Correction, 2026-10-02: the previous version described the tools with judgements we have not measured: Milanote as "the most pleasant place to think visually" with a "calm" nothing else has, Notion as the "closest like-for-like" with "far better writing", FigJam moodboards as looking "made by someone who mostly runs workshops", Excalidraw as "wrong for reference collection", and Pinterest as "unbeatable for discovery" with "no client sharing that looks professional". It also gave reasons why people leave Milanote, said 100 cards last "two or three real projects", said many teams already use Notion and many people use Pinterest, and said moodboard tools moved into AI "during 2026", none of which we can source. Each tool is now described by what its own pages say, and the numbering is not a ranking. The page repeated 8frame's free-canvas claim outside our standard sentence ("free unlimited canvas", "no card ceiling free", "canvas free, generation paid") and suggested 8frame as "a flat-priced canvas" for teams, without saying that credits are per user (each generation is charged to the person who runs it), that Starter cannot invite collaborators, that each collaborator needs an 8frame account, that a board has no public share link, or that 8frame has no sticky notes, votes or timers; all of that is now stated. It called Pinterest "effectively unlimited" (Pinterest sets no limit on the Pins you create but does limit the number of boards) and left out that Milanote's free plan includes unlimited shared boards. Every competitor fact was re-checked on the vendor's own page on 2026-10-02.
Correction, 2026-10-01: the first version of this page listed real-time collaboration as part of 8frame's free tier. The canvas is free and unlimited, but inviting collaborators needs the Creator plan (up to 3 members) or Agency (up to 30). It also said Pinterest gives no control over what sits next to your board (Pinterest lets you reorder Pins and group them into sections, though not lay them out freely), said Notion is installed at most companies, which we cannot source, and its table gave Milanote's paid price as "$9.99 annually" when it is $9.99 a month billed annually. Competitor facts were re-checked on 2026-10-01.
A Milanote alternative solves one of two problems, and they lead to different tools. If the free plan's cap of 100 notes, images or links is the problem and you do not want a per-person subscription, look at a tool whose free plan is limited in a different way. If what you outgrew is collection itself, because the board now has to produce the images rather than only hold them, look at a canvas that runs image and video models. Disclosure: 8frame is our product, it belongs in the second group, and it is not a replacement for Milanote's notes and writing. This is not a quality ranking: we have not run the same project through every tool, so each one is described by what its own pages say, checked on 2026-10-02.
TL;DR
- Milanote's own limits: the free plan has no time limit and is capped at 100 notes, images or links plus 10 file uploads, with unlimited shared boards; paid is $9.99 a month per person billed annually ($12.50 monthly), and the team plan is $49 a month billed annually for up to 10 people
- The board has to generate images and video: 8frame (our product). Image and video models on the same canvas as the references. The canvas is free and unlimited; generation is paid from $19/month. Inviting collaborators needs Creator ($49/month, up to 3 members) or Agency ($499/month, up to 30), and credits are per user, not pooled
- The boards are as much text as image: Notion, whose free plan has unlimited pages and blocks for one person (limited once a workspace has 2 or more members) and file uploads up to 5 MB each
- A whiteboard at a lower seat price: FigJam, $3 a month per Collab seat on Figma Professional or $5 on Organization, billed annually; the free Starter plan allows 3 FigJam files
- Free, with no board count: Excalidraw, open source under the MIT licence
- Saving references from the web into boards: Pinterest, with board sections and Pins you can reorder
What Milanote limits
Milanote's free plan has "no time limit". It is capped at 100 notes, images or links, plus 10 file uploads, and it includes unlimited shared boards. The paid plan is $9.99 a month per person billed annually, or $12.50 billed monthly, with unlimited notes, images, links and file uploads. The team plan is $49 a month billed annually for up to 10 people.
Milanote describes itself as "an easy-to-use tool for organizing creative projects": notes, images, videos, sketches and links on visual boards, saving content from the web in a single click, and invites that let others edit, comment on or just view a board. Neither its plans page nor its home page lists an AI feature, so every image on a Milanote board was made somewhere else.
Whether 100 items is enough depends on how many references and notes your boards hold. Count what your current boards contain before you decide the cap is the problem.
