"It's that free diagramming tool that just works. No credit card, no trial periods, no BS", etc
There is stuff on GitHub that actually does similar stuff [0] [1] . We tried some pipelines a year ago for a project (understanding compliance relevant process diagrams) and it was still quite a challenge . Wonder what the state is now with all those vision llms and even if commercial how good that stuff is.
To be transparent, when we started, the AI model costs quickly became unsustainable with purely free usage. We had to introduce a paid model to cover these costs and ensure we could keep the service running and improving. It was a difficult decision, and we clearly fumbled the communication.
We've since added a free trial with credits for every new user. I know we made a poor first impression, but I hope you'll consider giving it another try. Your feedback is incredibly valuable and helps us do better.
Based on this (very necessary) feedback, we have now implemented a no-login trial so you can test the tool without creating an account.
If you do choose to sign up later, we also provide some free credits. We have to cap the trial usage due to API costs, but we've tried to make it generous enough for a fair evaluation.
Thank you for the blunt feedback. We genuinely appreciate it and would be grateful if you’d consider giving it another look. We are committed to listening to our users and continuously improving.
Flagged for not gratifying my intellectual curiosity.
You were right to flag it. The onboarding flow was broken, and we've since fixed it based on this feedback.
We've now introduced two key changes:
1. A no-login trial to let you test the tool immediately.
2. 5 free credits for every user who signs up, ensuring you can run several tests before seeing any paywall.
We understand if the ship has sailed, but if your curiosity remains, we would be grateful for a second chance.
To be transparent, we were struggling to manage the high costs of the AI models and made a clumsy decision to put a wall up too early. It was the wrong choice, and we apologize.
We've listened to the feedback and have since corrected our mistake. You can now try the product without signing in, and if you do register, you'll get 5 free credits to test it properly. We hope this action demonstrates our true intention, which is to build a product people genuinely like and trust. We'd be grateful if you'd consider trying it again.
It's definitely not as frictionless as excalidraw though. Excalidraw, whilst not as powerful as draw.io has the interface down correctly.
Architecture diagrams, data flow diagrams, sequence diagrams, network diagrams, entity-relationship diagrams ...
I'd really like to find an option which can preferably be version controlled and doesn't require hard-to-remember schema (ex. plantUML).
At work it's always tough to find something which works, and which is free or already licensed (no chance to get new licenses), and which is easy enough for teammates of varying technical abilities to contribute to.
For Arch Diagrams, most people seem to jump to Draw.IO, which is nice, but I'm not sure how easily it can be version controlled (although I haven't tried). At work it usually falls into the "did you put your latest version on SharePoint" black-hole (we don't pay for the cloud syncing version of draw.io). I wanted to try Figma, since it's at least a bit more collaborative, but there aren't any good first-party templates, so maybe it's not the right place, either.
For DFDs, I'd like to try Mermaid, or D2, or PlantUML (scared by the syntax on that one, though). I've not tried any of these, right now we usually do these in draw.io too, but I feel like code-defined ones would be an easier to maintain option and can live in a repo easier.
Sequence Diagrams are currently usually done using the sequencediagram.org engine, which I'm not a huge fan of, but at least it's relatively easily handled text. I don't think there was a good VS Code integration last time I checked (I think it was some web emulator, not a built-in engine?).
ERDs, I'd also like to find a good local tool to probably just use SQL on the backend, so that it's one less conversion. I'm open to all suggestions for that, though.
Youtube videos that are lectures with slide shows .. or PDF slide decks ..can also be a input / starting point..with some additional detection and parsing. Both can have multiple images in them.
We've officially added it to our backlog. We're excited about this one and will prioritize it.
We genuinely appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. Please keep the great ideas coming!
The VSCode integration is the cherry on top. All files with the correct extension (such as xxx.drawio.png) will automatically open for edit in the draw.io UI embedded in the IDE.
I use this feature often to build on top of the previously made diagrams.
Above the fold, there's a lot of pitch how Draw.io requires "No credit card, no trial periods, no BS." and "It's genuinely free - has been for years, always will be. That's why millions use it, and why converting your images to Draw.io format makes so much sense. Your converted files will always be editable, no subscription required"
Below the fold and at the very bottom, this service itself starts off at $5/mo on sale right now.
I would imagine this would confuse people. They might interpret that this service is free too, then be suprised at the "no free tier" and some are going to be outright angry and very vocal about it.
So I would change the messaging along the lines of "We help you convert images into Draw.io so you pay us just once for the diagram you want converted"
To enhance the message, I would further say "This is how much we sponsor Draw.io for enabling our own business" and write blog posts about the struggles to build the service or even open source the methods to fine-tune a model to do the conversion.
Good luck, this is valuable!
Honestly, after a day of fielding a lot of (justified) criticism, reading something so constructive and encouraging is incredibly moving for our team. We're trying to create a good experience for everyone, and it's clear we've made some major mistakes.
You are absolutely right about the core problem in our messaging. In our effort to praise Draw.io, we completely missed that we were setting a misleading expectation for our own service. Your suggestions on how to fix this—clarifying the value proposition, sponsoring Draw.io, and sharing our journey—are all fantastic ideas. They're not just tweaks; they're a roadmap for how we can build trust and communicate better.
We'll be discussing your advice as a team and will use it to guide our next steps. Thank you again for your generosity and guidance. It is immensely valuable.
That wasn't a deliberate choice but a bug in our front end. We've just pushed a fix for it. The showcase examples should be visible to everyone now without an account.
