Microsoft Office Visio Alternatives and Similar Software

As Visio is Microsoft's commercial solution for professional diagramming and workflow drafting, it has many alternatives just like other parts of the Microsoft Office Suite. These alternatives share many of the features found in Visio, such as support for scalable vector graphics files so that your charts and diagrams don't suffer any loss in quality when resized.

If you would rather use alternatives to Visio that are free and web-based, there are viable options that can be used to replace Visio with minimal loss in functionality for major amounts of convenience.

The list of alternatives was last updated: 6/28/2019 1:29:00 PM
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Alternatives to Microsoft Office Visio for all platforms with any license

  • draw.io

    draw.io is a free online diagram drawing application for workflow, BPM, org charts, UML, ER, network diagrams. No login or registration are required and features include the ability to save locally (including svg), a range of stencils, .vsdx, Lucidchart and Gliffy import and real time diagram sharing.

    • It's just an illustration program with flowchart shapes! Guest • Feb 2019 • 1 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Better than Visio is, and the bets part is, both online and PC program is amazing Guest • Oct 2018 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It's free, ease of use, I can use it online Guest • Nov 2017 • 4 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It's free and includes many of the same features. Guest • Sep 2017 • 8 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It is very convenient and contains many features. makerj • Mar 2017 • 14 agrees and 6 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It's really easy to use, and has so many features for a web app. Guest • Jun 2017 • 7 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Just as good, if not better, as Visio. Guest • Jul 2016 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Web Chrome OS ... Self-Hosted Chrome

    Sync with Google Drive Export to PDF Svg export Auto aligment rulers ... Google Chrome Extensions Document templates Drawing Drawing Board Sync with Dropbox Flow diagram visualisation GCP Diagrams Interior Design Multiple export options Office Online integration Works Offline Single Line Diagram Unlimited layers Web-Based Website wireframing Workflow Add a feature

    draw.io icon
    Example AWS diagram using draw.io

  • yEd Graph Editor

    yEd is a powerful diagram editor that can be used to quickly create diagrams manually or import external data for analysis and auto-magically arrange even large data sets by just pressing a button. You can use yEd to quickly create flow charts, BPMN and UML diagrams, organization charts, mind maps, and many other kinds of diagrams, graphs, and networks. Choose from a wide range of highly sophisticated layout algorithms to automatically arrange diagrams in no time.

    • Very easy to use. Fair interface. The only issue really is that connectors must have a node at each end, it would be great if you could simply add unconnected lines. Other than that, it's a very good application. Guest • Jul 2019 Disagree   Agree
    • It supports SVG export of diagrams. Yay for infinite zooming! Guest • Jan 2019 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • good functionality, when all custom pallets are in place, over the years. Guest • Mar 2018 • 2 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Mac Windows Linux Web BSD

    Excel import Auto Layout Class Diagrams Component Diagrams ... ER Diagrams Export to SVG Flow diagram visualisation Portable Sequence Diagrams XML import / export Add a feature

    yEd Graph Editor icon

  • Dia

    Dia is a GTK+ based diagram creation program for Linux, Unix, Mac OS X and Windows released under the GPL license. Dia is roughly inspired by the commercial Windows program Microsoft Office Visio, though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. It can be used to draw many different kinds of diagrams. It currently has special objects to help draw entity relationship diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and many other diagrams.

    • Dia has no cross platform copy paste capability. Guest • Oct 2016 • 4 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Clumpsy Handling, old fashion style look Guest • Jul 2016 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux PortableApps.com FreeBSD ... Xfce DragonFly BSD NetBSD OpenBSD

    Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Lightweight Workflow WYSIWYG Support Add a feature

    Dia icon

  • Lucidchart

    Lucidchart is an online diagram and flowchart software that supports Microsoft Office Visio import and can work on any operating system. The easiest way to draw flowcharts, wireframes, UML diagrams, network diagrams, mind maps, iPhone mockups, site maps and more.

    • Cross-platform interoperability is key. Guest • Mar 2018 • 0 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • I have tried them all. Lucidchart is the easiest to use, works across all my devices, and supports real-time collaboration. Guest • Jul 2017 • 2 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Free, fast and easy to work no bogging you down with logic statements or life changing decisions. Guest • Aug 2017 • 3 agrees and 4 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Freemium $ $ $ Web Android iPhone Chrome OS Microsoft Office Word ... Google Drive Google Drive - Docs Google Apps Google Drive - Sheets Microsoft Office Suite

    Real time collaboration Team Collaboration Charts General-purpose diagramming ... Prototyping Real time collaboration Export to PDF Sequence Diagrams UML diagrams Visitor management Web-Based Wireframing Add a feature

    Lucidchart icon

  • LibreOffice - Draw

    Draw lets you produce anything from a quick sketch to a complex plan, and gives you the means to communicate with graphics and diagrams. With a maximum page size of 300cm by 300cm, Draw is a an excellent package for producing technical drawings, general posters, and much else.

