A Miro alternative for teams that plan the same way every time

Miro is an open canvas for drawing, diagramming and brainstorming. Cardsmith is narrower on purpose: boards of cards in rows and columns, built for the plans a team keeps coming back to, like training plans, Rapid Learning Cycles, lessons learned and roadmaps.

No credit card needed. See pricing

A Learning Plan board in Cardsmith, with skill areas as rows and progress stages as columns.
A Cardsmith grid board: every card has a row and a column.

Where Cardsmith is different

  • Structure first. A grid board has named rows and columns, and every card sits in a cell. Reorder, insert or hide rows and columns, and the cards come with them.
  • Cards hold the details. Text, checklist, image and link fields on each card, checklist progress on the card face, and grid totals that add up number fields by row and column.
  • Templates for methods. Learning Plan, Rapid Learning Cycles, Lessons Learned, Roadmap and Workshop boards, plus retrospective, agile and strategy templates.
  • Little to learn. No drawing tools, shapes or app marketplace. People who open a board once a month can still find their way around it.
  • Works with AI assistants. Add Cardsmith as a connector in Claude or ChatGPT, and the assistant can read your boards and add, move or update cards, with the same permissions you have.

Side by side

CardsmithMiro
Built forPlans a team keeps coming back to: training plans, learning cycles, retros, roadmapsOpen-ended whiteboarding, diagramming and brainstorming
Board layoutCards in a grid of named rows and columns, plus freeform and tile viewsAn open canvas
Free option30-day trial of every Professional feature, no credit card; boards stay viewable afterwardsFree plan with 3 editable boards
Paid plans (published prices)Professional $9/month billed yearly ($12 monthly); Team $9 per person per month billed yearlyStarter $8 and Business $20 per member per month, billed annually; Enterprise priced on request
OwnershipCardsmith, LLC, an independent companyAcquired by Bending Spoons in October 2026

Miro details from miro.com/pricing, checked October 29, 2026, and Bending Spoons' announcement. Prices change; check Miro's site for current terms.

When Miro is the better choice

Pick Miro if you need to draw, sketch or build diagrams with shapes; if your workshops depend on large canvases with many frames; if you rely on its integrations; or if your company has already standardized on it. Cardsmith doesn't try to cover those.

Pick Cardsmith if your boards are really lists of work in rows and columns that the team updates for weeks or months, and you'd rather everyone saw the same structure every time.

Bringing your work over

Cardsmith imports CSV files and Trello board exports. A spreadsheet with a card title, a column and a row for each item becomes a grid board in one step, and any extra columns become fields on the cards.

Questions

Is Cardsmith cheaper than Miro?

Not always. Miro's Starter plan is listed at $8 per member per month billed annually and Cardsmith's plans are $9 billed yearly. The reason to switch is fit: whether your team's work is better as a structured board than as an open canvas.

Can my team try it first?

Yes. Every account starts with a 30-day trial of all Professional features, and no credit card is needed.

Does Cardsmith have a free plan?

No. After the trial, boards stay viewable, but editing needs a Professional or Team plan.

Boards for other methods

Try it on your own plan

Start from the template, rename what you need, and invite your team.

No credit card needed.