Excalidraw vs Principle
Detailed comparison to help you choose the right tool for your needs
E
Excalidraw
Virtual whiteboard for sketching hand-drawn like diagrams
4.7
Editorial RatingP
Principle
Animated design for interactive interfaces
4.3
Editorial RatingQuick Comparison
Rating
4.7
vs4.3
Starting Price
Free
vs$129
Pricing Model
freemium
vspaid
Feature
Excalidraw
Principle
Hand-drawn style
Real-time collaboration
End-to-end encryption
Self-hosting option
Export formats
Custom libraries
Animation Design
Interactive Prototyping
Auto-Animate
Driver-Based Animation
Component Reuse
Sketch and Figma Import
Excalidraw Pros
- Beautiful hand-drawn aesthetic
- E2E encrypted by default
- Completely free for core features
- Massive community and library ecosystem
Excalidraw Cons
- Limited to whiteboard use case (not full design tool)
- No built-in presentation mode
- Cloud storage requires paid plan
Principle Pros
- Best-in-class animation timeline editor
- One-time purchase with no subscription
- Auto-animate makes transitions effortless
- Drivers enable complex interactive prototypes
- Lightweight and fast performance
- Great for demonstrating micro-interactions
Principle Cons
- Mac only with no Windows or web version
- Limited collaboration features
- No design tools only prototyping
- Smaller community than Figma or Framer
- Updates have slowed over time
- Cannot create production-ready code exports