How much roadmap will your canvas eat?
Should I build my own canvas or use the tldraw SDK?
Use tldraw when your React product needs an extensible canvas with editing tools, custom shapes, and collaboration, and you want to avoid maintaining that infrastructure yourself. Building your own may make sense when your interaction model is narrow, your rendering requirements are unusual, or you want to own the entire implementation. Compare licensing costs with the ongoing cost of engineering and maintenance.
| Consideration | Build your own | Use tldraw |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Implement the interactions your product needs. | Extend existing React canvas tools and shapes. |
| Maintenance | Own the canvas infrastructure and product code. | Maintain your integration and adopt SDK updates. |
| Budget | Fund implementation and ongoing maintenance. | Budget for licensing, integration, and hosting. |
The calculator uses illustrative person-month estimates informed by customer conversations and our experience. Elapsed timelines assume a 5-person team, with 0.5 person-months for SDK integration. Select a use case and adjust its features to explore the estimate. These are planning assumptions, not delivery guarantees or license quotes.
