Monodraw
Ranked 6 of 17 diagramming tools by recommenders
Recommended for ASCII diagrams and doodles, and cheap as a one-time purchase. Caveats: it is in maintenance mode and its file format is not open.
Recommended for ASCII diagrams and doodles, and cheap as a one-time purchase. Caveats: it is in maintenance mode and its file format is not open.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: 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
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 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
Favorite app, used often
“Monodraw for Mac is my favorite. I'm a customer.”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “ASCII-Driven Development” “There is Monodraw, the best out there.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch” “I love Monodraw, and use it every week”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch” - Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch”
Missed after leaving the Mac
“This is my most missed app since switching from Mac to Windows.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch” “One of the few things I miss after ditching the mac”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch” “I used to love monodraw when I had a mac.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch” ASCII diagrams and doodles
“Handy for making diagrams or just doodling and making custom headers for config files”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch” “a really nice little application for building generic ASCII diagrams”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “Beautiful Mermaid” Cheap one-time purchase
“Great little app. And it's $10, once. Hardly breaking the bank.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch” “my favorite one-time-purchase software of all time”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Sorted string tables (SST) from first principles”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Closed file format, not editable
“My experience with Monodraw was that you had to maintain the original file format to do this”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch” “But it's not open, and can't be edited by those who want to.”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Monosketch”
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 |
| MonodrawThis page | 17 | 4 | 81% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
18 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“One of the few things I miss after ditching the mac”
“I love Monodraw, and use it every week”
“This is my most missed app since switching from Mac to Windows.”
“I used to love monodraw when I had a mac.”
“I can no longer access any of my Monodraw sketches because I don’t own a Mac anymore.”
“There is Monodraw, the best out there.”
“I also use Monodraw, can only recommend with one caveat”
“I'm buying today it looks great too”
“But it's not open, and can't be edited by those who want to.”
“Handy for making diagrams or just doodling and making custom headers for config files”
“Best purchase I ever made.”
“My experience with Monodraw was that you had to maintain the original file format to do this”
“Great little app. And it's $10, once. Hardly breaking the bank.”
“Mono draw is in maintenance mode and non-free”
“a really nice little application for building generic ASCII diagrams”
“Stand alone and outputs to graphic or text file.”
“Monodraw for Mac is my favorite. I'm a customer.”
“my favorite one-time-purchase software of all time”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.