Excalidraw vs Huashu Design
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
Open-source virtual whiteboard for sketching hand-drawn style diagrams in your browser.
Open source · MIT
An agent skill that turns a one-line prompt into HTML prototypes, slides, animations and infographics.
The short answer
Choose Excalidraw if you need…
- Teams sketching diagrams or wireframes together in a shared canvas
- People who want a casual, informal look for explanatory drawings
- Developers who want to embed a whiteboard editor in their own React app
- Users who care about end-to-end encryption for shared drawings
Choose Huashu Design if you need…
- Designers or founders who want quick visual drafts from a short text prompt
- Developers already working inside Claude Code, Codex or Cursor who want design output without leaving the agent
- People making simple presentations or product announcement animations
- Users who want to pick between several style directions before committing
Side-by-side
| Excalidraw | Huashu Design | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | App | CLI |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 135k | 28.5k |
| Setup difficulty | Beginner | Beginner |
| How you get it | Use it in the browser (or self-host) | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | TypeScript | HTML |
| Last code update | 4 days ago | 6 days ago |
What each one is
Excalidraw
Excalidraw is an open-source whiteboard where you draw diagrams, wireframes and sketches in a deliberately hand-drawn style. The hosted app at excalidraw.com adds real-time collaboration, end-to-end encryption and autosave to the browser. The same editor is also published as an npm package that developers can embed in their own apps.
Huashu Design
Huashu Design is a skill (a set of instructions and scripts) for AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. You describe a design in one sentence and the agent produces HTML-based deliverables like web pages, app prototypes, slide decks with editable PPTX export, animations and infographics. It can also offer several style directions to choose from before building.
Best for
Excalidraw
- Teams sketching diagrams or wireframes together in a shared canvas
- People who want a casual, informal look for explanatory drawings
- Developers who want to embed a whiteboard editor in their own React app
- Users who care about end-to-end encryption for shared drawings
- Anyone who wants drawings saved in an open .excalidraw JSON format
Huashu Design
- Designers or founders who want quick visual drafts from a short text prompt
- Developers already working inside Claude Code, Codex or Cursor who want design output without leaving the agent
- People making simple presentations or product announcement animations
- Users who want to pick between several style directions before committing
Strengths
Excalidraw
- Free and open source under the MIT license
- Simple, approachable drawing tools with a distinctive hand-drawn look
- Open .excalidraw JSON format and export to PNG, SVG and clipboard
Huashu Design
- Runs inside several popular agents, and the README says it installs with a single npx command
- Produces HTML-native output that can be previewed in a browser and exported to PDF, PNG, SVG, MP4 or PPTX
- Ships with a large built-in style library of 84 styles, each with a sample image
Not ideal for
Excalidraw
- Users who need precise, pixel-perfect vector design; the hand-drawn style is the default look and the README does not describe precision tools
- People wanting to self-host the collaboration service; the README only links to the hosted app for real-time collaboration and does not describe a self-hosting setup
- Non-developers who only want the hosted app and have no need for the code; the npm and development sections are aimed at developers
Huashu Design
- Teams that need a full Figma-style collaborative design workflow, since the README says there is no panel or Figma plugin
- Anyone needing pixel-level control over production UI code without reviewing agent output, because the README describes AI-generated results that still need judgment
- People without an agent that supports skills, since the tool is installed into such agents
Trade-offs
Excalidraw
- Collaboration and encryption are features of the hosted app; the README does not detail how to run them yourself
- Development setup is covered only by a linked guide, so the README alone gives limited build detail
- No downloadable binaries in the latest release; use the web app or the npm package
Huashu Design
- Installation can fail on older skills CLI versions; the README says versions 1.5.15 and below sync only a single file, so you must check for the subfolders
- Much of the documentation and examples are in Chinese, with an English README linked separately
- Quality depends on the agent and prompt; the README's showcase examples were chosen by the author
Getting started
Huashu Design
Install the skill via the skills CLI
npx skills add alchaincyf/huashu-designUpdate the skills CLI if the install is incomplete
npm i -g skills@latestFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Huashu Design?
Excalidraw: Open-source virtual whiteboard for sketching hand-drawn style diagrams in your browser. Huashu Design: An agent skill that turns a one-line prompt into HTML prototypes, slides, animations and infographics. Excalidraw suits teams sketching diagrams or wireframes together in a shared canvas, while Huashu Design suits designers or founders who want quick visual drafts from a short text prompt.
Are Excalidraw and Huashu Design free?
Excalidraw: Free and open source. Huashu Design: Free and open source.
Is Excalidraw or Huashu Design more popular?
Excalidraw has more GitHub stars (135k) than Huashu Design (28.5k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Excalidraw and Huashu Design?
Other options people compare them with include Drawnix, reveal.js, Slidev, Agent Reach.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.