Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups
Register | Login

Astah Professional VS PlantUML

Compare Astah Professional VS PlantUML and see what are their differences

Contents:
  1. » Base Details
  2. » Videos
  3. » Reviews
  4. » Alternatives

Astah Professional logo Astah Professional

Astah is a software design tool which supports UML, ERD, DFD, Flowchart, Mindmap and more.

PlantUML logo PlantUML

PlantUML is an open-source tool that uses simple textual descriptions to draw UML diagrams.
  • Astah Professional Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-14

Astah Professional: Engineering Clarity from Chaos Astah Professional is the ultimate tool for modern software engineers who need to understand, plan, and communicate their ideas effectively. Created with innovation and efficiency at its core, it provides an all-in-one solution for creating intricate diagrams, flowcharts, and models that represent complex software designs.

Features: - Visual Excellence: Create visually stunning UML, ERD, DFD, and flowcharts with our state-of-the-art diagramming capabilities. - Intuitive Interface: Designed with users in mind, Astah Professional’s interface is not only appealing but also highly functional, allowing both novice and expert engineers to work with ease. - Customizable Experience: From customizable templates to extensive plugin support, Astah Professional offers the flexibility to adapt to various project needs and individual preferences.

Benefits:

  • Enhance Understanding: By translating abstract ideas into clear visuals, Astah Professional fosters a better understanding of complex systems, facilitating decision-making and problem-solving processes.
  • Improve Efficiency: Reduce time spent on documenting and communicating ideas by utilizing Astah's swift diagramming and exporting capabilities.
  • Foster Collaboration: Encourage teamwork and alignment across diverse teams, bridging gaps between different roles and expertise levels.
  • Drive Innovation: Empower your team to think creatively, exploring new solutions and opportunities through effective visualization tools.

Astah Professional is more than just a diagramming tool; it's a comprehensive platform that brings clarity to the chaotic world of software engineering. Trusted by professionals all over the world, it's your partner in turning ideas into reality.

  • PlantUML Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22

Astah Professional

Website
astah.net
Pricing URL
Official Astah Professional Pricing
$ Details
paid Free Trial $11.99 / Monthly
Platforms
Windows Mac OSX Linux
Release Date
2009 October
Edit details

PlantUML

Website
plantuml.com
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Platforms
-
Release Date
-
Edit details

Astah Professional features and specs

  • Comprehensive Diagramming Support
    Astah Professional offers support for a wide range of diagrams including UML, ERD, flowcharts, DFD, and mind maps, making it suitable for various modeling needs.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The tool features an intuitive and easy-to-use interface which helps both beginners and experienced users to efficiently create and manage diagrams.
  • Collaboration Features
    Astah Professional includes collaboration features such as sharing and teamwork functions that facilitate working with others on projects.
  • Customization and Extensibility
    It offers customization options and allows for extensibility through plugins, letting users tailor the software to their specific needs.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    The software is available on multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring accessibility regardless of the user's operating system.

Possible disadvantages of Astah Professional

  • Cost
    Astah Professional is a commercial product, which may be expensive for individual users or small companies with limited budgets.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic functionalities are user-friendly, mastering advanced features can take some time and effort.
  • Limited Real-Time Collaboration
    Although it has collaboration tools, it lacks real-time collaboration capabilities which are crucial for some teams.
  • Occasional Performance Issues
    Users have reported some performance issues, especially when dealing with very complex diagrams or large projects.
  • Restricted to Modeling
    Astah Professional is primarily focused on modeling and lacks other project management tools, which requires integration with other software for comprehensive project management.

PlantUML features and specs

  • Simple Syntax
    PlantUML uses a plain text language that is easy to learn, making it accessible for both technical and non-technical users.
  • Quick Diagram Creation
    Due to its straightforward text-based syntax, diagrams can be created and modified quickly without the need for a graphical interface.
  • Version Control Friendly
    Diagrams are stored as text files, making them easy to manage with version control systems like Git.
  • Integrations
    PlantUML integrates well with many other tools and platforms including IDEs (e.g., IntelliJ, VSCode), documentation generators (e.g., Doxygen, Sphinx), and project management tools.
  • Wide Range of Diagrams
    PlantUML supports a variety of UML and non-UML diagrams, including sequence diagrams, use case diagrams, class diagrams, and more.
  • Open Source
    PlantUML is an open-source tool, which makes it free to use and allows for community contributions and extensions.

Possible disadvantages of PlantUML

  • Learning Curve
    While the syntax is simple, users unfamiliar with text-based diagramming may need time to become proficient.
  • No GUI
    PlantUML lacks a graphical user interface (GUI), which might be a disadvantage for users who prefer drag-and-drop diagram creation.
  • Complex Diagrams
    For very complex diagrams, the text-based syntax can become cumbersome and hard to manage.
  • Rendering Limitations
    The style and formatting options are less flexible compared to some dedicated graphical diagramming tools.
  • Performance
    For large diagrams, the text-to-diagram rendering process can be slow.
  • Security Concerns
    Using PlantUML with remote server options might raise security issues, particularly when dealing with sensitive information.

Analysis of PlantUML

Overall verdict

  • Yes, PlantUML is a good tool for developers and teams who need a straightforward and efficient way to create and manage diagrams within their projects. Its text-based approach allows for easy updates and maintenance, which is beneficial in agile and fast-paced development settings.

