OmniGraffle vs. Microsoft Visio

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
OmniGraffle
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
OmniGraffle is a wireframing tool for Mac users.N/A
Microsoft Visio
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft offers Visio, a diagramming tool for building flowcharts, diagrams (e.g. network diagrams), org charts and floor plans, available online as a subscription and also in enterprise level packages (e.g. Visio Professional).
$5
Per User Per Month
Pricing
OmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Plan 1
$5.00
Per User Per Month
Plan 2
$15.00
Per User Per Month
Standard
$280.00
Professional
$530.00
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
OmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
OmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
Considered Both Products
OmniGraffle
Chose OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle is a solid Mac based Visio with much added functionality specific to wireframe designs. The libraries, although somewhat out of date, allow rapid designs with low fidelity, exactly what you want in wire frames. We use Sketch increasingly to handle the layout of the …
Chose OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle has a standard and "Pro" version just like Microsoft Visio does.
OmniGraffle works exclusively on Macs, while Visio can run on both Windows and OS X.
I probably would be using Visio today if I did not have a Mac background. Even in my past job where I supported …
Chose OmniGraffle
While these other tools are great for what they are, OmniGraffle’s solid focus on and support for diagramming makes it our tool of choice for communicating workflows and concept relationships, creating documentation, and creating other diagrams. Its libraries allow us to create …
Chose OmniGraffle
Because we're primarily a Mac shop, Visio was a non-starter. (It's monstrously complex compared to OmniGraffle, which works against the quick-and-dirty just-enough-documentation ideal common on agile teams.) We've used draw.io on internal projects and when coordinating with …
Chose OmniGraffle
Stands ahead of the competition; native compatibility and robustness of solution make it the tool of choice. OmniGraffle's price and level of functionality surpass the alternatives.
Microsoft Visio
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
OmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
Small Businesses
MindManager
MindManager
Score 8.7 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cvent Event Diagramming
Cvent Event Diagramming
Score 9.3 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Cvent Event Diagramming
Cvent Event Diagramming
Score 9.3 out of 10
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
OmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
Likelihood to Recommend
9.8
(17 ratings)
8.3
(67 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
7.4
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
7.3
(14 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
OmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
Likelihood to Recommend
The Omni Group
Omnigraffle is great for documentation, mapping, flowcharting, and other technical diagramming scenarios. It's simple enough to bang out a quick illustration and powerful enough to build complex blueprints for complicated technical systems. If you need cross-platform compatibility, though, you're probably better off looking elsewhere. If you want complex integration with data sources (ala Visio's SQL Server integration for shape metadata), OmniGraffle also falls short — but those scenarios are few and far between in my experience.
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Microsoft
Given the versatility and diversity of the diagrams that can be created with Microsoft Visio, we use this tool for the most diverse activities. With our students, we use it to organize group activities and manage the tasks that everyone has to complete. In research groups, we use it to divide tasks and create organization charts. For research activities, especially the more complex ones carried out, for example, in PhD programmes, the diagrams allow us to display all the work phases graphically.
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Pros
The Omni Group
  • OmniGraffle is fairly simple to use, but the one thing I think it does best is working with curved lines, particularly if you are using some of the available arc templates. Drop an arc onto your page, then tell it the dimensions it needs to be, and viola! Done. Manipulating the arcs is as simple as clicking and dragging offset points.
  • OmniGraffle has also done an excellent job in stirring up the creative minds of many people who create templates and tools to work with OmniGraffle (not that Microsoft hasn't done so either), and managed to get the bulk of those into well organized repositories.
  • What it all boils down to for me is: it just works. One doesn't need to have a computer science degree to work with it either. It is as simple or complex as you want it to be.
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Microsoft
  • Visio comes with icons that can help differentiate processes within a map. These can be used to be a legend and helps create a visually appealing flow.
  • Visio is user-friendly and allows the user to easily navigate through the different creative options that can be used.
  • Because this is a Microsoft product, Visio works well with other Microsoft products for easy translation.
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Cons
The Omni Group
  • There could be more scaffolding to support new users in getting to know how to best use all of the many features and tools it provides.
  • There could be more support for printing. Many of our process flows extend beyond just one page, and OmniGraffle is rather finicky about printing multipage documents.
  • We could use this tool more effectively if there was the ability to have real-time team collaboration. Document handoffs can be a point of missed communication, so it’d be great if we could ever have the option of working together in the same place at the same time.
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Microsoft
  • For me personally I cannot highlight anything specific that has any bearing on how I use the product. Everything is very straightforward and clearly signposted including template desgins and categories. The layout is easy to navigate and as it's part of the MS Office ecosystem means there is less to learn as I'm used to a lot of the cross product functionality.
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Likelihood to Renew
The Omni Group
Best product for my needs on the market
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Microsoft
We use Microsoft Visio to keep our diagrams updated and to that end we will need the subscription to keep using the software. Otherwise we will be left with PDF versions of the diagrams.
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Usability
The Omni Group
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Some things that I think should be easy to do are not, at least not for a beginner user. I'm sure it's easy once you get the hang of it but the two main issues I have with Visio are the connecting of different states and searching for graphics/icons after you have chosen a starting template.
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Support Rating
The Omni Group
OmniGraffle is an excellent application for chart and diagrams development. Been using it for a while now and it's a multiple platform application.
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Microsoft
Overall, I feel that Microsoft's support is weak. They are now such a behemoth that their model of putting documentation online for their users to sift through is totally outgrown. Given the amount of money you pay for these licenses, Microsoft should provide easy one-on-one support for their products via email or chat. The idea of paying their rates for support incidents is ridiculous. If you have an enormous amount of time on your hands, use their support websites and you will eventually find a solution most of the time.
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Alternatives Considered
The Omni Group
To sum up:
  • use Omnigraffle for diagraming or for quick wireframe drafting
  • use Sketch for more in-depth wireframing that you can then flesh out into a high fidelity mock-up, export assets for production, and integrate with prototyping tools like Proto.io and UXPin.
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Microsoft
Even though it’s a more expensive solution, Vizio is built for the enterprise. Therefore, it integrates perfectly with our existing Microsoft stack, and quite frankly, because it’s such a more mature product, it provides exactly the functionality we need and expect.
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Return on Investment
The Omni Group
  • Instrumental in smoothly transitioning a 3rd party development team from designs to requirements.
  • Across cultures, US, Chinese, and Icelandic, OmniGraffle allowed our teams to speak the same language.
  • The depth of the software make some elements that are useful less accessible than they should be.
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Microsoft
  • Visio diagrams have help us streamline processes that reduce costs and improve efficiencies.
  • It is a very complete program, it allows you to make industrial and civil works diagrams. It also allows you to design 3D graphics. It is a very reliable program.
  • Its ability to work with vectors is a big plus. It can easily import SVG graphics, edit their individual lines and then being able to export the edited SVG again.
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ScreenShots