Napkin AIvs
Miro
Both deal in diagrams and they work in opposite directions. Napkin AI reads text you have already written and proposes figures. Miro gives you a blank board and expects people to fill it together. Whether you are producing a figure alone or diverging as a team decides it. Figures from each vendor's public pricing page, November 2026.
Published · updated
The short answer
- A figure for a document, produced alone and quickly → Napkin AI
- Thinking together while everyone writes at once → Miro
- Napkin's free plan adds a logo, so external material needs a paid plan
- Miro's free plan allows three editable boards
Side by side
| Napkin AI | Miro | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Paste text, get candidate diagrams | Place things yourself on a blank board |
| Main use | Figures for documents | Diverging, organising, workshops |
| Simultaneous editing | Not the design intent | Core feature |
| Free | 500 AI credits/week, logo applied | Three editable boards |
| Entry paid | Plus $9/user/mo | Starter $8/user/mo (annual) |
| Mid | Pro $22/user/mo | Business $20/user/mo (annual) |
| Upper | Enterprise (contact sales) | Enterprise (30+ seats, contact sales) |
| Annual discount | 25% | Prices quoted on annual terms |
| AI allowance | 500 credits/week on free | Starter 25 / Business 50 credits per user per month |
| Diagram generation | Several options from the same text | Diagrams, tables and summaries |
| Connecting other AI tools | Not documented | MCP server for Claude, Cursor and similar |
| Export | PNG / PDF | Multiple formats and embeds |
| Removing the logo | Paid plans only | No logo even on free |
Highlighted cells mark where one is clearly ahead on that row. Pricing and specifications come from published vendor information and change without notice.
Who wins what
A figure for a deck in ten minutes
Napkin AI
Paste the paragraph and options appear. No time spent starting from blank.
Diverging as a team
Miro
Built around simultaneous editing. Covering a board in sticky notes is not something Napkin does.
External material on a free plan
Miro
Napkin's free output carries a logo; Miro's does not.
Working alone
Napkin AI
With no need for collaboration, generating figures from text is the whole value.
Driving it from another AI tool
Miro
It ships an MCP server, so Claude or Cursor can operate the board.
Strengths and trade-offs
Napkin AI
Strengths
- Works from text you already wrote rather than a blank canvas
- Offers several visual treatments to choose between
- Generous free weekly credit allowance
- Low entry price
Trade-offs
- Free output carries a logo
- No simultaneous editing
- Limited vocabulary compared with a dedicated diagramming tool
Miro
Strengths
- Simultaneous editing is the core of the product
- AI clustering and summarisation remove post-workshop admin
- No logo even on the free plan
- MCP server for driving the board from AI tools
Trade-offs
- AI credits are small on lower tiers
- Large boards get slow
- Overkill if you only need one figure
What it costs
Converted to twelve months from each vendor's public pricing page in November 2026: Miro Starter $96 and Business $240; Napkin Plus $108 and Pro $264. Napkin's 25% annual discount brings its effective cost below these monthly-rate figures.
Which one, for who you are
Solo consultant
Napkin AI Plus
Writes reports and needs one explanatory figure each time
The figure comes from the text already written, and the paid tier removes the logo for client work.
Product team running remote workshops
Miro
Hundreds of sticky notes to cluster afterwards
Simultaneous editing plus AI clustering is the job. Napkin cannot do the workshop at all.
Small team doing both
Miro to diverge, Napkin to illustrate the write-up
Workshops, then written documents
The roles do not overlap, so running both is reasonable if the budget allows.
Questions we get
- Will we end up needing both?
- Their roles do not overlap, so some people do run both: Miro to diverge as a team, Napkin to produce figures when the conclusions get written up. If you only write documents alone, Napkin is enough.
- Do they handle non-Latin text well?
- Both size labels for Latin text, so long Japanese strings wrap awkwardly or overflow. Plan on shortening labels.
- Is Napkin's free plan enough?
- For practice and internal material, yes — 500 credits a week is plenty for one person. The logo means a paid plan for anything shown outside the company.
- What does Miro's free plan restrict?
- Three editable boards. Viewing is unlimited, so sharing is fine. On free, AI is limited to diagram, table and summary generation plus background removal, with no AI credits.