Visual collaboration is rapidly becoming critical for engaging remote teams. But with dozens of options on the market for digital whiteboarding, how do you determine which solutions best suit your specific needs?
As an experienced technology advisor to enterprise leaders, I‘ve tested over 15 top-rated platforms firsthand from industry stalwarts like Miro to upstarts like Stormboard. Across months of evaluation under real-world conditions, I analyzed core features, use case fit, integrations, and ease of adoption by distributed teams spanning functions from engineering to marketing.
The verdict? While Miro took top honors overall thanks to unparalled capabilities plus 350+ app integrations, Stormboard won me over through its elegantly intuitive interface optimized specifically for collaborative meetings and workshops. Meanwhile Explain Everything succeeded at revolutionizing how my nonprofit partners transform passive video lectures into active learning through its interactive multiplayer features.
Deploying the right digital whiteboard platform promises a high ROI through more aligned, productive teams. But choosing the option best aligned to your goals requires thoughful analysis of solutions against your unique environment and ways of working.
Let‘s explore what capabilities to prioritize based on your needs before diving into the top contenders optimizing distributed collaboration across key industries and team types!
Why Do Teams Need Online Whiteboard Software?
Before evaluating providers, it‘s worth grounding ourselves in why digital whiteboarding accelerates results compared to analog methods:
Endless Flexible Space – Cloud whiteboards provide effectively unlimited canvases for teams to visualize ideas together without space restrictions of physical conference rooms.
Persistent Access – Contributions live securely in the cloud rather than getting erased like physical dry erase boards, creating an audit trail of concepts over time.
Enhanced Collaboration – Co-editing with commenting, notifications and version history facilitates alignment for distributed team members across locations.
Repeatable Templates – Reusable templates eliminate reinventing sessions from scratch while embedding best practices.
With the rationale clear, what key features make the difference between good and great platforms?
Whiteboard Software Comparison
Before we analyze the leaders, I wanted to provide you a framework for comparing options aligned to your specific context. I‘ve highlighted some of the most critical evaluation criteria in the chart below with definitions:
| Feature | Definition |
|---|---|
| Real-time Editing | Simultaneous changes by multiple collaborators with no lag |
| Integrations | Apps like Slack, Jira and GSuite that sync with whiteboard |
| Templates | Pre-built boards accelerating specific session types |
| Pricing | Monthly cost per user for full access |
And here‘s how the five most versatile enterprise-ready solutions stack up across these decision factors:
| Product | Real-time Editing | Top Integrations | Template Library | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miro | Yes | Jira, Slack, Teams, +350 more | 300+ templates | $8+/month per user |
| Mural | Yes | Slack, Teams, Jira | 300+ templates | $12+/month per user |
| Stormboard | Yes | Slack, Teams, Webex, GSuite | 260+ workshop templates | ~$10/month per user |
| Explain Everything | Yes | GSuite | Educational focus | $5+/month per user |
| Limnu | Yes | – | General purpose | $5/month per user |
Hopefully the above gives you a headstart on narrowing down options aligned to your budget, integrations needs and use cases! Next let‘s explore the purpose-built strengths of my top picks optimized for design teams, fast-moving startups, regulated enterprises and beyond!
1. Miro – The Swiss Army Knife Handling Any Scenario
With over 350 app integrations, unmatched feature breadth, and strong security, I recommend Miro as the ideal "do anything" digital whiteboard platform suitable for most organizations.
Rather than optimal for a narrow subset of use cases, Miro provides the toolkit to facilitate design sprints, agile ceremonies, process flows, org charts, product roadmaps and even prototyping wireframes!
The limitless canvas empowers visualization constrained only by your team‘s imagination. I especially appreciate the sticky notes which offer "containers" to instill structure during otherwise unbounded sessions.
But Miro‘s greatestdifferentiator shines through its integration ecosystem – natively syncing workflows across platforms like Jira, Asana, Slack, GSuite and Figma. The bidirectional links keep data current across your stack to align both strategic planning and daily execution.
The bottom line – when you need unmatched versatility requiring minimal switching between apps, Miro delivers.
Ideal For:
- Enterprise Platform Teams – Integrates securely with essential infrastructure
- Distributed Orgs – Remote-friendly built for flexibility
- Creative Sessions – Expansive canvas tailored to design
| Collaboration | Integrations | Platforms | Templates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time editing with version history | Jira, Slack, Azure, Webex, Office 365, Google Workspace +350 more | Web, iOS, Android | 300+ template library spanning multiple disciplines |
2. Stormboard – Intuitive and Purpose-Built for Workshops
While Miro attempts to be everything for everyone, Stormboard smartly optimized its solution specifically for collaborative meetings and working sessions through a straightforward sticky note system.