    • It is hard to tell you that when I haven't started using it yet, but it appears to have the functionality I require without the expensive price, for sure. Guest • Sep 2018 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Draw is very similar to Visio. It's basically the free and open source version of it. You can create flowcharts with it like you can in Visio, and other things you can't do with Visio. Although Visio is more focused at creating flowcharts & diagrams and does very well at it, it's extremely expensive while Draw is free and open source. Guest • Aug 2018 • 2 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It's free and open source, while Visio is proprietary and expensive. Guest • Nov 2017 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Can draw flowcharts and diagrams with almost all the features of Visio. You can drag a box, press F2, and start typing, for example. Guest • Sep 2017 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD PortableApps.com

    Drawing Portable Export to PDF Sketching Add a feature

    LibreOffice - Draw icon

  • Pencil Project

    Pencil is a standalone app or Firefox extension that lets you create diagrams or UI mockups. It doesn't have collaboration/multi-user features. The Pencil Projects unique mission is to build a free and opensource tool for making diagrams and GUI prototyping that everyone can use.

    • Great for UI mockups and planning. Guest • May 2019 Disagree   Agree
    • Visio is a native application while Pencil is a webpage disguised as an application, with the usual drawbacks, like poor performance and OS integration, etc... Guest • Jul 2017 • 3 agrees and 6 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Does not map network layout easily enough, which is what Visio was designed to do from the start Guest • May 2017 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Used to make sketchups for a mobile GUI. Guest • Jan 2017 • 1 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Good for UI mockups, not for UML guss77 • May 2016 • 1 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux PortableApps.com Electron / Atom Shell ... Firefox

    Prototyping Cliparts Drawing Firefox Extensions ... Sketching Wireframing Add a feature

    Pencil Project icon

  • PlantUML

    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. Mostly based on Graphviz. Can render various diagram syntax such as PlantUML, Dot, and Ditaa.

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Web Android ... Chrome OS

    Create UML entities Portable Text Based Format UML diagrams ... VCS Friendly Workflow Add a feature

    PlantUML icon

  • OmniGraffle

    OmniGraffle can help you make eye-popping graphic documents—quickly—by providing powerful styling tools, keeping lines connected to shapes even when they’re moved, and magically organizing diagrams with just one click. Create flow charts, diagrams, UI and UX interactions, and more. Whether you need a quick sketch or an epic technical figure, OmniGraffle and OmniGraffle Pro keep it gorgeously understandable.

    • On the Mac there is no other program that is so versatile compared to Visio (which isn’t available for Mac OS). Guest • Nov 2018 • 2 agrees and 0 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • Easy to use and seems more powerful than MS Visio itself. Guest • Jun 2017 • 1 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Commercial Mac iPad

    Workflow Add a feature

    OmniGraffle icon

  • Edraw Max

    Creating flowcharts, organizational charts, business diagrams, science illustration, network diagrams, mind map and lots more.

    • The similar UI and less learn curve. Cross platform, good job. Guest • Apr 2017 • 1 agrees and 1 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It has the same UI and software features. Guest • Nov 2016 • 2 agrees and 2 disagrees Disagree   Agree
    • It has table tool with merging,splitting and other table functions and collapsible trees Guest • Jan 2016 • 3 agrees and 3 disagrees Disagree   Agree

    Commercial $ $ $ Mac Windows Linux

    Floor Plan Real time collaboration Export to PDF Add a feature

    Edraw Max icon

  • Google Drive - Drawings

    Google Drawings, part of Google Drive , allows users to collaborate creating, sharing, and editing images or drawings. It can be used for creating charts, diagrams, designs, flow-charts, etc. It contains a subset of the features in Google Slides but with different templates. Its features include laying out drawings precisely with alignment guides, snap to grid, auto distribution, and inserting drawings into other Google documents, spreadsheets, or presentations.

