Pencil Spaces API /vs/ Whereby Embedded
Use Miro when your team needs to think together. Use Pencil Spaces when your students need to learn.
Keep the infinite whiteboard Miro made famous. Add what a lesson needs and a workshop canvas doesn't: live video in the same tab, classroom controls, math and STEM tools, lesson AI, co-browsing, scheduling, and compliance built for education, from K-12 to higher ed.
10M+ sessions taught
200M+ minutes of learning
One-click join, no installs
Last updated June 2026
teaching
An infinite canvas built into a live virtual classroom, with video, teaching tools, and safeguarding in one room.
For collaboration
The best-in-class visual collaboration canvas for product, design, and strategy teams.
The short answer
Both are browser-based infinite canvases, but they are built for different jobs. Miro is a visual collaboration platform for product, design, and strategy teams. Pencil Spaces is a live virtual classroom for teaching and tutoring: video-first, with classroom controls, math and STEM tools, lesson AI, co-browsing, scheduling, and compliance built for education. Use Miro when a team needs to think together. Use Pencil Spaces when students need to learn.
Keeps the infinite canvas. The whiteboard Miro is known for, built into a teaching room.
Video is the room. Live HD video and breakouts in the same tab, not a 25-person beta add-on.
Built for the lesson. Classroom controls, math tools, embedded apps, scheduling, and grading.
Built for education. FERPA, COPPA, HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR, with live safeguarding for the settings that need it.
Give Miro its due. For team workshops, templates, and integrations, Miro is excellent.
The line is the lesson. The gap opens the moment you are teaching a class, not running a workshop.
How to think about it
Miro is a brilliant canvas: the default workspace for distributed teams, used by more than 100 million people, and exceptional at brainstorming, diagramming, and planning.
But teaching is not a workshop.
A lesson needs live video beside the board, classroom controls, teaching tools, a way to see when a student drifts, recordings, scheduling, and safeguarding for the people in the room. Those aren't whiteboard features. They're classroom features, and they're why Pencil Spaces exists.
Miro helps teams think together. Pencil Spaces helps teachers teach.
Side by side
Both are infinite canvases that run in the browser. The difference is what each was built to do. Miro is a visual collaboration platform for teams; Pencil Spaces is a virtual classroom for teaching, from tutoring and schools to higher education. Where Miro is the better tool, we say so.
Your question
For teaching
For collaboration
Both are infinite canvases
Is there an infinite whiteboard canvas?
Yes. Unlimited infinite whiteboards built for teaching.
Yes. The infinite canvas is Miro's core, and it is best-in-class.
Is it built specifically for teaching?
A purpose-built virtual classroom.
A visual collaboration canvas for teams.
Does it run in the browser?
Yes. One click, any device, no download.
Yes, in the browser and desktop apps.
The teaching room
Is there live video for a class, in the same place as the board?
Is there a large template and framework library?
Video Calls are in beta, paid-only, and capped near 25 participants.
Are there classroom controls to steer a lesson?
Yes. Leader Mode to control and follow what students see.
Not designed around leading a class.
Are there math and STEM teaching tools?
Yes. Equation editor, graphing, rulers, and manipulatives.
General diagramming, not subject teaching tools.
Can I embed teaching apps on the board?
Yes. Desmos, Quizlet, IXL, YouTube and more, right on the canvas.
An apps and integrations marketplace, aimed at team workflows.
Can I teach on a live website together (co-browsing)?
Yes. Open and browse a real site together inside the room.
No co-browsing.
Can I see when a student is distracted?
Yes, with private idle and tab-switch alerts.
Not designed around this workflow.
Is there AI for planning and grading lessons?
Yes. Sparky plans lessons, generates questions, and grades.
Miro AI and 2026 AI Workflows cluster notes and run team tasks.
The team workshop (where Miro is strong)
Is there a large template and framework library?
Not its focus; built around lessons, not workshops.
Yes. Thousands of templates for retros, journey maps, and agile.
Async, always-on walkthroughs over time?
Recordings exist, but the product is built for live lessons.
Yes, with Talktrack audio and video board walkthroughs.
