For the longest time, people have been trying to organize their systems and tasks, which is why flowchart and diagramming apps have gained popularity. Draw.io is one of the best choices for people who want free service, reliable customer support, and simultaneous edits by the team. However, the number of templates and shapes is pretty limited, and non-designers often have a hard time using it, which brings us to a list of Draw.io alternatives.

What Is Draw.io?

Draw.io is a great choice for people who like to organize information and make it easy to assess rather than worrying about scattered information. It offers great real-time collaboration support to the users for making changes to the flowcharts and mind maps. It’s quite easy to set up and is free, so you don’t have to worry about expensive Draw.io pricing. However, the free service means limited features and a difficult-to-use interface. So, let’s check out the alternatives that you can try!

1.PDNob

PDNob Mind Map & Flowchart tool is one of the best choices for people who are looking for an online, free, and easy-to-use platform for creating mind maps and flowcharts. It’s a great platform if you don’t want to download excessive software and still get the best service when you want to create, refine, and organize the information.

The best thing about this platform is that there is an array of themes available, so you can change the colors as you like. In addition, there are pre-made templates as well as various shapes available to create the flowchart. In fact, once you are done with the flowchart, you can export it within a second in your desired format, be it an image or a PDF file.

2. OmniGraffle

OmniGraffle is one of the easiest graphic designing and diagramming apps available in the market. Ranging from electrical systems to family trees and wireframes to mind-mapping and software classification, this tool can be used for anything you want. The best thing about this platform is that it works exceptionally with iPads and Macs.

The charts and maps made through OmniGraffle are so crisp, they look like vector images, which is why it has become a popular choice among graphic designers. It can be imported in any file format, including VSS, VSX, VST, VSDX, VDX, and VSD. Also, the interface is extremely organized, clean, and user-friendly, making it a fine choice for beginners as well.

3. Gliffy

Gliffy is a promising choice for people who intend on making simple diagrams and charts, and the free version is limited. However, there is an affordable paid version available, but it still doesn’t work for technical charts, such as org charts and Venn diagrams. Coming back to the Gliffy vs. Draw.io comparison, the setup is extremely easy, and there is an array of well-designed templates available that you can’t get in Draw.io.

The templates are available for network diagrams, flow charts, wireframes, and organizational charts. The templates can be easily edited, and the grid can be used to arrange the objects, while the snap-to-grid feature is suitable for putting objects in place. All in all, Gliffy wins in Draw.io vs. Gliffy comparison.

4. Cacoo

Cacoo is a cloud-based platform that allows users to collaborate with the team and make real-time changes to the charts. The users can create a diagram from scratch with the help of an editor, or there is an extensive library of templates available. Some of the most common templates include UML, SWOT, GCP, AWS, Fishbone, Azure, WBS, Venn, and Network.

Not to forget, you can get your hands on customer journey, mind map, flowcharts, PERT charts, timelines, and office layouts. You have the option to input data to Cacoo directly, or you can also import data from a sheet, particularly when you want to create a dynamic chart. On top of everything, every diagram’s editing history will appear, so you can see who made the changes.

5. Lucidchart

Lucidchart is one of the most reliable online diagramming apps available on the internet, with collaborative editing as well as an exceptional range of templates. It can be integrated with Salesforce for pulling out the information and creating the charts. In addition to Salesforce, it can also be connected to GitHub, Confluence, and Jira.

Lucidchart is a great option for creating live diagrams, and you can also compare two files to make desired changes. With the Draw.io vs. Lucidchart comparison, it’s important to add that Lucidchart shows the revision history of the files, with which you can see who made the edits and the overall document status.

6. Google Docs

Google Docs doesn’t really need an introduction, but one never thought that you could make a flowchart in Google Docs, but it’s possible. This is actually a free tool that you can use anytime you want. Designed with real-time collaboration tools and syncing, you can work with your team on the flowchart, and the changes are automatically saved, promising efficiency.

7. Visual Paradigm Online

Visual Paradigm is a promising choice for software development teams that want to create accurate and immersive flowcharts and diagrams or simply lay out the software requirements, but that doesn’t mean that others can’t use it. There is a free trial available, but the features are limited. However, with the paid plan, there are various presentation tools, revision history, and process modeling and designing.

It has been integrated with a drag & drop editor that eases the data and object dropping. In addition, you can use the screen capture tool or simply export the files to the device, whatever you prefer.

8. Visio

Visio was launched by Microsoft back in 2000, and to date, it’s one of the widely used diagramming and flowchart-making apps available in the market. It’s loaded with features, making it a promising choice for IT companies and large-scale enterprises. There are pre-designed templates available along with collaboration features. In addition, there are four payment plans available for the users!

Conclusion

Draw.io is one of the most acclaimed diagramming and flowchart apps available on the market, but you have to put up with the limited availability of the features. However, all the alternative apps and platforms mentioned in this article provide value for money. So, which one of these will you use for making your mind map or flowcharts?