In today’s digital classrooms, engaging students remotely can be challenging. Traditional tools often don’t offer enough interaction, making it harder for teachers to keep students involved and focused. That’s where free online whiteboards come in. These digital tools let teachers and students collaborate live—drawing, writing, and sharing ideas together—making lessons more interactive and fun. Whether for K–12, higher education, or tutoring, these whiteboards help improve participation and understanding in virtual learning.
Why Are Online Whiteboards Crucial in Modern Teaching?
Engagement & Interaction: Unlike passive video lectures, online whiteboards encourage active participation, enabling students to solve problems live, ask questions, and contribute ideas visually.
Collaboration Across Distances: Whether students are in different cities or continents, whiteboards enable seamless collaboration, making group projects and discussions easier.
Versatility: These tools accommodate diverse learning styles—visual, auditory, and kinesthetic—by supporting text, images, videos, audio, and live drawing.
Integration with LMS: Many whiteboards integrate with Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and other Learning Management Systems, streamlining teaching workflows.
Infinite Canvas: Unlike physical boards, digital whiteboards provide an endless workspace, perfect for complex diagrams, extensive brainstorming, or long-form notes.
Resource Saving: Using online tools reduces reliance on physical materials, cuts costs, and supports sustainable education.
Here’s a list of 20 of the best free online whiteboards for teaching, each with unique features to boost your online teaching experience.
1. Miro
Miro is a highly versatile online whiteboard platform popular among educators and professionals alike. It provides an infinite canvas where teachers can create mind maps, flowcharts, and interactive lesson plans. Integrations with Google Workspace, Slack, and Microsoft Teams enable seamless collaboration. The tool supports real-time editing and offers over 1,000 free templates tailored for education and business workflows.
Designed specifically for classroom use, Whiteboard.fi offers private digital whiteboards for each student, allowing teachers to view individual work in real time. This makes it perfect for formative assessments and personalized instruction in K–12 teaching settings. It supports Chromebook compatibility and integrates directly with Google Classroom for streamlined classroom management. Teachers can pose questions, review student responses, and clear boards with a single click.
Web Whiteboard is a no-frills, instantly accessible online whiteboard that requires no registration. It offers essential tools like drawing, typing, and sticky notes, making it ideal for quick brainstorming and spontaneous lessons. The interface is clean and user-friendly, ensuring minimal distractions during lessons. It’s suitable for teachers who want a simple, fast solution without the complexity of more feature-rich platforms.
Canva Whiteboard merges creative design with educational needs, allowing teachers to build visually appealing flowcharts, timelines, and diagrams. It supports media uploads such as images and videos to enrich content delivery. Its drag-and-drop interface simplifies the creation of complex visuals, which are great for visual learners. Teachers can export boards as PDFs or presentations to share with students easily.
Part of the Microsoft 365 suite, Microsoft Whiteboard is deeply integrated with Teams, OneNote, and other Microsoft apps. It features digital inking, sticky notes, and real-time collaboration, allowing teams and classrooms to work together efficiently. It works especially well in institutions already using Microsoft products, supporting touchscreens and stylus inputs for a natural writing experience. Autosave and cloud syncing ensure no work is lost.
Explain Everything is a robust digital whiteboard combined with screencasting and animation tools. It allows educators to create video lessons with voice narration and dynamic annotations. Integration with Google Drive and Apple Schoolwork makes it a popular choice for flipped classrooms and asynchronous learning. The platform supports live collaboration and is suitable for subjects requiring detailed explanations, like science and math.
7. Jamboard
Google Jamboard is part of the Google Workspace for Education suite, making it ideal for classrooms that rely on Google tools. It offers handwriting recognition, sticky notes, image insertion, and real-time collaboration. The physical Jamboard device can be paired with its app, allowing seamless integration between in-person and remote learners. Its intuitive interface encourages visual thinking and group participation.
8. Ziteboard
Ziteboard is a minimalistic, zoomable online whiteboard particularly suited for STEM subjects like mathematics, engineering, and physics. It offers collaborative sketching, PDF annotation, and SVG export features, enabling precise and clear instruction. Because it runs directly in browsers without downloads, it’s accessible on various devices including tablets and laptops. Its infinite canvas supports complex problem-solving and spatial reasoning activities.