Deep product and dev integrations (Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps)?
Education integrations, such as Google Classroom, instead.
Yes, a deep ecosystem for product and engineering teams.
AI agents for team workflows?
AI is tuned for teaching, not team operations.
Yes, AI Workflows agents launched in 2026.
Sessions, scheduling and joining
Can I schedule classes and track attendance?
Yes. Built-in calendar, invites, attendance, and rostering.
No scheduling or attendance for lessons.
Can I record a lesson?
Yes, to device or cloud, including without the student on camera.
Call and Talktrack recordings, for board members.
Can students join with no download or account?
Yes. One click, any device, nothing to install.
Browser-based, but guests are often nudged to sign up.
Sessions, scheduling and joining
Is it built for student data (FERPA, COPPA)?
Yes. Built to support FERPA, COPPA, HIPAA, plus SOC 2 and GDPR.
SOC 2 and ISO protect corporate data; FERPA and COPPA are not advertised.
Is the live session actively safeguarded?
Yes. Profanity and inappropriate-video detection, plus admin oversight.
No safeguarding for a live class.
How does cost behave as you add teachers?
Per classroom. Unlimited hosts and Space links, billed by live usage.
Per-member seat; analysts report a majority of seats go unused.
Can I build collaboration into my own product?
Yes. A full real-time collaboration API and SDK via Carbon.dev.
A web SDK and REST API, oriented around embedding the canvas.
Who is it best for?
Tutoring, schools, universities, and professional-learning programs.
Product, design, and strategy teams.
Pencil Spaces keeps the infinite canvas Miro made famous, then adds the video room, classroom controls, lesson AI, and the compliance that turn a board into a classroom. For a team workshop, reach for Miro. For teaching, that is the difference between a canvas and a room.
Comparison reflects publicly available information about Miro as of June 2026 and is intended as a fair comparison to help you choose. Miro is a general-purpose visual collaboration platform; Pencil Spaces is a teaching platform. Beta status and feature availability may change.
Use the right tool for the job
We are not saying never use Miro. For team workshops it is superb. We are saying use the tool built for the job in front of you.
You are teaching or tutoring, at any level
You need live video and the whiteboard in one place
Your institution needs FERPA, or your learners are minors and COPPA applies
You want classroom controls and Leader Mode
You need math and STEM tools, or embedded teaching apps
You want to co-browse a real website with a class
You need scheduling, attendance, and lesson recordings
You manage many instructors and want per-classroom pricing
You want the session to feel like a classroom, not a canvas
Your team is brainstorming, mapping, or planning
You are running a retro, workshop, or journey-mapping session
You want thousands of templates and frameworks
You need deep Jira, Confluence, or Azure DevOps integration
Work lives on the board for weeks, async, across time zones
You want AI that clusters notes and runs team workflows
The people on the canvas are colleagues, not students
In Miro's favor
A fair comparison names the other tool's real strengths. For team collaboration, these are real, and they are reasons to keep Miro for the work it was built for.
The deepest template ecosystem
Thousands of templates plus Miroverse cover nearly every team ritual: retros, journey maps, mind maps, Kanban, roadmaps, wireframes. For workshop facilitation, that breadth is hard to match.
Async, always-on teamwork
Talktrack walkthroughs, boards that live for months, and the 2026 AI Workflows agents are built for teams aligning over time and across time zones, a different rhythm than a scheduled live lesson.
Product and engineering integrations
Deep, two-way connections to Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps, and the rest of the product stack make Miro a natural home for software teams.
Governance at enterprise scale
SCIM provisioning, data residency in the EU, US and Australia, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001, and an Enterprise Guard add-on are built for large organizations managing thousands of corporate users.
Sheer ubiquity
With more than 100 million users across roughly 250,000 organizations and 99% of the Fortune 100, Miro is often already in the building, with a team that knows it.
A mature AI canvas
Miro AI generates and clusters sticky notes and summarizes a board, and the Reforge acquisition signals serious, ongoing investment in AI for teams.
