
Ask HN: What tools do you use for creating diagrams? - BucketSort
We&#x27;re looking for some open source tools for creating UML diagrams and the sort. What&#x27;s your goto tool set for creating diagrams&#x2F;visual organizations of systems?
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lfx
[https://www.draw.io](https://www.draw.io) works great for general charts. It
has set of UML elements as well, tho haven't used it.

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neilsimp1
I came here to say this. I have to occasionally use Visio for work, and I
prefer the simplicity of this way more.

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techdragon
OmniGraffle for hand crafted, and general purpose diagrams. Also for mobile
diagrams since I have OmniGraffle on my iPhone and iPad Pro. (Apple Pencil
support too)

Graphviz and a text editor for quick structured or hierarchical diagrams.

AsciiFlow, for rough and ready diagrams that I need to share quickly or for
inclusion in documents where Graphviz is unsuitable.

Those three are my go to tools depending on what kind of diagrams I am working
on. I'll use yEd from yWorks on FreeBSD and Linux.

Finally when push comes to shove I'll wind up with Microsoft Visio usually
because of either compatibility or having to work on windows.

For UML I think your going to struggle with a pure open source stack. I've
found diagramming tools to be one of the weakest parts of open source
productivity suites. UML is quite likely to produce a lot of diagrams and your
going to want _good_ tools to deal with this. I recommend you chose the best
diagramming tool for your platform of choice and just pay for it if it's not
free. Wrestling with poor diagram tools is a complete waste of time when good
tools that make working with diagrams very easy. I've yet to see a diagramming
tool that costs more than the time it saved me. Even Microsoft Visio earned
its keep over the few years each license lasted me.

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0x54MUR41
Since you're asking the open source software, these are my recommendations:

1\. Draw.io [1] for general charts. Someone has already mentioned it. It's
open source software. Draw.io supports flow charts and other diagram types.
One thing that I love about Draw.io is compatibility. You can import and
export the XML file that contains your diagram. So, I don't need to worry what
platform I use. The final diagrams can be exported to SVG and images too.

2\. UMLet [2] or StarUML [3] for UML diagrams. I have no experience with
UMLet. I recommend this because it's open source UML tool and actively
developed (they need contributors [4]). I know open source UML tools are not
as good as paid tools, like Visual Paradigm and Enterprise Architect.
Alternatively, you can use StarUML (not open source). It's free although you
have to buy a license for continued use.

[1]: [https://www.draw.io](https://www.draw.io)

[2]: [http://www.umlet.com](http://www.umlet.com)

[3]: [http://staruml.io](http://staruml.io)

[4]:
[https://github.com/umlet/umlet/issues](https://github.com/umlet/umlet/issues)

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RUG3Y
I've used this free program to make lots of diagrams:
[http://pencil.evolus.vn/Downloads.html](http://pencil.evolus.vn/Downloads.html)

I don't know if it's the best thing out there, but it's pretty low risk to try
it out. I haven't needed to look for anything better, and it does have some
neat features.

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fspear
[http://chartmage.com/index.html](http://chartmage.com/index.html)

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tenken
[https://www.yworks.com/products/yed](https://www.yworks.com/products/yed)

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Davidbrcz
Dia, open source. It can draw many kind of diagrams

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tsuyoshicho
Using PlantUML. [http://plantuml.com/](http://plantuml.com/)

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cher14
Not open source but with a free tier: www.breakdown-notes.com. Disclaimer: my
project.

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g0tham
I'm a fan of the web-based www.gliffy.com

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sidcool
MS Visio, Google Drawings

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arvinje
I use StarUML for drawing UML diagrams. [http://staruml.io](http://staruml.io)

