Top 6 Jamboard Alternatives & Competitors for 2024

Google introduced final 12 months that support for Jamboard devices and apps will end as of October 1, 2024, with entry to the app and all Jamboard information ending on the finish of 2024. Google Jamboard delivers easy-to-use collaborative drawing capabilities to individuals who use Google Workspace by means of a mix of Jamboard apps and a Jamboard gadget. The Jamboard apps can be utilized with out shopping for a Jamboard gadget and work on the internet, iOS, iPadOS and Android gadgets and in Google Meet.

Individuals who use Jamboard gadgets or apps might want to search options. For {hardware} choices, Google’s announcement really useful both the Series One Board 65 (priced round $9,000) or the Series One Desk 27 (priced round $2,000), each by Avocor. Google introduced that three software program options — FigJam by Figma, Lucidspark by Lucid Software program and Miro — can be built-in to work with Sequence One gadgets, with import choices for Jamboard content material obtainable by March 2024.

High Jamboard opponents and options: Comparability desk

Individuals who use the Jamboard apps, impartial of the Jamboard gadget, might contemplate a variety of software program options. The next six choices all assist visible collaboration and would possibly function appropriate replacements for Jamboard.

FigJam by Figma: Finest for pleasant design

FigJam logo.
Picture: FigJam

Figma, a collaborative interface design utility firm, launched FigJam (Determine A) in 2021. FigJam helps drawing instruments, shapes, stickers, notes, textual content, connectors and stamps, together with part and desk administration options. You might also import photos or insert hyperlinks to net assets, together with shared Google Drive information. Cursor chat permits an ephemeral dialog with collaborators that disappears once you exit the mode, whereas the remark system permits standard feedback on content material wherever on the board. FigJam provides just a few extra options than Jamboard, delivered with a cleanly designed person interface, as you would possibly anticipate.

Screenshot showing the interface of a new, blank FigJam board on a Chromebook.
Determine A: Screenshot displaying the interface of a brand new, clean FigJam board on a Chromebook. Picture: Andy Wolber/TechRepublic

Figma’s possession deserves point out since Adobe, a artistic content material big, introduced an settlement to amass Figma in September 2022; nevertheless, the deal was terminated in December 2023. Whereas possession doesn’t immediately have an effect on product options, the truth that Figma as soon as sought to merge with a bigger firm might sign a long run potential for acquisition.

Professionals Cons
FigJam app is on the market on the internet (and Google
Workspace Market) and iPad.
No devoted FigJam iPhone or Android app.
Clear design. No offline mode.
Extra options than Google Jamboard.
Free version is on the market to college students and educators.

Pricing

Figma provides 4 FigJam pricing plans: Starter, Skilled, Group and Enterprise.

  • Starter, which is free and allows you to create as much as three Figma and three FigJam information, with limitless private information and limitless collaborators, amongst different options.
  • Skilled, $3 per editor/month billed yearly ($36/12 months per person), consists of all Starter options and provides limitless FigJam information, open periods, sharing permissions, group libraries, voting and extra. College students and educators might entry this version without cost.
  • Group, $60 per editor per 12 months, consists of all Profesional options plus organization-wide libraries, centralized content material administration, unified admin and billing choices, and extra.
  • Enterprise, $60 per editor per 12 months, consists of all Group options, plus devoted workspaces, superior design techniques and visitor entry controls, together with many different person administration and security measures.

Miro: Finest for enterprise integrations

Miro logo.
Picture: Miro

Miro (Determine B), previously referred to as RealtimeBoard, offers a strong set of options all centered round visible collaboration. Customary drawing instruments can be found to attract, add shapes (together with flowchart and Unified Modeling Language symbols), sticky notes and textual content, together with many templates. Miro additionally helps you to add an enormous number of content material varieties, together with photos, spreadsheets, tables, kanban, code blocks, charts, diagrams and extra. Timer, voting, chat, video chat and notes allow you to collaborate with others in numerous methods in your board content material.