Why this product is good

  • PlantUML is appreciated for its simplicity and versatility in creating UML diagrams. It allows users to write diagrams using a concise text-based language, which can be easily integrated into code repositories for version control. This approach facilitates collaboration and documentation among developers. Moreover, it supports various diagram types beyond UML, such as sequence diagrams, class diagrams, and state diagrams, and can be integrated with other tools and editors, enhancing its utility across different environments.

Recommended for

  • Software developers
  • Technical architects
  • Project managers
  • Teams using agile methodologies
  • Educators teaching software design

Astah Professional videos

+ Add

Smooth & Fast UML Modeling with Astah | Try It Free!

More videos:

  • Demo - Introducing Astah Professional in 2 minutes
  • Tutorial - 3 min lectures for your daily modeling - (2) Fundamental UML Sequence Diagram
  • Tutorial - Header-Datail Pattern for "Purchase Order" in UML
  • Demo - How to create UML Class diagrams faster
  • Demo - Astah x Miro plugin demo

PlantUML videos

+ Add

PlantUML - beautiful quick diagrams to explain your models

More videos:

  • Review - Folge16 - PlantUML und IntelliJ
  • Tutorial - PlantUML Gizmo Tutorial: Google Docs Add-on
  • Review - Mermaid vs PlantUML vs HackerDraw: Which One Is Best For You?
  • Review - Using PlantUML For Diagrams In A GitLab Wiki

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Astah Professional and PlantUML)

Astah Professional

PlantUML

Diagrams
5 5%
Diagrams
95% 95
Flowcharts
6 6%
Flowcharts
94% 94
UML
100 100%
UML
0% 0
Flow Charts And Diagrams
7 7%
Flow Charts And Diagrams
93% 93

User comments

Share your experience with using Astah Professional and PlantUML. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Astah Professional and PlantUML

Astah Professional Reviews

We have no reviews of Astah Professional yet.
Be the first one to post

PlantUML Reviews

Top 7 diagrams as code tools for software architecture
PlantUML is a tool that allows you to write diagrams such as sequence, object, component, usecase, class diagrams and more.
Source: icepanel.medium.com
5 great diagramming tools for enterprise and software architects
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...
Source: www.redhat.com
Software Diagrams - Plant UML vs Mermaid
For C4 Models, Mermaid support is still experimental. This shows as you have little control over the way the diagram is rendered, and some parts are unreadable (i.e., arrows over nodes). PlantUML works as you would expect and has support for more advanced setup like sprites. Not even close on this one. Winner: PlantUML
Source: www.dandoescode.com
9 Best UML Software For Mac & PC
PlantUML is another free open source sequence diagram software that uses text input to build UML charts. PlantUML requires using a specific PlantUML Language to construct sequence charts but once learned it’s very flexible.
Source: machow2.com
40 Open Source, Free and Top Unified Modeling Language (UML) Tools
PlantUML is a component that allows users to quickly write sequence diagrams, usecase diagrams, class diagrams, activity diagrams, component diagrams, state diagrams, deployment diagrams, object diagrams and wireframe graphical interfaces. Diagrams are defined using a simple and intuitive language. Images can be generated in PNG, SVG or LaTeX format and it is also possible...
Source: www.predictiveanalyticstoday.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, PlantUML seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 12 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Astah Professional mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Astah Professional yet. Tracking of Astah Professional recommendations started around Mar 2021.

PlantUML mentions (12)

  • Owning my own data, part 1: Integrating a self-hosted calendar solution
    That particular diagram seems to have been generated by https://plantuml.com according to the image's metadata. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Common Mistakes in Architecture Diagrams (2020)
    I have to confess I am guilty of this — I used to just draw some unstructured circles and arrows on a whiteboard and call it enough. Lately I've been trying to work my way through lots of different diagram types from https://plantuml.com/, and it does help to wrap my mind around the existing options. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • LLM + Mermaid: How Modern Teams Create UML Diagrams Without Lucidchart
    Today, tools like Mermaid and PlantUML have taken center stage, thanks to their ability to generate diagrams with text-based commands. Even better, AI-powered assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, and GitHub Copilot have made generating diagrams even easier. These tools work directly within a developer's environment, creating diagrams that are version-controlled and integrated seamlessly into workflows. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Blockdiag – simple diagram images generator – blockdiag 1.0 documentation
    While inactive blockdiag was small and nice for automatically annotating documentation. As you can see it hasn't been maintained for a few years. https://github.com/blockdiag/blockdiag With complex diagrams, I find good old PlantUML diagrams more useful if not as initially pretty as mermaid. Plus it will output archimate without having to touch that UI https://plantuml.com/ But really it is horses for courses.... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Introduction to Haskell Diagrams
    Use a high-level language like Plant UML, D2, Graphviz which are good for the purpose they are designed for, but not for generic purpose diagramming. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Astah Professional and PlantUML, you can also consider the following products

StarUML - StarUML

draw.io - Online diagramming application

yEd - yEd is a free desktop application to quickly create, import, edit, and automatically arrange diagrams. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix/Linux.

Visual Paradigm - Looking for an affordable software with Enterprise Architecture tool, PMBOK tool, UML tool, Agile tool, BPMN tool and UX tool? Read this page for details.

LucidChart - LucidChart is the missing link in online productivity suites. LucidChart allows users to create, collaborate on, and publish attractive flowcharts and other diagrams from a web browser.

Enterprise Architect - Enterprise Architect - UML Design Tools and UML CASE tools for software development | Sparx Systems

Loading...