Quick take (read this first)
The idea in two sentences. Miro is the polished, enterprise-grade collaborative whiteboard, brilliant at workshops, agile ceremonies, and diagramming, sold per seat with AI metered by credits. Dim0 is an open-source, self-hostable canvas where notes, code, sketches, and a board-aware AI agent live together, with no seat-metered AI and no cloud lock-in.
Where Dim0 wins
- Open-source (MIT) and self-hostable. Miro is closed-source, cloud-only, no self-host. Your boards live on your infrastructure if you want.
- Own your data. Notes are plain Markdown; boards export cleanly. Miro is a proprietary cloud you can't fully leave.
- AI-native, not metered. A board-aware agent that reads the canvas, runs code, and writes results back as nodes. Miro's AI is real but metered by credits and gated to paid tiers.
- Every node type, not just a whiteboard. Rich notes, sandboxed code, charts, docs, nested boards, and generated mini-apps, not sticky-notes-and-shapes.
- A saner free tier. Miro's free plan caps you at 3 editable boards and has no private boards (everything is visible team-wide). Dim0's free tier doesn't box you in that way.
Where Miro wins
- Enormously mature: a huge template library, facilitation tools (voting, timers, workshops), and years of polish at scale.
- Deep enterprise integrations (Jira, Slack, Azure, etc.) and governance (SSO, security, compliance).
- Established, trusted by large orgs, with solid mobile apps.
- Purpose-built for structured workshop and agile facilitation, which Dim0 doesn't specialize in.
Pick Dim0 if open-source, self-hosting, data ownership, and native non-metered AI matter to you. Pick Miro if you need enterprise facilitation, deep integrations, and maturity, and cloud lock-in with per-seat pricing is acceptable.
The job you're actually trying to do
You want a shared visual space where a team can think together: map a plan, run a workshop, diagram a system, brainstorm. Miro is the category leader for exactly this. The question underneath, and the one most "Miro alternative" searches are really asking, is: do I have to rent it forever from a cloud I can't leave, and pay per seat with AI on a credit meter?
What Miro is (fairly)
Miro is a cloud SaaS collaborative infinite whiteboard. It's excellent at brainstorming, diagramming, agile ceremonies (sprint planning, retros, Kanban), UX and design work, and facilitated workshops. Real-time multiplayer with live cursors and presence, an enormous template gallery, and broad integrations make it the enterprise default.
Its pricing (as of 2026, billed annually) runs Free ($0), Starter (about $8/member/month), Business (about $20/member/month), and Enterprise (custom, 30-seat minimum). Miro AI can generate sticky notes, mind maps, diagrams, and code blocks from prompts, cluster stickies, and summarize boards, with more advanced "Sidekicks" and multi-step "Flows" on Business, but AI usage is metered by credits. The free tier is limited: three editable boards (team-wide, not per person), no private boards, and no PDF/SVG export.
What Miro is not: open-source, self-hostable, or something you can run on your own infrastructure. It's a proprietary cloud.
What Dim0 is
Dim0 is an open-source (MIT), self-hostable thinking canvas with AI built in. The same infinite board holds Notion-grade notes, freehand shapes, sandboxed code nodes, charts, uploaded docs, nested boards, and generated mini-apps, and a board-aware agent reads that board before it acts. It's real-time collaborative, runs 8 AI models (bring your own keys), and stores notes as plain Markdown so you can always walk away with your content. You can use the hosted cloud or run the whole thing yourself.
Head to head
| Dim0 | Miro | |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | Yes (MIT) | No |
| Self-host | Yes | No (cloud only) |
| Data ownership | Markdown, exportable, yours | Proprietary cloud |
| Real-time collaboration | Yes | Yes |
| AI | Board-aware agent, not metered | Miro AI, metered by credits |
| Node types | Notes, code, charts, docs, shapes, mini-apps | Sticky notes, shapes, diagrams |
| Generated interactive apps | Yes (mini-apps) | No |
| Free tier | Generous | 3 editable boards, no private boards |
| Pricing model | Free + low flat plans (from ~€6.99/mo) | Per seat (~$8-$20/member/mo) + AI credits |
| Enterprise facilitation / governance | Basic | Best-in-class |
| Template + integration ecosystem | Young | Huge |
| Maturity | Young | Very mature |
Where Miro is genuinely better
Give Miro its due. For facilitated workshops and enterprise agile, it's in a different league: templates, voting, timers, frameworks, and a facilitation experience Dim0 doesn't try to match. Its integrations (Jira especially) and enterprise governance (SSO, compliance, admin controls) are mature. If you're a large organization running structured ceremonies at scale, Miro is the safe, proven choice, and its polish shows.
Where Dim0 pulls ahead
The gap is about control and what a "board" can hold:
- You can run it yourself. MIT-licensed and self-hostable. Your boards, your infrastructure, your model keys. Miro cannot offer this.
- No cloud lock-in and no seat-metered AI. Notes are Markdown, boards export, and the agent isn't rationed by a credit meter.
- A canvas that holds real work, not just stickies. Code that runs, live charts, documents, and mini-apps as first-class nodes, with an agent that acts on all of it.
For a lot of teams, the deciding factor is simply: I don't want a critical thinking tool I can't self-host and can't fully export from. That's the sentence Dim0 was built for.
So which should you use?
- Enterprise facilitation, deep integrations, maximum maturity, and cloud is fine: Miro.
- Open-source, self-hostable, AI-native, data-you-own canvas: Dim0.
- If you've hit Miro's free-tier board cap, balked at per-seat pricing, or need to self-host for data-control reasons, that's your signal to try Dim0.
Miro is the polished incumbent. Dim0 is the open-source canvas you can actually run yourself.
Try it: app.dim0.net: open-source, self-hostable, free to start, your data stays yours.
