# Excaliself vs Vidyst Studio: which to pick

> Excaliself vs Vidyst Studio: pricing, platforms, launches, upvotes and founders side by side on ProductsFarm, with notes on which to pick.

Canonical: https://productsfarm.com/compare/excaliself-vs-vidyst
Last updated: 2026-11-06

|  | [Excaliself](https://productsfarm.com/product/excaliself) | [Vidyst Studio](https://productsfarm.com/product/vidyst) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | Self-hosted whiteboard for teams that keeps every drawing on your own server | Live stream and record from one Mac app to YouTube, Twitch, X and Instagram |
| Pricing | Open source | Paid |
| Platforms | API, CLI, Web | macOS, Web |
| Categories | Design, Developer tools, Communication | Video and audio, Communication |
| Made for | development teams, self-hosting enthusiasts, small teams | live streamers, podcasters, content creators |
| Built with | [Astro](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/astro), [TanStack Start](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/tanstack-start), [Cloudflare](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/cloudflare), [PostgreSQL](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/postgresql), [Drizzle](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/drizzle), [Claude](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/claude), [Tailwind CSS](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/tailwind-css) | [Next.js](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/nextjs), [React](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/react), [Cloudflare](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/cloudflare), [PostgreSQL](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/postgresql), [Dodo Payments](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/dodo-payments), [Google Analytics](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/google-analytics), [Crisp](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/crisp), [Tailwind CSS](https://productsfarm.com/tech-stack/tailwind-css) |
| Upvotes | 0 | 0 |
| Website | [excaliself.com](https://excaliself.com/) | [vidyst.com](https://www.vidyst.com/) |

## About Excaliself

Excaliself is a self-hosted version of Excalidraw, the hand-drawn style whiteboard editor. It embeds the official Excalidraw canvas unchanged and adds the parts a team needs to keep drawings over time: accounts, a shared Team space, folders, search, a shared library and a trash can. Deleted drawings stay in the trash for 30 days. Every drawing, including pasted images, is stored in your own Postgres database.

Team members can open the same drawing and see each other's cursors and edits as they happen. A share link lets someone outside the team draw together without an account. Press ⌘K to search over drawings, folders and actions. Excalidraw+ users can import their scenes, collections and images with an API key, and .excalidraw files can be dropped into a sidebar folder.

The app runs from a Docker Compose file that starts the prebuilt app image and a Postgres container, on amd64 and arm64. The first visitor becomes the admin, and everyone else joins through a single use invite link. Optionally, members can connect an MCP client such as Claude Code or Claude Desktop with a personal access token to search, read and create drawings and manage folders, without an AI API key on the server. It is aimed at teams that want to run their own whiteboard server.

## About Vidyst Studio

Vidyst is a live streaming and recording app for Mac. From one session you can go live on YouTube, Twitch, X and Instagram at the same time, or to any service that gives you a stream key. A single take can go out in two formats: a wide 16:9 stream for YouTube and Twitch, and a tall 9:16 stream for Shorts, Reels and TikTok. The app also records in 4K and includes a set of layouts for switching between your screen, camera and side-by-side views.

Guests can join from a browser with an invite link, with no app or account needed. Up to two guests are included on the Basic plan and up to ten on Creator. Each guest's voice is recorded on its own track, which makes editing a podcast or interview easier. Comments from every connected platform appear in one live chat, where the host can reply, pin messages or show a comment on screen. Recordings are saved as they happen, so a crash does not lose the take.

Vidyst suits solo creators, podcasters, musicians, tutorial makers and anyone running live coding classes or product launches who wants to stream to several platforms without setting up separate tools. It is available for Macs with Apple silicon running macOS 14.2 or later, and every plan starts with a 14-day free trial.

## Related

- [Excaliself](https://productsfarm.com/product/excaliself)
- [Vidyst Studio](https://productsfarm.com/product/vidyst)
- [More comparisons](https://productsfarm.com/compare)