Miro is a whiteboard — infinite canvas, sticky notes, shapes, video calls built in. It's made for brainstorming, retrospectives, and workshops, not system architecture. Archway is the opposite: a focused tool for describing and maintaining software architecture diagrams.
| Feature | Archway | Miro |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Software architecture diagrams | Whiteboarding, brainstorming, retros |
| Price | Free; Pro $12/mo; Team $35/user/mo | Free (3 boards); Starter $8/user/mo; Business $16/user/mo |
| AI generation from text | Yes — core | Limited (Miro AI: sticky clustering, mind-map expansion) |
| Cloud architecture icons | 1,900+ with brand colors | Generic shape libraries, some AWS |
| Generate from GitHub / Terraform / K8s | Yes | No |
| Infinite canvas | Auto-layout focus | Infinite canvas |
| Sticky notes, voting, mind maps | No | Yes — core features |
| Video calls on canvas | No | Yes |
| Export formats | PNG, SVG, Mermaid, PlantUML, D2, draw.io, Terraform, JSON | PNG, PDF, CSV |
| Real-time collaboration | Yes | Yes — flagship feature |
| Best for | Engineers maintaining architecture docs | Mixed teams running workshops / retros |
They solve different problems. Use Miro for collaborative whiteboarding. Use Archway when the output needs to be an actual, exportable architecture diagram.