Miro's paid plan costs $10per month, which is $117annually. This is a fee for the account itself, regardless of whether you draw one board a month or ten a day. Excalidraw is an open-source whiteboard for sketches, diagrams, and notes in a hand-drawn style, a popular tool for rapid prototyping, just hosted under your own domain, without an account and without a per-user fee. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to set up Excalidraw on Saplo.
Why Excalidraw instead of Miro
Online whiteboards have a weak point in their billing model, which Excalidraw eliminates:
- the fee is per account, not per use, Miro's paid plan costs $10 per month, $120 per year, regardless of whether one person uses the tool once a week or daily,
- Miro's free plan has a board limit, so you're not buying new features with the paid plan, you're buying the removal of that limit.
Excalidraw on Saplo is a static frontend from the official Docker image excalidraw/excalidraw, without its own database or backend for administration. Scenes are saved locally in your browser, and you can export them to an .excalidraw, PNG, or SVG file with one click. An important difference from Miro: this installation does not have a server configured for real-time live collaboration, so you share scenes by exporting a file or a link to a finished drawing, not by co-editing at the same time as another user.
Requirements
To set up Excalidraw on Saplo, you need:
- A Box with Docker running (the engine automatically enables it when installing from the catalog; container nesting, which Saplo has by default, is required),
- A minimum of 256 MB of free RAM on the Box and 2 GB of disk space, which means the cheapest plan, Box S for $29 per year, is sufficient,
- A domain or a *.saploapp.pl subdomain, included with every plan, where the board will be hosted,
- You do NOT need a database; Excalidraw does not have its own database, the entire application is a single static frontend.
You can find a full description of the application and its location in the catalog on the Excalidraw on Saplo page.
Step-by-step installation
- In the Saplo panel, go to Application Catalog and select Excalidraw.
- Indicate the Box where the whiteboard should be installed, and the domain or subdomain under which it will operate.
- Confirm the installation. The engine sets up a container from the official excalidraw/excalidraw image and waits until nginx inside the image actually responds via HTTP before considering the installation complete.
- The installation is quick, it's one lightweight container without a database or schema migrations.
- Once completed, you go to the domain address and immediately have a blank whiteboard, without logging in or an admin account to set up.
First use
- Open your domain address. The board loads immediately, no login screen needed.
- Draw and add shapes, arrows, and text. Everything is automatically saved in your browser's storage (localStorage), locally on your device.
- Export the finished scene via the menu to a .excalidraw file (for further editing), PNG, or SVG (to paste elsewhere).
- To show your drawing to someone else, send them the exported file or image. The live collaboration button in this installation doesn't connect to any server, so it doesn't work like Miro.
- Saves are kept in your browser, so clearing browser data or changing devices means losing any scene that hasn't been previously exported to a file.
Excalidraw on Saplo vs. Miro
| Miro (paid plan) | Excalidraw on Saplo | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing model | monthly fee per user | Box cost only, no account fee |
| Annual cost | $117 ($10 per month) | $29 (Box S) |
| Account and login | required | none, board opens immediately |
| Live collaboration | yes, in real-time | not in this installation, scenes are exchanged by export |
| Storage location | Miro servers | user's browser, export to file |
FAQ
Can I edit the same board live, like in Miro? Not with this installation. The official Excalidraw Docker image doesn't have a real-time collaboration server configured, so you share a completed scene by exporting a .excalidraw file, or a PNG or SVG image.
Do I need to set up a database? No, Excalidraw doesn't have its own database; the entire application is a single static container with a frontend.
Where are the drawings saved? Locally in the browser, in localStorage. To avoid losing a scene when clearing browser data or changing devices, export it to a .excalidraw file.
Is there a login screen? No, the board opens directly at the domain address, without an account or password.
Which plan is enough to start? Box S, with the minimal recipe requirements (256 MB RAM, 2 GB disk), is the cheapest plan that can handle Excalidraw, at $29 per year.
If you're currently paying monthly for a Miro account just to sketch a diagram or mockup occasionally, contact us, and we'll help you set up Excalidraw.
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