Kaavit vs Microsoft Whiteboard: a standalone alternative
Microsoft Whiteboard is the whiteboard in Microsoft 365: it opens inside a Teams meeting, keeps its boards in OneDrive, and comes with a subscription many companies already have. Kaavit is an online whiteboard on its own, for a team that wants a board anyone can be invited to and AI that draws diagrams, whatever office suite anybody uses.
If you are looking for a Microsoft Whiteboard alternative, here is how the two compare, fact by fact, with a link to where each fact about Microsoft Whiteboard comes from.
At a glance
| Topic | Kaavit | Microsoft Whiteboard |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A whiteboard on its own: boards belong to an organisation and are shared by permission. | “The visual collaboration canvas in Microsoft 365”. Source |
| Price | Free, or Team at €8 per member a month, billed monthly, plus VAT. | No price of its own: the page points to Microsoft 365's plans. Free for students and education professionals “as a part of the Microsoft 365 A1 offer”. Source |
| Where boards are stored | In the EU (the Netherlands), on every plan. | “Whiteboard content is stored in OneDrive for Business and Azure.” Source |
| AI | Draws diagrams and boards from a prompt, groups and sorts notes into frames, and changes what you select. Kaavit lays out what it draws, and any generation can be reverted in one step. | Copilot in Whiteboard suggests ideas as sticky notes and sorts sticky notes into categories, “if you have a Microsoft Copilot license”. Source |
| Meetings | No meeting integration: share the board's link in whatever call you are on. | Built into Microsoft Teams: a whiteboard is shared with everyone in a meeting, with a read-only mode the organiser controls. Source |
| Apps | A web browser, on a computer or a phone. Nothing to install. | The web, and apps for Windows, iOS and Android. Source |
| Templates | Twelve, for retrospectives, brainstorms, meetings, kanban, prioritisation, roadmaps, project hubs, customer journeys, story maps, business model and lean canvases, and incident reviews — and the AI sets up other boards on request. | Listed as “customizable templates”; the page gives no number. Source |
Facts about Microsoft Whiteboard were read from Microsoft Whiteboard's own pages on , viewed from Finland. Prices and plans change, and some depend on where you are: follow the links for today's. Spotted something out of date? Tell us at privacy@kaavit.com.
Where Kaavit is different
Open to anyone. Anyone with an email address can make a Kaavit account or be invited to a board as a guest, and anyone with a share link can view the board, or edit it, with no account at all.
AI without a second licence. Kaavit's AI is part of the product: a trial on Free, and credits for every member on Team. It draws flowcharts, architecture diagrams and org charts as well as grouping notes, and a whole generation reverts in one step.
Structure for the session. Kaavit has votes whose counts stay hidden until the end and a timer everyone sees, on every plan, and private drafts revealed together on Team.
When Microsoft Whiteboard is the better choice
If your company runs on Microsoft 365 and meets in Teams, Whiteboard is already there, already paid for, and one click from the meeting. For a quick sketch during a call, nothing in Kaavit beats that.
Whiteboard also has apps for Windows, iOS and Android, where Kaavit runs only in a browser, and it stores its boards in OneDrive for Business and Azure.
Moving from Microsoft Whiteboard
Kaavit cannot open Whiteboard files. Most teams keep Whiteboard for meetings and start the boards they will come back to in Kaavit; for a board you want to bring across, paste its text into the AI prompt and ask for it as a board.
Questions
Do I need Microsoft 365 to use Kaavit?
No. Kaavit needs only an email address, or a Google or GitHub account to sign in with.
Can I use Kaavit in a Teams meeting?
Not inside Teams. Share the board's link in the meeting chat and everyone opens it in their browser, with no account needed to view.
Is Kaavit cheaper than Microsoft Whiteboard?
Microsoft's page gives Whiteboard no price of its own and points to Microsoft 365's plans. Kaavit is free for a small team, and its Team plan is €8 per member a month, billed monthly, plus VAT.
Sources
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