The alternatives
The numbering below is not a ranking.
1. 8frame
Best for: boards that have to produce images and video, not only collect references.
The catch: no sticky notes, votes or timers; generation is paid; and a board has no public share link (only invited collaborators with an 8frame account see it). 8frame has comments on the canvas, not a notes tool, so if your boards are half writing, keep the writing in a tool built for it.
8frame is our product: an infinite canvas where you upload your own images and video, arrange references and annotate them with comments. The canvas is free and unlimited; generation is paid from $19/month. Real-time collaboration (live cursors, collaborator roles) starts when the board owner invites collaborators, and that needs the Creator plan ($49/month, up to 3 members) or Agency ($499/month, up to 30). Starter cannot invite anyone, and each collaborator needs their own 8frame account. Credits are per user, not a team pool: each generation is charged to the person who runs it, on their own plan.
What Milanote does not list at all is the reason to look: the same canvas runs image and video models (Nano Banana Pro and Seedream 5 Lite for stills, Veo 3.1, Kling v3 and Seedance 2.5 for motion, among others). Images from the board go into the models as inputs (a start frame or reference images, depending on the model; Kling v3 always needs a start image), and the results land on the board where the team already works. Generation runs on plans from $19/month for 1,000 credits: an image is 6 credits on Seedream 5 Lite and 21 on Nano Banana Pro (42 at 4K), and a 5-second Kling v3 Standard clip with audio, from a start image, is 86.
2. Notion
Best for: boards that are as much text as image.
Notion keeps items as pages in a database and can show them as a table, board, timeline, calendar, list, gallery or chart. Its help center calls gallery view "useful for highlighting images", and board view groups items by a property, like a Kanban board. Items sit in those layouts rather than at any spot you choose on a canvas, which is the main difference from a Milanote board. The free plan has unlimited pages and blocks for an individual, limited once a workspace has 2 or more members, and file uploads of up to 5 MB each; paid plans lift both limits.
3. FigJam
Best for: design teams who want a whiteboard at a low seat price.
FigJam is Figma's online whiteboard for real-time collaboration, with audio, live chat, stamps and emotes. A Collab seat costs $3 a month on Figma's Professional plan and $5 on Organization, billed annually, each with 500 AI credits a month. The free Starter plan allows 3 FigJam files plus unlimited drafts, but on Starter anyone you invite to a draft gets view access only. Per Figma's help center, FigJam AI generates boards and diagrams, sorts and summarizes stickies, and makes and edits images; it lists no video generation. For teams already in Figma, design files are one tab away.
4. Excalidraw
Best for: free boards with no board count.
Excalidraw is free and open source under the MIT licence: an infinite whiteboard with a hand-drawn style, image support, and, on excalidraw.com, real-time collaboration and read-only share links. It autosaves to the browser and saves drawings as open .excalidraw files, so there is no board count to run into. The repository includes the app's source and a Dockerfile, so you can run your own copy. It can hold images; image or video generation is not among the features it lists.
5. Pinterest
Best for: saving references you find on the web into boards.
Pinterest describes itself as "a visual discovery engine". You save Pins (images, videos or products) to boards, group them into board sections, and drag and drop Pins or sections to reorder them, so a board is an ordered collection rather than a canvas you lay out freely. Group boards let other people collaborate, and boards can be private. Pinterest sets no limit on the Pins you create; it does limit the number of boards per account, without publishing the number.
Choosing by the constraint you hit
| You are leaving because | Look at |
|---|---|
| The cap of 100 notes, images or links | Excalidraw (no board count), Notion (unlimited blocks for one person), or 8frame if the board also has to generate (terms in the 8frame section above) |
| Per-person pricing on a team | FigJam's Collab seat ($3 a month on Professional, $5 on Organization, billed annually), or Milanote's team plan ($49 a month billed annually for up to 10 people). On 8frame a team needs Creator (up to 3 members) or Agency (up to 30), and credits are per user |
| The board should generate images or video | 8frame |
| You need more writing next to the images | Notion |
| Nothing, you only need more room | Milanote's paid plan, $9.99 a month per person billed annually |
If Milanote works for you and capacity is the only problem, compare the price of the paid plan with the time a migration would take before you move.
