Comparison

Mural vs Microsoft Whiteboard

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Mural

This app provides a digital whiteboard for real-time and asynchronous team collaboration. It allows users to brainstorm, ideate, and align on projects from anywhere, fostering business-driving outcomes. Capture inspiration and share it with your team on the go.

Highlights
  • Real-time and asynchronous collaboration
  • Digital whiteboard for ideation
  • Freehand drawing and concept mapping
  • Sticky notes, shapes, and text boxes
  • Icon library for visual thinking
  • Voting sessions and reactions
  • Export murals as PDF, image, or zip
Read full description

Mural is a collaborative intelligence company powering effective ideation, innovation, alignment, and team building at 95% of the Fortune 100. Work together in real-time or asynchronously with a digital whiteboard and collaboration features designed to inspire better collaboration that leads to business-driving outcomes. The Mural app for iPhone and iPad keeps you connected to your team and enables you to capture and share inspiration on the go. Innovative teams at IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, GitLab, Steelcase, Thoughtworks, and Atlassian use Mural to collaborate from anywhere. Use the Mural iPhone and iPad apps to: * Bring your best ideas to life, wherever you work best * Invite your team to a collaboration session no matter where they are * Review content and provide feedback to keep work moving forward * Spark creative thinking with freehand drawing * Map concepts and ideas with your Apple Pencil Mural meets security standards for enterprise organizations with mobile device management and secure sign in supported by our Microsoft Intune Mobile Application Management integration. With the Mural app for mobile devices, you can: * Create a new mural * Add content in sticky notes, shapes, and text boxes with a variety of formatting options at your fingertips * Draw ideas and sketch notes with a number of colors and line sizes * Invite collaborators to your murals and easily change link permissions * Add, edit, delete, and mention other collaborators in comments * Enhance your visual thinking with a library of icons * Participate in a voting session * Share excitement and visual feedback with reactions * Export a mural as a PDF, image, or zip file * Add images from your photo library, take in the moment photos, or upload files * Send a mural to a touchscreen display for hybrid collaboration sessions * Organize content and ideas with frameworks * Change mural settings * Digitize physical sticky notes with Mural Scan or Post-it® App integration * Easily present with outline and presentation mode To use the Mural app, an account and sign-in is required. Learn more at www.mural.co.

About

Microsoft Whiteboard

This app offers a freeform digital canvas for individuals and teams to brainstorm, create, and collaborate visually. It supports touch, type, and pen input, allowing for seamless real-time teamwork from anywhere. Your work is automatically saved to the cloud for easy access across devices.

Highlights
  • Infinite freeform canvas
  • Real-time team collaboration
  • Touch, type, and pen support
  • Pre-built templates
  • Shapes and lines library
  • Sticky notes and notes grids
  • Automatic cloud saving
Read full description

Update : The App performance has been significantly improved & there are also a ton of other features which have been added. Check out the “What’s new” section for more details!! Microsoft Whiteboard provides a freeform intelligent canvas where individuals & teams alike can ideate, create, and collaborate visually via the cloud. Designed for touch, type & pen, it lets you write or draw as smoothly as you would with ink, you can even type in text, add sticky notes or notes grid to express your ideas & use reactions to visually communicate your thoughts. It enhances teamwork by allowing all team members to edit the canvas in real time, no matter where they are. Get started quickly by inserting a pre-built template or draw your own flowchart using our expansive shapes library. No matter what your use case, we have the right set of tools for you and all your work stays safe in the cloud, ready to be picked back up from another location or device. -- Create freely, work naturally – Microsoft Whiteboard provides an infinite canvas where imagination has room to grow: draw, type, add a sticky note or a notes grid, move them around – it’s all possible. The touch-first, pen-first interface frees your ideas from the keyboard, and the intelligent inking technology transforms your doodles into great-looking shapes and lines that can be copied, pasted and combined with other objects. Moreover, you can also, ink on your sticky notes & text boxes and magically see the ink get converted to text using Apple Scribble functionality (on iPads with Apple Pencil). --Collaborate in real time, wherever you are— Microsoft Whiteboard brings every member of a team together working from their own devices across the globe. On the Whiteboard canvas, you can also see what your teammates are doing in real time and start collaborating on the same area. It’s about getting everyone on the same page – or board. --Save automatically, resume seamlessly – Forget having to take photos of your whiteboards, or marking them with “Do Not Erase.” With Microsoft Whiteboard, your brainstorming sessions are saved automatically to the Microsoft cloud, so you can pick up where you left off, whenever – and wherever – inspiration strikes next. What’s new: • Improved App Performance & Reduction in crashes which has been a strong customer ask. • Modern look and feel: 1. Streamlined user experience - an unobtrusive app UI maximizes your canvas space. 2. Creation gallery - a highly discoverable, simple way of finding and using objects and features in the application. • Interactive content features: 3. 40+ customizable templates – get started quickly and collaborate, brainstorm, and ideate with brand new templates. 4. Shapes & Lines - Choose from an expansive library of shapes & lines to visually collaborate & ideate with your team members 5. Reactions - provide lightweight, contextual feedback with a set of fun reactions. • Inking features: 6. Apple Scribble – Ink on text boxes & sticky notes and see your ink strokes magically convert to text (on iPads with Apple pencil) 7. Ink arrows – smoothly draw single and double-sided arrows using ink to better facilitate diagramming. Dichiarazione di accessibilità: https://www.microsoft.com/it-it/accessibility/declarations

