Setting up ClickUp Whiteboard for early planning
The first time I opened a Whiteboard in ClickUp it felt surprisingly calm compared to Miro. There is less going on, fewer toolbars, and in a way that actually helps when you are just trying to move ideas out of your head. I dragged a sticky note, typed half an idea about redesigning my client onboarding tasks, and within a couple clicks I made an arrow pointing to another box labeled “email draft.” Nothing fancy. I did not lose ten minutes adjusting colors, which honestly happens all the time in Miro.
ClickUp has this funny quirk though – it feels like every tool is technically inside one giant to do list whether you like it or not. I saved the Whiteboard and boom, it now lives next to my general task lists. That does mean later when I am trying to assign deadlines I can connect shapes directly to real tasks. But at times I accidentally end up with five half made Whiteboards sitting inside folders I forgot existed ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯.
Trying Miro for full brainstorming sessions
Miro has more toys, and by toys I mean tools that make you lose fifteen minutes adjusting fonts instead of finishing the actual plan. The toolbar runs down the side like Photoshop used to. You can drop sticky notes, drawings, freehand scribbles. I once opened Miro for a product timeline and accidentally spent twenty minutes figuring out why my lines kept snapping at weird angles. Turns out I had the magnet option on. Little things like that break your flow when you just want to sketch something messy.
That said, when the goal is a group brainstorm with six people talking at the same time, Miro wins. You can zoom way out and give everyone space. One friend likes to draw giant boxes, another dumps in text. In ClickUp, too many hands editing feels cramped. Miro thrives in chaos, which also means you better name your boards clearly. Otherwise you end up with fifteen “new board” items and cannot find yesterday’s ideas :P.
How collaboration differs between the two
In ClickUp Whiteboard you invite someone and they already see the tasks tied to it. That’s great if your coworkers actually use ClickUp already. I shared a board with a client once and it was awkward – they asked why their Gmail email address gave them limited access. Miro handled that faster because you just drop in a link and they are inside playing.
What I do like in ClickUp is that once the meeting is over, I can click a box from the Whiteboard and turn it into a real assigned task. No copy paste. That feature saved me twice after discovery calls, because usually by the end of the call I have a mess of sticky notes saying things like “fix pricing email?” and one click gave it a due date.
In Miro, once the brainstorm ends, I usually have to screenshot the good parts and paste them somewhere less chaotic. Sometimes I link the raw board, but then someone weeks later opens it and sees dozens of floating notes we abandoned. It looks messy and confuses them.
Visual tools that feel more natural
ClickUp Whiteboards are simple. The shapes list is short, and you do not drown in options. That makes it friendly for linear planning – like outlining a three step process or drawing a flow of how leads move through a form. You are not going to draw mind maps with crazy branching designs in ClickUp very well though.
Miro is unconstrained. I once drew a fake website homepage, arrows all over it, and even small comments pointing at buttons. That would have taken forever to replicate in ClickUp. If you want freedom Miro is closer to sketching on a wall of paper.
A quick text version of how they feel side by side:
Table of how it feels
| Feature | ClickUp Whiteboard | Miro |
|———|——————-|——|
| Getting started | Simple click new and done | Longer load but more canvas freedom |
| Shapes and tools | Few but tidy | Many and sometimes overwhelming |
| Group chaos | Feels cramped fast | Handles many editors well |
| Converting ideas into tasks | One click in app | Manual copy or integration needed |
When performance issues appear suddenly
There was one week where my ClickUp Whiteboard refused to load. Blank screen. No error. I refreshed and thought maybe my internet was bad. Then I noticed tasks loaded fine, but the Whiteboard section just sat there with a spinning loader. I checked ClickUp status page and nothing was listed. So I gave up and rebuilt the board later from memory. That happens. Feels like the tool is stitched on top of tasks rather than fully native.
Miro had a different failure. Someone pasted a super large image into the board during a meeting and my laptop fan instantly screamed. It dragged the whole browser to a crawl. No official error there either, just lag. People on stronger computers were fine. All I saw was sticky notes moving five seconds after someone placed them. Very awkward when you are trying to facilitate.
Integrations with other apps matter more than expected
ClickUp Whiteboard feeds directly into the rest of ClickUp. Once you name shapes and convert them into tasks, automations can kick in. I had an automation that set priority once a task landed in our design list. That connection only works because Whiteboard is not a separate app.
Miro has more plug ins, like you can push things into Google Drive or Slack, but not everything links cleanly. You can export images and paste them elsewhere of course. The problem is always later — a week passes, someone edits the board, and your exported version is instantly outdated. If you plan something critical, exporting is not sustainable.
If you want to poke around Miro’s integrations you can check them at miro.com since everything is listed cleanly there without needing to log in first.
Choosing which tool based on team style
If you are just one or two people trying to quickly decide processes, ClickUp Whiteboard usually suffices. It is simple and close to your task list. You open it, sketch a step or two, convert to tasks, and keep moving.
If you are running a team brainstorm with ten voices and you want everyone editing in real time, Miro keeps the chaos contained. Endless canvas, separate widgets, space to breathe. But be prepared to spend time later cleaning it or transferring tasks elsewhere.
I still keep both accounts alive. Sometimes I start in Miro, then rebuild the structure inside ClickUp once the messy ideas are sorted. Slightly redundant, but every time I swear I will stick to one tool… and then the next project proves me wrong 🙂
Unexpected moments where both fail
On ClickUp I once misclicked and deleted an arrow connecting two boxes. No undo button appeared. Poof gone. The connections are sometimes finicky, like grabbing the wrong end and suddenly two ideas are no longer linked. You would think a tiny change would autosave undo history but nope.
On Miro, stickies sometimes duplicate if you double click too fast. You end up with identical notes sitting right on top of each other. Later when moving them you suddenly discover twins. Sounds small, but in a heated session it throws people off. Little glitches like that remind you both apps have cracks.
Why I keep tolerating both tools
I get frustrated with both often. ClickUp Whiteboard feels limited but then surprises me when I realize I did not have to export tasks. Miro feels bloated yet still makes collaboration fun. So I end up flipping back and forth depending on the style of the project, even though I know it would be more efficient to force everyone onto one tool. But expectations rarely match the actual behavior of tools, so you pick the one that fails in the way you prefer.