FAQ
What is the best free Milanote alternative? It depends on which limit you hit, so here are the free terms side by side. Excalidraw is free and open source, with no board count. Notion's free plan has unlimited pages and blocks for one person, limited once 2 or more members join, and uploads up to 5 MB each. FigJam's free Starter plan allows 3 FigJam files. For 8frame, our product, the terms fit in one line. The canvas is free and unlimited; generation is paid from $19/month. Inviting collaborators to an 8frame board needs the Creator or Agency plan.
Does Milanote's free plan expire? No. Milanote lists it as free "with no time limit", capped at 100 notes, images or links and 10 file uploads.
Is there an AI Milanote? Neither Milanote's plans page nor its home page lists an AI feature. Of the other tools on this page, FigJam AI makes and edits images, and 8frame runs image and video models on the canvas. AI moodboard tools are compared in best AI moodboard tool 2026.
Can a client see an 8frame board? Only as an invited collaborator. There is no public share link for an ordinary board; each collaborator needs an 8frame account, and inviting needs the Creator plan (up to 3 members) or Agency (up to 30). Milanote, by contrast, lets you invite people to edit, comment on or just view a board, and its free plan includes unlimited shared boards.
Sources
- Milanote free plan ("with no time limit", "100 notes, images or links", "10 file uploads", "Unlimited shared boards"), paid plan $9.99 per person a month billed annually or $12.50 monthly, team plan $49 a month billed annually for up to 10 people, no AI feature listed: Milanote plans and pricing, checked 2026-10-02; "an easy-to-use tool for organizing creative projects", notes, images, videos, sketches and links, saving web content in a single click, invites to edit, comment or view, no AI feature listed: Milanote home page, checked 2026-10-02
- Notion database views (table, board, timeline, calendar, list, gallery, chart; gallery "useful for highlighting images"): Notion help, Views, filters and sorts, checked 2026-10-02; free plan pages and blocks "Unlimited for individuals" and "limited for 2+ members", uploads up to 5 MB each on Free, unlimited on paid plans: Notion pricing, checked 2026-10-02
- FigJam Collab seat $3/mo on Professional and $5/mo on Organization, each with 500 AI credits a month: Figma pricing, checked 2026-10-02; Starter plan limited to 3 FigJam files, unlimited drafts, people invited to a draft get view access only: Figma help, Starter plan overview, checked 2026-10-02; real-time collaboration, audio, live chat, stamps and emotes: FigJam, checked 2026-10-02; FigJam AI (generate boards and diagrams, sort and summarize stickies, make and edit images; no video generation listed): Figma help, Use AI tools in FigJam, checked 2026-10-02
- Excalidraw: "Free & open-source", MIT licence, infinite canvas, hand-drawn style, image support, real-time collaboration and read-only share links on excalidraw.com, autosave to the browser, open
.excalidrawformat, app source and Dockerfile in the repository: Excalidraw on GitHub, checked 2026-10-02 - Pinterest: "a visual discovery engine", Pins saved to boards, board sections, group boards, private boards: Pinterest help, All about Pinterest, checked 2026-10-02; reordering Pins and sections by drag and drop: Pinterest help, Reorder Pins and sections, checked 2026-10-02; no limit on Pins you create, a limit on boards: Pinterest help, Limits for Pins, boards and follows, checked 2026-10-02
- 8frame plans (Starter $19 for 1,000 credits; Creator $49 with "Collaboration up to 3 members"; Agency $499 with "Collaboration up to 30 members"): 8frame pricing, checked 2026-10-02; Starter cannot invite collaborators, credits charged to the user who runs each generation, no public share link, comments on the canvas, no sticky notes, votes or timers: 8frame content fact sheet, checked 2026-10-02; credit prices (Seedream 5 Lite 6, Nano Banana Pro 21 and 42 at 4K, Kling v3 Standard 86 for 5 seconds with audio, Kling v3 start image required): 8frame tool registry, origin/main, checked 2026-10-02
If the board is the last step before production, put it where production happens. See also Miro alternatives for creative teams.
Try it without signing up: the 8frame canvas opens on a real board. The canvas is free and unlimited; generation is paid from $19/month.