Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Xmind

Excalidraw is an open-source virtual whiteboard for creating hand-drawn style diagrams, wireframes, and sketches in the browser. It focuses on fast ideation with a simple UI, infinite canvas, and easy sharing and collaboration.

Key Features

• Infinite canvas whiteboard with a hand-drawn visual style
• Rich drawing tools (shapes, arrows, free-draw, text, eraser) with undo/redo
• Arrow binding and labeled connectors for clearer diagrams
• Real-time collaboration with end-to-end encryption support
• Local-first behavior (autosave in the browser) and offline-capable PWA
• Export and sharing options (PNG, SVG, clipboard, and open JSON-based file format)
• Image support, theming (including dark mode), and localization (i18n)

Use Cases

• Team brainstorming sessions and collaborative whiteboarding
• Creating lightweight architecture diagrams, flowcharts, and user journey maps
• Wireframing UI concepts and embedding a whiteboard into other web apps

Excalidraw works well as a standalone web app or as a reusable component via its editor package. It is a strong choice for teams and individuals who want quick, low-friction diagramming without heavy tooling.

TeamMapper is a web application for creating, sharing and collaboratively editing mind maps in real time. It provides multi-user sessions via websockets, supports import/export in multiple formats, and stores data in a Postgres database.

Key Features

• Real-time multi-user collaboration using websocket-based shared sessions
• Rich node customization: images, pictograms, colors, fonts and links
• Import and export support (JSON, Mermaid, SVG, PDF, PNG and more)
• Share maps via URLs or QR codes with view-only or edit invitations
• Undo/redo, keyboard shortcuts and session usability features
• Configurable retention: maps are deleted by default after a configurable period
• Docker and Docker Compose deployment with environment-based config and TypeORM migrations

Use Cases

• Facilitating live brainstorming and structured idea-mapping during remote workshops
• Building and sharing visual study aids or project overviews for teams and classrooms
• Exporting diagrams to image or text formats for documentation and presentations

Limitations and Considerations

• Some features are controlled by build-time flags (e.g., pictograms) and must be enabled before building the frontend
• AI-assisted map generation is behind a feature flag and may require additional configuration to enable
• Real-time scaling requires websocket-aware infrastructure (sticky sessions or websocket-capable proxy) to maintain session consistency

TeamMapper is focused on simple, shareable collaborative mind maps with practical export and sharing options. It is suited for teams and educational settings that need fast, visual collaboration and easy deployment.