In Pencil Spaces' favor
Everything Miro is great at assumes the people on the canvas are colleagues. Change that one assumption to a class of students, and these are the gaps Pencil Spaces was built to close.
A real video classroom, not a beta call
Video and audio are the room, not a 25-person add-on. Breakout rooms, Leader Mode to steer attention, and one-click join for students, all in the same tab as the board.
Classroom controls and focus signals
Lead a lesson, follow what a student sees, and get private idle and tab-switch alerts, so an easily distracted learner can be brought back without being called out.
Tools for the subject, not the sticky note
An equation editor, graphing, manipulatives, and embedded Desmos, Quizlet and IXL turn the canvas into a place to actually teach math, reading, and science.
Co-browsing a live website together
Open a real website inside the room and browse it as a class with shared control, something a workshop canvas does not do.
Lesson AI, not workshop AI
Sparky plans curriculum-aligned lessons, generates similar practice questions, flags learning gaps, and grades across students, the opposite job from clustering sticky notes.
Compliance for every setting
Enterprise-grade SOC 2 and GDPR for any organization, FERPA for any institution, and COPPA plus active safeguarding for K-12, so the compliance fits whoever is in the room.
Scheduling, attendance, and recordings
A built-in calendar, invites, attendance, and lesson recordings, including recording without the student on camera, run the operations around the lesson.
Pricing that fits a roster
Unlimited hosts and Space links, billed by live teaching time, so adding an instructor does not add a seat and a quiet week does not cost a full month.
Proven at scale
sessions taught on Pencil Spaces
minutes of live learning
uptime, so class is not interrupted
live support inside the Space
If your team teaches on a whiteboard in one window and a video call in another, see what it looks like with the canvas and the classroom in one room.
Built for teaching, not workshops, and trusted across tutoring, schools, and higher education.
Safety & compliance
Both platforms take security seriously. The question is whose data each one is built to protect. Miro's posture is built for corporate data; Pencil Spaces is built for every learner, from K-12 to higher education to professional teams.
SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, ISO and CCPA, for any organization
FERPA, for student records at any institution
COPPA, for K-12 learners under 13
HIPAA, for protected health information
Profanity and inappropriate-video detection
Idle and tab-switch alerts during a live session
Real-time admin oversight of every room
Record a lesson without the student on camera
SOC 2 Type II, a strong corporate posture
ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 for AI management
GDPR and CCPA
Data residency in the EU, US and Australia
SCIM provisioning and an Enterprise Guard add-on
COPPA and FERPA are not advertised
No safeguarding layer for a live class
Enterprise-secure is the floor, not the finish. SOC 2 and ISO protect a company's data; FERPA protects a student's, and COPPA protects a child's. Whoever your learners are, the bar is higher than corporate security alone.
For any institution: “We are SOC 2” is a good answer to a different question.
Compliance details reflect each platform's public documentation as of June 2026. The absence of an advertised framework is not a claim of non-compliance; it reflects that Miro's published posture is oriented around corporate rather than student data.
Pricing model
Miro is priced per member, per month, billed annually, with a free plan, a Starter tier, a Business tier, and Enterprise from a 30-member minimum. That works well for a stable team. In teaching, the roster moves with cohorts, seasons, and demand, so every seat you buy for a quiet month is still paid in full. Pencil Spaces is built for that: hosts and Space links are unlimited, and paid plans bill by live teaching time.
Pencil Spaces earns when you earn. Your bill follows your teaching, not your headcount.
Team size
Pencil Spaces
Per-member model
10 instructors
Unlimited hosts
10 paid seats
50 instructors
Unlimited hosts
50 paid seats
100 instructors
Unlimited hosts
100 paid seats
10,000 instructors
Unlimited hosts
10,000 paid seats
Hosts, rooms, and Space links are unlimited. Paid team plans are usage-based, billed by user hours and only when two or more people are in a Space, so an instructor working alone is never billed. You scale your roster up or down without buying or cancelling seats. By contrast, independent analysts have reported that a majority of purchased Miro licenses go unused, a tax a per-seat model quietly adds as a team grows.
Illustrative model comparison, not a price quote. See the Pencil Spaces pricing page for current rates, and Miro's pricing page for current seat prices.
