Google introduced final yr that assist for Jamboard units and apps will finish as of October 1, 2024, with entry to the app and all Jamboard knowledge ending on the finish of 2024. Google Jamboard delivers easy-to-use collaborative drawing capabilities to individuals who use Google Workspace by a mix of Jamboard apps and a Jamboard machine. The Jamboard apps can be utilized with out shopping for a Jamboard machine and work on the net, iOS, iPadOS and Android units and in Google Meet.
Individuals who use Jamboard units or apps might want to search alternate options. For {hardware} choices, Google’s announcement advisable both the Sequence One Board 65 (priced round $9,000) or the Sequence 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 — could be built-in to work with Sequence One units, with import choices for Jamboard content material accessible by March 2024.
High Jamboard rivals and alternate options: Comparability desk
Individuals who use the Jamboard apps, unbiased of the Jamboard machine, might take into account a variety of software program alternate options. The next six choices all assist visible collaboration and may function appropriate replacements for Jamboard.
FigJam by Figma: Finest for pleasant design
Figma, a collaborative interface design software 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 may additionally import photos or insert hyperlinks to internet assets, together with shared Google Drive recordsdata. Cursor chat allows an ephemeral dialog with collaborators that disappears if you exit the mode, whereas the remark system permits typical feedback on content material anyplace on the board. FigJam provides just a few extra options than Jamboard, delivered with a cleanly designed person interface, as you may anticipate.
Figma’s possession deserves point out since Adobe, a artistic content material big, introduced an settlement to amass Figma in September 2022; nonetheless, the deal was terminated in December 2023. Whereas possession doesn’t straight 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 |
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FigJam app is offered on the net (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 offered 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 recordsdata, with limitless private recordsdata and limitless collaborators, amongst different options.
- Skilled, $3 per editor/month billed yearly ($36/yr per person), consists of all Starter options and provides limitless FigJam recordsdata, open classes, sharing permissions, workforce libraries, voting and extra. College students and educators might entry this version without spending a dime.
- Group, $60 per editor per yr, 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 yr, 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 (Determine B), previously referred to as RealtimeBoard, offers a strong set of options all centered round visible collaboration. Commonplace 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 permits you to add an enormous number of content material sorts, 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 varied methods in your board content material.
Miro permits you to current your board to different individuals a number of methods. The Talktrack characteristic permits you to report a video together with your webcam (inset in a circle on the display screen) as you navigate and talk about 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 resembling voting and including sticky notes or reactions.
Professionals | Cons |
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Miro app is offered on the net (and Google Workspace Market), macOS, Home windows, iPhone, iPad and Android. |
No offline mode. |
Very full-featured. | |
Various forms of content material may 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 yr paid yearly. This plan provides limitless boards, high-resolution exports, collaboration with limitless guests on public boards, limitless Talktracks, limitless mission 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 yr paid yearly. This plan consists of all Starter options, plus limitless boards for each workforce and shopper, safe collaboration with limitless friends on non-public and workforce 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 completely different Miro pricing plans.
- Pupil accounts are free and assist as much as 10 workforce members, availability for 2 years, limitless boards, one workspace with limitless tasks, limitless exterior guests, amongst different options.
- Educator accounts are free endlessly and assist all pupil options, plus assist for as much as 100 workforce members, together with entry to coaching and discussion board assets.
- Establishment accounts can be found at a 50% low cost from customary pricing and embody all pupil and educator options, plus extra administrative and person administration options, together with assist.
SEE: The right way to use Miro as your whiteboard in a digital assembly
Lucidspark by Lucid Software program: Finest for experimental AI
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 help clarification, you could outline body areas and designate paths, in order to point out sections of the board in sequence. Visible actions templates assist varied forms of sorting, ranking and board engagement, together with extra timer and voting instruments.
Lucidspark additionally provides menu customization and an experimental AI characteristic. Customise the left-side on-screen menu with a Instrument pinning characteristic to point out solely the choices you choose. For instance, in case you not often want Jira integration, you could unpin that choice and it’ll not show on-screen, though you should still entry it from the Extra menu. And a Collaborative AI choice generates concepts from an entered immediate. For instance, a immediate of “Finest options of Lucidspark” created a 3×3 set of sticky notes, every crammed with two or three phrases describing options resembling “Built-in Video Chat,” “Seamless Integrations” and “Presentation mode.”
Professionals | Cons |
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Lucidspark app is offered on the net (and Google Workspace Market) and Android. | Workforce 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. | |
Important variety of supported app integrations. |
Pricing
There are 4 Lucidspark plans: Free, Particular person, Workforce and Enterprise.