Screenshot showing the interface of a new, blank Miro board on a Chromebook.
Determine B: Screenshot displaying the interface of a brand new, clean Miro board on a Chromebook. Picture: Andy Wolber/TechRepublic

Miro helps you to current your board to different individuals a number of methods. The Talktrack function helps you to file a video along with your webcam (inset in a circle on the display screen) as you navigate and focus on the board. The ensuing video is saved and could also be shared. Alternatively, you could current both your entire board, which hides many menus to emphasise your content material or current frames, which lets you outline and navigate chosen sections of content material so as. Enterprise and Enterprise editions supply entry to facilitation instruments to assist actions similar to voting and including sticky notes or reactions.

Professionals Cons
Miro app is on the market on the internet (and
Google Workspace Market), macOS,
Home windows, iPhone, iPad and Android.
No offline mode.
Very full-featured.
Numerous forms of content material could be added.
Helpful number of presentation choices.

Pricing

Miro provides 4 pricing plans for skilled use: Free, Starter, Enterprise and Enterprise.

  • Free, which incorporates one workspace with three editable boards, 5 Talktracks, entry to templates and assist for integrations.
  • Starter, $96 per member per 12 months paid yearly. This plan provides limitless boards, high-resolution exports, collaboration with limitless guests on public boards, limitless Talktracks, limitless undertaking folders, Personal Mode sticky notes, model historical past, assembly options (e.g., timers, voting and video chat) and personal boards.
  • Enterprise, $192 per member per 12 months paid yearly. This plan consists of all Starter options, plus limitless boards for each group and consumer, safe collaboration with limitless company on non-public and group boards, superior form entry, enhanced assembly options (e.g., breakouts and voting) and extra.
  • Enterprise, which requires contacting gross sales for pricing. This plan consists of all Enterprise options plus added safety, compliance, administration and reporting capabilities, together with premium assist.

College students, educators and academic establishments might entry totally different Miro pricing plans.

  • Scholar accounts are free and assist as much as 10 group members, availability for 2 years, limitless boards, one workspace with limitless initiatives, limitless exterior guests, amongst different options.
  • Educator accounts are free ceaselessly and assist all pupil options, plus assist for as much as 100 group members, together with entry to coaching and discussion board assets.
  • Establishment accounts can be found at a 50% low cost from customary pricing and embrace all pupil and educator options, plus extra administrative and person administration options, together with assist.

SEE: Tips on how to use Miro as your whiteboard in a digital assembly

Lucidspark by Lucid Software program: Finest for experimental AI

Lucidspark logo.
Picture: Lucidspark

Lucidspark (Determine C) offers a board on which you’ll draw and add photos, shapes, sticky notes, textual content and features. The feedback and activity system lets board collaborators not solely touch upon particular board content material but in addition assign work to a colleague. To assist clarification, you could outline body areas and designate paths, in order to indicate sections of the board in sequence. Visible actions templates assist numerous forms of sorting, score and board engagement, together with extra timer and voting instruments.

Screenshot showing the interface of a new, blank Lucidspark board on a Chromebook.
Determine C: Screenshot displaying the interface of a brand new, clean Lucidspark board on a Chromebook. Picture: Andy Wolber/TechRepublic

Lucidspark additionally provides menu customization and an experimental AI function. Customise the left-side on-screen menu with a Software pinning function to indicate solely the choices you choose. For instance, in the event you hardly ever want Jira integration, you could unpin that possibility and it’ll not show on-screen, though you should still entry it from the Extra menu. And a Collaborative AI possibility generates concepts from an entered immediate. For instance, a immediate of “Finest options of Lucidspark” created a 3×3 set of sticky notes, every stuffed with two or three phrases describing options similar to “Built-in Video Chat,” “Seamless Integrations” and “Presentation mode.”

Professionals Cons
Lucidspark app is on the market on the internet (and Google Workspace Market) and Android. Group or Enterprise version accounts are required to make use of cellular app on iOS or iPadOS.
Customizable menu for quick entry to most-used choices. No offline mode.
Collaborative AI to generate concepts.
Vital variety of supported app integrations.

Pricing

There are 4 Lucidspark plans: Free, Particular person, Group and Enterprise.

