draw.io
Shares rank 7 of 17 diagramming tools by recommenders
A free diagram editor people use for flowcharts and architecture diagrams because it is easy to start with and produces clean results. Critics find the UI and look and feel unappealing, and laying out ports and connections fiddly.
A free diagram editor people use for flowcharts and architecture diagrams because it is easy to start with and produces clean results. Critics find the UI and look and feel unappealing, and laying out ports and connections fiddly.
26 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 62%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Easy to pick up and start
“Some products are inherently easy to use like draw.io for example.”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Lessons from 14 Years at Google” “it works well enough and it's easy to make something that looks ok”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: TikZ Editor – WYSIWYG editor for figures in LaTeX” Works well for LLM-generated diagrams
“the best thing is installing drawio skill and make it generate one for you based on your description”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Reladraw – A diagram language where you decide where to place things” “I'm finding a lot of utility in LLMs doing diagrams in tools like drawio”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “Gemini 3.1 Pro” “the best outcome I had was with drawio”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “Mastering Layout Engines in Graphviz: Dot vs. Neato vs. Twopi vs. Circo” Embeds diagram XML inside PNG files
“For a long time I've used draw.io for making diagrams, and found it clever that you can effectively save your document as an iframe blob”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Bento - An entire PowerPoint in one HTML file (edit+view+data+collab)” “Draw.io smuggles the XML in a PNG which I've always admired.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch” Go-to choice over time
“use draw.io or the like because I know it will be winning on the longer run”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “The Paper Computer” “I just stick to draw.io now (aka diagrams.net)”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “I use excalidraw to manage my diagrams for my blog” “ended up always back to something like Draw.io”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Reladraw – A diagram language where you decide where to place things”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Clumsy to lay out and edit
“it’s very difficult to lay out the ports consistently and have them flow.”
Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: PatchMyGear – a living map for your studio gear (cables and checklist)” “others are inefficient and fiddly for an agent to manipulate (Draw.io)”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Reladraw – A diagram language where you decide where to place things” “I've struggled with draw.io for fixing it by my client's requests.”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Anyone else frustrated with mermaid diagrams?” Dated UI and look and feel
“I dislike the UI/look and feel.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you working on? (June 2026)” “because it is web garbage”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Windows 3.1 tiled background .bmp archive”
Other diagramming tools people recommend
The four most recommended other diagramming tools, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Krita | 77 | 11 | 88% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Excalidraw | 56 | 10 | 85% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Aseprite | 26 | 3 | 90% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Procreate | 23 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| draw.ioThis page | 16 | 10 | 62% | 9 | — | — |
What people said
27 of the 30 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I've struggled with draw.io for fixing it by my client's requests.”
“Exactly the problem I was having with drawio and mermaid.”
“the best thing is installing drawio skill and make it generate one for you based on your description”
“others are inefficient and fiddly for an agent to manipulate (Draw.io)”
“ended up always back to something like Draw.io”
“which is also awesome, but can take a lot of time”
“I now also use it as a replacement for whiteboarding and have it open in most meetings.”
“the best outcome I had was with drawio”
“For a long time I've used draw.io for making diagrams, and found it clever that you can effectively save your document as an iframe blob”
“I had trouble getting that working (admittedly years ago)”
“it works well enough and it's easy to make something that looks ok”
“draw.io or even an ipad with a whiteboard app aren't good replacements for me”
“I dislike the UI/look and feel.”
“use draw.io or the like because I know it will be winning on the longer run”
“I just stick to draw.io now (aka diagrams.net)”
“draw.io is still the winner, and especially now that it runs locally also on Linux”
“because it is web garbage”
“Our experience of describing archival records visually as a graph was exciting with draw.io”
“The diagrams would drift out of sync with the actual docs within weeks.”
“I'm finding a lot of utility in LLMs doing diagrams in tools like drawio”
“Draw.io smuggles the XML in a PNG which I've always admired.”
“If you just want pretty C4 models, Draw.io is your best bet.”
“Use draw.io/Excalidraw despite the pain”
“Something that doesn't suck like draw.io!”
“Some products are inherently easy to use like draw.io for example.”
“it’s very difficult to lay out the ports consistently and have them flow.”
“it has a built-in Mermaid importer”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.