    Free Web Chrome OS Chrome

    Charts Cloud based Drawing Drawing 2D Add a feature

    Google Drive - Drawings icon

  • ThinkComposer

    Create deep visual documents, adaptable and multi-level diagrams, flowcharts, concept maps, mind maps and models. Users can: - Define their own types of nodes and connectors, to reuse nomenclature, symbols, details structure. - Add Details to your Ideas (attachments, links, custom-fields, tables) - Ideas can have a whole new diagram inside (multilevel/composable) - Can generate a report for the whole Composition document. - Reports are exportable as PDF/XPS and to HTML.

    Free Open Source Windows

    Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Add a feature

    ThinkComposer icon

  • StarUML

    StarUML is a program to develop fast, flexible, extensible, featureful, and freely-available UML/MDA platform running on Win32 platform. The goal of the StarUML project is to build a software modeling tool and also platform that is a compelling replacement of commercial UML tools such as Rational Rose, Together and so on.

    Free Personal Mac Windows Linux

    Sequence Diagrams Class Diagrams Export to PDF UML diagrams Add a feature

    StarUML icon

  • UMLet

    UMLet is an open-source UML tool with a simple user interface: draw UML diagrams fast, export diagrams to eps, pdf, jpg, svg, and clipboard, share diagrams using Eclipse, and create new, custom UML elements. UMLet is a UML tool aimed at providing a fast way of creating UML diagrams. UML elements are modified using text input instead of pop-up dialogs. Elements can be modified and used as templates; this way, users can easily tailor UMLet to their modeling needs.

    • you can draw stuff by writting simple scripts!!!! Guest • Sep 2018 Disagree   Agree
    • Easier to use, more flexible, individual tool set for every type of diagram. Guest • May 2017 Disagree   Agree

    Free Open Source Windows

    Content Templates Drag n drop Plugins Add a feature

    UMLet icon

  • Gliffy

    "If they could see what Im thinking, they'd get it!" People just understand faster with pictures. It helps them see how information is connected, whether it is complete, and how a shift in one element impacts something else. Its simpler to grasp when you can see the connections and test "what if" scenarios. Take complex information and organize it visually with simple drag and drop ease.

    Commercial Web Chrome OS

    Workflow Add a feature

    Gliffy icon

  • Grafio

    Grafio allows you to make flow charts, org charts, Venn diagrams, mind maps, take notes, sketches and do other diagrams. Everything is custom and modifiable. Grafio's shape recognition algorithm can detect basic shapes and redraw them. You feel free sketching your idea, as if your Device is a cocktail napkin but the result is smooth and professionally looking. You can even record an audio note to each shape. Afterwords You can easily share it with your friends.

    Freemium iPhone iPad

    Charts Drawing Notetaking Voice Notes Add a feature

    Grafio icon

  • CmapTools

    This software empowers users to construct, navigate, share, and criticize knowledge models represented as Concept Maps. The toolkit is platform independent and network enabled, allowing the users to build, and collaborate during the construction of concept maps with colleagues anywhere on the network, as well as, share and navigate through others models distributed on servers throughout Internet.

    • Easy to use. Very professional look. Guest • Nov 2016 Disagree   Agree

    Free Mac Windows Linux iPad

    No features added Add a feature

    CmapTools icon

  • Share this list of alternatives?

  • Umbrello

    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.

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux

    UML diagrams Add a feature

    Umbrello icon

  • SmartDraw

    SmartDraw is the only alternative to Visio® that runs on a Windows desktop (behind the firewall), on a Mac, and online. With the best Visio® import and export capability in the industry, SmartDraw is the easy, powerful and affordable Visio® alternative. SmartDraw is the more powerful addition to Office® drawing tools. Any SmartDraw drawing can be inserted into Word®, Excel®, and PowerPoint® with one click.

    Commercial $ $ $ Mac Windows Web

    Workflow Add a feature

    SmartDraw icon

  • Calligra Flow

    Calligra Flow is an easy to use diagramming and flowcharting application with tight integration to the other Calligra applications. It enables you to create network diagrams, organisation charts, flowcharts and more.

    Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD

    No features added Add a feature

    Calligra Flow icon

  • Software Ideas Modeler

    Lightweight, powerful, easy to use, UML tool Software Ideas Modeler is a lightweight and powerful CASE tool. It supports UML 2.2 diagrams and a lot of other ones. Software Ideas Modeler is freeware (for non-commercial use). Commercial user may use this software only after buying a license. - Easy and fast drawing: auto alignment, layouts, grid, auto scrolling - UML 2.

    Free Personal Windows

    Code generation Add a feature

    Software Ideas Modeler icon

  • Diagram Designer

    Simple vector graphics editor for creating flowcharts, UML class diagrams, illustrations and slide shows.

    Free Windows

    No features added Add a feature

    Diagram Designer icon

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