Columns of digital notes form the foundation for organizing team discussions into logical categories on an infinite canvas. Need more room to expand an idea? Simply add another column! You can also nest mini-whiteboards within notes to provide additional space for detailing concepts.
The simplicity means less time spent learning features and more time as a team achieving goals. Yet despite ease of use, over 200 workshop templates infuse best practices for design sprints, budget planning, retrospectives and more!
Ultimately Stormboard cuts complexity to empower leadership teams, marketers, product managers an endless canvas tailored exactly for alignment. The novel concept qualified Stormboard as a Cool Vendor in Meetings Solutions by Gartner in late 2021 – high praise promising enormous growth potential.
Ideal For:
- Fast-Moving Startups – Intuitive and agile friendly
- Workshop Driven Teams – 260+ Workshop & meeting templates
- Leadership Offsites – Structured rapid collaboration
| Collaboration | Integrations | Platforms | Templates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time co-editing with comments | Slack, Teams, Webex, GSuite, Jira, Lucidchart | Web, iOS, Android | 260+ workshop & meeting templates |
3. Explain Everything – Creating Engaging Interactive Lessons
While the previous recommendations target broader enterprise scenarios, niche solutions like Explain Everything narrow focus to decisively dominate specific industries like educational technology.
Explain Everything stands tall as the gold standard for interactive digital whiteboarding across classrooms and corporate training by empowering educators to turn passive video lectures into engaging two-way experiences.
Through real-time collaboration capabilities, students co-create content together with the teacher‘s guidance to reinforce retention and classroom engagement. Capabilities like interactive laser pointers, feedback controls, screen recording and embedded web make it a versatile tool suitable for learning environments beyond just K-12 to the likes of universities, tech academies and internal corporate training teams.
The proof lies in the credibility with marquis customers like Stanford and event giant TED trusting Explain Everything to reinvent digital lessons. For any training leader frustrated by student engagement on video conferences, Explain Everything warrants a trial.
Ideal For:
- Educators & Teachers – Transform passive lectures into active learning
- Corporate Trainers – Keep remote trainees engaged
- Coaches – Interactive virtual coaching
| Collaboration | Integrations | Platforms | Templates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time student feedback controls | Google Drive, OneDrive, Box | Web | School & university focus |
Honorable Mentions
While the above represent the premier enterprise-grade recommendations optimized for intensive collaboration, I‘d be remiss not to mention a few other capable solutions that narrowly missed inclusion:
- Limnu – Uncannily mimics the analog whiteboard experience
- MURAL – Visually stunning graphics and diagrams
- Ziteboard – Frictionless browser-based simplicity
Don‘t need the full power of Miro‘s robust tooling? Prefer simple and specialized over intricately featured? The above honorable mentions warrant consideration.
Getting Started with Online Whiteboards
I‘ve outlined the ideal scenarios and strengths underpinning my top digital whiteboard platform recommendations. But judiciously selecting the right software is merely the first step – you must also nail adoption across your newly distributed teams!
Here are my top four tips learned through years of change management at enterprises to drive extensive usage of newly adopted collaboration tools:
1. Build Reusable Meeting Templates
Rather than starting from scratch, maximize consistency through dedicated templates for standing meetings. Stormboard makes this easy through categorized libraries.
2. Incentivize Usage in OKRs
For sustainable adoption, incorporate monthly usage metrics into quarterly objective setting to motivate engagement.
3. Host Lunch & Learns
Proactively train team members on capabilities, ease concerns through demos. Enable power users!
4. Continually Evolve and Optimize
Solicit user feedback through quick pulse surveys and continuously refine your approach.
Driving adoption requires cross-functional evangelism, training and most importantly – patience through evolving behavior changes. But the workflow optimization rewards manifest quickly!
The Future of Visual Collaboration Looks Bright!
Visual whiteboarding platforms continue gaining remarkable traction within enterprises hungry for smoother collaboration across distributed teams. Grandview Research forecasts the total addressable market for digital whiteboard software swelling to $4.5 billion by 2028 – a stunning 26% CAGR!
And the capabilities show no sign of slowing with advances in augmented reality and wearables promising to eliminate hardware barriers altogether in coming years.
While early AR pilot projects demonstrate promise for visual collaboration, IIa Research argues meaningful productivity adoption remains over five years distant until headset costs decline and enterprise tools mature.
In the interim Miro, Stormboard and tools featured above should decisively bolster your team‘s alignment, creativity and productivity when thoughtfully adopted for your specific environment.
So don‘t leave remote collaboration to chance – implement a purpose-built digital whiteboard platform today! I‘m eager to hear which solution resonates most with your objectives and ways of working in the comments below!
