Web Whiteboard vs. Free Miro Plan: What Changes When You Sign Up

Updated

Web Whiteboard lets you start drawing and sharing immediately with no account, but every board is deleted after 24 hours. Signing up for the free Miro Plan keeps your boards permanently, adds edit-permission management and more whiteboard features, and leaves the basic sharing and real-time collaboration flow unchanged. If you only need a one-off session, stay with Web Whiteboard; if you need to keep or manage the work, register.

Side-by-side comparison

Dimension Web Whiteboard (no sign-up) Free Miro Plan (registered)
Account required No Yes
Board lifetime 24 hours, then permanently deleted Saved to your boards, kept for continued use
Saving your work Not available — you must export before the 24 hours end "Save to my boards" button at the center top of the screen
Sharing "Share board" button, top right; anyone with the link joins for free without signing up Same link-based sharing
Editing rights Everyone with the link gets the same editing rights as the board creator You can invite people and manage their edit rights
Export formats JPG or PDF Image, PDF, spreadsheet, embed, and Google Drive
Extra functionality Basic whiteboard More whiteboard functionalities

What stays the same

Sharing and collaboration work the same way in both versions. You click "share board" in the top right corner and send the link; recipients open the board for free without signing up, join in real time, and can draw and edit with the same rights as the creator. Anyone you share with can also export the board themselves using the "Export this board" icon, as a JPG or PDF.

What you gain by registering

  • Permanent storage. Web Whiteboard boards are available for 24 hours. To keep using them after that, sign up for the free Miro Plan, log in, and save your work. Registered users save with the "Save to my boards" button at the center top of the screen.
  • Edit-rights management. In Web Whiteboard, sharing a link hands out full editing rights to everyone. If you want to invite people to your project and manage their edit rights, you need the free Miro Plan.
  • More whiteboard functionality, beyond the basic sketching and brainstorming tools.
  • More export options. Registered Miro users click the same "Export this board" icon but can choose from image, PDF, spreadsheet, embed, and Google Drive.

How to decide

Stay on Web Whiteboard if you need a quick, disposable board — a single brainstorm, a one-off sketch, a session you'll export as JPG or PDF before the day is out.

Register for the free Miro Plan if any of these apply:

  • The board needs to live longer than 24 hours.
  • You want to control who can edit, not just who can open the link.
  • You need spreadsheet, embed, or Google Drive exports.
  • You expect to need features beyond basic drawing.

Two things to watch

The 24-hour deletion is permanent. If you don't save or export your board, it is permanently deleted after 24 hours — there is no recovery mentioned. Exporting as an image or PDF is the only way to create an identical copy while unregistered, so do it before you close the tab for the day.

Sharing a link means sharing edit access. In Web Whiteboard there is no read-only option: once someone has the link, they can draw on and edit the contents just like you. If that matters for your project, that alone is a reason to register.