Conceptboard

What Is Conceptboard?

Visual collaboration tools became a crowded market fast. Miro raised billions in venture funding and became the category default. FigJam entered from the design workflow angle. Mural positioned itself as the enterprise facilitation platform. Into this landscape, Conceptboard makes a different argument: that where your whiteboard data lives matters as much as what the whiteboard can do.

Founded in 2010 in Halle (Saale), Germany — making it one of the oldest companies in this space — Conceptboard hosts all data exclusively in ISO-certified data centres in Germany. No transfers to the United States. No reliance on Standard Contractual Clauses to justify transatlantic data flows. German jurisdiction, German infrastructure, German law. For the 6,500 organisations that have chosen Conceptboard over Miro, this is typically the deciding factor.

The platform received €10 million in growth investment from Cipio Partners in February 2025, with the stated purpose of accelerating its European data sovereignty positioning. In March 2025, Conceptboard completed recertification for ISO 27001:2022 and earned two new certifications: ISO 27017 for cloud security and ISO 27018 for personal data protection. The certification stack is now the most comprehensive of any dedicated whiteboard platform operating in Europe.

Key Features

How Strong Is Conceptboard's Data Sovereignty Guarantee?

The data residency claim is not a marketing approximation. Conceptboard Cloud Service GmbH is a German company processing data in German data centres. The platform's standard cloud tier defaults to AWS infrastructure hosted in Germany. Advanced plan customers can select IONOS or StackIT as hosting providers — both German alternatives to AWS. The Data Center Edition deploys entirely within your own IT infrastructure, fully air-gapped from Conceptboard's cloud systems.

This range of deployment options — shared German cloud, dedicated German hosting, or on-premises — covers the full spectrum of regulated sector requirements. A German federal ministry and a pharmaceutical company with strict data classification policies have meaningfully different needs; Conceptboard accommodates both.

What Facilitation Tools Does Conceptboard Include?

The infinite canvas supports sticky notes, shapes, connectors, freehand drawing, and document annotation. Templates number over 150, covering retrospectives, design thinking workshops, Kanban boards, journey maps, and meeting formats. Moderation tools let a facilitator control participant visibility and guide groups through structured exercises — a capability Miro added later and which Conceptboard has offered as a core feature for years.

Comments, task assignment, and approval workflows turn whiteboard sessions into actionable outputs rather than static artefacts. Board history and version tracking (Advanced plan) let teams review changes and restore previous states, which matters for regulated workflows where audit trails are required.

Who Uses Conceptboard?

The customer base skews toward regulated industries. Public sector organisations — including German federal and state bodies — can procure Conceptboard directly under the EVB-IT framework, the standard IT procurement contract for German government. Defence organisations, pharmaceutical companies, and critical infrastructure operators appear in Conceptboard's case studies and dedicated product pages.

Siemens used Conceptboard as an early enterprise customer with 50,000 daily users. The 6,500 customer count and 14 million registered users suggest a broad reach beyond niche sectors, but the platform's compliance posture makes it the natural default for any European organisation where data residency is a procurement requirement rather than a preference.

How Does Real-Time Collaboration Work?

Up to hundreds of participants can work on a single board simultaneously, with live cursors identifying each contributor. Guest access with granular permissions allows external collaborators — clients, partners, auditors — to view or contribute without creating accounts. Single Sign-On integration (Corporate/Government tier) connects to existing identity providers, satisfying enterprise authentication requirements.

Co-location and remote participants work from the same board without capability differences. The moderation mode, where a facilitator controls what participants can see and which board area is active, makes Conceptboard practical for structured workshops with large groups.

Pricing

Conceptboard prices in EUR, with four tiers above the free plan.

The Free plan provides three active boards with 100 objects each and 250 MB of storage — enough to evaluate the tool but not to run ongoing projects. Starter at €5/user/month removes the board and project limits, adds 5 GB storage per user, and includes the full template library and facilitation tools.

Advanced at €10/user/month (minimum 10 users, 12-month contract) adds team templates, board history, approval workflows, and 1 TB storage. Advanced plan customers can also elect IONOS or StackIT as their hosting provider. The minimum user count and contract term make this a team commitment rather than a flexible subscription.

