Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
draw.io
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
draw.io is an online diagramming tool with integrations with Jira, Google, and Confluence available free online or at cost depending on integration chosen.
$5
per month
MindMeister
Score 3.2 out of 10
N/A
MindMeister is an online mind mapping tool that lets users share maps with an unlimited number of users and collaborate with them in real-time. MindMeister is used to brainstorm ideas, plan projects, take meeting minutes, develop business strategies, and create presentations. MindMeister runs in any standard web-browser as well as on iOS and Android devices, so users can access, edit and present their mind maps anytime, wherever they are. With MindMeister, users…
$45
every 6 months per user
SmartDraw
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
SmartDraw is a diagramming and flow chart building tool from SmartDraw Software in San Diego, California.
$131.40
per year (for a single user on an individual plan)
Pricing
draw.ioMindMeisterSmartDraw
Editions & Modules
Up to 10 Users
$5
per month
Up to 20 Users
$11
per month
Up to 50 Users
$27.50
per month
Up to 75 Users
$41.25
per month
Up to 100 Users
$55
per month
Up to 200 Users
$95
per month
Up to 500 Users
$152.50
per month
Up to 750 Users
$190
per month
Up to 1,000 Users
$227.50
per month
Up to 2,000 Users
$377.50
per month
Up to 5,000 Users
$827.50
per month
Up to 10,000
1,577.50
per month
Personal
$45
per 6 months per user
Pro
$75
per 6 months per user
Business
$114
per 6 months per user
Team
$119.40
per year per user (3 minimum)
Individual
$131.40
per year single user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
draw.ioMindMeisterSmartDraw
Free Trial
NoNoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsMindMeister offers 6-monthly and yearly subscriptions. Discounts for educational users and non-profit organizations are also available. Up to 22% discount for yearly pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
draw.ioMindMeisterSmartDraw
Considered Multiple Products
draw.io
Chose draw.io
draw.io is open-source and free for many uses, which means minimal upfront cost and good value.It works in the browser, also has a desktop version (so you can use offline) which helps teams that may not always be online or want local backups. Useful when you want a diagram tool …
Chose draw.io
I find Draw.io to be a happy medium between the options available. It doesn't quite offer the flexibility and power of Xmind or Visio, but it lives in the cloud and doesn't require software installations or similar hassles. The main contenders in my mind ended up being Lucidchar…
MindMeister
Chose MindMeister
Mindmeister has a good free plan compared with Lucidchart, and better Google Drive integration in my opinion. draw.io has a better free plan than MindMeister, but I prefer MindMeister for mindmap creation still, while I prefer draw.io for other types of diagrams. Xmind is …
SmartDraw
Chose SmartDraw
I have used draw.io & MS Visio. I noticed SmartDraw offer more templates than draw.io. Additionally, its more affordable and can access across platforms. In general, SmartDraw provides what we need.
Best Alternatives
draw.ioMindMeisterSmartDraw
Small Businesses
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.7 out of 10
Whimsical
Whimsical
Score 9.3 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.7 out of 10
Whimsical
Whimsical
Score 9.3 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.7 out of 10
Whimsical
Whimsical
Score 9.3 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
draw.ioMindMeisterSmartDraw
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(19 ratings)
1.0
(17 ratings)
2.8
(14 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.8
(5 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.4
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
draw.ioMindMeisterSmartDraw
Likelihood to Recommend
JGraph (Draw.io)
draw.io can be more suitable for technical documentation for architectures, flow diagrams/charts, and conceptual images of an application infrastructure. However, this tool is not made for business intelligence work nor for dashboarding to monitor the technical components. From the administrative standpoint, this is not well suited for agile ceremony structures like retrospective boards or planning or even quarterly planning boards. The strength of draw.io lies strongly in being a lightweight diagramming tool.
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MeisterLabs GmbH
MindMeister is ideally suited for building mind maps, site maps, or similar types of data maps in the cloud without needing to install extra software. I find that it isn't quite as ideal for other types of diagrams (ERDs, flowcharts, etc) as some other tools, though it definitely can handle those things as well.
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SmartDraw Software
I believe SmartDraw is a great tool for small- to mid-sized organizations for simplifying the production and management of org charts. We've also had the PMO experiment with the use of some of their flow charts as well. If an organization has an HCM with the capability of producing (good!) org charts, that is likely the best option... but many that I have used in my 30-year HR career don't. So there is definitely a need for SmartDraw in the market!
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Pros
JGraph (Draw.io)
  • Draw.io offers a lot of shapes and customizability of how the diagrams are laid out. We've been able to create a lot of different things with it, and have barely scratched the surface of the sorts of things that we could do.
  • Draw.io is fairly intuitive in the way that you draw shapes and connect shapes together, I was able to figure it out without a tutorial.
  • Draw.io is fast and performant for me compared with some of the alternatives.
Read full review
MeisterLabs GmbH
  • The UI is well laid out and easy to use. The workflow makes perfect sense and makes creating tasks a breeze.
  • The collaboration features make brainstorming not only easy but fun! Everyone enjoys using the tool, which was not the case with other collaboration software we used.
  • I love being able to get all of my thoughts and ideas on the screen to see them and then be able to connect them in a logical way.
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SmartDraw Software
  • Provides examples to work off of--these are helpful when you don't know exactly where to start.
  • Provides a number of stylistic options without making things too complex, so you can be creative without getting overwhelmed.
  • Provides a wide variety of templates, meets a wide variety of needs.
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Cons
JGraph (Draw.io)
