Question 1

What is Tierslate?

Accepted Answer

Tierslate is an architecture diagram editor for software engineers - systems, screens and the narrated walkthrough that explains them, on one board your team follows live.

Question 2

How does the narrated walkthrough work?

Accepted Answer

You author the story once, as an ordered list of steps in your own words, and then play the finished board back one step at a time. Each step lights up the part of the board it talks about, so the diagram and the narration stay together. The walkthrough player is included on every plan, including the free one.

Question 3

Is there a free plan for Tierslate?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it needs no card. The Free plan gives you three boards, sharing any board by link, live collaboration - one person holds the pen and everyone you share with follows every change as it happens, the narrated walkthrough player, and export to PNG with no watermark, up to 1200px across and 50 exports a month. SVG and the document exports are part of Pro.

Question 4

What can I export a board as?

Accepted Answer

The board itself exports as a PNG or an SVG. The prose on it exports as a Word document, a PDF, HTML or Markdown. The whole board also exports as a PowerPoint deck: a title slide, the board itself, then one slide per walkthrough step with its narration in the speaker notes, followed by any mockup screens, text pages and mind maps. A database schema board also generates runnable CREATE TABLE statements for PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server and SQLite. PNG export is on every plan; SVG, the document exports (PowerPoint included) and saving the SQL are part of Pro.

Question 5

Can I share a board with other people?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A board saved to your account can be shared by link on every plan, including Free, and everyone you share it with follows it live - every change, selection and cursor as it happens. On Free, one person can type at a time: the owner. Anybody else joins as a viewer, who still sees every edit as it is made, plays the walkthrough and exports the board. Pro is what gives a second person the pen.

Question 6

Can I use it to practise system design interviews?

Accepted Answer

Yes - it is one of the things it is built for. There are 100 worked system design templates (6 free to open; the rest are yours to keep for 200 to 800 AI credits each, by depth, and Pro includes 10 of them) covering requirements, capacity, storage, availability and deployment, and a capacity calculator for the back-of-the-envelope maths. Rehearse your own answer by playing your board back step by step and talking it through. Pro adds a practice mode: pick any template, give yourself 30, 45 or 60 minutes or no timer at all, and pause when you need to, then design on a blank board from its brief and requirements. Hints reveal the worked walkthrough one step at a time, and when you finish, a review shows the requirements checklist, the weakness the template leaves in on purpose, and the worked answer to compare with yours; hints and the comparison need the template to be yours. Your attempts are kept in a practice history. Pro can also run a live mock interview from any template - its brief and requirements filled in, the candidate invited now or for a set time - and watch them design; joining as the candidate is free.

Question 7

What are AI credits, and how do they work?

Accepted Answer

AI credits are one personal balance that pays for two things: owning a paid template (200 to 800 AI credits, by how deep the board goes, spent once and kept) and turning an image of a diagram into an editable board (usually about 100 credits, 40 to 150 depending on the image, refunded if the import fails). Anyone signed in can recharge, on any plan, Free included: 1,000 credits for $4.99, or any amount up to $499.95. Bigger recharges earn bonus credits - +10% from $9.99, +25% from $19.99, +35% from $49.99 and +50% from $99.99 - and a first recharge adds +20% more. Credits never expire. Prices shown are US list prices; 6 other currencies are priced locally, and the credits are the same everywhere.

Question 8

What does Pro cost?

Accepted Answer

Pro is $6 a month for the team owner, at USD list price; some countries are priced in their own currency at a different figure. Editors are added to the team as seats: a Pro seat is $9 a month and a Basic seat (edits team boards, no Pro features) $6 a month. It removes the board limit and adds teams, email invites and screen recording.

Design systems and apps, then walk everyone through them.

Your architecture deserves better than a wiped whiteboard and a stale slide deck.

The whiteboard gets wiped

The slides drift

The explanation lives in one head

From a blank canvas to a design the whole team understands

Sketch an architecture in minutes, not meetings

Model the data right next to the services that use it

Mock up the app, then hand over real React code

One board, the whole team, in real time

Explain the system once. Let the video do the rest.

Snap the whiteboard. Get a board you can edit.

Find the single point of failure before production does

Walk into the system design interview already rehearsed

Take the design wherever your team already works

For everyone who has to explain a system

Engineering teams

Interview candidates

Educators and creators

Lay it out. Wire it up. Play it back.

Lay out the system

Author the story once

Play it back

Free to use. No card, no trial clock.

Free

One balance for templates and AI

Own a template

Import a diagram

Recharge any amount

Your next design review starts on a blank board.