Excalidraw Hosting

How Excalidraw works

Excalidraw provides an infinite-style drawing canvas with rectangles, arrows, lines, freehand strokes, text, images, grouping, layers, alignment, and export tools. The hand-drawn visual language is useful for architecture sketches, process maps, lesson diagrams, wireframes, and notes that need to communicate an idea without looking like a finished design specification.

The official Excalidraw documentation states that self-hosting the application does not currently include its sharing or collaboration features. The catalogue supplies only the standard Excalidraw image and no persistence volume or collaboration backend. Drawings therefore remain in the browser’s local storage unless the user exports them; the hosted page must not be described as a shared account workspace.

Key Excalidraw features

Users can export scenes or images and reopen compatible files later, which is the practical route for durable ownership in this package. Browser storage can be cleared by device settings, private browsing, profile changes, or local maintenance, so important diagrams need explicit export to a controlled location.

The package does not include a room server, scene-storage backend, user accounts, project spaces, comments, organisation administration, or a cross-device board library. Automated HTTPS protects access to the application page, but it does not create server-side document storage or identity-based collaboration.

Excalidraw vs Miro

Excalidraw focuses on a lightweight hand-drawn canvas and gives users direct control over exported scene files. The standard self-hosted front end in this catalogue does not provide persistent team workspaces or live collaboration. Miro is a provider-operated visual collaboration platform with multiplayer boards, team spaces, integrations, templates, administration, and plan-based access.

Miro may suit organisations that need managed shared boards, participant controls, persistent cloud history, integrations, and formal team administration. Excalidraw is a better fit for fast visual thinking and exported files when users accept that this deployment is not a complete self-hosted replacement for a collaborative workspace.

Who uses Excalidraw

Developers sketch system flows, teachers explain concepts, product teams outline interfaces, and facilitators capture workshop ideas. Individuals can create diagrams from any compatible browser and export them for documentation, presentations, or later editing.

The package is less suitable for regulated records, unattended shared boards, long-lived team archives, formal design review, or workshops that depend on a provider-managed collaboration room. Those workflows require a supported storage and identity layer beyond the catalogue image.

Self-hosting Excalidraw: requirements and cost

Excalidraw resource use is influenced by scene complexity, image elements, browser rendering, exports, simultaneous visitors, and large canvases. The catalogue records PostgreSQL and MariaDB as Not required and declares no server persistence volume for this template. Plan capacity supports the web application, while durable drawing storage remains an export responsibility.

On AvaHost, Excalidraw uses Plan 1 at €2. The hosted Excalidraw package includes one-click deployment, a custom domain with automated HTTPS, automatic application updates, and scheduled backups. The package includes the Excalidraw front end, custom HTTPS, updates, and backups of the hosted application configuration. It does not include self-hosted collaboration, server scene storage, account workspaces, cross-device synchronisation, or recovery of browser-local drawings. Export important scenes to a controlled repository or document store.