OmniGraffle
Shares rank 11 of 17 diagramming tools by recommenders
Mac diagramming app people keep returning to for complicated diagrams; polished, and hard to find a close alternative.
Mac diagramming app people keep returning to for complicated diagrams; polished, and hard to find a close alternative.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not 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
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Go-to for complicated diagrams
“I still reach for a tool like Omnigraffle if I need to make a really complicated diagram.”
Comment from 18 Sep 2026 in “I hate you Microsoft” “I end up going back to manual Omnigraffle.”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Free Mermaid Diagram Editor” Hard to match, nothing comes close
“I'm more than ready for something better to come along, but so far nothing's come close.”
Comment from 27 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: Do teams need a tool to make IT architecture diagrams look better” “It's no Visio desktop or OmniGraffle”
Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “Bending Spoons buying Miro for $1.355B” Polished and essential for daily work
“They are valuable, or indeed priceless, because of the polish they have.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Will Open Source Survive the Agents That Replaced It?” “OmniGraffle is an essential tool, for me.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “More common mistakes to avoid when creating system architecture diagrams” Long-time favorite of Mac users
“are from the Omni Group, particularly OmniOutliner (which came bundled with my 2006 MacBook) and OmniGraffle”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “New OS aims to provide (some) compatibility with macOS” “I’m an Omnigraffle enjoyer too.”
Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “Run macOS Software on Linux”
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 |
| OmniGraffleThis page | 7 | 1 | 88% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“sorta omnigraffle if you use a mac [ew, no]”
“They are valuable, or indeed priceless, because of the polish they have.”
“I still reach for a tool like Omnigraffle if I need to make a really complicated diagram.”
“It's no Visio desktop or OmniGraffle”
“I’m an Omnigraffle enjoyer too.”
“I end up going back to manual Omnigraffle.”
“OmniGraffle is an essential tool, for me.”
“I'm more than ready for something better to come along, but so far nothing's come close.”
“are from the Omni Group, particularly OmniOutliner (which came bundled with my 2006 MacBook) and OmniGraffle”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.