Fanfa
Shares rank 7 of 11 diagram tools by recommenders
Lets people make consistent, animated Mermaid diagrams that stand out. Critics mostly report sluggishness on Firefox.
Lets people make consistent, animated Mermaid diagrams that stand out. Critics mostly report sluggishness on Firefox.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Animated, code-friendly diagrams
“Looking quite promising! I would love to use this as a code friendly animated diagraming tool.”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Fanfa – Interactive and animated Mermaid diagrams” “take a front row seat to watch your code execute”
Comment from 10 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Fanfa – Interactive and animated Mermaid diagrams”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Sluggish or CPU-heavy on Firefox
“This graph here has display issues. And the CPU is used waay too much on firefox”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Fanfa – Interactive and animated Mermaid diagrams” “The animation and the whole interface are sluggish on firefox/linux.”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Fanfa – Interactive and animated Mermaid diagrams” Animations not retained across nodes
“The animations don't seem to be retained across nodes”
Comment from 10 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Fanfa – Interactive and animated Mermaid diagrams” “I don't see anything animated except a bit on load?”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Fanfa – Interactive and animated Mermaid diagrams”
Other diagram tools people recommend
The four most recommended other diagram 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mermaid | 93 | 46 | 67% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Reladraw | 28 | 7 | 80% | 1 | — | — |
| SQL to ER diagram tool | 27 | 1 | 96% | 2 | — | — |
| D2 diagram language | 21 | 6 | 78% | 6 | — | Approved |
| FanfaThis page | 12 | 3 | 80% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
12 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“take a front row seat to watch your code execute”
“The animations don't seem to be retained across nodes”
“if I want to create and edit graph fast, make sure style is consistent etc. then this suits my needs better”
“I'm not being to login with github :/ it says 404:”
“Looking quite promising! I would love to use this as a code friendly animated diagraming tool.”
“It looks nice at first sight, but which data moves to which point exactly?”
“The animation and the whole interface are sluggish on firefox/linux.”
“the diagram is not centered and zoomed by default”
“a slightly different presentation can make my stuff stand out and gain more attention”
“This graph here has display issues. And the CPU is used waay too much on firefox”
“your animation is only working with classes and flowcharts”
“I don't see anything animated except a bit on load?”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.