Digipad vs Digistorm vs WBO

Digipad, Digistorm, and WBO all solve pieces of the same problem, free, account-free, real-time collaboration in the classroom, but they are not one-for-one…

Digipad

Free / Donation-supported · From Free

Best for: Teachers building a curated multimedia resource wall or asynchronous collaborative pinboard where students post files, links, and media without needing an account.

Digistorm

Free / Donation-supported · From Free

Best for: Teachers and trainers who need instant live polls, quizzes, and word clouds during a session without registration, response caps, or per-seat fees.

WBO

free · From Free

Best for: Educators or teams who need a lightweight freehand drawing and sketching whiteboard, especially those who want a self-hostable open source option.

At a Glance

	Digipad	Digistorm	WBO
Primary category	Collaboration	Collaboration	Collaboration
Rating	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Pricing model	Free / Donation-supported	Free / Donation-supported	free
Starting price	Free	Free	Free
Free plan	Yes	Yes	Yes
Free trial	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Platforms	Web	Web	Web
Team collaboration	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
AI features	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Public API	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented

Standout Differences

Built for different classroom moments

Digipad curates a lasting multimedia wall of posts and files, Digistorm drives live in-session engagement through polls and quizzes, and WBO handles freehand sketching, so each tool answers a different teaching need rather than competing head-on.

Digipad, Digistorm, WBO

Two tools from the same family

Digipad and Digistorm are both published by La Digitale, sharing the same account-free participation model, Infomaniak Swiss hosting, and donation-supported pricing rather than a paid tier.

Digipad, Digistorm

The only self-hostable option

WBO is open source under AGPLv3 and can be deployed on private infrastructure via Docker, an option Digipad and Digistorm do not publish for their own hosted services.

WBO

Zero cost, zero login across the board

None of the three requires participants to create an account or pay to join a session, board, or wall, lowering the barrier to classroom adoption compared with commercial alternatives like Padlet or Mentimeter.

Digipad, Digistorm, WBO

Live engagement versus freehand work

Digistorm is purpose-built for structured, moment-in-time engagement such as polls and quizzes, while WBO is built for open-ended freehand drawing and diagramming, making the two better viewed as complementary than competing.

Digistorm, WBO

Feature-by-Feature

Core interaction format

Feature	Digipad	Digistorm	WBO
Multimedia content wall (files, links, posts)	Available	Unavailable	Unavailable
Freehand drawing and sketching canvas	Unavailable	Unavailable	Available
Live polls, quizzes, and word clouds	Unavailable	Available	Unavailable

Access and privacy

Feature	Digipad	Digistorm	WBO
No account required to participate	Available	Available	Available
EU/Swiss GDPR-aligned hosting on the public instance	Available	Available	Not documented
Self-hosted deployment option	Not documented	Not documented	Available

Cost and scale

Feature	Digipad	Digistorm	WBO
Fully free with no usage caps	Available	Available	Available
File or image upload support	Available	Unavailable	Limited

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Digipad

Free — Free N/A

Digistorm

Free — Free N/A

WBO

Free (hosted) — $0 n/a

Self-hosted — $0 (own infrastructure costs) n/a

Pros & Cons

Digipad

Pros

Completely free with no board or file-count limits
No account required for students to contribute
Flexible for both live collaboration and curated resource pages
Privacy-respecting, GDPR-aligned hosting in the EU

Cons

25 MB per-file upload limit can be restrictive for large videos
Lacks some of the polish and richer templates of commercial tools like Padlet
No built-in moderation tools beyond switching a wall to read-only
Primarily documented in French, which can slow onboarding for non-French speakers

Digistorm

Pros

Completely free with no participant or usage caps
No account required for participants to respond
Combines polling, brainstorming, word clouds, and quizzes in one tool
Privacy-first, GDPR-aligned hosting with no ad tracking

Cons

Fewer visual themes and customization options than commercial tools like Mentimeter
No built-in analytics history or long-term reporting dashboard
Primarily documented and supported in French
Lacks integrations with presentation software like PowerPoint or Google Slides

WBO

Pros

Completely free to use with no paid tiers or subscriptions
No account or sign-up required to start collaborating
Open source and self-hostable for organizations that want data control
Simple, lightweight interface that loads quickly and is easy to learn
Translated into more than 15 languages for broad accessibility

Cons

Lacks advanced features, templates, and integrations found in commercial whiteboard tools
No formal access controls or authentication on the public hosted version beyond the board link
Maintained largely by a single independent developer, which may affect long-term support pace
Not designed for enterprise use cases like SSO, audit logs, or team administration

Use Cases

Choose Digipad: Teachers building a curated multimedia resource wall or asynchronous collaborative pinboard where students post files, links, and media without needing an account.

Choose Digistorm: Teachers and trainers who need instant live polls, quizzes, and word clouds during a session without registration, response caps, or per-seat fees.

Choose WBO: Educators or teams who need a lightweight freehand drawing and sketching whiteboard, especially those who want a self-hostable open source option.

Digipad

Flipped-classroom resource hub — Teachers curate links, files, and videos on a read-only pad for students to review before class.
Collaborative brainstorming wall — Students post ideas, notes, and media to a shared pad during group work or peer review activities.

Digistorm

Live lecture engagement — Instructors run quick polls and quizzes during a lecture to check understanding in real time.
Workshop brainstorming sessions — Facilitators collect and visualize ideas from participants using the brainstorming and word-cloud modes.

WBO

Classroom and remote teaching — Teachers use WBO as a free real-time drawing surface for explaining concepts and collaborating with students remotely.
Quick team brainstorming — Small teams share a WBO board link for ad hoc brainstorming or diagramming without needing to set up an account.
Self-hosted private whiteboard — Technical users or organizations deploy their own instance of WBO for internal use, keeping full control of their data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Digipad, Digistorm, and WBO really direct competitors?

Not entirely. Digipad is a multimedia posting wall, Digistorm is a live polling and quiz tool, and WBO is a freehand drawing whiteboard. They overlap in being free, account-free, real-time classroom tools, but each covers a different core activity, so many teachers use more than one together.

Which of the three requires the least setup for students?

All three are built around the same principle: no account is required to participate. Students join a Digipad wall, a Digistorm session, or a WBO board using only a shared link or code.

Can I self-host any of these tools?

Only WBO publishes a clear self-hosting path. Its code is open source under the AGPLv3 license and can be deployed on private infrastructure, including via Docker. Digipad and Digistorm are run as hosted services by La Digitale on Infomaniak's Swiss servers, with no published option to self-host either one.

Is there a paid tier on Digipad or Digistorm?

No. Both are entirely free with no board, wall, or response caps. La Digitale's only monetized layer is Digidrive, an optional dashboard for managing content across its tools, unlocked through a voluntary annual donation rather than a required subscription. Core Digipad and Digistorm functionality works fully without it.

Should I pick Digistorm or WBO for a live lesson?

It depends on the activity. Digistorm is purpose-built for structured live engagement, polls, quizzes, and word clouds with instant aggregated results, while WBO is built for open-ended freehand drawing and sketching. Many lessons can use both for different segments of the same class.

Where is student data stored with each tool?

Digipad and Digistorm both publish that content is hosted on Infomaniak's Swiss servers, aligned with GDPR. WBO's publicly hosted demo instance does not document a specific data location, though its self-hosting option lets an organization control data placement entirely.

Read the full Digipad review · Read the full Digistorm review · Read the full WBO review

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