Design and diagrams

EdrawMax alternatives

2 open-source projects that already do this job. Free to use - not free to run, which is what the numbers on the right are for.

The full assessment →

The projects

jgraph/drawio-desktop62,485Apache-2.0Electron desktop build of draw.io, a full-featured diagram editor with import/export and templates.Open on GitHub jgraph/drawio7,353Apache-2.0Client-side web diagram editor providing a rich canvas, shapes library, and export/import capabilities.Open on GitHub

What you give up either way

Enterprise compliance certifications (GDPR/SOC 2/ISO 27001) maintained by vendor
Large built-in template/community library (tens of thousands of templates)
Desktop native builds for Win/Mac/Linux and polished installers
Advanced AI features and proprietary model integrations advertised
Deep import/export fidelity for Visio/Office formats and many integrations

An open-source project doing the core job proves a replacement is possible. It does not prove it matches EdrawMax, and it does not prove anyone has run it for a month. How we decide.