  • Free, which incorporates three editable boards, limitless shapes, drawing, emoji reactions, commenting, presentation mode, primary visible actions to collect suggestions and mixture outcomes, amongst different options.
  • Particular person, $7.95 per person monthly billed yearly ($95.40/yearly per person). This plan provides limitless editable boards, 1 GB of storage, premium visible actions to collect suggestions and mixture outcomes, and extra.
  • Group, three group person licenses for $27 monthly billed yearly ($324/yearly for the three licenses, which is $108/person per 12 months). This plan provides superior controls for visible actions, chat, revision historical past and versioning, voting, a timer and facilitator instruments, amongst different options.
  • Enterprise licenses require contacting gross sales. This plan provides entry to Lucidchart for diagramming and provides Group Areas, many app integrations and entry to numerous person administration and security measures.

Educators might entry a variant of the Group plan without cost; this offers academics and college students entry to the cellular app and plenty of Group options at no cost. An non-obligatory improve to a paid group plan for schooling provides centralized account administration, audit logs and entry to precedence assist.

Microsoft Whiteboard logo.
Picture: Microsoft Whiteboard

Microsoft Whiteboard: Finest without cost use

Microsoft Whiteboard (Determine D) is free, but it surely does require a Microsoft account to view, create or collaborate on boards; due to this fact, this selection might take advantage of sense for people or organizations who already use different Microsoft providers, similar to Microsoft 365.

Screenshot showing the interface of a new, blank Microsoft Whiteboard board on a Chromebook.
Determine D: Screenshot displaying the interface of a brand new, clean Microsoft Whiteboard board on a Chromebook. Picture: Andy Wolber/TechRepublic

Microsoft Whiteboard provides a normal set of instruments that features a pen, highlighter, ruler, notes, emoji-style reactions, textual content and shapes. You might also add photos to a board. Plus, Microsoft Whiteboard provides numerous templates for all kinds of brainstorming, planning, assembly and studying actions. You might customise the board background coloration and choose from a set of 9 background grid designs. And there’s an included timer. Share the hyperlink to present collaborators entry to all of those instruments, too.

Professionals Cons
Microsoft Whiteboard is on the market on the internet,
iPhone, iPad and Android, in addition to for
Microsoft Floor Hub and Microsoft Groups Rooms gadgets.
Not obtainable within the Google Workspace Market.
Free. Should check in with a Microsoft account.
Vital number of templates for enterprise makes use of,
similar to brainstorming, undertaking planning and assembly actions.
No offline mode.
Targeted set of instruments.

Pricing

Microsoft Whiteboard is free, though you will need to check in with a Microsoft account to make use of it. A Microsoft account could also be obtained without cost.

Zoom Whiteboard: Finest for Zoom conferences

Zoom Whiteboard logo.
Picture: Zoom Whiteboard

The Zoom conferencing platform provides Zoom Whiteboard (Determine E), which can be used both with an online assembly or individually. For anybody with an current Zoom account, Zoom Whiteboard deserves consideration.

Screenshot showing the interface of a new, blank Zoom Whiteboard board on a Chromebook.
Determine E: Screenshot displaying the interface of a brand new, clean Zoom Whiteboard board on a Chromebook. Picture: Andy Wolber/TechRepublic

Zoom Whiteboard provides numerous templates for brainstorming, diagramming, assembly, schooling or leisure; or, you could merely create a brand new clean board. The system consists of instruments similar to pens, shapes, traces, textual content, sticky notes and feedback. You might add photos and PDFs to your board or add a thoughts map, desk, kanban board or playing cards. Specifically, playing cards allow you to assign duties and observe each dates and activity standing. Zoom boards additionally allow you to create a number of pages. As a presentation help, you could add frames round your board content material, then set up and current the frames in sequence. The timer and laser pointer could also be helpful throughout displays or collaborations as effectively.

Professionals Cons
Accessible as a part of Zoom on the internet (and Google Workspace Market), macOS, Home windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android. Zoom Whiteboard provides secondary performance to net conferences.
Massive variety of templates for enterprise makes use of, similar to brainstorming and diagramming. No offline mode
Assist for a number of pages inside a board.
Frames to order presentation sequence.

