draw.io review

draw.io is the default free choice for technical diagrams. The web and desktop apps are free forever, need no sign-up and store files wherever you point them, such as Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, GitHub or a local disk, and the company says it cannot access your data. It integrates with Google Docs and Slides, Microsoft Teams, Confluence and Jira, VS Code and Notion, and diagrams can be embedded as interactive viewers or exported to SVG, PNG and PDF. Real-time collaboration with shared cursors is included, and the source code is Apache 2.0 licensed, so there is no paid tier for features like SSO. draw.io reports more than 100 million users and says files from 2005 still load today. The limits are what a free tool skips: no hosted team workspace with admin controls, a plainer interface than Lucidchart or Miro, and community support rather than a help desk.

Who it is for

Engineering and IT teams that want unlimited free diagramming with files kept in their own Google Drive, OneDrive, GitHub or Confluence.

Price

Free forever web and desktop apps, no sign-up required; no paid plan for the standalone app.

Free forever • No sign-up required • No lock-in
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 9, 2026.

Key features

• Free web app and desktop app with no account required
• Real-time collaboration with shared cursors
• Integrations with Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams, Confluence, Jira, GitHub, VS Code and Notion
• Embeddable interactive diagrams with export to SVG, PNG and PDF
• Apache 2.0 licensed source code

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: No cost and no seat limits for the standalone app
• Strength: Files stay in your own storage; draw.io says it cannot access them
• Strength: Diagram files created in 2005 still open in the current app
• Weakness: No vendor-run cloud workspace with admin controls of its own
• Weakness: Fewer polished templates and AI features than paid rivals
• Weakness: Support runs through community channels such as GitHub Discussions and Stack Overflow

Key facts

• Price: Free forever
• Sign-up: Not required
• License: Apache 2.0
• Users: 100M+ worldwide, per draw.io
• Since: 2005

Where it ranks

draw.io is No. 2 in our Best Diagramming Software verdict.