Jun 12, 2019 Like any other diagramming tool, Creately limits some of the features like Visio files import and SVG export in the free plan. The personal plan starts at $5 per month and goes up to $125 for team. Although Microsoft has never released Visio for Mac, the good news is there are some fantastic alternatives that do everything Visio can – and more! In fact in some cases, we think the software featured here are even better than Microsoft’s product when it comes to visual communication and collaboration.
Jul 19, 2015 I'm checking Conceptdraw and Omnigraffle at the moment. I like the appearance of the diagrams Conceptdraw produces. Since it can open native Visio files it became priceless in my office. I recommend to try, it has free trial mode: Diagram Software. Dia is a GTK+ based diagram creation program for Linux, Unix, Mac OS X and Windows released under the GPL license. Dia is roughly inspired by the commercial Windows program Microsoft Office Visio, though more geared towards informal diagrams for casual use. It can be used to draw many different kinds of diagrams.
Mac users aren’t at all shy about making their requests for applications known:
How about Visio for Mac?
When will IE return to Mac?
Will we ever see a Microsoft Project for Mac?
Where can I get Access for Mac?
When will (insert name of hot new game here) be available for Mac?
Most of these requests are for well-known Microsoft applications on Windows, and Mac users want them. Let me address a few of these in some detail.
Microsoft Visio
It’s unwise to say “never” with regard to future development efforts by a company as large as Microsoft, so I will predict this about Visio for Mac: it’s very, very unlikely to ever happen.
I, and many others, believe the development costs to produce a Mac Visio that would faithfully render any existing Visio drawing (and have almost all the functionality of Visio for Windows) would never be recouped by Microsoft.
For any Mac software company, a software product that brought in $50 million per year would be viewed as a fantastic success. But in the rarified world of the Microsoft Office team, such a product would be considered a dismal failure.
For any Mac software company, a software product that brought in $50 million per year would be viewed as a fantastic success. But in the rarified world of the Microsoft Office team, such a product would be considered a dismal failure.
Microsoft Access
Exactly the same as Visio: very, very unlikely to ever happen, and for exactly the same reason.
Internet Explorer
Never going to happen.
There was a version of IE for Mac about 15 years ago. Microsoft ceased development of IE for Mac in July 2003. Given that there is no new development for IE for Windows (because of the release of Microsoft Edge in 2015), there is no chance at all for a future release of IE for Mac.
Any Hot New Game by Microsoft
Never going to happen.
The graphics foundations on Mac and Windows diverge sufficiently that porting any hot new Windows game over to the Mac is a major undertaking. It would be unlikely to recoup development costs, for the same reasons as the Office applications. You can read more details about DirectX and OpenGL.
What’s a Mac User to Do?
There are a couple of options for a Mac user:
Use a viewer application. In some cases, a viewer application that faithfully renders a document that you could not otherwise open will suffice. In the case of Visio, Microsoft has released a Visio Viewer for iOS, as shown in Figure 1.
Use a competing application. Search for “Visio for Mac” on Google, and many of the results will be for third-party applications for Mac that open Visio drawings and provide much of the same functionality.
Run the real Windows application on your Mac. If you need the real Visio with all its functionality, then use Parallels Desktop® for Mac to run Windows 10 on your Mac and purchase Visio from Microsoft. You lose no functionality or visual fidelity, since you are running the real Visio in the environment it expects: Windows 10.
(Already own Visio? No problem. Just use the Migration feature in Parallels Desktop to move everything on your PC—including Visio—into a virtual machine on your Mac.)
Figure 2 shows Visio running on my MacBook Pro®.
Figure 2_Visio 2016 running in Windows10 on a Mac with Parallels Desktop
Figures 3 and 4 show Access, and Figure 5 shows IE—all running on my MacBook Pro.
Figure 3_Access 2016 in Windows 10 running on a Mac with Parallels Desktop
Figure 4_Access 2016 in Windows 10 running on a Mac with Parallels Desktop
Figure 5_IE in Windows10 running on a Mac with Parallels Desktop
While you may not be able to get the Mac applications you desire, you can get the Windows versions and run them right alongside your Mac applications.
