SHSelfHostIndex

drawDB vs Excalidraw Whiteboard Office

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted office suites options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
DR drawDB Browser-based database schema design and ER diagram tool VS EX Excalidraw Whiteboard Office Self-hosted collaborative diagram and notes workspace
FeaturedrawDBExcalidraw Whiteboard Office
CategoryOffice SuitesOffice Suites
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageJavaScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, sourcedocker, source
GitHub stars★ 38,454★ 38
First released20242021
Replacesdbdiagram.io, LucidchartMiro, FigJam

Why pick each one

Choose drawDB if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 38.5k GitHub stars
drawDB details

Choose Excalidraw Whiteboard Office if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in TypeScript
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Excalidraw Whiteboard Office details

Frequently asked questions

Is drawDB or Excalidraw Whiteboard Office better?

drawDB is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Excalidraw Whiteboard Office if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are drawDB and Excalidraw Whiteboard Office free and open-source?

Yes. drawDB is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Excalidraw Whiteboard Office under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run drawDB and Excalidraw Whiteboard Office with Docker?

drawDB: yes. Excalidraw Whiteboard Office: yes.

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