tldraw
Infinite canvas SDK for React, plus the free collaborative whiteboard at tldraw.com that runs on it.
- Starting price
- Free whiteboard; SDK license on request
- Free trial
- 100-day free trial license for the SDK, no credit card required, one per commercial unit
- Output
- Infinite canvas apps in React: whiteboards, diagram editors and node-based workflow tools
Overview
tldraw is an infinite canvas SDK for React that developers use to build whiteboards, diagram editors and other canvas tools into their own products. The same team runs tldraw.com, a free collaborative whiteboard in the browser built on the SDK. The source is available on GitHub under the tldraw license, which by default permits use only in development. Production use needs a license key: a free 100-day trial, a commercial license priced by the sales team, or a free hobby license for non-commercial projects.
Our take
The buyer here is a product team that wants a whiteboard or node editor inside its own app and would rather not build the canvas from scratch; ClickUp and Padlet are the vendor's own case studies. Pick it if your developers work in React and can run the sync backend themselves. If you only need a shared board for workshops, buying a license is the wrong fit: tldraw.com handles quick sketches at no cost, and a hosted workspace such as Miro covers facilitation. Budget stays an open question until sales quotes a price.
Key Facts
| Category | |
|---|---|
| Starting price | Free whiteboard; SDK license on request tldraw.com is free. The SDK needs a license key in production: a 100-day trial without a credit card, an annual commercial license with value-based pricing from sales and discounts for startups, or a hobby license for non-commercial projects on application. |
| Free trial | 100-day free trial license for the SDK, no credit card required, one per commercial unit |
| Output | Infinite canvas apps in React: whiteboards, diagram editors and node-based workflow tools |
| API | Yes, the SDK itself, with a runtime API for programmatic control of the canvas, custom shapes and tools |
| Hosting | tldraw.com is hosted by tldraw; apps built on the SDK are hosted by the licensee, and tldraw sync has to be self-hosted in production, for example from tldraw's Cloudflare template |
Screenshots
Placeholders. They are replaced as soon as the vendor sends material, and both open the same short form.
Features
- What it makes
- Whiteboards, diagrams and canvas tools on an infinite canvas, with draw, geo shapes, text, arrows, notes, frames and images; tldraw.com is the vendor's own free whiteboard on the same canvas
- Templates and styling
- Built-in dark mode and custom themes that control the style of the canvas; custom shapes and tools can be added and the entire UI can be customized
- Diagramming
- Geo shapes, arrows with bindings, notes, frames, groups, snapping, alignment and distribution; the @tldraw/mermaid package turns Mermaid syntax into native, editable shapes
- Collaboration and facilitation
- Real-time multiplayer through tldraw sync, with live cursors, viewport following and cursor chat; comments pinned to the canvas in threads come from the @tldraw/commenting package, which needs a license that includes commenting
- Permissions and guests
- A readonly mode turns the editor into a viewer in which users can pan, zoom and select shapes but not create, change or delete them
- Export and sharing
- Export of shapes to SVG, PNG, JPEG or WebP, with fonts embedded and styles inlined so each export is self-contained
- AI features
- No model of its own. The docs describe patterns for letting language models read the canvas and create shapes, and starter kits cover an AI agent, an AI chat canvas and an image generation pipeline
- API
- Yes, the SDK is the product: TypeScript and React packages with a runtime API, a signals-based record store, events and side effects; the docs are also published as llms.txt bundles for coding assistants
Integrations
- Cloudflare
- Mermaid
Deployment and Support
- Deployment
-
- Browser-based
- Support
-
- Community forum
- Onboarding
-
- Documentation and knowledge base
- Company size
-
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Suitability
| Industry | Freelancers | Small and mid-sized | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agencies | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Architecture & Engineering | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Consulting | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Media & Creative | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Technology | Not stated | Stated as a fit | Stated as a fit |
The table combines the industries the vendor addresses with the company sizes the tool is aimed at. An empty cell means the combination is not stated, not that it is ruled out.
Pros and Cons
Strengths
- tldraw.com is a free collaborative whiteboard in the browser
- The SDK ships multiplayer sync, undo and redo, copy and paste and cross-tab sync
- Starter kits for multiplayer, node workflows, AI chat and AI agents via npm create tldraw
- 100-day SDK trial with no credit card
Limitations
- Production use of the SDK needs a license key, and commercial prices are not published
- tldraw sync must be self-hosted in production; the hosted demo server is meant for prototyping
- Commenting is a licensed feature that needs a license including it
Pricing
-
tldraw.com
$0
Free collaborative whiteboard in the browser.
-
Trial
$0
100-day SDK trial license with full feature access, no credit card, one per commercial unit.
-
Hobby
$0
Discretionary license for non-commercial projects, on application.
-
Commercial
Not stated
Annual license for production use with full SDK access and multiplayer sync, value-based pricing from sales, discounted startup pricing on application.
Best For
Alternatives and Comparisons
What users say
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