As the product manager for Parallels Desktop, you might consider my opinions to be a bit biased. (They aren’t, but you might think that.) So, here is a quote from a Network World review (emphasis mine):
“I’ve been a Mac user for many years, and like with most Mac users, there are occasions when I have core business apps that require me to run Internet Explorer for a browser, or run Visual Studio for app development work, or even run Microsoft Project and Visio that just aren’t available on a Mac. And while Apple provides BootCamp where I can switch between booting from a Mac to booting as a Windows system, that means I have to constantly reboot my system to switch between operating platforms. So I’ve been a happy user of Parallels for years where I can run Windows and Mac applications side by side at the same time.” –Rand Morimoto, Network World
Try Parallels Desktop for free for 14 days!
Talk about diagramming tools, and one of the first names that pop into your head is Microsoft Visio. With a plethora of templates, shapes, layouts, and designs, Visio is a paradise for your visual modeling requirements.
However, unless you are working in an MNC or a part of a massive team, the price tag of $280 for Standard version or as low as $5 per user monthly might make it a bit costlier for folks on a tight budget.
So, if you are seeking free alternatives to Microsoft Visio, don't worry, we have got you sorted. The following list of diagramming software and tools will help you choose the right one.
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1. Lucidchart
Lucidchart advertises itself as a Visio alternative and boasts of being used by the teams at Cisco, Harvard University, Accenture, and more. From floor plans to Android mockups, it has a ton of robust pre-made templates.
Apart from that, this online tool is extremely easy to use. It allows you to add different shapes, containers, and smart connectors to make visually appealing designs. Plus, the shapes and containers change as per the type of diagram. On top of that, there are a slew of shapes and layering options to choose from.
The free version of Lucidchart is limited to three active documents per user. If you are mainly looking for personal use, the free templates and shapes should be sufficient. However, if you are not satisfied, you can upgrade to any of the paid versions.
The basic paid plan of Lucidchart is priced at $4 per month and it lets you use unlimited shapes and documents. Meanwhile, the Pro user plan is priced at $10 per month with the option to import or export Visio files. If you have a small team that often collaborates on designs, the Pro plan for teams is a bit heftily priced at $20 per month.
Why Lucidchart
Ridiculously easy to learn and use
Huge library of templates and shapes
Drag and drop
Integrations
Go to Lucidchart
2. Creately
Creately is another powerful online tool hiding many templates behind a simple interface. Available across multiple platforms, Creately believes in keeping things simple. It has an intuitive interface with a bunch of free templates and shapes. Unlike Lucidchart, this tool supports a variety of 'fun' templates that you can use to make community banners or for your school projects.
Unlike LucidCraft, this tool supports a variety of 'fun' templates.
Other than that, there's a tiny contextual toolbar that shows up as soon as you select an object. With tools like quick connectors, text box creation, and external links, it makes the process faster and quicker.
Free Microsoft Visio For Mac
On the collaboration front, you can work with your team members just by adding their email IDs. The free version lets you add up to three collaborators. Quite naturally, this restriction is removable if you upgrade to the paid versions.
Like any other diagramming tool, Creately limits some of the features like Visio files import and SVG export in the free plan. The personal plan starts at $5 per month and goes up to $125 for team plans.
Why Creately
Tons of templates
One-click contextual toolbar
Ready-made color palettes
Let's you import images from the web
Go to Creately
3. Pencil Project
The beauty of Pencil Project lies in the fact that it's free desktop software. For an open source project, Pencil has a pretty clean interface with all the necessary tools. It allows you to create mockups for almost everything — mobiles, web pages, and even conventional flowcharts and diagrams.
The controls are quite straightforward. Double click to rotate the elements and single click to resize them. If I were to compare it to the above tools, I'd say that the icons may not be as sharp or colorful. However, those are some of the trade-offs if you are looking for a completely free diagramming tool.