9. Limnu
Limnu is known for its realistic drawing experience that closely mimics physical whiteboards, making it popular for online tutoring and STEM education. The platform supports collaborative team boards and integrates with video conferencing tools such as Zoom. It offers smooth marker-like strokes and a responsive interface that supports real-time edits. Users can easily select, move, and group drawn objects for better board management.
10. WhiteScreen.VIP
WhiteScreen.VIP is a distraction-free fullscreen whiteboard that excels in UX/UI instruction and display calibration. Its minimalist design focuses student attention on content without the clutter of unnecessary tools. The platform allows toggling between different screen colors and supports freehand drawing, making it ideal for quick sketches and visual demos. It’s particularly favored in tech labs and courses requiring precise visual focus.
11. LiveBoard (formerly AWW App)
LiveBoard combines real-time drawing tools with video chat, allowing tutors and students to interact seamlessly. Its multi-platform support makes it accessible on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Teachers can upload images and documents to enhance lessons, while students can contribute via shared whiteboards. It is widely used in language education and one-on-one tutoring.
12. Conceptboard
Conceptboard is designed for multimedia collaboration, supporting image annotation, embedded documents, and threaded discussions. It offers an infinite canvas with live notifications to keep teams synchronized. Ideal for art and design courses, it also supports video conferencing and secure workspaces for protected collaboration. Its template library supports agile workflows and project management in education.
13. Stormboard
Stormboard integrates sticky notes, drawing tools, and voting systems to facilitate brainstorming and collaborative planning. Its unlimited canvas size and templates such as SWOT analysis and KWL charts make it useful for curriculum design and interactive lessons. Stormboard’s mobile app enables participation on any device, supporting agile training methodologies. Educators use it to encourage critical thinking and teamwork.
14. Educreations
Educreations is a popular platform for recording narrated lessons with digital ink and images, perfect for flipped classrooms. Lessons are stored in the cloud for easy student access and review. It’s especially effective in science and language arts, where detailed explanations and diagrams are needed. The interface is user-friendly, allowing educators to create engaging video content quickly.
15. HeyHi
HeyHi supports synchronous whiteboarding with features like scheduling, session links, and attendance tracking. It offers STEM-specific tools including graphing, equations, and grids, making it useful in test prep and tutoring centers. Teachers can manage sessions securely while students interact in real time. The platform prioritizes usability and is optimized for small group teaching.
16. Classroomscreen
Classroomscreen merges whiteboarding with essential classroom management tools like timers, noise meters, and random name selectors. These widgets assist teachers in maintaining classroom order and pacing lessons. It’s widely used in blended and hybrid classrooms to facilitate structured teaching environments. The tool is simple but powerful in enhancing lesson flow.
17. OpenBoard
OpenBoard is an open-source digital whiteboard compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. It supports handwriting, mathematical LaTeX input, and screen mirroring, making it a favorite in math-heavy and STEM curricula. The software comes with annotation tools and embedded multimedia support. Its community-driven development ensures it remains free and updated.
18. Whiteboard.chat
Whiteboard.chat enables teachers to create interactive, gamified sessions with breakout rooms, quizzes, and real-time monitoring of student work. It supports multiple collaboration modes and is optimized for K–12 synchronous teaching. The platform encourages engagement through competition and team-based activities. It’s easy to use with shareable session links.
19. Padlet
Padlet offers a multimedia-rich collaborative board where students and teachers can share text, videos, images, and documents. It’s widely used for project-based learning and peer review sessions. Its intuitive interface encourages creativity and allows embedding of external links and files. Teachers can moderate and organize content effectively.
20. GitMind
GitMind is a comprehensive mind mapping and diagramming tool with whiteboard capabilities. It supports flowcharts, Gantt charts, and brainstorming templates ideal for computer science, business studies, and strategic planning. The platform supports cloud synchronization and team collaboration features. Its visual tools help break down complex concepts and project timelines.
Conclusion
These 20 free online whiteboards represent some of the best options available for educators looking to enhance their virtual teaching toolkit. With features spanning real-time collaboration, multimedia integration, assessment tools, and seamless LMS compatibility, these platforms support a wide array of teaching styles and subjects. Whether you're teaching math, art, language, or project management, adopting the right whiteboard can elevate student engagement and learning outcomes in any remote or hybrid classroom.
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