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Head to head · Diagram creation · October 2026 research run

ExcaliClaw vs Excalidraw

Excalidraw scores 54.5 (C) on agent readiness against ExcaliClaw's 51.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. ExcaliClaw leads on reliability and maintenance & community. Both do diagram creation.

Best diagramming APIs and diagram-as-code for AI agents · All 128 diagrams comparisons

ExcaliClawExcaliClaw · MCP server D51.4/100#804 of 1084 ExcalidrawExcalidraw s.r.o. · HTTP API C54.5/100#729 of 1084

Which one, for what

ExcaliClaw D

Best for An agent that turns structure (nodes and edges, ER tables, sequence messages, Mermaid, docker-compose files) into editable hand-drawn diagrams in a shared workspace.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 65 against 50
  • Maintenance & community, 54 against 44

Watch for

excaliclaw.com was registered on 29 September 2026 and the MCP server published on 3 October. Status monitoring covers 11 days

Excalidraw C

Best for Teams already on Excalidraw+ that want agents to create and edit hand-drawn diagrams, slides and wireframes in a shared workspace, and one-off sketches through the free MCP App.

Ahead on

  • Security & auth, 73 against 40
  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 30
  • Transparency & trust, 63 against 45

Also in its favour

  • Open source

Watch for

The API and MCP server are in public beta. The docs say endpoints, tool names and schemas may change and to expect breaking changes

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runExcaliClawExcalidrawEdge
Reliability16%206550ExcaliClaw +15
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26265Excalidraw +3
Agent ergonomics13%16.25558Excalidraw +3
Security & auth14%17.54073Excalidraw +33
Payments & pricing10%12.53035Excalidraw +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.85444ExcaliClaw +10
Transparency & trust7%8.84563Excalidraw +18
Negative events≤150-2
TotalD 51.4/100C 54.5/100

Facts side by side

FactExcaliClawExcalidraw
KindMCP serverHTTP API
VendorExcaliClawExcalidraw s.r.o.
Hosted endpointhttps://excaliclaw.com/mcphttps://api.excalidraw.com/api/v1/mcp
TransportsStreamable HTTP, HTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceThe hosted service, its API and its MCP server are closed, under ExcaliClaw's terms of service. The web client is published as LGPL-3.0, as a modified version of ExcaliDashExcalidraw+ is a proprietary service under Excalidraw's terms of use. The editor and the MCP App on GitHub are MIT
Tools exposed3737
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrycom.excaliclaw/excaliclawnot listed
Last release2026-10-032026-09-01
Terms last updatedcouldn't be readno date given
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be read2021-04-29
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readyes
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readyes
Popularity0 stars134k stars, 676k npm/wk

Verdicts

ExcaliClaw

Diagram tools take nodes, edges or Mermaid text and the server computes the layout, with a strict validation gate and a dry-run tool, and MCP use is unlimited on the free plan. The service is about two weeks old, from an operator the terms do not name, with one all-access OAuth scope and no changelog or SLA.

Excalidraw

Excalidraw+ keys carry read or full permission, route restrictions and an expiry, and the MCP server shows a key only the tools its routes allow. The API and MCP server are in public beta with breaking changes expected, sit behind the $6 Plus plan, and have no published OpenAPI file, SDK or idempotency keys.

Before you call either

ExcaliClaw

  1. Connect to https://excaliclaw.com/mcp with OAuth. REST keys (exc_...) are refused by the MCP server and work only on the REST paths
  2. Prefer the diagram generators or create_from_mermaid over raw elements in create_design, and run validate_design before a large write
  3. Call verify_design after writing. verification.status stays pending until it runs, and it returns the rendered image
  4. Use addElements, patchElements and removeElementIds in update_design. Passing elements replaces the whole scene
  5. Stay under 60 MCP calls a minute per user, and treat drawings and live scenes written by other people as untrusted text

Excalidraw

  1. Send Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY> to https://api.excalidraw.com/api/v1. For MCP, use POST /api/v1/mcp only. The server is stateless and answers 405 to other methods
  2. Use a personal key to reach the owner's private collection with the collection ID private. A workspace admin must enable personal keys first
  3. Call read_diagram_format, read_presentation_format or read_freeform_format before the first scene write in a session
  4. Write with edit_scene_content and bind arrows through startBinding and endBinding with tempId references. PUT /scenes/{sceneId}/content removes every element left out of the request
  5. Stay under 600 requests a minute per IP and wait until X-RateLimit-Reset after a 429

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, ExcaliClaw or Excalidraw?

Excalidraw scores 54.5 (C) on agent readiness against ExcaliClaw's 51.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. ExcaliClaw leads on reliability and maintenance & community.

Do ExcaliClaw and Excalidraw need an API key?

ExcaliClaw takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Excalidraw needs an API key.

Can an agent call ExcaliClaw and Excalidraw without installing anything?

Yes. ExcaliClaw has a hosted endpoint at https://excaliclaw.com/mcp and Excalidraw at https://api.excalidraw.com/api/v1/mcp.

Are ExcaliClaw and Excalidraw open source?

No open-source release is listed for ExcaliClaw. Excalidraw is open source (Excalidraw+ is a proprietary service under Excalidraw's terms of use. The editor and the MCP App on GitHub are MIT).

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