi-scene workspace
  • Self-hosting the full collaborative stack requires standing up a websocket server and storage beyond the npm editor package
  • No official native desktop or app-store mobile apps - web/PWA only

Thought Machine

  • A core replacement is a two to four year programme at an established bank, and the licence is a minority of total cost against system integrator fees, parallel running and data migration.
  • The smart contract model presumes a bank can write and maintain Python financial products, and institutions without that engineering capability end up outsourcing the very flexibility they bought.
  • Cloud infrastructure cost sits with the bank and is not trivial at scale, so total cost of ownership comparisons against a hosted legacy core often miss a large recurring line.
  • Thought Machine has made two rounds of job cuts pursuing profitability, which is a legitimate supplier stability concern for a system a bank expects to run for fifteen years.
  • The functional footprint is core ledger and product engine, so origination, collections, regulatory reporting and channels all come from other vendors, and the integration estate around Vault is the bank's problem to design and own.

Pricing, plan by plan

Excalidraw

Free
  • Excalidraw+$6/month
    • Unlimited private scenes and folders
    • Cloud storage
    • Access management

Thought Machine

On request
  • Vault Core$undefined/year
    • Quoted per institution, typically on account volumes or annual contract value
    • Implementation and system integrator costs commonly exceed the licence fee
    • Cloud infrastructure costs are the bank's and are not included

Which should you pick?

Choose Excalidraw if

  • You need hand-drawn style diagrams.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want real-time collaboration.
Excalidraw review

Choose Thought Machine if

  • You need smart contract product engine.
  • You work on Web, API, Cloud.
  • You also want cloud native architecture.
Thought Machine review

Questions people ask

Is Excalidraw or Thought Machine better?
Neither clearly leads. Excalidraw starts at Free and Thought Machine at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Excalidraw or Thought Machine?
Excalidraw has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Excalidraw and On request for Thought Machine.
Does Excalidraw or Thought Machine run on more platforms?
Excalidraw runs on Web. Thought Machine runs on Web, API, Cloud.
Can I use Excalidraw for free?
Yes. Excalidraw has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Thought Machine starts at On request.
What is Excalidraw best used for?
Excalidraw is most often used for wireframing and diagramming, real-time collaborative whiteboarding, hand-drawn-style illustrations for docs and decks, embedding a whiteboard into third-party apps via the npm package. Of those, wireframing and diagramming and real-time collaborative whiteboarding are not what Thought Machine is typically brought in for.
What can Excalidraw do that Thought Machine cannot?
Excalidraw covers Hand-drawn style diagrams, Real-time collaboration, Infinite canvas, Shape libraries. Thought Machine covers Smart contract product engine, Cloud native architecture, Real time ledger, Vault Payments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Excalidraw: Is Excalidraw free?

Excalidraw appears to be a free drawing application available at no cost to users. The website does not display information about pricing tiers or premium features, suggesting it is offered as a free service.

Source
Thought Machine: Is Vault Core genuinely cloud native?

Yes. It is containerised, runs on Kubernetes on public cloud, and posts in real time rather than in overnight batch.

Excalidraw: Does Excalidraw offer paid plans?

No pricing tiers or paid upgrade options are mentioned on the Excalidraw website, which indicates the service is available entirely free without commercial pricing models.

Source
Thought Machine: How long does a migration take?

Eighteen months at the absolute fastest for a narrow greenfield launch; two to four years for a phased migration at an established bank.

Thought Machine: Does the licence fee represent the total cost?

No. Implementation, system integration, parallel running and cloud infrastructure typically cost more than the licence over the programme.

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