5 great diagramming tools for enterprise and software architects

1

C4 model

The C4 model is derived from physical maps: You can look at a location from a high level, like a country, and see your city in the context of other cities and countries. Then you can zoom in to a city level and see major roads and the city's structure. Take another step, and you can see your district or neighborhood; finally, you might zoom down to a street view. C4 mimics this approach, starting with the general context in which your system works and ending with class diagrams.

#Flow Charts And Diagrams #Diagrams #UML 14 social mentions

2

draw.io

Where do you even begin with Diagrams.net, formerly known as Draw.io? Besides being free of charge, it also has a low learning curve, so anyone can quickly start creating diagrams or whiteboards. Many people use Diagrams.net for diagramming business processes, data flows, and networks. You can also modify elements without having to change the entire diagram with this tool.

#Diagrams #Flowcharts #Wireframing 714 social mentions

3

Excalidraw

As your system evolves, you must update your diagrams to reflect those changes. Because Excalidraw is a browser-based tool, you have to open a browser tab and make changes visually, which can be inconvenient. You also can't easily see your history of changes. While Excalidraw has fans, I prefer a text-based diagram tool.

#Sketching #Digital Whiteboard #Digital Drawing And Painting 205 social mentions

4

PlantUML

PlantUML is an open source tool and syntax that allows you to make sequence, use case, class, object, and other diagrams from code. It also supports non-UML diagrams like JSON and YAML. In addition, it enjoys support from ArchiMate, ERD, Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), and other common notation styles. Its simple, plain-text definitions make creating, sharing, and modifying diagrams straightforward. You can store the diagram sources next to your code and update them in the same pull request. PlantUML also supports custom sprites, so you can add icons where they are missing.

#Flow Charts And Diagrams #Diagrams #UML Diagrams 4 social mentions

5

Mermaid

Like PlantUML, Mermaid follows the diagrams-as-code model. It is supported by GitHub and uses Markdown-style notation to create and modify diagrams. This makes diagramming with Mermaid very convenient if you're developing software on GitHub.

#Flow Charts And Diagrams #Diagrams #UML 19 social mentions