the catalog · 🧑‍🏫 Whiteboards

draw.io

★ 43k

The diagramming workhorse — flowcharts, architecture diagrams, UML — runs fully client-side or as your own container.

draw.io does the job of Lucidchart, self-hosted. It is Apache-2.0-licensed, so you can do essentially what you like with it, and it installs in about one command. Lucidchart bills $9/mo for it. 43k stars on GitHub.

Open-source replacement for Lucidchart.

Licence
Apache-2.0
Self-hosting
Easy
The paid one costs
$9/mo
GitHub stars
43k
view the code →official site →

Is it actually a replacement?

We have written a verdict on what it replaces — what you lose, and why people still pay:

How draw.io runs

Where it runs

draw.io runs on your server.

What setup takes

not verified by us yet — check the repo README.

draw.io questions

Is draw.io open source?

Yes — it is released under Apache-2.0.

Can draw.io replace Lucidchart?

Our verdict on Lucidchart is YES. Excalidraw (129k stars), diagrams.net (62k stars), draw.io (43k stars) are mature open-source replacements for Lucidchart — self-host with docker and stop paying $9/mo.

Can I self-host draw.io?

Yes — we rate it easy to self-host, and it runs on your server.

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