Software · head to head
Whimsical vs Checkmk
The short version
- Only Whimsical has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Whimsical the free plan is capped at 3 team boards, 3 teams and 10 guest seats; Checkmk pricing is metered per service (each individual metric or sensor monitored) rather than per host, so cost scales with monitoring depth, not just server count
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Whimsical and Checkmk actually diverge.
Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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 Whimsical
- Flowcharts
- Wireframes
- Mind maps
- Sticky notes
- Docs
- Real-time collaboration
- Templates
- Keyboard shortcuts
Only in Checkmk
Nothing recorded that Whimsical does not also cover.
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Whimsical
- Product planningnot Checkmk
- UI/UX designnot Checkmk
- Brainstormingnot Checkmk
- Process documentationnot Checkmk
- Project visualizationnot Checkmk
Checkmk
No use cases recorded yet. See the Checkmk review.
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Whimsical
- The free plan is capped at 3 team boards, 3 teams and 10 guest seats
- File uploads are limited to 5MB per file and 1GB in total on the free plan
- Version history on the free plan goes back 7 days
- Voting, the timer, private teams, the GitHub integration, password-protected files and watermark removal all need Pro at $10 per editor per month
- SSO and SAML are Business tier only at $20 per editor per month
Checkmk
- Pricing is metered per service (each individual metric or sensor monitored) rather than per host, so cost scales with monitoring depth, not just server count
- Pro edition starts at 190 euro per month billed annually, and Ultimate at 275 euro per month billed annually; prices are published in euros only
- The CloudAI SaaS edition is capped at 50,000 services even though self-hosted Pro and Ultimate scale to over 100,000 hosts
Pricing, plan by plan
Whimsical
Free- StarterFree
- Up to 4 boards
- Unlimited viewers
- 7-day version history
- Pro$10/month
- Unlimited boards
- Unlimited version history
- Advanced permissions
- Org$20/month
- Everything in Pro
- SSO
- User management
Checkmk
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Checkmk review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Whimsical if
- You need flowcharts.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want wireframes.
Choose Checkmk if
Nothing in the data separates Checkmk from Whimsical on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.
Questions people ask
- Is Whimsical or Checkmk better?
- Neither clearly leads. Whimsical starts at Free and Checkmk at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Whimsical or Checkmk?
- Whimsical has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Whimsical and On request for Checkmk.
- Does Whimsical or Checkmk run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Whimsical for free?
- Yes. Whimsical has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Checkmk starts at On request.
- What is Whimsical best used for?
- Whimsical is most often used for product planning, ui/ux design, brainstorming, process documentation. Of those, product planning and ui/ux design are not what Checkmk is typically brought in for.
- What can Whimsical do that Checkmk cannot?
- Whimsical covers Flowcharts, Wireframes, Mind maps, Sticky notes.