Visio alternatives

Question

I need an alternative to Visio for making diagrams (particularly signal processing block diagrams) that includes some kind of custom stencils + connection points. I just spent 2 hours learning bits and pieces of Dia only to find that it has no rotational capabilities, not even 90 degree rotations. Otherwise it's great.

Any suggestions?

no... although I have different needs for work (Win32 box) and home (Mac). — Jason S, Aug 28 '09 at 12:33
Dia is so close to being useful, but that lack of rotation is a real deal-breaker. It can be worked around for the 90 degree cases with more stencils, but that gets old quickly. — RBerteig, Aug 31 '09 at 07:17
[Microsoft Visio alternatives](http://alternativeto.net/desktop/microsoft-visio/). — Svish, Aug 31 '09 at 06:54

score 14 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 13 '09 at 04:50

14

Here is an annotated list of alternatives to MS Visio. SmartDraw is considered a close match to Visio.

Otherwise it includes:

Inspiration
TeamFlow
iGrafx FlowCharter
Kivio
Edge Designer
FlowBiz
PathMaker
RFFlow
Patton & Patton Flow Charting
Graham Process Charting Software
allCLEAR
OmniGraffle

edited Dec 13 '09 at 04:50

John T

163,373
27
341
348

answered Aug 24 '09 at 23:30

Peter Mortensen

12,090
23
70
90

But **SmartDraw** is not free or is it? – Robert Koritnik Jun 12 '12 at 08:25
1

SmartDraw 2012 is nearly $200 USD. Not only a close match to Visio but close match in price. – Peon Aug 12 '12 at 00:36
Any able to export the diagrams to Latex?. I don't mean able to export it to a picture and then embed it on your document but generate Latex (or Tikz or forest or smartdiagram) code to recreate the diagram? – skan Dec 04 '16 at 12:06
"http://microsoft.toddverbeek.com/flow.html" link is no longer available. – marc-medley Sep 18 '21 at 03:13

score 7 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 21 '11 at 14:18

7

On the Mac, I'm a big fan of OmniGraffle from The Omni Group. It has all the features you're looking for, and the pro version can even import and export visio files.

There's also a website called Graffletopia (which, as a new user, I'm apparently not allowed to link to) that's full of user-contributed stencils and extras you can use.

edited Aug 21 '11 at 14:18

n0pe

16,472
18
71
102

answered Aug 24 '09 at 23:11

Ben Stanfield

71
1

http://graffletopia.com/ ;-) – las3rjock Aug 25 '09 at 00:07

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 18 '13 at 15:43

4

I am a fan of OpenOffice Draw.

Anyway, This page discusses a few - http://www.osalt.com/visio

When I did my course at uni, we were encouraged to use Violet for UML modelling as a alternative to Visio, can't remember if it does what you need though!

(I am unable to find it, but sure this has been asked before.)

edited Apr 18 '13 at 15:43

Peter Mortensen

12,090
23
70
90

answered Aug 24 '09 at 22:28

William Hilsum

116,650
19
182
266

Jason S · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-28T13:16:45.080

3

I just found out about yEd and am very happy with it.

edited Sep 28 '11 at 13:16

answered Aug 21 '11 at 14:05

Jason S

7,503
16
60
79

yEd design is flawed! You can't even create more than 1 line connector originating from a joint on a node. Trying to create a free standing line is painful. I absolutely do not recommend yEd. – Peon Aug 12 '12 at 00:34

score 3 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 21 '11 at 14:16

And then there's VUE, very powerful tool, best of all its free! you just have to sign up with your email an password to download the installation

The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is an Open Source project based at Tufts University. The VUE project is focused on creating flexible tools for managing and integrating digital resources in support of teaching, learning and research. VUE provides a flexible visual environment for structuring, presenting, and sharing digital information.

alt text

You need Java installed for it though

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 25 '09 at 04:58

1

SmartDraw

http://www.smartdraw.com/

answered Aug 25 '09 at 04:58

MicTech

10,328
5
45
55

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 28 '09 at 11:46

I was looking for open-source or just freeware Visio alternatives for my home Windows box for years, unfortunately without avail. Every tool I tried (Dia, OpenOffice, Gliffy) was problematic in many ways, not to mention missing lots of advanced features from Visio.

At last this year I bit the bullet and bought Visio 2007 catching a sale that made it very reasonably priced. Now I'm not looking back - it's an amazing tool, well worth paying for.

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Sep 15 '11 at 02:36

1

A very brief google search would turn up a number of similar products and projects in open source and freeware. Probably the closest to what you are looking for would be dia

answered Sep 15 '11 at 02:36

OldWolf

2,423
15
15

-1: That was the first thing I looked at. And I already said in my question that I tried dia and it didn't meet my needs. – Jason S Sep 28 '11 at 13:15

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Apr 18 '13 at 15:45

0

I don't know if it has your specific feature requests or not, but Gliffy is a nice online diagram web application that does lots of stuff.

edited Apr 18 '13 at 15:45

Peter Mortensen

12,090
23
70
90

answered Aug 24 '09 at 22:59

davr

5,368
7
37
46

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 24 '09 at 23:14

0

I have used Balsamiq - It is very easy to use web app and pretty fast. If you don't want to buy the version - there is an online version which can do the job if you want quick mock ups.

answered Aug 24 '09 at 23:14

Phantom Yoda

131
6

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 25 '09 at 06:21

0

We used to use Omnigraffle at work, until we discovered Concept Draw.

It isn't free nor open-source, but for me it is a must have. And it runs Windows and Mac for the same price..

answered Aug 25 '09 at 06:21

Benoit

640
4
7

Visio alternatives

11 Answers11

Linked

Related