Microsoft Visio is a professional and well-designed vector diagramming software for individuals to build simple and easy-to-understand diagrams. With a rich set of features, Visio does users a great favor in creating various diagrams including basic network diagrams, organization charts, basic flowcharts, UML diagrams, wireframe diagram, Gantt chart, timeline. However, it is not affordable for a single user. Therefore, we gonna share the top five best free alternatives to Microsoft Visio in this article. If you are looking for an alternative to Microsoft Visio, Edraw Max should be your first choice, which is fully Visio compatible.
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It is perfect for students, teachers, and business professionals to reliably create and publish all kinds of diagrams such as, electrical diagrams, software design diagrams and more. Besides, it has more than 260 built-in diagram types, 14000+ preset fully editable. LucidChart LucidChart is also a great Visio alternative. It offers unique compatibility with other programs and apps including Google apps. Furthermore, the software has a wide range of shapes, layout types, and graph paper backgrounds.
However, one thing is missing in LucidChart is the built-in categorization of different shapes for different subjects like networking, engineering etc. Pencil Project Pencil Project is an open source GUI prototyping alternative to Microsoft Visio. It helps users to create mockups in popular desktop platforms. You are also able to export completed diagrams to different formats like XML, webpage, PDF and SVG formats. Dia Dia is also an open source alternative to Microsoft Visio with a similar Visio user interface. It can be used for creating a large variety of diagrams like SADT diagrams, UML diagrams, ER diagrams, Cybernetics diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, circuit diagrams, etc.
In addition, the software also allows you to download additional shapes from their official website so you can easily add them to your own toolbox. LibreOffice Draw LibreOffice Draw seems to be the closest and the biggest open source competitor of Microsoft Visio for any type of diagrams. It helps in transforming information in the form of a quick sketch or a complex plan. Conclusion So far we have checked out some of the best options of Visio alternatives with both advantages and disadvantages.
Hopefully, now have all the information you need to make a suitable decision.
If you're a big-time open source fanatic like me, you probably get questions about open source alternatives to proprietary tools rather frequently. From the 'Alternatives to Microsoft® Visio®' department, here are three tips that should help designers who use Visio in an open source environment. If you need an open source option for opening Visio files, a revived open source application for creating diagrams, or a lesser-known open source tool for converting Visio® stencils, these tips are for you.
Opening Visio files Open source tools haven't been able to open Visio (.VSD format) diagrams for a pretty long time. The format is commonly used for infrastructure and architecture documentation and planning—and less commonly, for user interface design and planning. Thankfully, Summer of Code students Eilidh McAdam and Fridrich Strba implemented support for opening.VSD format files in LibreOffice Draw last summer. This support is now available in Fedora's version of LibreOffice and has been since Fedora 17. (Screenshot of LibreOffice Draw opening up a Visio VSD diagram.) You can install LibreOffice Draw with the following command: yum install libreoffice-draw If you prefer to use Inkscape or any other open source SVG editor (such as Karbon14 or Xara,) Eilidh McAdam produced libvisio which works with the libwpd tools for converting.VSD files to.SVG—making it possible to open them in any SVG editor in Fedora. For Fedora 20, you'll need the libvisio and libvisio-tools packages that are now available, which you can install via the following command: yum install libvisio libvisio-tools These two projects are covered in detail in Libre Graphics World, including full instructions on. Note:There isn't a solution yet for writing out to.VSD format, but you can write out to.PDF, of course, which may serve your needs in sharing your modified and originally.VSD-format diagrams.
Creating diagrams in a Visio-like environment Dia (A screenshot of Fedora 20′s Dia. We’ve highlighted how to turn on anti-aliasing, which might help your diagrams come out looking better.) Traditionally, has been the best game in town for open source diagramming, but it hasn't changed much over the years and requires a lot of tweaking and extra work to produce beautiful diagrams. For example, diagram graphics are not anti-aliased by default in Dia 0.97.2.
