Looking for a way to enhance visual collaboration? This Mural review will tell you everything you need to know about one of the world’s most popular whiteboarding apps.
Traditional whiteboards and projectors might seem like a thing of the past for some of today’s teams, but visual collaborative experiences are still crucial. Whether you’re brainstorming new ideas, planning a marketing campaign, or designing a new product, the right software can be critical.
Mural, one of the most popular “visual work platforms”, has emerged as a valuable tool for hybrid teams. Even businesses like IBM, Autodesk, and Atlassian rely on this software. The question is, does Mural have the potential to transform how your teams work together?
I signed up for a free trial of the platform to find out.
The Quick Verdict, Pros and Cons
Mural is one of the most intuitive and user-friendly solutions for visual collaboration I’ve used. It’s great for dynamic brainstorming sessions and even offers access to AI-powered tools to help you generate and organize your ideas more effectively. However, it is a little pricier than some of its competitors (like Miro), and lacks a couple of valuable features.
Pros:
- Very intuitive and easy to use for beginners
- Lots of convenient templates to choose from
- Easy integration with tools like Microsoft Teams
- Generative AI support through Mural AI
- Excellent built-in security features
Cons:
- Slightly expensive pricing
- Some limitations on interactive charts and tables
Mural Review: Overview and Pricing
Mural is a simple collaboration app, designed for visual workflows, like mind-mapping and brainstorming. You can use the tool with other apps, like Microsoft Teams, or as a standalone solution to create virtual canvases and whiteboards where teams can share ideas.
Mural makes it easy to create interactive workspaces where staff members can add notes, draw, pin files and images, and experiment with custom templates. Notably, there are some limitations on the interactive charts and reports you can create, which could be why some companies prefer to switch to Mural’s closest competitor, Miro.
As I mentioned above, I used the free plan to get a feel for what Miro can do. This plan is pretty generous in some ways. It supports unlimited members, gives you access to all of the visual collaboration features of the platform, and gives you infinite canvas options.
However, you can only create three murals in total. If you’re going to be using Mural regularly, I’d recommend choosing one of the paid plans:
- Team+: $9.99 per month (annually), or $12 per month per person (paid monthly): All the features of the free plan, plus unlimited murals, in-app chat and email support, and privacy controls for your murals and rooms.
- Business: $17.99 per month (only available annually): All the features of Team+, single sign-on, unlimited guests, advanced integrations, and priority support.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing: All the features of the Business plan, plus enhanced privacy and security controls, SCIM provisioning, and data residency.
Compared to similar apps, like Miro, Mural’s pricing is pretty similar. However, it might be a slightly expensive option if you’re already using collaboration services like Zoom or Microsoft Teams, which generally have their own whiteboarding tools built-in.
Mural Review: Templates and Whiteboarding
One thing I loved about Mural when I was testing it for this review, is how easy it is to start creating visual workspaces for collaboration. There are over 400 templates to choose from if you don’t want to start from scratch. All of these templates are designed for different use cases. For instance, you can create a customer journey map, or plan a sprint for a project.
All the templates feature handy components you can add as you work with your team. For instance, you can instantly add sticky notes and text, as well as icons GIFs, and images. You can also create and publish your own custom templates for other team members to use.
One slight downside is that the sticky note function is a little fiddly, as you’ll automatically add a sticky note to a canvas with a double click. If you do this accidentally, you have to manually delete each sticky note, which is a bit annoying.
Still, aside from sticky notes, you’ll still get plenty of other assets you can pull into your canvas, like shapes, lines, and icons. You can also search for images in online libraries, like Giphy or Adobe Creative Cloud. Plus, there are “table and areas” solutions that you can use as objects within your canvas, though you don’t get a lot of interactive table and reporting options.
Plus, you can upload various file types to your Mural canvas, such as DOCs, PDFs, and ZIP files. If you want to add a link to a canvas, Mural will generate a preview image automatically. You can even embed videos from YouTube into the canvas itself.
Collaboration in Mural
I found the overall collaborative features to be pretty impressive. Mural ensures everyone can work seamlessly together in real-time. Everyone who has access to a canvas can view and edit it, without any delays. Plus, as well as having control over feature permissions for your users, you can add “facilitators” to your murals. These are people who can access extra features, like adding a time limit to a collaborative session, creating an outline, or “locking” certain pieces of content.
