Miro

What is Miro

Miro is a versatile online collaborative whiteboard platform designed for teams to work together visually, regardless of their location. Its core purpose is to provide a flexible, infinite canvas where users can brainstorm ideas, manage agile workflows, create diagrams, plan projects, and conduct workshops. Founded in 2011 by Andrey Khusid and Oleg Shardin, the company was originally known as RealtimeBoard before rebranding to Miro in 2019. It serves as a central hub for cross-functional teams in product development, UX design, engineering, and marketing to align and innovate. The company has dual headquarters in San Francisco, USA, and Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Miro Features

• Infinite Canvas: A limitless digital whiteboard that allows teams to add sticky notes, images, documents, and drawings without space constraints. This is perfect for large-scale brainstorming and project mapping.
• Template Library: Access a vast collection of pre-built templates for various use cases, including Kanban boards, user story maps, customer journey maps, retrospectives, and mind maps. This helps teams start projects quickly with proven structures.
• Miro AI: An integrated artificial intelligence assistant that can automate tasks like summarizing sticky notes, generating ideas, creating diagrams from text, and clustering content. It helps accelerate workflows and reduce manual effort.
• Real-time Collaboration: See team members' cursors move in real-time, leave comments, use a voting tool, and start a video chat directly on the board. These features make remote collaboration feel interactive and engaging.
• Talktrack: Record video and audio walkthroughs of a Miro board to share asynchronous updates with your team. This reduces the need for live meetings and is ideal for global teams in different time zones.
• Integrations: Connect Miro with over 160 popular tools like Jira, Asana, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace. This allows for a seamless flow of information between your favorite applications.
• Miro Docs and Tables: Create structured documents and data tables directly within the canvas. This feature helps organize information and plans alongside visual elements.
• Presentation Mode: Turn parts of your board into interactive slides for presentations. This makes it easy to share your work with stakeholders without leaving the platform.

Miro Pricing Plans

Miro offers several pricing plans to suit different user needs.

• Free Plan: Designed for individuals or small teams just getting started. It provides access to core features with some limitations on the number of boards and advanced functionalities.
• Starter Plan: Aimed at small teams, this plan offers unlimited editable boards, private boards, custom templates, and project management features. It is ideal for growing teams that need more collaborative power.
• Business Plan: Built for medium to large teams, this plan includes everything in the Starter plan plus advanced features like Single Sign-On (SSO), Miro Smart Diagramming, and external guest editors. It provides better security and administration controls.
• Enterprise Plan: A custom solution for large organizations that require enterprise-grade security, governance, advanced user management, and dedicated support. This plan is tailored to meet the specific compliance and scalability needs of large companies.

Miro Free Plan

Miro offers a generous Free Plan that is not a limited-time trial. The free plan includes access to three editable boards, the core set of templates, and basic integrations with tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Jira. While it allows for unlimited team members, some advanced features such as private boards, video chat, and voting are not included. It is an excellent option for individuals or small teams to explore the platform's main capabilities before committing to a paid plan.

How to use Miro

Getting started with Miro is a straightforward process.

1. Sign Up: Create a free account using your work email address.
2. Create a Team: Set up your team workspace and invite colleagues to join via email or a shareable link.
3. Start a Board: Create a new board from scratch or choose from hundreds of pre-built templates. For example, select a 'Kanban Framework' template for project management or a 'Mind Map' for brainstorming.
4. Add Content: Use the toolbar on the left to add sticky notes, text, shapes, arrows, and drawings. You can also upload images, documents, and other files directly to the canvas.
5. Collaborate in Real-Time: Work with your team on the board simultaneously. Use the @mention feature in comments to notify specific team members and the voting tool to make decisions together.
6. Organize Your Board: Use frames to group related content. You can then use these frames to create a presentation or export specific sections as PDFs or images.
7. Integrate Your Tools: Connect Miro to other applications like Jira to import tasks as interactive cards, or embed Miro boards in Confluence pages for better documentation.