We've highlighted how to enable this in the preferences dialog shown in the screenshot above. You can install Dia with the following command: yum install dia Inkscape (Screenshot of an Inkscape development version, showing some diagramming capabilities including the symbols library and enhanced diagram connector tool.) is another option—my preferred one—but as a general vector graphics editing tool, it doesn't have the specialized niceities and workflow of a tool specifically focused on diagramming and takes a bit of experience to use it effectively for creating diagrams.
We show the pre-release/development version of Inkscape,. While the diagram connector tool has been available in Inkscape for quite some time, the tool has been enhanced in the pre-release—check out the tool options bar above the canvas that corresponds to the tool.
There are more options you can choose from in how the connector tool connects different objects in your drawing—you can fine-tune them a lot more fluidly now. The Inkscape pre-release also features the relatively new symbols library feature not available in the version of Inkscape provided in the main repos. The, but there aren't any tutorials or anything around it yet.
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It basically provides you with a docked palette that lets you peruse different libraries of symbols or graphics—some of which are diagram/flow chart symbols—and drag them onto the canvas. Check out to learn how to get these new features. Calligra Flow (Calligra Flow diagramming tool in Fedora 20.), which is part of the Calligra suite of productivity applications, is perhaps the best option tailored for someone looking to produce attractive diagrams using open source software. The lineage of this application can be traced back to the diagramming tool, which according to Wikipedia was initially released in October 2000. In mid 2010, of the KOffice project; not long after, Flow maintainer Yue Liu improving the stencil system and included stencils. Calligra Flow looks to be a pretty promising diagramming tool, so give it a shot! You can install Calligra Flow with the following command: yum install calligra-flow Converting Visio stencils (.VXD) to.SVG.
Converting Visio-format stencils to.SVG involves a pretty kludgy workflow that doesn't always work. Depending on how complex the stencils are, though, it's possible to extract the shapes from a.VXD stencil file and use them as.SVGs. It involves using an old and seemingly abandoned project, so not much is new here, but now that you know how to open.VSD files, it may be of more interest to know how to also. Remember, this process can be really buggy and may need some love. For example, you have to move the included 'chunksparsecmds.tbl' file to the directory you run the command from, in order for it to work. Even then it fails sometimes, but, it's a start!
The format for Calligra Flow stencils is open and it is ODG-based, so with some effort it is possible to manually, and the project has an open call for help on that front. If you'd like to get involved, it seems like a great place to start. An earlier version of this article, published in, appeared on; this version records changes relevant since the release of Fedora 20. For more discussion on open source and the role of the CIO in the enterprise, join us at. The opinions expressed on this website are those of each author, not of the author's employer or of Red Hat. Opensource.com aspires to publish all content under a but may not be able to do so in all cases.
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In searching of alternative to MS Visio for Mac and PC with ConceptDraw PRO Many of us use MS Visio frequently at work in all Windows environment, but to run Visio on Macintosh we had to install a virtual machine to emulate PC, which made work difficult and slow a great deal. It should seem that solution is quite difficult to find. But there is always an alternative. ConceptDraw from CS Odessa has been developed to satisfy all your needs as an alternative product to Visio.
If you have heard from many people that they frequently faced difficulties with sharing their MS Visio documents among Mac users, be sired that there were no ConceptDraw PRO users among them. ConceptDraw users do not meet such problem, because they can work on Macintosh with a document created on PC and vice versa. Now many users find ConceptDraw PRO the best analog of Visio for Macintosh. If you prefer working in Macintosh environment, then ConceptDraw PRO is your choice. The advantages of ConceptDraw PRO over Visio for you:. Cross-Platform Compatibility;.
Compatibility with MS Visio;. Powerful Drawing and diagramming Tools;. Huge Set of Object Libraries;. Advanced Presentation Capabilities;. Park of Specific Solutions for Businesses;.
Flexible licensing policy;. Reasonable Price;. Free technical support;.