Pricing

Three Zoom Whiteboard editions can be found: Whiteboard Fundamental, Whiteboard and Whiteboard Plus.

  • Whiteboard Fundamental, which is included with Zoom One Fundamental and Zoom One Professional, consists of three concurrent editable boards owned and 25 MB of storage, together with all core drawing, annotation, picture and collaboration options.
  • Whiteboard, $24.90 per person per 12 months, and could also be added to both the Zoom One Fundamental or Zoom One Professional plan. This plan provides limitless concurrent editable boards owned and 1 GB of storage, together with model historical past and short-term lock options plus shared folders and private labels.
  • Whiteboard Plus, $70 per person per 12 months and could also be added to both Zoom One Fundamental or Zoom One Professional plans, provides limitless storage and assist for private and organizational templates. Additionally, Zoom Whiteboard Plus is included as a part of Zoom Rooms plans.

SEE: Tips on how to use the brand new Zoom Whiteboard for hybrid conferences

Apple Freeform logo.
Picture: Apple Freeform

Apple Freeform: Finest for Apple gadget customers

Freeform (Determine F), a visible collaboration software by Apple, is included with present gadgets that run iOS, iPadOS and macOS. The app is free, though solely individuals who use Apple gadgets might use it. For instance, Freeform can be a superb possibility for a classroom the place a trainer and college students all use iPadOS or macOS gadgets, however wouldn’t be appropriate for a state of affairs the place collaborators would possibly use Home windows, ChromeOS or Android gadgets.

Screenshot showing the interface of a new, blank Freeform board on iPad.
Determine F: Screenshot displaying the interface of a brand new, clean Freeform board on iPad. Picture: Andy Wolber/TechRepublic

Freeform provides quite a few writing and drawing kinds, together with a pen, pencil, highlighter, crayon, ink and watercolor choices. On gadgets that assist an Apple pencil, you could leverage the system’s built-in handwriting recognition system, Scribble, to transform pencil strokes into textual content. Freeform helps you to add notes, hyperlinks, shapes and typed textual content. You might use a digital camera to seize a photograph or add a picture, video, audio file or PDF to a board. Freeform works offline, so you need to use it to seize concepts nearly wherever. Freeform permits as much as 100 individuals to collaborate on a board, and it might be used with Messages or FaceTime.

Professionals Cons
Accessible on present iPhone, iPad and macOS gadgets. Accessible solely on Apple gadgets.
Can create and work offline.
Works effectively with Apple Pencil, Messages and FaceTime.
Wider vary of drawing software kinds (e.g., watercolor, ink
and crayon) in comparison with lots of the different options on this article.

Pricing

Freeform is on the market as one of many default apps on all trendy Apple gadgets, together with iPhone, iPad and macOS techniques.

Extra Jamboard options to contemplate

Past the six providers lined above, many different collaborative drawing choices exist. Google suggests Google Drawings or Google Slides would possibly meet some wants. Different providers that will advantage consideration embrace Canva Whiteboard, Conceptboard, Excalidraw, Explain Everything, Inko, Pear Deck, Pencil Spaces, Sketchboard or Whiteboard.chat.

Methodology

The primary three providers — FigJam by Figma, Miro and Lucidspark by Lucid Software program — are included as a result of Google particularly recommends these as options to Google Jamboard. All three will supply some sort of import software to mean you can protect current Jamboard content material.

The remaining three choices had been chosen due to the widespread use of Microsoft, Zoom and Apple instruments within the schooling neighborhood — a major person of Jamboard apps. In case you and your collaborators use Apple {hardware}, Freeform is sensible as an alternative choice to Jamboard. In case you and your collaborators have current Microsoft or Zoom accounts, then both of these respective providers would possibly serve you effectively.

The writer signed and actively examined every of the providers for testing functions, and has actively used and lined Google Jamboard since its inception. Every of the screenshots was taken throughout this experimentation. We depend on vendor web sites for pricing.

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