Open Source Mermaid AlternativesDiagram Editors & UML Modeling Tools like Mermaid

The best open source alternative to Mermaid is PlantUML. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to Mermaid and 13 is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to Mermaid are quiver diagram editor, Graphviz, Kroki and Penrose.

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Most Mermaid alternatives are Diagram Editors, but you can also narrow the list to UML Modeling Tools or Mind Mapping Tools. Another popular filter is Open Source.
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Alternatives
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Alternatives list

  1. PlantUML icon
     121 likes

    PlantUML is an open-source tool that uses simple textual descriptions to draw UML diagrams. The generator can be run anywhere within JVM and integrated with various application such as wiki, text editor, IDE, programming language, documentation generator, and others.

    127 PlantUML alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • Chrome OS
    Good alternative?
     
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  2. Efficient web-based tool for constructing high-quality commutative diagrams. Offers LaTeX export with embedded links, intuitive interface supporting both mouse and keyboard inputs, and features like multiple selections, macro support, and smart label alignment.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    Good alternative?
     
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    1
  3. Graphviz icon
     74 likes

    Graphviz is open source graph visualization software. Graph visualization is a way of representing structural information as diagrams of abstract graphs and networks. It has important applications in networking, bioinformatics, software engineering, database and web design...

    57 Graphviz alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    Good alternative?
     
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    1
  4. Kroki icon
     8 likes

    Creates diagrams from textual descriptions! It provides a unified API with support for BlockDiag, BPMN, Bytefield, C4 (with PlantUML), Ditaa, Erd, GraphViz, Mermaid, Nomnoml, PlantUML, SvgBob, UMLet, Vega, Vega-Lite, WaveDrom.

    30 Kroki alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Good alternative?
     
  5. Penrose icon
     5 likes

    Penrose is a platform that enables people to create beautiful diagrams just by typing mathematical notation in plain text. The goal is to make it easy for non-experts to create and explore high-quality diagrams and provide deeper insight into challenging technical concepts.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • BSD
    • Linux
    • Mac
    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
  6. DHTMLX icon
     23 likes

    DHTMLX is a set of JavaScript UI components for speeding up web app development. It offers ready-made widgets for project management apps, ERP and CRM systems, healthcare, educational, and financial software solutions. DHTMLX supports React, Angular, and Vue.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    Good alternative?
     
  7. Umbrello icon
     41 likes

    Umbrello is a Unified Modelling Language (UML) modelling tool and code generator. It can create diagrams of software and other systems in the industry-standard UML format, and can also generate code from UML diagrams in a variety of programming languages.

    57 Umbrello alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Good alternative?
     
  8. ChartDB icon
     2 likes

    Open source diagram editor for visualizing full database schemas via a single query in seconds, supporting MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and SQLite, with AI-driven DDL export, image download, attractive sharing options, and advanced editing features.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • npm
    Good alternative?
     
  9. Graphs icon
     Like

    Graphs is a simple, yet powerful tool that allows you to plot and manipulate your data with ease. You can import data from two-column files or generate it via an equation. All data can be manipulated using a variety of operations such as the ability to select, cut, translate...

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    Good alternative?
     
  10.  3 likes

    blockdiag and its family generate diagram images from simply text file.

    Features:

    Supports many types of diagrams block diagram (w/ blockdiag) sequence diagram (w/ seqdiag) activity diagram (w/ actdiag) logical network diagra.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  11. nomnoml icon
     1 like

    A tool for drawing UML diagrams based on a simple syntax.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    Good alternative?
     
  12. reladraw icon
     Like

    reladraw is a text language for diagrams where you say where things go.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • JavaScript
    • Typescript
    • npm
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
12 of 13 Mermaid alternatives