  • When very elaborate diagrams are needed, it lacks the amount of tools and customization needed
  • Since this is an online tool, it can freeze and that causes you to lose that work up to that point
  • Performance can lag with very complex diagrams
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MeisterLabs GmbH
  • I think that the free plan should offer a bit more terms of features to make the testing experience more engaging.
  • My experience using the App version was not so good when compared to the web version of it. I feel more comfortable using it in my notebook.
  • Paid plans could be more flexible to support small or temporary demands.
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SmartDraw Software
  • A month-to-month plan would be ideal for users that don't have a need to create many projects
  • The sidebar navigation can be a little confusing with all of the tools listed.
  • Offering customizable plans with only the feature you need would simplify navigation
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Usability
JGraph (Draw.io)
The UI is intuitive. It allows a new user to start diagramming almost instantly. Manipulating elements, linking them together, etc. are all easy to do. Draw.io nevertheless a broad variety of diagram templates to help get started and also of shapes to use in diagrams. Some situations can make it a bit tricky to use, such as when having multiple shapes on top of each other (e.g. shapes placed within swimlanes) but that's a minor issue.
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MeisterLabs GmbH
No answers on this topic
SmartDraw Software
I rated 8 because its simple to use and easy to create network topologies quickly. I liked the drag and drop option which makes designing the network topology and flow chart easier. In general its does what it needs to.
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Support Rating
JGraph (Draw.io)
The support for draw.io is pretty decent, considering it is a free website. I had a question one time when I was trying to do something, so I sent an email to their support email and got a response fairly quickly with an answer to my question. They also have some excellent support tools on their support website for helping you get more familiar with their program, and I found that very helpful.
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MeisterLabs GmbH
Never had an issue with customer support, though we never really needed anything major as far as technical help. I do not believe they offer 24 hour customer support but we don't need it as MindMeister is not the type of tool we need need 24 hour a day support for. Overall, very happy with the level of support.
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SmartDraw Software
They are always very helpful, we get computers every two years and I have to call them to move the license from one computer to another and they do it with a smile in their voice!
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Alternatives Considered
JGraph (Draw.io)
draw.io is open-source and free for many uses, which means minimal upfront cost and good value.It works in the browser, also has a desktop version (so you can use offline) which helps teams that may not always be online or want local backups. Useful when you want a diagram tool that “just works” without huge ecosystem lock-in.For organisations that value control, less vendor-dependency, this is a plus.
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MeisterLabs GmbH
I have also used LucidChart and Google Draw to create mind maps and concept maps in the past. I think that MindMeister is by far the cleanest and most user friendly of the three. Google Draw does not have anywhere near the same functionality. LucidChart tends to be clunky and the options to create your map are not always clear and intuitive.
Read full review
SmartDraw Software
We have used Corel Draw and Adobe Acrobat. Both of those tools were good when they came out but the abilities of SmartDraw far outweigh both those tools. Corel Draw was also more complex to operate and do tasks, as was Adobe Acrobat in which some basic tasks took additional steps to complete.
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Return on Investment
JGraph (Draw.io)
  • draw.io has surely impacted our organization positively by saving some crucial time.
  • It has not really impacted much monetarily to be honest.
  • The ROI we got from draw.io is that it has made complex things clear for everyone in our organization.
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MeisterLabs GmbH
  • The most positive result of using MindMeister is a visualization of each step in work and connections between different nodes(ideas, steps).
  • This greatly simplifies the work, especially collaborative work, since it is easier to show it once than to explain things many times.
  • Negative impact: lack of offline desktop version.
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SmartDraw Software
  • SmartDraw has provided good return for our internal purposes. Using it to understand an organization's structure and inner workings has been valuable. On the client side, creating steps and businesses processes has also been a big plus. It has helped decrease confusing reporting structures and has provided a detailed map for individuals to understand where they fit within their organization.
  • Unfortunately, SmartDraw has been somewhat inefficient with some of the more complex projects on our plate and has really deterred certain employees from even wanting to use it.
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ScreenShots

MindMeister Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

SmartDraw Screenshots

Screenshot of where to create diagrams, including: flowcharts and swimlanes, organizational charts, mind maps, CAD drawings & floor plans, project charts, network diagrams, and wireframes & mockups.Screenshot of a workspace that combines brainstorming with technical diagrams. SmartDraw can be used to visualize processes, organizations, roadmaps, and even generate diagrams from data.Screenshot of SmartDraw's templates and tools used to make flowcharts, swimlanes, and process maps.Screenshot of the org chart tool, used to document organizational structure and work as a team to plan for growth or manage change. Data can be imported to generate a chart automatically.Screenshot of the CAD drawing and floor plan tools, used to design a home or optimize office space to improve traffic flow in a retail space.Screenshot of an example of the built-in templates for landscapes, gardens, backyards used to design outdoor spaces. Users can drag-and-drop flowers, shrubs, and other plants, or add sprinkler systems, lights, and walkways, and apply photo-realistic textures for a professional finish.