Screenshots

Mural4 screens
Microsoft Whiteboard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Microsoft Whiteboard at 4.6 against Mural's 2.4. Microsoft Whiteboard also leads on monetization model (free vs freemium) and ratings volume (12K vs 68). Mural's advantage is iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Microsoft Whiteboard holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Microsoft Whiteboard has 12K ratings behind it against 68, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 16% of Mural's written reviews are positive against 36% of Microsoft Whiteboard's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mural ships an update every 5 weeks, Microsoft Whiteboard every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Mural versus Microsoft Whiteboard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMuralMicrosoft Whiteboard
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.4 (68 ratings)4.6 (12K ratings) — better
Positive reviews16.2% of reviews36.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6812K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.5 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTactivos Inc.Microsoft Corporation

Customer experience

Mural

All ratings68 ratings
Positive26.5%
Neutral10.3%
Negative63.2%
Written reviews210 reviews
Positive16.2%
Neutral9.0%
Negative74.8%

Microsoft Whiteboard

All ratings11,067 ratings
Positive89.5%
Neutral3.4%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews352 reviews
Positive36.1%
Neutral13.1%
Negative50.9%

User reviews

Mural

From 68 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🎨 Great collaborative whiteboarding tool
  • ✏️ Apple Pencil support for drawing
  • 📱 Mobile app allows work on-the-go
  • 🔄 Real-time collaboration features

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
  • ⚠️ App doesn't load or opens to blank screen
  • 🔌 Forced app redirect from browser on mobile
  • ❌ Missing key desktop features on mobile
  • 📉 Poor performance on iPad

Microsoft Whiteboard

From 12K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Convenient collaboration
  • 💡 Versatile canvas
  • 🎨 Good customization options

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and unstable
  • 🤯 Poor UI/UX design
  • 🔍 Lack of basic features
  • 🔌 Connectivity issues
  • 💤 Laggy performance

Bugs and requests

Mural

Reported bugs

25 issues
  • App crashes on launch or when opening boards
  • White/blank screen on startup
  • Stuck on logo screen indefinitely
  • Login failures and authentication errors
  • Microsoft authentication process hangs
Show 20 more
  • App won't open on iPad Pro
  • Forced logout during editing
  • Sticky notes disappear after creation
  • Text input hidden by UI elements
  • Pencil drawing lag and delayed rendering
  • Board resizing during pencil use
  • Images appear blurry or pixelated on mobile
  • Fonts not rendering correctly
  • Paste function not working in text fields
  • Objects snap unexpectedly to grid
  • Shapes change color inexplicably
  • Connector handles not functioning
  • Zoom and pan gestures not responsive
  • App freezes when scrolling dense boards
  • Connection timeouts and reconnection loops
  • Content not loading on boards
  • Synchronization issues between devices
  • Automatic zoom on sticky edit causes frustration
  • Camera permission dialog creates unescapable state
  • Placeholder text not clearing on input

Requested features

20 requests
  • Google and Apple login options
  • Full desktop feature parity on mobile
  • Proper keyboard and trackpad support
  • Folder visibility and management on iOS
  • Search functionality for murals
Show 15 more
  • Outline feature on mobile
  • Object linking and grouping
  • Landscape mode support
  • Better Apple Pencil pressure sensitivity
  • Undo/redo functionality
  • Multi-object selection
  • Template access on mobile
  • Activity log viewing
  • Improved pen tool options (thickness, color, style)
  • Browser access without app redirect
  • Language localization options
  • Full-screen mode without UI buttons
  • Copy/paste functionality improvements
  • Image import from device
  • Subscription management in app

Microsoft Whiteboard

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Frequent crashes and freezes
  • Unsaved work loss
  • Unreliable sync and loading
  • Inconsistent behavior across devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add offline support
  • Improve palm rejection
  • Implement handwriting recognition
  • Allow font and color customization
  • Add locking/anchoring options
Show 1 more
  • Enhance sharing and export capabilities

In-app purchases

None

Mural

No in-app purchases

None

Microsoft Whiteboard

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mural free?
Mural is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Microsoft Whiteboard free?
Microsoft Whiteboard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mural or Microsoft Whiteboard?
Microsoft Whiteboard is rated higher. Mural averages 2.4 out of 5 from 68 ratings, while Microsoft Whiteboard averages 4.6 from 12K ratings.
Do Mural or Microsoft Whiteboard have ads?
Neither Mural nor Microsoft Whiteboard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mural or Microsoft Whiteboard?
Mural ships an update every 5 weeks, and Microsoft Whiteboard every 6 weeks. Most recently, Mural was updated on October 16, 2026 and Microsoft Whiteboard on October 18, 2026.

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