There is no shortage of new productivity and team communication solutions that appear on the market only to go swiftly. However, several real-time collaboration technologies have shown to be useful and long-lasting. People have used online whiteboards and traditional blackboards for many years to plan, explain, teach, and brainstorm. While most of these tools have become digital, physical boards remain a staple in many offices.
Collaborative whiteboards are useful for laying down plans and ideas in a big, visible format. If someone has an idea, they may immediately write it down. Whiteboards are perfect for when teams need to work on ideas in the same space. Collecting the entire office in one location is no longer essential in the digital era. It is where collaborative online whiteboards come in helpful.
Why is an online whiteboard good?
Unlimited board space
Physical space is the main limitation of traditional whiteboards. When you brainstorm for an extended period, you’ll almost always run out of whiteboard space and need to either erase everything or find another blank whiteboard in the room.
A collaborative digital board app doesn’t have such limitations. Like a dry-erase board, most of them offer a limitless canvas, which means you can draw and write as much as you like without running out of space.
Collaboration tools
Online whiteboards are significantly better for remote teams than traditional whiteboards, which require everyone to be in the same room. You can brainstorm and collaborate in real-time from anywhere in the world.
How do you choose the best online whiteboard?
Mobile device access
You can’t expect everyone to be on their laptops all the time in this age of remote meetings and collaboration. Whiteboard apps that are mobile-accessible through a website or app are quite useful. While some only enable you to view the whiteboard, having an app that enables you to edit and collaborate from your phone is much better.
Whiteboard price
You may not have much money to spend on whiteboard applications online. As a result, you should always identify the features you want and search for the most cost-effective online whiteboards that meet your requirements.
Following are the best online whiteboards for 2022
Groupboard
Groupboard is free and requires no login. This whiteboard has unique features. It doesn’t just give a blank canvas. Groupboard uses web browsers to access virtual whiteboards. Groupboard lets people administer their whiteboard space, make it private, and ban users. This feature adds privacy to teams’ collaborative work. It prevents unwanted viewers. To help with the collaborative process, Groupboard also provides Designer and Groupworld applications. The built-in chat feature facilitates communication.
The whiteboard is accessible using any web browser and mobile browser. There’s also a downloadable app, so users don’t have to go to a webpage to use Groupworld.
This whiteboard offers administrative tools to keep workspaces private, moderated, and saved so only authorised users may access it.
Groupworld lets users upload images as board backgrounds. You may also share project snapshots or web pages to collaborate. You can do this while user content is on the board.
Ziteboard
Ziteboard is a shareable, real-time, zoomable web-based whiteboard. You can load this whiteboard to any web browser. This whiteboard does not need you to log in or set up. You may share boards using permanent URLs. You can publish boards to the web and feature them in presentation mode, making Ziteboard unique. In presentation mode, users may only view boards without collaborating or editing. Users may share their displays with colleagues to see what they’re looking at right now.
Ziteboard also has a shape recognition algorithm and a line smoothing algorithm. If you draw a square or a circle, Ziteboard will detect the shape and smooth the edges.
Slack integration, WordPress plugin, and Google Chrome Extension help users merge collaboration tools with other tools.
InVision Freehand
Designers may sync Sketch and Photoshop files or build mockups using InVision Freehand’s wireframes and get real-time feedback from stakeholders and teams. Each logged-in user displays an icon in the whiteboard’s top-right corner, with a dot indicating the colour of their markups’ “ink.” You may upload files and add text with a mouse click on the top toolbar.
When selecting the Present option, all board collaborators may watch the focus remain on your cursor or you can walk through pre-configured frames. Freehand doesn’t have a group chat, but you may use comments. You’ll need another app to communicate visually, audibly, or textually outside the board drawing.
Miro
Miro is available on the web and any device. Choose from various templates to get started, or start with a blank whiteboard. You may add as many templates as you wish to a board, zooming and scrolling using your touchscreen, mouse, or trackpad. Then, drag and drop text, sticky notes, and shapes as needed.
