Oct 22, 2020 Design flowcharts and diagrams easily with this free Mac software. Quickly create strong visuals of an organization, process, mind map, UML diagram and more. Map out your value streams and data flow. Find bottlenecks in the process and ways to optimize productivity. Jul 08, 2010 Workflow Diagram Software for Mac. Create professional-looking workflow diagram on Mac OS with built-in symbols. Provide a visual way for your functional, technical, or a business process to show how work gets accomplished.
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- SmartDraw offers a powerful and easy-to-use solution for those looking for a Visio ® alternative on a Mac. SmartDraw offers more templates, better tools, industry-leading automation — all while being more affordable and available on any platform, Mac or Windows.
Microsoft Visio is a powerful piece of software, allowing IT professionals, business people, engineers, and others working in highly technical fields to map out and display complex information in the form of flowcharts, site plans, floor plans, diagrams and more.
Useful though all this is, the price point is well beyond what the average home user is willing to spend at $300 for the “Standard” version and $590 for the Pro version. (If you’re dead-set on using Visio, there is a potentially cheaper option where you can get Visio Pro for Office 365 for $13/month if you get an annual subscription or $15/month for a monthly commitment.)
But why pay at all when there are perfectly free and viable Visio alternatives available to you? Here are our top picks.
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Free Flowchart Maker For Mac
1. LucidChart
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
If you are looking for a web-based alternative to Microsoft Visio, LucidChart is the perfect choice. It provides a drag-and-drop web interface to draw any kind of diagram. LucidChart gives you an option to build your diagrams in collaboration with your team. Multiple people will be able to work with the same diagram, making it the perfect choice for small teams.
One of the great features of LucidChart is that it can export or import Microsoft Visio vdx files very easily. One thing that is missing in LucidChart is the built-in categorization of different shapes for different areas like networking, engineering, etc. You don’t need to sign up for an account with LucidChart; just open the site and start drawing.
2. ASCIIFlow Infinity
Platforms: Browser
Starting with the simple stuff, if you’re looking for a quick, easy and instantly accessible diagramming tool with no bells and whistles attached, ASCIIFlow is a good option.
You can forget about having a vast range of shapes at your disposal or using this to map out a complex engineering project, but for quickly conveying ideas in diagram form, this is about as efficient as you can get. The ASCII format is clear, and you can use familiar Windows shortcuts (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + Z and so on) to quickly chop and change your diagrams.
You can change the format of the boxes from ASCII to Lines to make things a little clearer, and sync it all with Google Drive, too (though currently the level of access it requests to your Google Drive may put more security-conscious users off – hopefully that’s something they can fix).
3. Gliffy
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Browser
Coming in both free and paid flavors, Gliffy is a robust diagramming app that fully embraces the cloud. It integrates with services like Google Drive, Confluence and JIRA to allow you to collaborate on your UMLs, flowcharts and other diagramming projects seamlessly. Gliffy is free for students, while others get access to the ‘Basic’ version of the software (after a 14-day trial with the paid version), which has less templates, images and so on than the paid version.
With its simple drag-and-drop interface, large variety of exportable formats and a perfectly usable browser version which is completely free, Gliffy is an excellent choice for those comfortable with diagramming and flowchart software. More advanced users, however, may find the free version a little wanting in features and opt for one of the other, more feature-packed options in this list.
4. yEd Graph Editor
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Quite possibly the most user-friendly diagramming software out there, yED has you covered for everything from flowcharts, to family trees, to more technical diagrams like network infrastructures and process models.
You can set your chart to automatically lay itself out to suit whatever kind of data you’re entering. It has a decent repository of images for various types of charts and also gives you the option to import images from elsewhere. When you’re done, you can save your chart as a JPEG, XML or HTML, among other formats, making it easy to upload to websites or send to clients.
5. Graphviz
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
For something a little alternative, you can try Graphviz, the near thirty-year-old tool in which you create graphs, hierarchies and so on using a command line utility and the robust DOT language. It takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll see that it could save you time in the long run.
It has a good amount of formats you can export your graph to and a number of layouts such as hierarchical, radial, multiscale and more. It’s particularly useful if you aren’t too fussy about pretty colors but are more concerned about entering huge amounts of data that can get instantly organized and generated. (That colossal graph at the top of this article was made using Graphviz.)
6. LibreOffice Draw
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
LibreOffice Draw is the closest and biggest open-source competitor of Microsoft Visio. Draw is an all-purpose drawing, diagramming and charting tool. The feature that I love in Draw is the grouping feature.
You can easily group different objects together and then do different actions on the group like moving the group, connecting with other groups, etc. In addition to other formats (XML format is the default), you can also export your diagrams as SWF Flash files. As an extra treat, here’s a package of shapes for Draw that are similar to those you find in Visio.
