Archboard vs IcePanel

Archboard ships a C4 pack (Person, Software System, Container, Component, Database, and boundaries) on the same infinite canvas as Kubernetes, cloud, network, flowchart, and the rest of the built-in catalog. The bet is that real architecture is not only C4. The cluster, the VPC, the queue, and the C4 container that explains them often have to sit together so a platform team and a product team can point at the same picture. JSON import/export and snapshot revisions are how that picture lasts. Free includes the C4 pack (15 diagram nodes plus 150 notes, text, stickers, and mind map topics per diagram); Pro removes the cap. Canvas-faithful SVG, PNG, JPEG, and PDF export is the snapshot path.

IcePanel is a C4 modeling product: landscapes, model objects, flows, and decision records. Archboard does not claim a landscape engine that updates every C4 view. What Archboard ships is C4 nodes on the same canvas as the cluster and the network: one hosted editor for mixed architecture maps. C4-only modeling is a different job than Kubernetes topology. Archboard is the second job.

Price, independently checked in 2026: IcePanel Growth is $40 per editor per month billed annually; Scale is $80 per editor per month with a twenty-editor floor; Free is one to five editors with a 100-object cap (icepanel.io/pricing). IcePanel also publishes API usage on paid plans. Archboard Pro is $10 per seat per month or $96 per year for one to five seats. Archboard Enterprise is $24 per seat per month or $230 per year for six or more seats with SLA and dedicated support. IcePanel Growth includes a single SSO domain; Scale adds audit logs and advanced API. Compare the jobs, not only the seat sticker.

Subscribe to Archboard when C4 must sit next to Kubernetes and cloud topology in one hosted workspace that platform and product already know how to open. Architecture review here is “here is the C4 container and here is the cluster that runs it.”

Archboard wins when C4 is one pack on an architecture canvas, not the entire product. Kubernetes, cloud, and network sit next to Person, Software System, Container, and Component. JSON and snapshot revisions keep the map current. Platform and product share one hosted editor.

IcePanel is a C4-first modeling product. Archboard does not claim that landscape engine. If the review is “here is the C4 container and here is the cluster that runs it,” subscribe to Archboard.