Pros and Cons of Miro

Pros:

• Highly Flexible: The infinite canvas and wide range of tools make it suitable for almost any visual collaboration task.
• Extensive Template Library: A massive collection of templates helps teams get started quickly and follow best practices.
• Powerful Integrations: Seamlessly connects with a large number of third-party tools, creating a unified workflow.
• Excellent Collaboration Features: Real-time cursors, video chat, and interactive elements make remote work feel connected.
• Robust Free Plan: The free offering is very capable for small teams and individual use.

Cons:

• Steep Learning Curve: The vast number of features can be overwhelming for new users.
• Performance Issues: Very large and complex boards can sometimes become slow to load and navigate, especially on older hardware.
• Limited Mobile Functionality: The mobile app is useful for viewing and light editing but lacks the full functionality of the desktop or web version.
• Cost for Larger Teams: Pricing can become expensive for larger teams, especially when needing advanced security and administrative features.

Miro integrations

Miro offers a wide range of integrations to connect your workflows across different platforms. You can connect your favorite tools to streamline processes and keep all your work in one place. Key integrations include:

• Jira & Azure DevOps: Create a two-way sync between Miro cards and issues in Jira or Azure DevOps, allowing teams to plan and track work visually.
• Asana & Trello: Import tasks from Asana or Trello into Miro to visualize project dependencies and workflows.
• Slack & Microsoft Teams: Receive Miro notifications, share boards, and get comment updates directly within your communication channels.
• Google Workspace & Microsoft 365: Embed Miro boards into Google Docs or Microsoft Teams meetings, and import files from Google Drive or OneDrive.
• Figma, Sketch, & Adobe XD: Embed design files directly into Miro boards for design reviews and feedback sessions.
• Zoom: Use the Miro app for Zoom to collaborate on a board directly within a Zoom meeting, making workshops more interactive.

Miro Alternatives

• Mural: A direct competitor to Miro, Mural also offers a digital whiteboard for visual collaboration. Mural is often praised for its strong facilitation features and is very popular for design thinking workshops. Miro generally has a larger template library and more integrations.
• FigJam: Created by Figma, FigJam is an online whiteboard designed for teams to brainstorm and ideate together. It integrates perfectly with Figma, making it a great choice for product design teams. It is simpler and more focused than Miro, with fewer complex features.
• Microsoft Whiteboard: A freeform digital canvas integrated into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. It is a good choice for teams already heavily invested in Microsoft products like Teams. While it covers the basics, it is less feature-rich compared to Miro.
• Lucidspark: A virtual whiteboard that is part of the Lucid software suite. It integrates seamlessly with Lucidchart, making it a strong option for teams that need both brainstorming and advanced diagramming capabilities.

Miro API

Miro provides a comprehensive REST API and a Web SDK that allow developers to build custom applications and integrations on top of the Miro platform. The API enables you to programmatically manage boards, users, and content like widgets (sticky notes, shapes, cards).

To get started, you need to create a developer team in your Miro settings and then create an app to obtain your API credentials (client ID and client secret). The developer documentation, available on the Miro Developers portal, provides detailed guides and references.

Here is a simple example using cURL to get information about a specific board:

curl --request GET \
     --url https://api.miro.com/v2/boards/{board_id} \
     --header 'Accept: application/json' \
     --header 'Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>'

This allows for powerful custom solutions, such as automatically creating project boards from a template or syncing board content with an external database.

Miro Affiliate program

Miro does not offer a traditional, public-facing affiliate program where individuals can earn commissions by sharing links. Instead, they have a Miro Partner Program designed for businesses, consultants, and agencies that help their clients adopt and use Miro. This includes Solution Partners who provide services and integrations, and a Miro Experts program for certified individuals who offer training and facilitation. To join, you typically need to apply through the Miro website and demonstrate your expertise and business case. For individuals looking to promote Miro, it is best to contact their partnership team directly to inquire about potential collaboration opportunities.