Technology · head to head
Netlify vs Excalidraw
Excalidraw
Technology
Virtual whiteboard for sketching hand-drawn like diagrams
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Netlify the free tier is an individual account with 300 credits; team members require the Pro plan at $20 a month; Excalidraw advanced features (unlimited private scenes/folders, cloud storage, access management, presentations, extended AI, team management) are gated behind Excalidraw+
- They diverge on capability: Netlify covers Continuous deployment, Excalidraw covers Hand-drawn style diagrams.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Netlify and Excalidraw actually diverge.
| Attribute | Netlify | Excalidraw |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | freemium | Unknown |
| Founded | 2014 | 2020 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web), 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 Netlify
- Continuous deployment
- Instant rollbacks
- Deploy previews
- Split testing
- Forms handling
- Identity/Auth
- Serverless functions
- Edge handlers
Only in Excalidraw
- Hand-drawn style diagrams
- Real-time collaboration
- Infinite canvas
- Shape libraries
- Text support
- Image import
- Export options
- Keyboard shortcuts
Both cover
- GitHub
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Netlify
- Hosting static sites and frontend frameworks with global CDN deliverynot Excalidraw
- Deploy previews on every pull requestnot Excalidraw
- Serverless functions alongside a static sitenot Excalidraw
- Netlify Database and Blob storage for small application statenot Excalidraw
Excalidraw
- Wireframing and diagrammingnot Netlify
- Real-time collaborative whiteboardingnot Netlify
- Hand-drawn-style illustrations for docs and decksnot Netlify
- Embedding a whiteboard into third-party apps via the npm packagenot Netlify
- Visual planning and note-takingnot Netlify
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Netlify
- The free tier is an individual account with 300 credits; team members require the Pro plan at $20 a month
- Everything is metered in credits, so bandwidth at 20 credits per GB and production deploys at 15 credits each consume the allowance in ways a bandwidth figure alone would not show
- Compute is billed at 10 credits per GB-hour, so server-rendered work costs more than static hosting
- Running past the allowance means buying credit packs, at $5 for 500 on Personal and $10 for 1,500 on Pro
- AI inference is priced by model rather than at a flat credit rate
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
Pricing, plan by plan
Netlify
Free- StarterFree
- 100GB bandwidth
- 300 build minutes
- 1 concurrent build
- Pro$19/month
- 400GB bandwidth
- 25,000 build minutes
- 3 concurrent builds
- Business$99/month
- 600GB bandwidth
- 35,000 build minutes
- 5 concurrent builds
- Enterprise$undefined/month
- Custom bandwidth
- Custom build minutes
- Unlimited concurrent builds
Excalidraw
Free- Excalidraw+$6/month
- Unlimited private scenes and folders
- Cloud storage
- Access management
Which should you pick?
Choose Netlify if
- You need continuous deployment.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want instant rollbacks.
Choose Excalidraw if
- You need hand-drawn style diagrams.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want real-time collaboration.
Questions people ask
- Is Netlify or Excalidraw better?
- Neither clearly leads. Netlify starts at Free and Excalidraw at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Netlify or Excalidraw?
- Netlify starts at Free and Excalidraw at Free.
- Does Netlify or Excalidraw run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Netlify for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Netlify best used for?
- Netlify is most often used for hosting static sites and frontend frameworks with global cdn delivery, deploy previews on every pull request, serverless functions alongside a static site, netlify database and blob storage for small application state. Of those, hosting static sites and frontend frameworks with global cdn delivery and deploy previews on every pull request are not what Excalidraw is typically brought in for.
- What can Netlify do that Excalidraw cannot?
- Netlify covers Continuous deployment, Instant rollbacks, Deploy previews, Split testing. Excalidraw covers Hand-drawn style diagrams, Real-time collaboration, Infinite canvas, Shape libraries. Both handle GitHub.