Tuton vs online whiteboards
An online whiteboard gives you a brilliant blank canvas — and only a blank canvas. The Tuton Space is an infinite canvas that lives inside the classroom, next to the video call, where notes, drawings, images and vocabulary are part of the lesson, not stranded in another tab.
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General-purpose whiteboards earned their place in online teaching. When Google retired Jamboard, thousands of teachers went looking for a replacement, and tools like Miro — or the whiteboards bolted onto video apps — are genuinely good at freeform visual work: arranging ideas, drawing diagrams, brainstorming on an endless board.
But a whiteboard is a canvas without a classroom. The video call lives in another tab, so you're alt-tabbing between your student's face and the board. The whiteboard doesn't know it's hosting a language lesson: a new word is just a text box, not a vocabulary card; there's no lesson content to pull in, no student profile behind the board, no record connecting what you drew to what you taught. And on many tools, your student needs yet another account just to write on it.
The Space is Tuton's answer: an infinite collaborative canvas built into the classroom itself. Your video call stays on screen while you and your student write notes, draw with the pen, and drop in images, PDFs, videos and timers. Vocabulary you add to the canvas is a real vocabulary card — it joins the student's spaced-repetition deck automatically. Follow mode brings your student's view to wherever you're working. And every lesson's board is saved with the lesson, so you can reopen last month's canvas instead of wondering which untitled board it was.
Tuton vs online whiteboards, side by side
| Tuton | Online whiteboards | |
|---|---|---|
| The canvas | Infinite, collaborative, real-time | Infinite, collaborative, real-time — genuinely good |
| Video call | On the same screen — the canvas is a classroom view | In a separate app or tab |
| What goes on the board | Notes, drawings, images, PDFs, videos, timers, vocabulary cards | Sticky notes, shapes, text boxes, images |
| Vocabulary | Canvas vocab cards join the student's spaced-repetition deck | Words stay on the board |
| Behind the board | The student's profile, history, progress and homework | The board stands alone |
| After the lesson | Saved with the lesson — reopen any past board from the record | Boards pile up in a separate app, disconnected from lessons |
| Student access | Included — students join free, in the browser | Often needs its own account, sometimes a paid seat |
| Drawing tools | Pen, connectors, alignment guides, image search built in | Deep diagramming and template libraries |
| Cost | Included in the Tuton subscription, from $29/month | Free tiers with board limits; paid per member |
Which one is right for you?
Choose Tuton if…
- You teach languages one-to-one and want the board, the call and the student record in one place
- You want what happens on the canvas to feed the student's learning loop — vocabulary, notes, progress
- You're replacing a retired or paywalled whiteboard and would rather upgrade than rebuild the old setup
- Your students shouldn't need another account for another tool
Choose a whiteboard if…
- You run group workshops or team sessions with many collaborators at once
- You need specialist diagramming — flowcharts, wireframes, engineering drawings
- You already pay for a whiteboard that your other work depends on
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Tuton and online whiteboards.
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