What do you use to make programming flowcharts, diagrams, etc?

Question

I've always just used OpenOffice Draw and it just occurred to me that there has to be something better out there.

So what do you use? Do you like it?

Bonus points for free things and for web apps.

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 02 '14 at 14:35

I use Dia, the Diagram Editor.

Dia - Best Freeware Flowcharting (Visio) Tool

Dia is a free flowcharting tool, similar to Microsofts Visio. It is useful for building informal diagrams, database diagrams and database models, as well as drawing more complex charts such as UML diagrams.

Objects in the charts can be connected with lines and arrows in a variety of styles.

Object types in Dia include AADL, Assorted, BPMN, ChemEng, Chonogram, Cisco, Civil, Cybernetics, Electric, ER, Flowchart, FS, Gane and Sarson, GRAFCET, Jigsaw, Ladder, Logic, Map, isometric, MSE, Network, Pneumatic / Hydrualic, RE-i*, RE-Jackson, RE_kaos, SADT/IDEFO, SDL, Sybase and UML.

Dia saves diagrams in several formats, including XML, EPS, SVG, XFIG and PNG.

Diagrams in Dia can span multiple pages. For a few examples of diagrams created in Dia, see http://live.gnome.org/Dia/Examples. Dia is freeware and open source.

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:19

7

Microsoft Visio is pretty much designed for this task - whilst expensive, it's very good.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:19

John Parker

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I'll second that. I get it as part of an MSDN subscription and find it useful for flowcharts, network diagrams and database diagrams. I haven't used OpenOffice Draw so I can't compare it but Visio seems to have everything I need. – TLiebe Oct 22 '09 at 13:23
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It might be good for flowcharts but it's absolutely horrible for UML, particularly sequence diagrams. – Kristof Provost Oct 22 '09 at 15:26
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IMHO, Visio is hard to use and takes too much time to make a diagram :( – Massimiliano Nov 09 '09 at 23:08

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:20

5

I am using OmniGraffle which is not free but I don't regret buying a license at all

answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:20

Aurélien Bottazini

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OmniGraffle is an excellent tool. Sadly Mac-only; I used to bring my Mac to work just for this program alone! – Alex Feinman Oct 22 '09 at 13:26

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 15:22

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For sequence diagrams I like http://www.websequencediagrams.com

answered Oct 22 '09 at 15:22

Joe

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score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 19 '10 at 17:57

4

I used mxGraph and it is very good.

answered Jun 19 '10 at 17:57

True Soft

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score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Mar 19 '17 at 04:43

3

SmartDraw is great. Visio is good too, but not as feature-rich.

Google Docs has also recently added flowchart support too.

edited Mar 19 '17 at 04:43

Cœur

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answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:20

Galwegian

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score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:20

2

I use the combo Gliffy and MindMeister.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:20

jldupont

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+1 for Gliffy, haven't used MindMeister. – Kaitsu Dec 28 '11 at 08:05

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:25

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There's an open-source program with features similar to Visio called Dia.

For UML, there's ArgoUML.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:25

JRL

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score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:52

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There is also Visual Paradigm for UML. The community edition is free for non-commercial use.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:52

Konamiman

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score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:20

1

I've used yEd with some success. Never did anything real fancy with it though.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:20

smack0007

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You can do fancy things with yEd, too obviously: [yEd Gallery](http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_gallery.html) – Sebastian Jul 03 '12 at 07:22

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 19:41

1

I prefer to make diagrams on paper, it's cheap and much, much faster than using a computerized tool. Not so pretty for showing to others though.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 19:41

HLGEM

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score 1 · Answer 12 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

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you'll find lots of similar questions with a lot of the same answers under the flowchart tag.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Community

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answered Oct 22 '09 at 19:48

Peter Recore

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score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Oct 24 '09 at 12:19

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Graphviz is good for some type of diagrams.

answered Oct 24 '09 at 12:19

Juha Syrjälä

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:31

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I'll throw Freemind on to the heap. Not so much for flow charting, but mindmapping. Good for high level brainstorming sessions.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:31

brad.huffman

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score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 14:26

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I use both Mindmeister (easy to use and free) and Visio 2007 (powerful).

answered Oct 22 '09 at 14:26

Busted Keaton

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score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 15:53

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OmniGraffle http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/OmniGraffle/

This is only for the mac, and only the demo part is free, but it worth the money.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 15:53

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Jun 17 '10 at 15:31

I Like Visio, because of its extensive shapesheets and templates that come with it. If you are also interested in making Wireframes, I can recommend the free wireframing shapesheet from GUUUI.

Also, I use FreeMind for visualising tree-style relations.

score -1 · Answer 18 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:20

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Rational Software Modeler (used to be Rational Rose).

It also comes with a Microsoft .NET Extension that allows you to do .NET code generation from certain models.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 13:20

Justin Niessner

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-1000, this is the worst software I've ever used – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Jun 17 '10 at 15:35

What do you use to make programming flowcharts, diagrams, etc?

18 Answers18