Corporate & Government at €14/user/month (minimum 100 users, 24-month contract) adds SSO, audit logs, unlimited storage, phone support, and a dedicated success manager. EVB-IT eligibility opens this tier to German government procurement frameworks.

Enterprise and Special plans are custom-priced and include dedicated single-tenant or on-premises deployment with custom data centre options.

EU Compliance & Privacy

Conceptboard's compliance posture is the strongest of any whiteboard platform operating in Europe. The certification stack — ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, all independently audited and renewed — covers information security management, cloud security, and personal data protection in cloud environments respectively. The March 2025 recertification confirmed continued compliance with the updated 2022 standard.

Data is encrypted at rest with 256-bit AES and in transit with TLS. Data Processing Agreements are available with full technical and organisational measures documentation. The company explicitly states that no data is transferred to third countries — a guarantee that few US-headquartered competitors can make without relying on legal transfer mechanisms that face ongoing regulatory challenge in Europe.

For German public sector procurement teams, the combination of German hosting, ISO certifications, EVB-IT eligibility, and a German legal entity removes effectively every compliance obstacle. For healthcare, pharma, and defence teams across the EU, the on-premises deployment option closes any remaining gap.

Who It's Best For

If your organisation is in German public sector, defence, pharma, or critical infrastructure, Conceptboard is the practical default. No other whiteboard platform combines German hosting, ISO 27001/27017/27018 certification, EVB-IT eligibility, and on-premises deployment in a single offering.

If you are evaluating Miro as the whiteboard standard but face procurement pushback on US data residency, Conceptboard is the direct alternative with comparable facilitation features and a significantly stronger EU compliance story.

If you need a workshop facilitation tool for teams in regulated industries across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, or the Benelux region, Conceptboard's compliance documentation is ready-made for the procurement questions those markets ask.

Smaller teams running informal workshops without compliance requirements will find Miro's template community larger and its integration ecosystem broader. The free plan's 100-object-per-board limit will frustrate anyone doing serious workshopping without upgrading.

The Verdict

Conceptboard is not competing with Miro on breadth of integrations or template volume. Its competitive position is sharper and more deliberate: the most compliance-credentialed whiteboard platform available in Europe, with a data residency guarantee that US-headquartered competitors cannot match. The ISO certification stack, German hosting, EVB-IT eligibility, and on-premises option together form a compliance story that Miro's European teams spend significant time trying to approximate. The €5/month Starter price for unlimited boards makes it accessible well below Miro's per-seat cost. For any European team where data residency matters, Conceptboard is the answer Miro cannot give.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Conceptboard data hosted?

All Conceptboard data is processed and stored exclusively in ISO-certified data centres in Germany. No data is transferred to third countries. Advanced plan customers can elect IONOS or StackIT as German hosting providers. The Data Center Edition supports fully on-premises deployment within your own infrastructure.

What ISO certifications does Conceptboard hold?

Conceptboard holds ISO 27001:2022 (information security management), ISO 27017 (cloud security), and ISO 27018 (personal data protection in cloud). All three certifications were independently audited, with recertification completed in March 2025. Data is encrypted at rest with AES-256 and in transit with TLS.

How does Conceptboard compare to Miro?

Conceptboard's primary advantage is data sovereignty: German hosting, German jurisdiction, and no third-country data transfers. Miro is a US company using cloud infrastructure with less precise data residency controls. Miro has a larger integration ecosystem and a more active user template community. For European regulated industries and public sector, Conceptboard is the more defensible choice on compliance grounds.

What is EVB-IT eligibility and who needs it?

EVB-IT is the standard IT procurement framework for German public sector organisations. Conceptboard's Advanced and Corporate/Government plans are EVB-IT eligible, meaning German federal, state, and municipal bodies can procure Conceptboard within existing framework agreements. This significantly reduces procurement time and documentation burden for public sector buyers.

Can Conceptboard be deployed on-premises?

Yes. The Data Center Edition deploys Conceptboard entirely within your own IT infrastructure, with no connection to Conceptboard's cloud systems. This is designed for organisations requiring complete control over data flows, infrastructure updates, and access — primarily defence, critical infrastructure, and government entities with the strictest data classification requirements.