Free online Visio Files from VSD to ConceptDraw PRO (CDDZ) format. With the introduction of Visio 2013 Microsoft has changed the native file format used in earlier versions of Microsoft Visio. Thus, when you are looking for professional tool to open and save in the newer Visio 2013 file format on Mac, ConceptDraw PRO 11 is exactly solution for you. ConceptDraw PRO 11 file import and export works roundtrip with the new Visio VSDX file format and supports the Improved import of VDX file format. In addition to the above, we would like to give opinions of some users who have already switched from Visio to ConceptDraw PRO: 'I choose ConceptDraw PRO because it was the closest to Visio on the Mac side. ConceptDraw PRO has all of the features I need and can output as a Visio file if needs to be.'
- says Kris Rockwell, Hybrid Learning Systems 'The main reason I switched is that I moved from a PC to Mac and currently there is no version Visio for Mac. And installing virtual PC etc. Was just too much of a hassle.'
- says Randolph Jacinto 'Visio has become quite complicated and it turns out that UML diagrams are easier to create with ConceptDraw PRO. Visio has some strange behavior that, I think, is related to integrating with modeling tools such as Rational, etc. I just want a diagramming software and nothing more! Another reason is I like the Apple OS X operating system very much.
I've been a long-time Window's user (and software developer) and I'm tired of the same old thing, I suppose. In general, the software for Apple platform seems nicer and easier to use.' - says Andrew Joseph. 'The main reason for the switch is my switch from a PC to a Mac computer.
I have tried OmniGraffle Pro and found that it wasn't the perfect replacement. I am still playing with the ConceptDraw PRO draw capabilities. One thing that Visio does extremely well ( better than any other diagram product that I have seen) is that you can cut and paste the diagram into a Word.doc and it looks perfect. That is not true of Graffle Pro and quite frankly not really the case with ConceptDraw PRO from what I can tell. ConceptDraw PRO does have some nice templates and useful features. I will continue to use it and evaluate the capabilities.
The ability to go back and forth between PC and Mac and Vision and ConceptDraw is an important capability.' - says John Latham.PhD, Managing Partner, GENITECT LLC.
Read on for our detailed analysis of each app There was a time, before computers, when every child in senior school carried with them a plastic stencil for creating neat flowcharts. Thankfully, creating them on a computer is so much easier to do, faster to change, and infinitely reproducible. Clear diagrams can detail the flow of information, products on a production line, the execution of code in software, and a dozen other business-critical processes.
Managing people and resources can be difficult without understanding the dependencies involved, and these documents can often reveal those succinctly. Here are 10 of the best we could find, each with their own twist on the perfect recipe for being well understood. We've also highlighted the. Limited template selection Business users often don’t work in isolation, and by Nulab is a charting solution built to address that need, among others. It’s an online tool that interfaces to a wide range of cloud services, including Google Drive/Docs, Confluence, Adobe Creative Cloud, Box and Dropbox. In addition to Cloud stored and distributed content, Cacoo also works with TypeTalk (another Nulab product) and Slack to enable an information flow that alerts other team members when a diagram is updated. The number of templates might be less than other products, but it has all the critical ones like Network diagrams, organisational charts and floor plans.
The feature set makes it of the most use to systems designers, software engineers, project managers and business administrators. Pricing is competitive, with a single user license costing just $4.95 (£3.70) per month, and a three-user Team plan is $18 (£13.45) per month. For those wanting greater control over their mission-critical tools, Cacoo offers an enterprise option where the system is installed on a private server, for ten or more users.
There are also educational plans for teachers and students. For those wishing to check out Cacoo, trials are available for 14 days, and there is a free plan that allows six diagrams to be created in it, with limited sharing options. Expensive is a complete suite of applications designed to enable business planning and enhance productivity. Now at release 11, ConceptDraw Pro is just one of these tools and sits alongside ConceptDraw Office 4, Mindmap 9, Project 8 and ConceptDraw Store. Pro version 11 is a highly versatile business graphics and diagramming product with thousands of stencils and hundreds of templates ready to use.
