Figjam vs Whimsical

FigJam and Whimsical are two digital whiteboarding tools that let humans pretend they are still using paper, but with more buttons and significantly less mess. Both allow teams to brainstorm, create flowcharts and leave notes in a way that suggests they are incredibly busy and important. They integrate with all the other things people use to look like they’re getting work done—Slack, Notion and probably a dozen others nobody remembers setting up. Users can edit things in real time, which is brilliant until someone accidentally deletes the entire board while enthusiastically clicking around.

FigJam, the slightly younger sibling, appeared in 2021 courtesy of Figma, because designers apparently needed something even more chaotic than their existing software. It leans into the idea that work should be fun, with stamps, emotes and cursor chats flying across the screen like a hyperactive child who just discovered glitter. It’s deeply tied to Figma, meaning UI/UX designers can now sketch low-fidelity wireframes with the same reckless abandon as their high-fidelity ones. Somewhere, a product manager is nodding sagely, pretending they understand what’s happening.

Whimsical, on the other hand, arrived in 2017 and took a slightly more structured approach, as if someone had whispered, “Maybe let’s be a little serious about this.” It’s got flowcharts, mind maps, wireframes and a pleasingly minimalistic design that makes everything look neatly under control, even when it isn’t. Unlike FigJam, it isn’t just for designers—it also caters to product managers, marketers and engineers who appreciate a well-placed diagram more than a rogue animated sticker. It even has a card-based system, presumably to give the illusion of organization before chaos inevitably takes over.

See also: Top 10 Visual Collaboration software