Open source canvas projects
Every project in the registry tagged canvas, ranked by real GitHub adoption.
Collaborative whiteboard with a hand-drawn aesthetic
Apache ECharts is a powerful, interactive charting and data visualization library for browser
Free instant whiteboard with real-time collaboration
The HTML5 Creation Engine: Create beautiful digital content with the fastest, most flexible 2D WebGL renderer.
Open canvas for designing and building web apps
This layout engine can solve the hardest layout problems imaginable. Its output is DTP grade and deterministic. It's faster than engines written in C++ because
Frequently asked questions
How many open source canvas projects are there?
This registry tracks 6 projects tagged canvas, with 301,497 GitHub stars between them. The most-adopted is Excalidraw at 132,233 stars.
Are these canvas projects free to use?
Yes — 5 of the 6 carry an explicit open-source licence across 2 distinct licences, so there is no licence fee. Where a project also sells a hosted or enterprise version, the self-hosted path remains free.
Which canvas project should I choose?
The list above is ranked by GitHub stars, but stars measure attention rather than fit. Check three things on each card: the licence (permissive versus copyleft), the language it is written in, and the last-push date — a high-star project that has not been pushed in a year is a liability.
Are these canvas projects still maintained?
6 of the 6 were pushed in the last 90 days, and every card shows its exact last-push date so you can see the rest. Sort your shortlist by that date before committing to a migration.