Miro and Mural are the two heavyweights of online whiteboarding, and they look similar at first glance: infinite canvases, sticky notes, templates, and real-time collaboration. The differences are in depth and direction. Miro has grown into a broad visual workspace with a huge app ecosystem, while Mural stays focused on facilitated workshops and structured collaboration. This comparison helps you pick the right one for how your team actually works.
Quick verdict
Miro is the better pick for most teams, with a deeper feature set, a vast integration and template library, and a more polished all-round workspace. Choose Mural if your focus is facilitated workshops and you value its structured, facilitation-first tooling.
At a glance
| Miro | Mural | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Broad visual workspace | Facilitated workshops |
| Integrations | Extensive | Solid |
| Templates | Huge library | Strong, workshop-led |
| Ease of use | Very good | Very good |
| Best for | All-round team collaboration | Workshop facilitation |
Try Miro
An infinite canvas with a huge template library, deep integrations, and AI-assisted tools, all in one polished visual workspace. The online whiteboard we recommend to most teams.
How we compared them
We weighed the things that matter when a team lives on a shared canvas: the breadth and depth of features, how easy each is to learn and run a session in, the size of the template library, how well each connects to the rest of your stack through integrations, the quality of real-time collaboration and facilitation tools, and the price as you scale up users. Both are excellent, mature products, so this is about matching strengths to how your team works.
Miro
Miro has grown from a whiteboard into a full visual collaboration platform, and that breadth is why it is our default recommendation for most teams.
Features and ecosystem
Miro pairs an infinite canvas with one of the largest template libraries around, covering brainstorming, diagramming, mapping, agile ceremonies, and more. Its real strength is the ecosystem: deep integrations with Jira, Confluence, Slack, Microsoft, Figma, and a marketplace of apps that pull live data onto the board. AI features help generate diagrams, cluster sticky notes, and summarize sessions. For teams that want one tool to handle everything from quick brainstorms to detailed planning, the depth is hard to beat.
Experience and value
The canvas is fast and responsive even with lots of collaborators, and the apps work well across desktop, web, and tablet. Real-time cursors, comments, voting, timers, and presentation mode cover both casual and structured sessions. The free plan is usable for small teams, with paid tiers unlocking unlimited boards and advanced features. The main caveat is that the sheer breadth can feel like a lot at first, and the most useful integrations sit on higher tiers. For most teams, though, the range is exactly the appeal.
Pros
- Deepest feature set and template library
- Extensive integrations and app marketplace
- Helpful AI diagram and clustering tools
- Fast canvas, polished apps
Cons
- Breadth can feel overwhelming at first
- Best integrations on higher tiers
- Free plan caps active boards
Mural
Mural takes a more focused approach, built specifically around facilitated workshops and structured group collaboration. It does fewer things than Miro but is purpose-built for running great sessions with a group.
Facilitation-first design
Mural’s standout features are aimed at the person running the room. Facilitator superpowers let you guide everyone to the same spot on the canvas, hide and reveal content, lock areas, run timers, and use private mode so people add ideas without anchoring on each other first. Combined with strong workshop templates and a clean, calm interface, it is genuinely excellent for design thinking, retrospectives, and structured ideation where a facilitator leads the flow.
Scope and value
Mural integrates well with the common suspects like Microsoft, Jira, and Slack, and its templates are strong, though the overall library and app ecosystem are smaller than Miro’s. It is less of a do-everything canvas and more of a specialist tool, which is a feature rather than a flaw if facilitation is your main use. Pricing is competitive and similar to Miro’s. The trade-off is simply reach: for broad, varied visual work beyond workshops, Miro covers more ground.
Pros
- Best-in-class facilitation tools
- Strong workshop and design-thinking templates
- Clean, calm, focused interface
- Private mode reduces groupthink
Cons
- Smaller integration and app ecosystem
- Narrower than Miro beyond workshops
- Fewer advanced canvas features
Head to head
Features
Miro wins on breadth. It does more across more use cases, from diagramming to planning to live data. Mural is deliberately narrower but excellent within its lane.
Facilitation
Mural wins. Its facilitator tools, private mode, and workshop flow are purpose-built and noticeably better for leading a structured group session.
Integrations
Miro wins. Its app marketplace and live integrations are more extensive, which matters if you want the board connected to the rest of your stack.
Value
Close, with pricing in the same range. Miro offers more per dollar for general use, while Mural’s value is strongest if facilitation is the core of what you do.
Which should you choose?
For most teams, Miro is the smarter choice, with a deeper feature set, a far larger integration and template library, and the flexibility to handle everything from quick brainstorms to detailed planning. Choose Mural if running facilitated workshops is your primary use and you want the best facilitation tooling available. Both are excellent online whiteboards, so it comes down to all-round breadth versus workshop-focused depth. For more options, see our guide to the best online whiteboard and collaboration tools, and our Miro vs FigJam comparison.
Get started with Miro
An infinite canvas, a huge template library, and deep integrations in one polished workspace. The online whiteboard we recommend to most teams.
Frequently asked questions
Is Miro or Mural better for most teams? Miro, for general use. It has a deeper feature set, more integrations, and a larger template library. Mural is better specifically for facilitated workshops.
Which is better for running workshops? Mural. Its facilitator tools, private mode, and workshop templates are purpose-built for leading structured group sessions.
Do they integrate with Jira, Slack, and Microsoft? Both do. Miro has the larger overall app ecosystem and marketplace, while Mural covers the common integrations well.
Which has more templates? Miro has the larger overall library across many use cases. Mural’s templates are strong and skew toward workshops and design thinking.
Are they similarly priced? Yes, pricing is in the same range. Miro tends to offer more per dollar for general use, while Mural’s value is best if facilitation is your focus.
The bottom line
Miro and Mural are both excellent online whiteboards, and either will serve a collaborative team well. For most teams, Miro is the better choice, combining the deepest feature set with the widest integrations and templates in one polished workspace. Mural is the stronger pick if facilitated workshops are the heart of your work and you want best-in-class facilitation tools. Decide whether you want all-round breadth or workshop-focused depth, and the right board becomes clear.