But for those that want greater flexibility, it is possible to design any stencil elements from scratch and incorporate them into a design. These custom elements can then use the tree and chain connecting modes available in the ConceptDraw Pro 11 software. Fully compatible with Visio (stencils and drawings), Pro 11 can be installed either to the Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac platforms, each costing $199 (£149) for a single license. Five and ten user license packs are available with a user discount, and you can also buy Pro 11 in concert with Mindmap 9 and Project 8 for greater savings. For teachers and students it can be had for a very reasonable $99 (£74), and a free trial is available for those wishing to try it out. Online version uses Flash Where other tools rely on application installations, is available online, as a desktop app and also on mobile platforms.
It’s not exclusively for Flowcharts either, as it can be used to produce a wide variety of diagrams including organisational charts and wireframes, Gantt charts, Infographics and even maps. The available templates are extensive, and you can try it out online before you invest. One snag, and for many organisations it could be a deal breaker, is that online Creately uses Adobe Flash, and insists on it being on the client platform. Online Creately costs just $5 (£3.74) per month or $49 (£37) per year for a single user, and cheaper-per-head team pricing is also available.
The Creately Desktop is $75 (£56) with one year of updates included. For the general public, Creately allows five diagrams to be created at zero cost, perfect for that small charting job that you can’t easily bend another tool to make. Only online Let’s say it upfront: is free. No, seriously. They develop and maintain it at no cost to the user. When you’ve recovered from that shock, you should know that it’s an online solution that can save your work to Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. It can handle a wide range of schematics, including complex BPMN workflows, UML diagrams and general Flowcharts, along with mind maps and network infrastructures.
Data Flow Diagram Alternative To Microsoft Visio For Mac Free
The list of possibilities is so big that we chose not to list them all here. So what is the catch? Well, if you use either Confluence or JIRA Cloud, then they’d like a subscription paid for that functionality. But it’s hardly expensive, being 1$ (£0.75) for Confluence per user and $0.50 (£0.37) for JIRA, and pricing for 200 users is $20 (£14.94) and $10 (£7.47) respectively per month. Before you spend money on other solutions, it’s worth checking out Draw.io, if only to be amazed at what software tools you can get for free, and how good they can be. No groupware functionality Based in Arizona, Pacestar Software has four diagram design tools of which is the most versatile. Using Edge Diagrammer, you can easily generate block diagrams, flowcharts, org charts, family trees, data flow diagrams and many other standard diagrammatic forms.
In addition to the base functionality, Pacestar has some free extension packs that support an even wider range of different diagramming methodologies. The limitations of this product are that it is exclusively Windows platform, although it has very minimal hardware requirements and will run on any full version of Windows from XP upwards. There is also a free to distribute Windows tool that allows anyone to view drawings created using Edge Diagrammer. While this software is undoubtedly powerful and effective, it doesn’t take account of information flow or distribution within a large operation. Therefore if you intend to use this you’ll need to manage the files it creates with other tools. A single user license is $149 (£111), and the more seats you purchase, the cheaper it gets per user. For those wanting to try it out a thirty-day trial is available to download, and for that period you can experience full functionality.
No groupware connections Another cross-platform option, works on Windows, Mac and Linux natively. Created by the Shenzen Edraw software company, Edraw Max was built to construct professional-looking flowcharts, organisational diagrams and has templates for 280 different diagram types. If you have a specific need, you might not need all the power of Edraw Max, and the same company makes tailored tools for Mind Mapping, Infographics, Org Charts and nine other different specific diagram requirements. In theory, Edraw Max can do any of these jobs, although users might find the scope and power of this tool a little daunting at first. Those that get through an initially challenging learning curve report that once mastered this is a great application for creating professional looking schematics rapidly and efficiently. A single user license is $179 (£134) and includes free upgrades for three years on Windows and Mac.
Pay a little more and you can get a lifetime license with indefinite upgrades, or you can pay $99 (£74) per year for a subscription. Multi-user discounts are also available, as they are for educational users. Limited object customisation This product has many parallels with Draw.io, in that it also supports Confluence and JIRA Cloud, but is also working on a proprietary Cloud solution to be launched soon, called Gliffy Project. Gliffy Diagram is available now and provides a straightforward tool for creating a very wide variety of chart types online or within Confluence.