- Free, which incorporates three editable boards, limitless shapes, drawing, emoji reactions, commenting, presentation mode, fundamental visible actions to assemble 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 assemble suggestions and mixture outcomes, and extra.
- Workforce, three workforce person licenses for $27 monthly billed yearly ($324/yearly for the three licenses, which is $108/person per yr). 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 Workforce Areas, many app integrations and entry to numerous person administration and security measures.
Educators might entry a variant of the Workforce plan without spending a dime; this offers academics and college students entry to the cellular app and lots of Workforce options at no cost. An optionally available improve to a paid workforce plan for schooling provides centralized account administration, audit logs and entry to precedence assist.
Microsoft Whiteboard: Finest without spending a dime 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 feature might take advantage of sense for people or organizations who already use different Microsoft companies, resembling Microsoft 365.
Microsoft Whiteboard provides a typical set of instruments that features a pen, highlighter, ruler, notes, emoji-style reactions, textual content and shapes. You may additionally add photos to a board. Plus, Microsoft Whiteboard provides numerous templates for all kinds of brainstorming, planning, assembly and studying actions. Chances are you’ll customise the board background shade 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 |
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Microsoft Whiteboard is offered on the net, iPhone, iPad and Android, in addition to for Microsoft Floor Hub and Microsoft Groups Rooms units. |
Not accessible within the Google Workspace Market. |
Free. | Should check in with a Microsoft account. |
Important number of templates for enterprise makes use of, resembling brainstorming, mission planning and assembly actions. |
No offline mode. |
Centered set of instruments. |
Pricing
Microsoft Whiteboard is free, though it’s essential to check in with a Microsoft account to make use of it. A Microsoft account could also be obtained without spending a dime.
Zoom Whiteboard: Finest for Zoom conferences
The Zoom conferencing platform provides Zoom Whiteboard (Determine E), which can be used both with an internet assembly or individually. For anybody with an current Zoom account, Zoom Whiteboard deserves consideration.
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 resembling pens, shapes, strains, textual content, sticky notes and feedback. Chances are you’ll add photos and PDFs to your board or add a thoughts map, desk, kanban board or playing cards. Particularly, 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 support, 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 |
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Accessible as a part of Zoom on the net (and Google Workspace Market), macOS, Home windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android. | Zoom Whiteboard provides secondary performance to internet conferences. |
Massive variety of templates for enterprise makes use of, resembling brainstorming and diagramming. | No offline mode |
Help 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 yr, 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 non permanent lock options plus shared folders and private labels.
- Whiteboard Plus, $70 per person per yr 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: The right way to use the brand new Zoom Whiteboard for hybrid conferences
Apple Freeform: Finest for Apple machine customers
Freeform (Determine F), a visible collaboration instrument by Apple, is included with present units that run iOS, iPadOS and macOS. The app is free, though solely individuals who use Apple units might use it. For instance, Freeform could be a superb choice for a classroom the place a trainer and college students all use iPadOS or macOS units, however wouldn’t be appropriate for a state of affairs the place collaborators may use Home windows, ChromeOS or Android units.
Freeform provides quite a few writing and drawing kinds, together with a pen, pencil, highlighter, crayon, ink and watercolor choices. On units 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 permits you to add notes, hyperlinks, shapes and typed textual content. Chances are you’ll 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 anyplace. Freeform permits as much as 100 individuals to collaborate on a board, and it could be used with Messages or FaceTime.
Professionals | Cons |
---|---|
Accessible on present iPhone, iPad and macOS units. | Accessible solely on Apple units. |
Can create and work offline. | |
Works effectively with Apple Pencil, Messages and FaceTime. | |
Wider vary of drawing instrument kinds (e.g., watercolor, ink and crayon) in comparison with lots of the different alternate options on this article. |
Pricing
Freeform is offered as one of many default apps on all fashionable Apple units, together with iPhone, iPad and macOS techniques.
Extra Jamboard alternate options to think about
Past the six companies lined above, many different collaborative drawing choices exist. Google suggests Google Drawings or Google Slides may meet some wants. Different companies which will benefit consideration embody Canva Whiteboard, Conceptboard, Excalidraw, Clarify All the things, Inko, Pear Deck, Pencil Areas, Sketchboard or Whiteboard.chat.
Methodology
The primary three companies — FigJam by Figma, Miro and Lucidspark by Lucid Software program — are included as a result of Google particularly recommends these as alternate options to Google Jamboard. All three will supply some sort of import instrument to can help you protect current Jamboard content material.
The remaining three choices have 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 smart as a substitute for Jamboard. In case you and your collaborators have current Microsoft or Zoom accounts, then both of these respective companies may serve you effectively.
The writer signed and actively examined every of the companies 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.