Best Self Hosted Alternatives to diagrams.net (draw.io)

Excalidraw is an open-source virtual whiteboard for creating hand-drawn style diagrams, wireframes, and sketches in the browser. It focuses on fast ideation with a simple UI, infinite canvas, and easy sharing and collaboration.

Key Features

• Infinite canvas whiteboard with a hand-drawn visual style
• Rich drawing tools (shapes, arrows, free-draw, text, eraser) with undo/redo
• Arrow binding and labeled connectors for clearer diagrams
• Real-time collaboration with end-to-end encryption support
• Local-first behavior (autosave in the browser) and offline-capable PWA
• Export and sharing options (PNG, SVG, clipboard, and open JSON-based file format)
• Image support, theming (including dark mode), and localization (i18n)

Use Cases

• Team brainstorming sessions and collaborative whiteboarding
• Creating lightweight architecture diagrams, flowcharts, and user journey maps
• Wireframing UI concepts and embedding a whiteboard into other web apps

Excalidraw works well as a standalone web app or as a reusable component via its editor package. It is a strong choice for teams and individuals who want quick, low-friction diagramming without heavy tooling.

ChartDB is an open-source, web-based database diagramming editor for visualizing and designing relational database schemas. It generates diagrams from a single “smart query” result, letting you model and review schemas without granting ChartDB direct database access.

Key Features

• One-query schema import that converts your database schema into a diagram
• Interactive ERD editor to adjust tables, relationships, and annotations
• Export diagrams as images and export schema as SQL/DDL scripts
• AI-assisted DDL generation to help convert between SQL dialects (optional)
• Supports multiple databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, SQLite, and others
• Runs in the browser and can be deployed via Docker

Use Cases

• Quickly document an existing database schema for teams and stakeholders
• Design or refactor schemas visually before applying migrations
• Generate DDL for cross-database migration planning and review

Limitations and Considerations

• AI export features require configuring an external LLM endpoint (for example via an API key or custom inference server)
• Schema import relies on database-specific “smart query” output, so results may vary across supported engines

ChartDB is a practical tool for fast schema visualization and collaborative database design workflows. It is well-suited for teams that want ER diagrams and exportable DDL without providing direct database credentials to the diagramming tool.

diagrams.net (branded draw.io) is a web-first diagramming and whiteboarding application that runs in the browser and as an offline desktop app. It provides a full-featured diagram editor for flowcharts, UML, org charts, wireframes and network diagrams, and integrates with common cloud storage and collaboration platforms. (drawio.com)

Key Features

• Full client-side diagram editor with drag-and-drop shapes, connectors, layers and styling presets
• Large library of templates and icons for common diagram types (flowcharts, UML, ER, network, wireframes)
• Export/import to PNG, JPEG, SVG, PDF and native draw.io XML formats; versioned files and local storage options
• Integrations with cloud storage and platforms (Google Drive, OneDrive/SharePoint, Dropbox, GitHub/GitLab, Atlassian products) and a hosted web app entry point
• Official desktop builds (Electron) for Windows, macOS and Linux to support offline use and tighter security controls

(drawio.com)

Use Cases

• Create architecture diagrams, flowcharts and UML for design and engineering documentation
• Produce editable diagrams for product specs, onboarding docs and team knowledge bases stored in cloud repos
• Design wireframes and process maps for product, ops and network teams that require export to common formats

(drawio.com)

Limitations and Considerations

• The GitHub repository contains minified client code and the project notes that not all build sources are published; the project is not maintained as a fully open-source, buildable source tree and the team does not accept pull requests. This may limit ease of building custom forks from the repo. (github.com)

diagrams.net (draw.io) is a mature, widely used diagramming tool that prioritizes a full client-side editing experience, multiple platform deployments (web and Electron desktop) and broad cloud integrations. It is suitable for technical and non-technical teams that need a versatile diagram editor without mandatory sign-in.