It also stores created charts into Google Drive, should you use that those Cloud services. Pricing is $7.99 (£5.97) per month for a single user, but this unit cost reduces to $4.99 (£3.73) per user for team members. Multi-user licenses also include additional groupware functionality. For Enterprise customers pricing is less per-person structured, and Gliffy provides an integrated solution that can dovetail into existing business processes.
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One nice twist on this online software tool is that you can install a Chrome version that can work offline, should an Internet connection not be available. What this product lacks is much in the way of object customisation, although it scores highly on ease of use and a gentle learning curve. Inexpensive per seat According to Lucid Software, they have over 11 million users. Strongly suggesting that this is not a niche solution, but a highly popular one. Lucid is one of the few tools that covers Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OSX and various Linux distributions by default, admittedly by being an online app rather than natively. For those who need workflow integration, supports Confluence, JIRA and JIVE, along with the Google Cloud and apps and Microsoft Visio compatibility. There is a free trial that isn’t time limited.
Instead, diagrams are restricted to a maximum of 60 objects, sufficient to explore its potential. Licensing starts at $5.45 (£4.07) per month for a Home user, and ‘Pro’ Business users pay $10 (£7.47) per month, both paid on annual subscriptions. Pro users get the ability to import and export to Visio, and dynamically link data into their charts for the extra money. There are also Team versions with groupware and Enterprise options, all at extra cost. Lucid convinced Amazon, Adobe, DocuSign, Cisco, Red Hat and Wells Fargo to be customers. And, it might be right for your business, too.
Lacks inherent groupware features When most people think about flow charts, they almost immediately think of, although the product is capable of creating all manner of diagrams quickly and efficiently. It was one of the first products with smart drawing tools, and today it retains the ability for the tool to intelligently restructure a drawing as the user moves objects around. The obvious big selling point of Visio is that its part of the suite, and therefore designed to integrate with the other Office tools seamlessly.
Microsoft offers four different options with Visio; two online, and another two that are standalone Windows applications. Visio Standard 2016 and Professional 2016 are the installable apps, and they retail for £279.99 ($375) and £529.99 ($709) respectively. As you might guess, that high pricing is intended to encourage you to subscribe to the online versions, labelled Visio Plan 1 and Visio Plan 2. Plan 1 is pitched at £3.80 ($5) per user/month and is purely an online version, where Plan 2 costs £11.30 ($15) per user/month. And with that you also get online and Visio 2016 Professional app, and access to better mobile tools, and a Visio Viewer for iOS. These prices are if you subscribe annually, with month-by-month pricing being a little higher. For those already using Office 365, many of the existing packages include the online version of Visio.
And, you can try that for free on Microsoft’s Office online website. Expensive per seat Like Lucid, can name an impressive list of blue-chip companies that are license holders since the company started in 1994. These include at least half of the Fortune 500 quoted businesses and more than 250,000 public and private enterprises across the globe. The SmartDraw product can be used online or as a standalone Windows application.
It supports the creation of no less than seventy chart types, including all the standard ones. There more exotic templates include those for documenting a crime scene, landscape gardening, seating plan and even accident reconstruction. For those working as part of a team, it supports Confluence, JIRA, Trello and Google’s GSuiite. And, it’s fully compatible with Visio, able to import and export diagrams and stencils with Microsoft’s application. The Windows Desktop offers a single user license for $297 (£222) and multi-user 5+ licenses from $595 (£445). The online version is just $9.95 (£7.43) per month for one user, and $5.95 (£4.45) per user/month for 5+, both billed annually. The multi-user packages have extra functionality that allows licenses to be managed and can also control the sharing of SmartDraw data with other users.
Most of the sophistication of SmartDraw is in the templates and not the application. Therefore it might be more suitable for those who make many simple charts, and not those involved in the creation of very complex diagrams.
What to look for when choosing flowchart software Although designers might use these tools, the majority of people creating flowcharts aren’t classically trained graphic designers. Therefore, they need a tool that assumes no artistic abilities but can generate professional looking results rapidly. There is a fine balance between an application giving the operator the power to do whatever they want and funnelling their efforts in the direction of ultimate success. The way that most software handles this delicate balance is to offer the user templates that avoid them using too many fonts, or trying to cram too many elements into a design. If the operator has graphical skills, these restrictions might seem a hindrance, but to the less confident, they can be exactly the structural support these folks need.
