Last updated: 2026-07-27
Mixboard is Google Labs' free AI moodboard canvas. Sketch ideas from text prompts or photos with Nano Banana Pro, no design skills or software needed.
Mixboard is Google Labs' AI concepting canvas, launched in September 2025 as a free brainstorming tool for turning text prompts and personal photos into editable moodboards. It runs on Google's Nano Banana Pro image model and needs no design software, letting anyone sketch and revise visual ideas on one open canvas.
Mixboard is an experimental AI concepting board built by Google Labs, the same team behind early-stage tests like NotebookLM. Google introduced Mixboard on September 24, 2025 as a US only public beta, then expanded access to more than 180 additional countries on October 30, 2025. The tool gives anyone an open visual canvas for exploring ideas with AI generated and uploaded images, aimed at people who lack design training or a dedicated design app. The canvas blends image generation, plain language editing, and quick iteration in one workspace. A project can start from a text prompt or a curated template board, then a user adds personal photos or generates new visuals directly on the canvas. Any image can be revised with a written instruction, and one click options such as regenerate and more like this produce fresh variations without retyping the original prompt. The image engine behind these edits is Nano Banana Pro, Google's Gemini image model, the same model Google uses for targeted photo edits elsewhere in its apps. Mixboard is built for people exploring a visual direction before committing to a paid design tool: home decor planners refreshing a room, event and wedding stylists building client mood boards, product marketers sketching campaign concepts, and hobbyist DIY creators. Google positions it as a first step rather than a finishing tool, so teams sketch a concept on Mixboard, then hand the direction to a design or production app for the final asset. Mixboard is free to use with a personal Google account, though the daily number of Nano Banana Pro generations is capped for free accounts; removing that cap requires a paid Google AI subscription. The board runs only in a web browser with no dedicated iOS or Android app, and access is limited to personal account holders old enough to meet Google's account age policy. Google has kept building on the original release, testing an Experimental component set (stickers, voice notes, geometric shapes, markers) that layers onto boards, plus early work on a voice mode for hands free board control. Those additions point toward Mixboard moving closer to collaborative whiteboard tools rather than staying a single player sketchpad.
Mixboard is free with a personal Google account, capped at a limited number of Nano Banana Pro generations per day. Higher daily limits require a Google AI Pro subscription at $19.99 a month, or a Google AI Ultra plan priced from $99.99 to $199.99 a month depending on tier; both subscriptions also cover Gemini and other Google AI products, not Mixboard alone.
Mixboard is free to open, but the number of Nano Banana Pro generations allowed each day is capped for that free tier. A Google AI Pro plan lifts the cap for $19.99 a month, and Google AI Ultra raises it further, running $99.99 or $199.99 a month based on the tier chosen; neither plan is sold specifically for Mixboard, since both bundle Gemini and Google's wider AI lineup.
Yes. Mixboard is a free Google Labs experiment open to any personal Google account holder who meets the site's minimum age requirement, in the countries where it has launched. The catch is a daily cap on Nano Banana Pro generations; once you hit it, boards stop producing new images until the cap resets or you upgrade to a paid Google AI plan.
Canva is the closer fit for teams that need export ready, on brand templates rather than just concepts. Figma's FigJam adds facilitation tools like timers and voting that Mixboard has no equivalent for. Midjourney and Adobe Firefly produce higher resolution single images when the goal is a finished visual rather than a moodboard.
Canva ships thousands of ready to export templates and a mature brand kit system that production teams rely on, while Mixboard caps output resolution because Google built it for early ideation, not finished deliverables. Pick Mixboard to explore a visual direction fast with plain language edits, and pick Canva once you need a polished asset to publish or print.
Sign in with a personal Google account at mixboard.google.com and confirm you meet the account age requirement, then either type a text prompt or pick a starter board. From there, upload your own photos or generate new ones, and use regenerate or a plain language edit instruction to refine any image on the canvas.
Google Labs' free AI moodboard canvas that turns text prompts and photos into editable visual concepts using the Nano Banana Pro image model.
Google · Free tier available