Excalidraw
Open-source virtual whiteboard for sketching hand-drawn style diagrams.
HN commenters love Excalidraw for diagramming,12 praising its sketch styles and a slow, deliberate drawing process,34 and some use it as an Obsidian plugin.56 The most common complaint is that the open-source app makes it hard to manage multiple saved canvases,789 and a few find its wonky look or shape picking distracting.1011
Why people recommend it
Enjoyable to use · 3
Commenters say they love it and find drawing with it enjoyable.
“I love excalidraw, but don't need the excalidraw+.”
Show 1 more
“I use excalidraw) but I find it so enjoyable because it forces me to slow down”
Obsidian plugin · 3
Some commenters use Excalidraw as a plugin inside Obsidian.
“I use a few such as excalidraw/mermaid etc.”
“I also have an Excalidraw plugin there for example”
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“Yeah I use that plugin too.”
Sketch styles · 1
Its drawing styles are described as feeling right, and one commenter prefers it to draw.io.
“it is better than draw.io that I used to use before”
Deliberate thinking · 1
Drawing slowly in it helps one commenter check what they think they know.
“I use excalidraw) but I find it so enjoyable because it forces me to slow down”
System design · 1
Even a critic says it works fine for designing systems.
Caveats and dissent
Multiple canvases · 3
The open-source app is frontend-only, which makes saving and managing several scenes awkward.
“I love excalidraw, but don't need the excalidraw+.”
Show 1 more
“I use its PWA and save individual files on the disk.”
Free thinking · 1
Choosing shapes pulls attention away from free-form thinking compared to paper.
Wonky look · 1
One commenter finds the hand-drawn aesthetic looks off.
“I genuinely don't understand how people can use these wonky looking tools. It looks off”
Rough edges · 1
A satisfied user says it is not perfect and some things are frustrating.
“it is better than draw.io that I used to use before”
Often compared with
Threads where it came up
- I use excalidraw to manage my diagrams for my blog 5 mentions
- We still use paper 1 mention
- I Started a "Dirt Notebook" 1 mention
- Show HN: OpenKnowledge – open-source alternative to Obsidian/Notion 1 mention
- Why thinking out loud with someone beats thinking alone 1 mention
- Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026) 1 mention
Data: excalidraw.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 11
“Apps like Excalidraw just does not cut it for me”
“I also have an Excalidraw plugin there for example”
“I use a few such as excalidraw/mermaid etc.”
“I use excalidraw) but I find it so enjoyable because it forces me to slow down”
“I love Excalidraw”
“I use its PWA and save individual files on the disk.”
“I love this but don’t want to support them”
“I genuinely don't understand how people can use these wonky looking tools. It looks off”
“Yeah I use that plugin too.”
“I love excalidraw, but don't need the excalidraw+.”
“it is better than draw.io that I used to use before”