These are the key aspects that you might want to consider before purchasing a flowchart solution:. Templates: How many does the application have, and are any of them tailored to your specific needs (coding, game logic, command structures, etc)?. Objects: Almost all software will have a selection of predefined objects, and the number and quality of these should be assessed. If the graphical elements that you specifically need aren’t in the library, the ability to define your own will be very important. Groupware: As important as the creation of a diagram might be, getting it distributed and centrally updated is also critical. Some applications can enable multiple people to work on the same design, which might be useful when documenting an especially complicated process.
Trial: Some of these tools can be expensive or require ongoing licensing, so it is useful to test a trial version before investing company cash.
Talk about diagramming tools, and one of the first names that pop into your head is Microsoft Visio. With a plethora of templates, shapes, layouts, and designs, Visio is a paradise for your visual modeling requirements. However, unless you are working in an MNC or a part of a massive team, the price tag of $240 per month makes it a bit costlier. So, if you are seeking free alternatives to Microsoft Visio, don't worry, we have got you sorted. The following list of diagramming software and tools will help you choose the right one. Lucidchart Lucidchart advertises itself as a Visio alternative and boasts of being used by the teams at Cisco, Harvard University, Accenture, and more.
From floor plans to, it has a ton of robust pre-made templates. Apart from that, this online tool is extremely easy to use. It allows you to add different shapes, containers, and smart connectors to make. Plus, the shapes and containers change as per the type of diagram. On top of that, there are a slew of shapes and layering options to choose from. The free version of Lucidchart is limited to three active documents per user. If you are mainly looking for personal use, the free templates and shapes should be sufficient.
However, if you are not satisfied, you can upgrade to any of the paid versions. The basic paid plan of Lucidchart is priced at $4 per month and it lets you use unlimited shapes and documents.
Meanwhile, the Pro user plan is priced at $10 per month with the option to import or export Visio files. If you have a small team that often collaborates on designs, the Pro plan for teams is a bit heftily priced at $20 per month. Why Lucidchart. Ridiculously easy to learn and use. Huge library of templates and shapes.
Drag and drop. Integrations 2. Creately Creately is another powerful online tool hiding many templates behind a simple interface. Available across multiple platforms, Creately believes in keeping things simple. It has an intuitive interface with a bunch of. Unlike Lucidchart, this tool supports a variety of 'fun' templates that you can use to make community banners or for your school projects. Unlike LucidCraft, this tool supports a variety of 'fun' templates.
Other than that, there's a tiny contextual toolbar that shows up as soon as you select an object. With tools like quick connectors, text box creation, and external links, it makes the process faster and quicker. On the collaboration front, you can work with your team members just by adding their email IDs. The free version lets you add up to three collaborators.
Quite naturally, this restriction is removable if you upgrade to the paid versions. Like any other diagramming tool, Creately limits some of the features like Visio files import and SVG export in the free plan. The personal plan starts at $5 per month and goes up to $125 for team plans.
Why Creately. Tons of templates. One-click contextual toolbar. Ready-made color palettes. Let's you import images from the web 3. Pencil Project The beauty of Pencil Project lies in the fact that it's free desktop software. For an open source project, Pencil has a pretty clean interface with all the necessary tools.
It allows you to create mockups for almost everything — mobiles, web pages, and even conventional flowcharts and diagrams. The controls are quite straightforward. Double click to rotate the elements and single click to resize them. If I were to compare it to the above tools, I'd say that the or colorful. However, those are some of the trade-offs if you are looking for a completely free diagramming tool.
As far as the templates are concerned, the options are limited to creating wireframes, GUI, and flowcharts. You won't find any fancy templates for infographics, family tree or network diagram.
Export options include SVG, ODT, PDF, PNG or standard web page. Why Pencil Project. Free and standalone software. Clean interface with simple tools. Cool collection of mobile GUI elements for smartphone mockups 4. Draw.io Draw.io is an utter delight of a diagramming tool.