Miro marketplace has a variety of applications you can use to update Miro cards inside your Airtable base or add a voting plugin that enables each user to vote on specific objects.
Miro is more than simply brainstorming. It also provides a collection of features that assist managers in guiding the process from ideation to implementation. Miro’s UI lets you monitor changes, assign tasks, and chat with team members. If you want to present your ideation results, just drag a part of the board to create frames.
Limnu
Limnu is for anyone who wants a whiteboard-like experience. You may access this virtual whiteboard with any web browser or mobile app. Limnu gives you a realistic virtual whiteboard experience. Limnu’s administrative features set it distinct from competing products. Limnu may also replicate the strokes of a whiteboard marker. Limnu is a fast-updating and responsive virtual whiteboard. It also offers a smooth experience.
Limnu has the best user experience. It stimulates the physical and visual experience of writing on a whiteboard with a marker. The user interface has simple options to understand and navigate.
Limnu has several keyboard shortcuts as well. E opens the eraser, and S selects screen items. The letter ‘M’ enables users to move around the whiteboard. Users may quickly change the tool’s setting.
Another advantage of the Limnu user interface is that anything written or drawn on the whiteboard is selectable. As objects, you may drag, group, and move these photos. The function works in the same way as the marquee selection tool. Selecting and dragging options lets anyone rearrange board items without erasing and rewriting.
Conceptboard
Conceptboard is more than just a digitalised version of a whiteboard. Conceptboard is a collaborative tool for exchanging ideas and monitoring the development of visual projects such as UX design. Conceptboard is a visual project management app that keeps users’ projects and enables in-depth project management and specific task management. Users input photos and data straight into the board, enabling others to draw, pin notes, write and collaborate visually. It’s excellent for visual projects that require more than text-focused collaboration. It’s all possible in real-time.
Conceptboard is a visual content platform. The app enables users to drag and drop word docs, excel spreadsheets, pictures, photoshop documents, and PDFs. It enables users to draw on and collaborate on content.
Conceptboard offers user presence, in-app email alerts, integrated board chat, auto-syncing for conversations, and project management tools with task assignments since it can collaborate in real-time.
Although sharing is not as quick as it might be, it is safe. People may use Conceptboard to build password-protected links and boards. A read-only mode is also available to prevent guests from editing any whiteboard feature. There’s also a whiteboard minimap to help people navigate quickly.
Stormboard
Sticky-note-style ideation tool Stomboard does a great job with the basics. Anyone may easily drop text, pictures, and even videos into different board sections using notes or index cards. Each digital sticky note may have its whiteboard if you pay extra, enabling brainstorming and collaboration. Once you create a new Storm, you may add ideas. You can convert any sticky note into a collaborative whiteboard that everyone can edit and see in real-time.
Stormboard solves a major issue in brainstorming or collaborative meetings by saving each iteration for easy review and revision. You can arrange the whiteboard notes by dragging them around the board with your mouse. Collaborators on each board may vote on it, have a text chat discussion, and even assign tasks.
MURAL
Like Photoshop artboards, the MURAL canvas may have several whiteboard areas you can move and resize as required. You may use the standard blank white background on each whiteboard or choose from templates to include pre-built grids and content boxes for additional structure. Many MURAL templates provide detailed instructions and facilitator guidelines, making it easy to start.
MURAL is an excellent team tool because you can create many rooms with different permissions. One space may be for your design team, another for your marketing team, etc. You might also make rooms for different projects.
Digital timers and chat boxes are great for remote teams using MURAL for meetings. MURAL also enables you to instantly create new tasks in your project management tool based on your whiteboards or generate new MURAL stickies based on form submissions.
Conclusion
Generally, you can use any app whiteboard, but you can determine the ideal whiteboard app by your team’s functionality. If you don’t need anything specific and your team currently uses Webex, Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams, the best choice is typically the one that comes with the software you already use.
Our top picks are likely a better fit if you are searching for whiteboard software with more advanced features, customisation options and integrations. They all provide a fantastic collaborative whiteboard experience in their unique way.
