Best Jamboard Alternative for Teachers

The best Jamboard alternative for teachers is a browser whiteboard that keeps what Jamboard did well (sticky notes, simple pens, several pages and use inside Google Meet) and adds what it lacked: PDF upload, live video, recording and control over who draws. Google shut Jamboard down on December 31, 2024.

Many teachers built whole routines around Jamboard: warm-up sticky notes, exit tickets, a frame per group. When it closed, those routines needed a new home. This guide shows what you lost, what to look for in a replacement, how each Jamboard habit works in Educastic and what to do with the Jams you saved.

What happened to Google Jamboard?

Google retired Jamboard in two steps. From October 1, 2024 the app was view-only, so teachers could open Jams but not create or edit them. After December 31, 2024 Jamboard was no longer available on the web, on phones and tablets or in Google Meet.

Google asked users to download the Jams they wanted to keep before the shutdown, as PDF or image files. If you did, those files are your starting point for moving to a new board (see the section on old Jams below). If you did not, the Jamboard app can no longer open them.

What did teachers lose when Jamboard closed?

Teachers lost a quick, low-friction board that students already knew. The habits that most needed a replacement were these:

• Sticky note activities: brainstorms, warm-ups and exit tickets where every student adds a note.
• Free drawing with a pen or stylus, with a highlighter and an eraser.
• Frames, so one Jam could hold a whole lesson page by page.
• Backgrounds such as dots or a grid for math and diagrams.
• Images on the board to label, sort or annotate.
• A board inside Google Meet, opened without leaving the call.

A good replacement covers all six, then fixes what Jamboard never did well for live classes: writing on a PDF, recording the lesson and deciding who can draw.

What should you look for in a Jamboard replacement?

Look for a whiteboard that removes friction for students first and adds teaching tools second. Use this checklist before you move your activities:

• Runs in the browser, with nothing to install on school devices.
• Students join from a link, ideally without creating an account.
• Sticky notes, pens, shapes and text that work with a mouse, a touch screen or a stylus.
• Several pages per board, so a lesson does not live on one crowded screen.
• Upload your PDFs and worksheets and write on them live.
• Control over who draws, per student, so one student solves while the rest watch.
• Video, chat and recording in the same window, or a version that runs inside Google Meet.
• Save the board as a PDF or image after class.

If you only used Jamboard for a quick sketch during a call, a simple free board is enough. If Jamboard was your classroom, pick a tool built for whole lessons.

How does Educastic cover each Jamboard use?

Educastic's whiteboard covers each common Jamboard activity with a direct equivalent. Use this table to rebuild your routines:

Educastic also adds what Jamboard did not have: upload a PDF and annotate it live, built-in webcam video and chat, screen sharing, recording, a math formula tool and in-class quizzes.

With guests in class: people who join without an account don't see blank new tabs, only tabs opened from an uploaded file. Open guest activities from a file, or keep them on the Home tab.

Is there a Jamboard alternative for Google Meet?

Yes. Sinkronos Whiteboard for Google Meet™, powered by Educastic, opens a whiteboard inside your Google Meet call from Meet > Activities. You sign in with "Sign in with Google", click New Whiteboard and the board opens in the main area of the Meet window. It is free for early adopters.

Inside Meet you get the whiteboard tools, file upload and Google Drive import. Recording, the Educastic chat and session reports stay in a full Educastic session. Our guide to the online whiteboard for Google Meet walks through the setup.

How do you move old Jamboard files to a new whiteboard?

You move old Jams by uploading the PDF or image files you exported before the shutdown. Each PDF page becomes a board page you can write on. Follow these steps:

1. Find your exported Jams. Look in Google Drive and your computer's downloads for the PDF or PNG files you saved from Jamboard.
2. Open a session in Educastic and click Load File to Whiteboard.
3. Choose Google Drive to import straight from Drive, or Upload File to pick files from your computer. You can add up to 5 files at a time.
4. Teach on the old frames. Each PDF page opens as a board page in its own tab, ready for new notes, highlights and answers.
5. Rebuild the activities you reuse. Exported Jams are flat images, so old sticky notes can't be moved or edited. Recreate the ones you use every term with real sticky notes.
6. Save the new version with Save Whiteboard Tab > Save as PDF.

Files you upload during a session are also saved to My Library, so next term you open them from Load File to Whiteboard > My Library instead of uploading again. For more on file types, see how to import files to an online whiteboard.

Frequently asked questions

Try a Jamboard alternative in your next class

Open the Educastic online whiteboard, upload one of your old Jams and run your favorite sticky note warm-up on it before the students arrive.

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