Picture this: your team is scattered across three continents. Sarah's in Singapore, half asleep. Mike's grabbing lunch in London. You're staring at a Zoom grid of tiny faces, asking "any ideas?" into the void.

The silence stretches.

Someone unmutes. "Can you see my screen?" They can't. Five minutes of troubleshooting later, the momentum is gone. The meeting ends with a shared doc full of half-baked bullet points that nobody will look at again.

Sound familiar?

The old way of brainstorming - sticky notes on a wall, everyone in the same room - worked great when teams actually sat together. But that world is gone for most of us. And the tools we've been using to replace it? Most of them weren't built for how teams actually think together now.

That changed in 2025. The gap between "online whiteboard" and "actual brainstorming tool" finally closed. AI got smarter. Async features got better. And a few tools figured out that capturing ideas is only half the battle. You also need to do something with them.

We spent three months testing every major option with real distributed teams. Here's what actually works.

How We Picked These Tools

Six things matter when teams brainstorm remotely:

Real-time collaboration.

Can twenty people add sticky notes without the whole thing lagging out? Can you see where your teammates are working?

Async support.

Your Tokyo office shouldn't miss out because they were asleep during the call. Ideas need to persist and grow between sessions.

AI that actually helps.

Not gimmicky "generate ideas" buttons. AI that understands your project and makes useful suggestions.

Low friction.

If your least technical team member can't figure it out in five minutes, people won't use it.

Connections to real work.

Brainstorming that lives in a silo dies in a silo. The tool needs to link to where your actual projects happen.

Honest pricing.

Per-user costs murder team budgets. We looked at what tools actually cost for a 10-person team, not just the starting price.

We ran sessions, broke things, and found the limits of each platform.

The Short Version

No time? Here's who should use what:

Storyflow wins for teams who want AI that actually gets their projects. It reads your whole workspace, boards, docs, everything, so when you ask for help, it knows what you're working on. The blueprint tactics give you ready-made frameworks instead of blank canvas paralysis. Best when brainstorming needs to turn into real work.

Miro is still the safe bet for big workshops. Fifty people on one board? No sweat. Your IT team has probably approved it already.

Mural is for teams who follow specific methods like design thinking and LUMA frameworks. Very structured. Very controlled.

FigJam is perfect if you're already in Figma. The integration is smooth, the vibe is playful, and the free tier is generous.

Stormboard treats ideas like data. Tag them, sort them, report on them. Good for teams who brainstorm continuously rather than in one-off sessions.

How They Compare

Watch out for per-user pricing. A 10-person team on Miro costs $80/month minimum. Storyflow's flat rate looks better as you grow.

The 10 Best Tools

1. Storyflow

Most whiteboard tools give you a blank canvas and wish you luck. Storyflow built the AI into everything.

Here's what that means in practice: your boards, your docs, your project cards, the AI reads all of it. When your team asks for suggestions, they're not generic. They're based on what you're actually working on.

The blueprint tactics solve the "how do we even start?" problem. Instead of staring at an empty board, you pick a framework like competitive analysis, campaign ideation, or user story mapping, and the structure is already there. Everyone follows the same process. Sessions stay focused.

The cards system is where it gets interesting. Those messy sticky note ideas? They become structured information that connects to your actual project work. Nothing disappears into an infinite canvas.

Price: $12/month, team features included

What's good:

• AI that understands your whole workspace
• Pre-built frameworks for common brainstorming scenarios
• Ideas connect directly to project execution

What's not:

• Newer platform, fewer templates than the old guard
• Takes time to learn the full AI capabilities

The verdict: This is what happens when you build a tool around AI from day one instead of bolting it on later. Best for teams who brainstorm regularly and want those ideas to go somewhere.

2. Miro

The safe choice. The one everyone knows.

Miro handles scale better than anything else. A hundred sticky notes from fifty participants? The canvas doesn't flinch. Voting, timers, presenter mode, the facilitation features work well when you're running big workshops.

The template library is massive. Whatever framework you need, someone built it already.

Where Miro shows its age is AI. The assistant can summarize and generate, but it doesn't deeply understand your work. Useful, but nothing special.

Price: Free for 3 boards, $8/user/month starter, $16/user/month business

What's good:

• Handles huge sessions without lag
• Templates for every methodology imaginable
• Your IT department has probably already approved it

What's not:

• Per-user pricing adds up fast
• AI feels surface-level compared to newer tools

The verdict: When you need something proven and your company has 500 employees, Miro makes sense. For smaller teams, you're paying for scale you don't need.

3. Mural

Built by facilitators, for facilitators.

Mural cares about process. Private brainstorming before reveal, so early ideas don't anchor everyone else. Structured voting. Clear participant guidance. LUMA Institute frameworks baked in.

The "Facilitation Superpowers" are genuinely useful. Pull everyone to your view. Hide elements until the right moment. Control the pace.

Price: Free limited plan, $12/user/month for Team+

What's good:

• Best facilitation controls in the business
• Strong methodology partnerships
• Private mode prevents groupthink

What's not:

• Less flexible for freeform thinking
• Can feel rigid

The verdict: If you run structured design sprints and know what LUMA means, Mural keeps things disciplined. Less ideal for casual ideation.

4. FigJam

Figma's answer to whiteboards. And if you're a design team, it's a no-brainer.

Pull design components onto your brainstorm board. Push refined ideas back to Figma files. No export-import dance. No context switching.

The tool itself stays simple on purpose. Stamps, stickers, emoji reactions. Built-in audio chat so you don't need Zoom running alongside. The vibe is playful, less corporate than Miro or Mural.

