🔎 Comparisons of Drawing&Note Applications

Hello, today we will compare some note and drawing applications with several important(in my opinion) topics.

I was always taking notes in a physical notebook but after finding out that note applications how work excellent with graphic tablets, I got a cheap one. Two months later today, I tried many note applications with my tablet. I tried many applications because every application cannot use %100 potential of graphic tablets.

Let’s look at our comparison topics

• Drawing With Graphic Tablet
• Just Getting Text Notes
• Creating Diagrams
• Tools/Templates/Integrations
• Free Usage Comfort

Miro great work for agile teams but also there is a lot of space for imagination.

Let’s look at our topics for Miro;

Drawing With Graphic Tablet ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In Miro drawing is so smooth even in the browser version. But Miro doesn’t support pressure sensitivity. Also, unfortunately, smart drawings and some widgets cannot delete with erasing tools.

Creating Diagrams⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Miro provides a good diagramming section. There are a lot of flowcharts, and shapes. Also, creating connections and changing line strokes are easy and beautiful.

Just Getting Text Notes⭐⭐⭐

All applications in this article have a great and almost same text note ability. Therefore, I gave three stars to normal text abilities.

Tools/Templates/Integrations⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Miro has a huge widget and integration support. Calendar and board connections are very useful. Also, the kanban board is working well unlike some other tools that agile focus.

Free Usage Comfort⭐⭐

Miro has a 3 editable board limit in free usage. If you reach out to 3 boards and add a new one, Miro set to the view-only status for unused old boards.

FigJam is super helpful in scheduling jobs and drawing designs for a team. In personal usage, you can create your system design, sitemap, etc.

Drawing With Graphic Tablet ⭐⭐⭐

In Figma, the drawing is a little bit confused and lazy. Especially, when you drawing some text Figma doesn’t understand that your drawing is completed or continues, therefore your text can be interrupted sometimes. Also, Figma doesn’t support pressure sensitivity like Miro.

Creating Diagrams⭐⭐⭐⭐

There is no huge diagramming support yet. Also In widgets and plugins do not contain any diagramming tool. Figma provides some shapes and a good connection between them and has a good-looking Entity Modeller widget.

Just Getting Text Notes⭐⭐⭐

As I said all applications ensure the same text abilities. There are no different/superior abilities here. But I like the code block widget.

Tools/Templates/Integrations⭐⭐⭐

Figma has a great community but widgets and templates are limited. Also, there are no integrations here.

Free Usage Comfort⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

You can create unlimited pages in Figma's personal free plan. But for teams, has some limitations. But Figma is the best one for free usage of personal plans in drawing tools because it support also cloud saving without any pricing.

Excalidraw is a browser-based, open-source project. It has a big community, therefore, Excalidraw is growing and the community adds new widgets and features day after day.

Drawing With Graphic Tablet ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In Excalidraw, drawing feels very good and supports pressure sensitivity🤩. But unlike Figma and Miro, Excalidraw does not support the pointer tool. If you want to grab the workspace to another place you must switch to the mouse and use the middle button or set a macro to your pen.

Creating Diagrams⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Diagrams do not come from built-in. The library and community are awesome and there are a lot of packets.

Just Getting Text Notes⭐⭐⭐⭐

In Excalidraw feels better to write text notes and other applications. (magic in font-family)

Tools/Templates/Integrations⭐⭐⭐⭐

The widget library is packed. You can easily find whatever you want.

Free Usage Comfort ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Two versions here; excalidraw.com and app.excalidraw.com. Exalidraw is free but the app subdomain is not. Why? Because Excalidraw does not support any cloud saving. If you want to save your work, you must save your file to your system. If you're going to cloud save you must use the app. Fair enough!

One Note is a free powerful drawing and note application. It supports cross-platform and also has a browser port like other applications.

Drawing With Graphic Tablet ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

One Note has a super-fast drawing process and supports pressure sensitivity.

Just Getting Text Notes⭐⭐⭐⭐

Text notes and their formats are easy in OneNote. Also, when getting text notes feels like you are in an office program.

Creating Diagrams ⭐⭐

There is not much option here, you must draw everything whatever you want in drawing diagrams and systems.

Tools/Templates/Integrations ⭐

One Note does not ensure a lot of things like other applications. You can think as if One Note just focuses on drawing and getting notes. However, One Note has some integrations with Zapier, Outlook, Edge, etc.

Free Usage Comfort ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In One Note there are books, sections, and pages. You can create unlimited books and create unlimited sections for these books and create unlimited pages for sections. There are just cloud storage limitations and It is 10GB is awesome.

We have finished the comparison. Let’s look at our winner application and point table.

The Winner Is 💪👇

Don’t forget this, all points are in my opinion and I made this just to inform people who don’t know anything about these applications and graphic tablets. All applications are working well and are easily usable in normal life and that was already It is. 😁

— Thanks for reading. 👋