Run your numbers
A per-member license is only part of the bill. You pay for every seat, every month, locked in for a year, whether or not anyone is teaching that week. Put in your numbers to see the real total. Miro Business lists at roughly $20 per member per month on annual billing.
Estimates use your inputs and a per-member annual model. Miro list prices vary by tier and change over time; confirm current rates on Miro's pricing page. Pencil Spaces pricing is usage-based, so request a quote for an exact comparison.
Price guarantee
Miro for Education is free, and if that covers you, keep it. But teaching teams on Miro Business or Enterprise pay per member, every month, billed annually, and analysts find a majority of those seats go unused. If you are paying for Miro seats to teach, send us the quote and we will beat it, then add the classroom Miro does not have.
Applies to a comparable paid plan, verified against your current Miro quote. The free Miro for Education tier is excluded; we would rather win on the classroom than undercut free. Terms confirmed before you switch.
Lower price, comparable plan. Show us your Miro Business or Enterprise quote and we will beat it.
No per-seat creep. Unlimited hosts and Space links, so growing your team does not grow your bill, and no seats sit idle.
Better, not just cheaper. You also get live video, classroom controls, lesson AI, and the compliance a workshop canvas does not have.
Simple to check. Send your current Miro quote and we will show you the number.
Moved teaching off Miro
Educators and teaching teams who moved their teaching off a whiteboard-plus-video-call setup and onto Pencil Spaces, in their own words.
Switched for one room
Add a quote from a team that taught on a whiteboard plus a separate video call, on collapsing two tabs into one classroom.
Switched for safeguarding
Add a quote from a school or district on getting COPPA and FERPA and live oversight that a workshop canvas could not provide.
Online learning programs
“Pencil Spaces has been instrumental in our transformation, enabling us to serve more students and bring literacy to the children of Charlotte-Mecklenburg.”
Steve Hall · Executive Director, Augustine Literacy Project
Placeholder prompts marked above. Replace with real quotes from customers who moved teaching off Miro before publishing.
Switching is easy
You do not have to figure it out alone. Keep using Miro for team workshops if you like, and move the teaching into Pencil Spaces. Our team helps you set up your Spaces, bring your classes across, and get your instructors teaching, with a full library of guides and walkthroughs.
A dedicated team to plan and run your move
A full library of setup guides and video walkthroughs
Nothing to reinstall, your students join in one click
If you need a headless, embeddable infinite canvas with video and real-time collaboration inside your own application, that is Carbon.dev, the infrastructure that powers Pencil Spaces. It is the same engine behind more than 10 million sessions, tuned for teaching and learning rather than a generic embed. Use Miro to run your team's workshops; use Carbon to build collaboration into what you ship.
In fairness
Calibration cuts both ways. Some things that look like reasons to teach on Miro do not hold up on a second look, and one concession is genuinely Miro's.
“Miro has video now, so it can run a class.” Miro's Video Calls are real, but as of 2026 they are in beta, paid-only, and capped near 25 participants, built for a team huddle on a board. For a class, especially a recurring one with a full roster, that is a sync tool, not a teaching room, which is why the common workaround is still pairing Miro with Zoom.
“Miro for Education is free, so it is the cheap teaching option.” Miro for Education is free, and useful for project work. But free access to a workshop canvas is not a teaching room. It adds no video for a class, no scheduling, no lesson AI, and none of the education compliance, so the real question is not price, it is whether the tool can teach.
“Miro is SOC 2 and ISO certified, so student data is covered.” SOC 2 and ISO are strong, for protecting corporate data. They are not the same as FERPA, which protects student records at any institution, or COPPA, which protects children under 13, and they say nothing about safeguarding a live session. Enterprise security is the floor for teaching, not the finish.
If you only need a headless infinite canvas to embed in your own product, and you have already built your own video, scheduling, and compliance, Miro's breadth and maturity are hard to beat. Even there, Carbon.dev, the real-time infrastructure under Pencil Spaces, is the more teaching-tuned embed, but for a pure team-collaboration canvas, Miro earns the recommendation.
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