As far as the templates are concerned, the options are limited to creating wireframes, GUI, and flowcharts. You won't find any fancy templates for infographics, family tree or network diagram. Export options include SVG, ODT, PDF, PNG or standard web page.
Why Pencil Project
Free and standalone software
Clean interface with simple tools
Cool collection of mobile GUI elements for smartphone mockups
Microsoft Visio Professional Download
Download Pencil Project
4. Draw.io
Draw.io is an utter delight of a diagramming tool. From standard charts and flowcharts to entity relationship diagrams and UML diagrams, you can play with a lot of templates in this online tool.
The best thing is that you don't even need to register. Simply open the site, select the templates and start working. Draw.io also lets you connect to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and even Github to export your templates. Similar to Pencil Project, you can export your projects in PNG, SVG, PDF, XML, and a few other formats. Plus, it also supports embedded URLs.
Draw.io redefines simplicity as it's incredibly easy to use. All you have to do is click on an element and all the necessary formatting options like font, color, style are accessible through the menu on the right.
Also, the collection of shapes and objects are sufficient for a free version.
Why Draw.io
Super simple interface
Has the option to search for shapes
Good for small-scale work
Go to Draw.io
5. yEd Graph Editor
yEd Graph Editor might not be the most stylish Visio alternative, but trust me when I say that it has the right tools and elements to make your work seamless and easy.
Since it's also a desktop software, you won't find many ready-made templates. But let me tell you that it is by far one of the best free tools for creating charts, flowcharts, and diagrams of computer networks. Plus, working on this tool is relatively easy. Simply drag and drop the elements.
As for the export options, yEd allows you to save your diagrams in PDF, JPEG, PNG, SWF, and HTML formats.
Why yEd Graph Editor
Apt for flowcharts and network diagrams
Plenty of shapes, edge types, entity relation elements, etc.
Download yEd Graph Editor
6. XMind
If your diagrams involve more of mapping, then you should give XMind a try. The beauty of XMind is that you can create an entire visually appealing mind map just through keystrokes. Yes, you read that right.
This offline drawing tool supports a few handy keyboard shortcuts that let you create child elements, add text or skip to the next element.
The elements and shapes library is immense and is available on a click of a button, along with the formatting options like font, structure, color, etc.
XMind is the a open source project and hence free to use. My only gripe is that the trial version stamps the XMind watermark on the diagrams. And to remove that, you need to subscribe to the Zen version by paying $27.99 per six months.
Why XMind?
Great for mappings
Vast library of elements and shapes
Download XMind
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7. Gliffy
Gliffy is another good online alternative to Microsoft Visio. Gliffy has three different account options to choose from — Basic (Standard), Single, and Team account. The Single and Team account are paid versions while the Basic is free to use. Here, the catch is that all your diagrams are marked public. So, unless you are planning to make a>Go to Gliffy
8. Google Drawings
Last but not the least, we have Google Drawings. Like most of the Google apps and tools, we have the G-advantage here — it's free and it's relatively simple to use.
And unlike the free versions (of paid drawing apps) that limit shapes and templates, Google Drawings offers loads of features and options.
You can play with process diagrams or try your hand at relationship diagrams. The color schemes are customizable. Plus, you can also change the levels or areas of the diagrams as per your needs. Given that Google documents can be easily shared, collaboration is surprisingly easy on Drawings.
Why Google Drawings
Free and simple to use
Plenty of templates to choose from
Customizable colors and areas
Gets automatically saved
Go to Google Drawings
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Make Powerful Visualizations
Programs Like Microsoft Visio For Mac Free
They say that seeing is believing and rightly so. Be it a software process or a simple infographic, unless the data is visually appealing and easy to understand, the work one puts in such diagrams may go to waste. And at the same time, it should be easy for a user to make such diagrams without much hassles.
So, these were some of the free alternatives to Microsoft Visio. There are also some other programs like DIA, Open Office, and LibreOffice which you can try.
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