Blog Comparisons 4 min read
Obsidian canvas alternatives in 2026: whiteboards and visual notes
Obsidian's canvas is a core plugin that saves to the open JSON Canvas format. The best alternative for research is Heptabase, for sketches Excalidraw (MIT, open source), for a hosted infinite canvas Miro, and for a lightweight card board Kinopio. Everpaper is not a canvas, but it can export your captured days as a vault and your knowledge graph as GraphML.
Disclosure. Everpaper is our product, and it is in this article. We say where it falls short, and every competitor fact below carries the date we checked it.
Facts as of October 2026. Prices and features change. Each source is linked at the end.
Obsidian’s canvas is good enough for most people. It is a core plugin, so there is nothing to install, and a canvas is a file in an open format. People look for something else when they want a hosted board to share, a tool built around whiteboards, or something for freehand drawing.
What Obsidian’s canvas does
Obsidian describes Canvas as a core plugin for visual note-taking with infinite space to lay out notes and connect them to other notes, attachments and web pages. Canvases are saved as .canvas files in the open JSON Canvas format. You can place text cards with Markdown, notes from your vault, images, audio and PDFs, web pages by URL, Bases, and folders that add every file inside. You can drag files in from other applications.
Quick comparison
| Best for | Price, October 2026 | Open source | Platforms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heptabase | Research on whiteboards | Pro from $8.99 a month | No | Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Excalidraw | Hand-drawn sketches and diagrams | Free | Yes, MIT | Web |
| tldraw | Developers building a canvas | Free hobby license; commercial license on request | Not stated on its pricing page | SDK |
| Kinopio | A light board of connected cards | Free for 100 cards | Not stated | Browser, works offline |
| Miro | Hosted boards to share | Free: 3 editable boards; Starter $8 per member a month billed yearly | No | Web |
The options
Heptabase. Whiteboards where cards are notes, with unlimited notes, whiteboards and tags on Pro. It is listed at $8.99 a month with the yearly option selected and runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. Pick it for research. It is its own app, not Markdown files in a folder.
Excalidraw. Described in its repository as an open-source virtual hand-drawn-style whiteboard, MIT licensed. Pick it for diagrams and sketches.
tldraw. An SDK for building canvas apps. A hobby license is free, the SDK license for production use is value-based with a 100-day free trial, and you ask sales for a price. Pick it if you are building something.
Kinopio. A note-taking canvas for collecting and connecting ideas, free for 100 cards with no sign-up. The client runs in the browser and works offline. Pick it for a lightweight board.
Miro. A hosted whiteboard. The free plan lets you create and share unlimited boards, with the three most recent staying editable. Starter is $8 per member a month billed yearly. Pick it to work with other people on one board.
Where Everpaper fits
Everpaper is our product and has no canvas. What it offers Obsidian users is data to put on one. Export Obsidian vault writes your captured days as linked Markdown with Days/, People/, Links/, Files/ and Topics/ notes, which you can drag into a canvas. Export graph writes the people, sites and files that keep appearing together as GraphML and Mermaid, for yEd, Gephi or Obsidian’s graph plugins. It needs macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon and is in private beta.
How to choose
- You already use Obsidian and want a canvas: turn on the core plugin first.
- Research and reading notes: Heptabase.
- Diagrams and sketches: Excalidraw.
- Sharing boards with others: Miro.
- A free board with no account: Kinopio.
For the rest of the alternatives see Best Obsidian alternatives, and for syncing a vault see Obsidian sync alternatives.
Apply for the Everpaper private beta.
Frequently asked questions
What is Obsidian Canvas?
A core plugin for visual note-taking with infinite space to lay out notes and connect them to other notes, attachments and web pages. Canvases are saved as .canvas files in the open JSON Canvas format.
What can you put on an Obsidian canvas?
Text cards with Markdown, notes from your vault, media such as images, audio and PDFs, web pages embedded by URL, Bases, and folders that add every file inside them.
What is the best free Obsidian canvas alternative?
Excalidraw is open source under the MIT license. Kinopio is free for 100 cards with no sign-up. Miro's free plan keeps three boards editable. tldraw offers a free hobby license for its SDK.
Is there an Obsidian canvas alternative with whiteboards built around notes?
Heptabase is built around whiteboards where cards are notes. Pro is listed at $8.99 a month on the yearly option and it runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
Can Everpaper replace Obsidian canvas?
No. Everpaper has no canvas. It exports a knowledge graph of the people, files and sites in your history as GraphML and Mermaid, which you can open in tools like yEd, Gephi or Obsidian's graph plugins, and it can export an Obsidian vault.
Sources
Written by Marco Iannello Updated 21 October 2026 How we write comparisons