Design and diagrams decision
Cloudcraft
A lightweight Cloudcraft replacement (manual diagram editor, persistence, exports) is realistic for a capable developer to build and maintain; the proprietary Live cloud-scanning, integrations, and enterprise polish are the main things you'd lose.
Visit website↗Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need — the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship.
What a replacement has to do
- Manually create and edit cloud architecture diagrams with an AWS/Azure component palette, save/load diagrams, and export PNG/SVG.
What it still won’t have
- Cloudcraft Live scanning that auto-generates diagrams from cloud accounts
- 3D view and advanced visual polish
- Built-in Datadog integration and live metric navigation to Datadog dashboards
- Enterprise features: SSO integrations, 90-day version history, and team/enterprise management polish
- Confluence plugin / embedding workflow and advanced collaboration tooling
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 1 seat.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal Cloudcraft-like web app using React + Konva (canvas/SVG) for the frontend, Node.js + Express + Postgres for the backend, and S3-compatible storage for exported assets. In scope: a drag-and-drop palette with common AWS and Azure SVG icons and ability to add custom icons; canvas with pan/zoom, connectable components, save/load diagrams as JSON; PNG and SVG export; user accounts (email/password) and shareable read-only diagram links; server-side persistence and CI tests. Out of scope: automatic cloud account scanning (Live), Datadog integration, 3D rendering, enterprise SSO, and multi-team admin controls. Include robust error handling, input validation, and unit + integration tests for API endpoints and export logic.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Build verdict base78
- An open-source build was found+5
- 4 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- Evidence score89
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time — so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 4
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productCloudcraft – Draw AWS diagrams
- official pricingPricing - Cloudcraft
- open sourcepatrickchugh/terravision
- open sourcemicrosoft/Ontology-Playground
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
