FigJam is an online interactive whiteboard from Figma headquartered in San Francisco, presently in beta (2021) but available to the public in a free trial. The vendor states that in 2022, FigJam will have plans for $0, $8, and $15 per editor, per month.
$5
per month per editor
Google Jamboard
Score 6.7 out of 10
N/A
Google Jamboard is a collaborative whiteboard, available as an add-on to Google Workspaces.
It is well suited when people use it to sketch the first wireframes of the UX, like the Breadboarding technique from Basecamp. I used to work like that when modifying some UX. Our designers used to sketch over our current experience wireframe, and then we could discuss it by using the comments in Figjam or the Call feature at FigJam. That made it easy to discuss it. When building up group boards to discuss ideas, I use Miro, once it has more native pre-sets that help conducts the discussion.
Google Jamboard is ideal for live, synchronous sessions to support collaboration and engagement. It can be used for the entire class, small group, or independent work. Create a Jamboard for a simple student knowledge check, or annotation exercise, or sorting activity. Insert a Google document, spreadsheet, or presentation, and have students annotate the file. There are many types of active learning activities you can do with a Google Jamboard!
Positive: FigJam is cheaper than Miro and allows connecting with FigJam, where we design our user interfaces. FigJam is more complete and visually appealing than draw.io, although draw.io is free. FigJam allows calls, which both competitors do not. Negative: Miro has more pre-set diagrams than FigJam and they are native and easy to use FigJam is paid, while draw.io is not.
Google Jamboard is a much simpler tool. This is not necessarily a bad thing e.g. if I just want to set up a warm-up exercise for students before we start the session using Miro would be flash over substance. Do not get me wrong, everyone who knows me knows I love Miro but I also appreciate the simplicity and a variety of tools I can use. Another product that TrustRadius does not take into consideration is Padlet or MS Whiteboard. Another argument supporting the choice of Google Jamboard, especially for Google users, is that is kind of part of the package. Non-Google users are also welcome!
