# Excalidraw vs Mural MCP

> Excalidraw scores 54.5 (C) to Mural MCP's 41.9 (E) for diagram creation. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/excalidraw-vs-mural-mcp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/excalidraw-vs-mural-mcp.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/excalidraw-vs-mural-mcp.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/excalidraw-vs-mural-mcp.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

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.

- Excalidraw: grade C, 54.5/100, rank #683 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/excalidraw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/excalidraw.json
- Mural MCP: grade E, 41.9/100, rank #899 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mural-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mural-mcp.json
- Best diagramming APIs and diagram-as-code for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/diagramming/index.md
- All 99 diagrams comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/diagramming/index.md

## 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

| Category | Weight | Excalidraw | Mural MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 35 | Excalidraw +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 30 | Excalidraw +35 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 58 | 26 | Excalidraw +32 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 73 | 72 | Excalidraw +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 10 | Excalidraw +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 44 | 75 | Mural MCP +31 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 61 | Excalidraw +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **54.5 · C** | **41.9 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Excalidraw | Mural MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Excalidraw s.r.o. | Tactivos, Inc. (d/b/a Mural) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.excalidraw.com/api/v1/mcp` | `https://mcp-canvas.mural.co/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Excalidraw+ is a proprietary service under Excalidraw's terms of use. The editor and the MCP App on GitHub are MIT | Proprietary 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 exposed | 37 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | `co.mural/mural` |
| Last release | 2026-09-01 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-07-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2021-04-29 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 134k stars, 676k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | none | 2/5 (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.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/excalidraw-vs-mural-mcp.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/excalidraw-vs-mural-mcp.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "excalidraw", "b": "mural-mcp"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare excalidraw mural-mcp`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/excalidraw.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mural-mcp.json

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