Price: Free for unlimited collaborators (3 files), $3/user/month professional

What's good:

• Seamless Figma integration
• Most generous free tier for teams
• Actually fun to use

What's not:

• Limited compared to full whiteboard tools
• Less suited for non-design brainstorming

The verdict: Already using Figma? Just use FigJam. The free tier alone makes it worth trying.

5. Lucidspark

The organizational one.

Lucidspark connects directly to Lucidchart, which makes it strong for brainstorms that need to become flowcharts, process diagrams, or documentation. The pipeline from "scattered ideas" to "formal diagram" is smooth.

Good sorting tools help when you've generated two hundred sticky notes and someone has to make sense of them.

Price: Free basic, $7.95/user/month individual

What's good:

• Great Lucidchart integration
• Strong idea organization and tagging
• Scales well

What's not:

• Not as polished visually
• Basic AI

The verdict: Best when your brainstorms need to become formal documentation afterward.

Pick Based on Your Team Type

Remote-First Teams

Async isn't optional. It's survival. You need ideas that persist and grow between sessions.

Go with: Storyflow's persistent workspace and context-aware AI work well here. Stormboard's ongoing idea management also fits distributed teams.

Skip: Tools that only shine during live calls. If the brainstorm dies when Zoom ends, you're losing half your team's input.

Design and Product Teams

You bounce between ideation and execution constantly. Context switching kills momentum.

Go with: FigJam if you're in Figma. Whimsical for its mix of formats. Storyflow when you need AI to connect research to features.

Skip: Tools that silo brainstorming from everything else.

Large Enterprise Teams

You're running workshops with 50+ people. Chaos is one bad facilitation choice away.

Go with: Miro handles massive sessions. Mural's facilitation controls keep things disciplined.

Skip: Tools built for five people.

How to Run Better Remote Brainstorms

The tool won't save a bad session. Here's what actually matters.

Before

Send context early. Share the problem, the constraints, any background, at least 24 hours ahead. Let people show up with ideas already forming.

Get specific. "Brainstorm marketing ideas" creates chaos. "Generate five campaign concepts for our Q2 launch targeting enterprise buyers" focuses energy.

Keep it short. Sixty to ninety minutes maximum. Remote attention spans are shorter. If you need longer, build in breaks.

Test the tech. Send people a sandbox link before the real session. Nobody wants to spend fifteen minutes finding the sticky note button.

During

Start silent. Give everyone five to ten minutes to add ideas alone before any discussion. This stops early ideas from anchoring everyone else. Introverts and non-native speakers contribute equally this way.

Use a framework. Blank canvases are paralyzing. How Might We questions. SCAMPER prompts. Pre-built templates. Storyflow's blueprint tactics exist for exactly this reason.

Timebox everything. Five minutes for ideas. Ten for grouping. Three for voting. Constraints create focus.

Show the votes. When people vote, display results live. Shared understanding beats whoever argues loudest.

Assign a facilitator. Someone watches chat, manages time, pulls quiet people in. This job is too demanding to combine with participating.

After

Synthesize fast. Within 24 hours, group ideas into themes. Document decisions. Identify next steps. AI helps here, but someone still makes judgment calls.

Close the loop. Tell people what happened to their ideas. Which moved forward. Which need more work. Which got shelved. This encourages future participation.

Connect to action. Move ideas into your project system. Storyflow's cards do this automatically. Other tools need manual transfer. If ideas stay in a separate silo, they die there.

Common Questions

What's the difference between brainstorming tools and whiteboard tools?

Whiteboards give you a canvas for anything visual. Brainstorming tools add features specific to ideation like voting, timers, clustering, and templates built around generating ideas. Most "whiteboard" tools work fine for brainstorming, but dedicated features make sessions better.

Can free tools handle real team brainstorming?

Yes, with limits. FigJam's free tier gives unlimited collaborators on three files. Miro Free restricts you to three boards. Free versions usually cut advanced facilitation, integrations, and admin controls. Small teams brainstorming occasionally? Free works. Regular sessions or larger teams? Paid plans pay for themselves.

How many people can brainstorm together remotely?

Five to eight is the sweet spot. Everyone contributes meaningfully. Discussion stays focused. You can push to fifteen with structured techniques and breakout groups. Beyond twenty, you're running a workshop, not a brainstorm, and you need enterprise tools plus real facilitation skills.

Does AI actually help brainstorming?

Depends. Generic "generate ideas" buttons aren't useful. You could come up with those yourself. AI that understands your project context and helps develop, connect, and build on ideas? That's different. Storyflow's advantage is full workspace access. The difference between "suggest brainstorming ideas" (useless) and "given our user research, suggest feature directions" (useful).

The Bottom Line

The difference between productive brainstorming and frustrating idea sessions usually isn't creativity. It's the infrastructure around it. The right tool removes friction so your team focuses on thinking instead of fighting software.

Here's where to start:

Storyflow if you want AI that actually helps. Context-aware intelligence. Blueprint tactics. Ideas that connect to project work. Best for teams who brainstorm regularly.

Miro if you run large workshops and need reliability. Massive scale. Massive template library. Best for enterprises.

Mural if you follow specific facilitation methods. Structured. Disciplined. Best for trained facilitators.

FigJam if you're a design team in Figma. Seamless integration. Generous free tier. Best for product and design.

Stormboard if you need ongoing idea management. Track ideas over time. Report on them. Best for continuous ideation.

No tool fixes unclear goals or bad facilitation. But the right tool makes good practices easier. And in 2025, that means AI that understands what you're working on, not generic assistance that could apply to anyone.

Start with a clear problem. Pick a tool that fits how your team works. Build the habit of connecting ideas to action.

Your team already has the ideas. The tool just helps get them out.