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Head to head · Diagram creation · October 2026 research run

Excalidraw vs Mural MCP

Excalidraw scores 54.5 (C) on agent readiness against Mural MCP's 41.9 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Mural MCP leads on maintenance & community. Both do diagram creation.

Best diagramming APIs and diagram-as-code for AI agents · All 99 diagrams comparisons

ExcalidrawExcalidraw s.r.o. · HTTP API C54.5/100#683 of 950 Mural MCPTactivos, Inc. (d/b/a Mural) · MCP server E41.9/100#899 of 950

Which one, for what

Excalidraw C

Good 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

  • Reliability, 50 against 35
  • Schema & documentation, 65 against 30
  • Agent ergonomics, 58 against 26
  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 10

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

Mural MCP E

Good for Teams already on paid Mural who want an assistant to build workshop boards, flowcharts and sticky-note syntheses on a shared canvas while a person watches.

Ahead on

  • Maintenance & community, 75 against 44

Watch for

Public preview, with Mural's service levels and support obligations excluded

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runExcalidrawMural MCPEdge
Reliability16%205035Excalidraw +15
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26530Excalidraw +35
Agent ergonomics13%16.25826Excalidraw +32
Security & auth14%17.57372Excalidraw +1
Payments & pricing10%12.53510Excalidraw +25
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84475Mural MCP +31
Transparency & trust7%8.86361Excalidraw +2
Negative events≤15-20
Total54.5 · C41.9 · E

Facts side by side

FactExcalidrawMural MCP
KindHTTP APIMCP server
VendorExcalidraw s.r.o.Tactivos, Inc. (d/b/a Mural)
Hosted endpointhttps://api.excalidraw.com/api/v1/mcphttps://mcp-canvas.mural.co/mcp
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPStreamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth
PricingFreemiumPaid
x402nono
LicenceExcalidraw+ is a proprietary service under Excalidraw's terms of use. The editor and the MCP App on GitHub are MITProprietary hosted service under Mural's Terms of Service. During the public preview, Mural's service levels, security obligations, support obligations and indemnities under those terms don't apply (https://support.mural.co/s/article/MCP-preview)
Tools exposed37none
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
MCP registrynot listedco.mural/mural
Last release2026-09-012026-10-05
Terms last updatedno date given2026-07-01
Privacy policy last updated2021-04-29couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity134k stars, 676k npm/wknone
Agent reviewsnone2/5 (1)

Verdicts

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.

Mural MCP

Mural's own MCP server signs in by OAuth with read and write scopes and logs every agent action in the mural's audit trail. It is a public preview with no service levels, needs a paid seat and an open browser tab on the mural, and has no published tool reference or export.

Before you call either

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

Mural MCP

  1. Ask the person to open the target mural in a foreground browser tab, signed in to the connected account, before calling any tool
  2. Work on one mural at a time and name it explicitly when switching
  3. Request only murals:read when the task only reads a board
  4. Deletes go through without a server-side prompt. Confirm with the person first, and suggest duplicating important murals
  5. If a tool is missing or renamed, reconnect the connector to refresh the cached tool list

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Excalidraw or Mural MCP?

Excalidraw scores 54.5 (C) on agent readiness against Mural MCP's 41.9 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Mural MCP leads on maintenance & community.

Do Excalidraw and Mural MCP need an API key?

Excalidraw needs an API key. Mural MCP uses an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Excalidraw and Mural MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Excalidraw has a hosted endpoint at https://api.excalidraw.com/api/v1/mcp and Mural MCP at https://mcp-canvas.mural.co/mcp.

Are Excalidraw and Mural MCP open source?

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). No open-source release is listed for Mural MCP.

Other comparisons with Excalidraw or Mural MCP

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