From standard charts and flowcharts to entity relationship diagrams and UML diagrams, you can play with a lot of templates in this online tool. The best thing is that you don't even need to register. Simply open the site, select the templates and start working. Draw.io also lets you, Dropbox, OneDrive and even Github to export your templates. Similar to Pencil Project, you can export your projects in PNG, SVG, PDF, XML, and a few other formats.
Plus, it also supports. Draw.io redefines simplicity as it's incredibly easy to use. All you have to do is click on an element and all the necessary formatting options like font, color, style are accessible through the menu on the right.
Also, the collection of shapes and objects are sufficient for a free version. Why Draw.io. Super simple interface. Has the option to search for shapes. Good for small-scale work. YEd Graph Editor yEd Graph Editor might not be the most stylish Visio alternative, but trust me when I say that it has the right tools and elements to make your work seamless and easy.
Data Flow Diagram Alternative To Microsoft Visio For Mac Mac
Since it's also a, you won't find many ready-made templates. But let me tell you that it is by far one of the best free tools for creating charts, flowcharts, and diagrams of computer networks. Plus, working on this tool is relatively easy. Simply drag and drop the elements.
As for the export options, yEd allows you to save your diagrams in PDF, JPEG, PNG, SWF, and HTML formats. Why yEd Graph Editor. Apt for flowcharts and network diagrams. Plenty of shapes, edge types, entity relation elements, etc. XMind If your diagrams involve more of mapping, then you should give XMind a try.
The beauty of XMind is that you can create an entire just through keystrokes. Yes, you read that right. This offline drawing tool supports a few handy keyboard shortcuts that let you create child elements, add text or skip to the next element. The elements and shapes library is immense and is available on a click of a button, along with the formatting options like font, structure, color, etc. XMind is the a open source project and hence free to use.
My only gripe is that the trial version stamps the XMind watermark on the diagrams. And to remove that, you need to subscribe to the Zen version by paying $27.99 per six months. Great for mappings. Vast library of elements and shapes. Gliffy Gliffy is another good online alternative to Microsoft Visio. Gliffy has three different account options to choose from — Basic (Standard), Single, and Team account. The Single and Team account are paid versions while the Basic is free to use.
Here, the catch is that all your diagrams are marked public. So, unless you are planning to make a data-sensitive flowchart, you can give this tool a shot. Similar to the most of the diagramming tools, Gliffy includes a variety of shapes and elements. This tool lets you build everything from simple swimlanes to a complicated UML diagrams. It follows the usual method of drag and drop. Also, the interface is neat with options to embed notes and URLs.
Gliffy, however, limits the use of a few of their business shapes (UML Class, UML Sequence, etc.) for the Basic/Standard account. For creating and downloading unlimited diagrams, you need to pay $7.99 per month for a single user plan. And for teams, it comes to $4.99 per user. Why Gliffy. Clean interface.
Revision history. Change background color. Shared URL with collaborators 8.
Google Drawings Last but not the least, we have Google Drawings. Like most of the Google apps and tools, we have the G-advantage here — it's free and it's relatively simple to use.
And unlike the free versions (of paid drawing apps) that limit shapes and templates, Google Drawings offers loads of features and options. You can play with process diagrams or try your hand at relationship diagrams. The color schemes are customizable.
Plus, you can also change the levels or areas of the diagrams as per your needs. Given that Google documents can be easily shared, collaboration is surprisingly easy on Drawings. Why Google Drawings. Free and simple to use. Plenty of templates to choose from.
Customizable colors and areas. Gets automatically saved. Make Powerful Visualizations They say that seeing is believing and rightly so. Be it a software process or a simple infographic, unless the data is visually appealing and easy to understand, the work one puts in such diagrams may go to waste. And at the same time, it should be easy for a user to make such diagrams without much hassles.
So, these were some of the free alternatives to Microsoft Visio. There are also some other programs like DIA, Open Office, and LibreOffice which you can try. Last updated on 1 Oct, 2018.
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