7. Dia
Free Flow Diagram Software
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Dia is an open-source program very similar to Microsoft Visio, with largely the same feature set. You can create UML diagrams, flowcharts, network processes and architectures, entity relationship diagrams, etc., easily with Dia. The default file format for any file created with Dia is .dia, but there are plenty of file formats you can export your diagram to, including Microsoft Visio’s .vdx format.
8. Draw.io
Platforms: Browser
Draw.io has a very responsive and accessible interface, with the tools in the column on the left and the drawing in the column on the right. You don’t need to sign up for an account to use Draw.io, and from the moment you’re on the site you’re given the option to save your work to cloud services like Google Drive and OneDrive or your hard drive.
/mac-program-designs-for-single-instance-5815/. If you connect Draw.io to your Google account, it has very functional real-time collaboration, letting you work on projects simultaneously with others. It’s not a complex tool, so while it’s accessible, it doesn’t offer the depth of features of some other diagramming software.
9. Pencil Project
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux
Paint Program For Mac
Pencil Project is an open-source alternative to Microsoft Visio which is actively maintained by the development community. Their goal for Pencil Project is to make diagramming as easy as possible and usable for everyone from a newbie to an expert. What program does mac use for email. It’s regularly updated with new stencils, templates and other features, lets you export your work to multiple formats, and has integration with OpenClipart.org, letting you instantly search the Web for images to make your projects pop.
Hopefully you will find these free alternatives to Microsoft Visio useful. Or after testing these do you still believe that the paid tools offer something these don’t? Let us know in the comments!
This article was first published in January 2012 and was updated in May 2018.
When you want to explain the flow of a process or show how one step moves on to the next one, then you will have to create a flowchart. If you use some intuitive tools that are available on software like Flowchart Maker Software you will be able to make the chart more interactive and creative. These best flowchart software, free download are very easy to use and many Diagramming Software are available online for free.
Edraw
This freeware by EdrawSoft is a software that can be used to create a professional looking flowchart, mind maps, organizational charts and many other such networking diagrams using simple tools.
Diagram Ring
This freeware from Farshad Barahimi is an open source software that can be used as an advanced diagram editor. It can be used to create and edit different types of diagrams with 45 predefined symbols.
Dia
This free software by The GNOME Project is a GTK based diagram creator that can be used on different platforms. It can be used to create informal diagrams for casual use.
Software Ideas Modeler
Free Flow Diagram Software For Mac Desktop
This premium software from DuxC5xA1an Rodina can be used for designing and analyzing diagrams like UML, ERD, BPMN, data flow, wireframe support and much more such diagrams using simple tools.
Diagram Designer
This freeware designed by Michael Vinther can be used to create customizable template object palettes and also importing or exporting the final diagram in different formats.
Cacoo
This premium software created by Nulab is the complete diagram maker for teams, companies, and individuals. The diagrams can be drawn online and exported. Many templates that are available can be used to create the diagram.
Knowledge Base Builder
Pencil
yEd
draw.io
Draw
Flying Logic
Icons8
Diagramo
Chartist
Other Flowchart Software for Different Platforms
Different types of operating systems are found in the devices like Windows, Mac, Linux or Android. If you want a specific file that will be able to run only on one particular OS then you could find some file transfer software that is designed for the desired operating system.
ClickCharts Diagram & Flowchart Software for Windows
This premium software by NCH Software is compatible on the Windows platform and can be used to visualize complex organizations and process by creating data flow diagrams and value streams.
Shapes4 for Mac
This premium Mac software was manufactured by Todd Ditchendorf and can be used as a diagramming app that can be used by programmers and web designers for creating charts and wireframes.
DrawExpress Diagram Lite for Android
This free Android app created by DrawExpress Inc is a fast gesture recognition app that can be used to draw diagrams and flowcharts in a simple way. These diagrams can be drawn for different uses.
Lucidchart – Most Popular Software
This premium software created by Lucid Software Inc. is very popular for flowchart making in the engineering field, businesses and also for designing web prototypes and iOS and Android mockups.
How to Install Flowchart Software?
Some of the flowchart creating software can be used online, so all that you have to do is create a profile on the software using your details and you will be able to login to the account to start creating the diagrams. You could save the final output externally or onto your device. If you want to download the software, then you could use one of the download links and the file has to be unzipped later. The system requirements have to check and the installation file should be run. The instructions will be prompted on the install window which can be used to save the software.
This software will have many templates that can be used to start the diagrams and you will be able to choose from a variety of symbols and line connectors to complete the flow chart. You can create different types of diagrams and edit it later if it is saved onto the system.