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Mermaid VS PlantUML

Compare Mermaid VS PlantUML and see what are their differences

Mermaid logo Mermaid

Create diagrams and visualizations using text and code.

PlantUML logo PlantUML

PlantUML is an open-source tool that uses simple textual descriptions to draw UML diagrams.
  • Mermaid Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-17
  • PlantUML Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22

Mermaid videos

The Little Mermaid Paid Reviews Are In!

More videos:

  • Review - The Little Mermaid 2023 REACTION - Early Reviews, Just Watched, Box Office, Oscars Predictions
  • Review - FIRST REACTIONS The Little Mermaid BAD VFX

PlantUML videos

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 Mermaid and PlantUML)
Diagrams
11 11%
89% 89
Flow Charts And Diagrams
23 23%
77% 77
Flowcharts
5 5%
95% 95
UML Diagrams
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

Mermaid Reviews

5 great diagramming tools for enterprise and software architects
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.
Source: www.redhat.com

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.
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
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...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Mermaid should be more popular than PlantUML. It has been mentiond 28 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.

Mermaid mentions (28)

  • Code Diagrams - 3 Tools to Try
    Mermaid is a JavaScript-based diagramming and charting tool that makes it easy to create diagrams from text descriptions. It's particularly useful for generating flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and class diagrams. - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • Show HN: Unforget, the note-taking app I always wanted: offline first, encrypted
    I'm always on a quest for a better structured knowledge storage, and while I usually stay away from electron apps / desktop JS, I see that the most experimentation comes from them. Since it's a JS application, have you considered supporting Mermaid diagrams? While heavy, Joplin is my goto for notes these days because Mermaid syntax has been a game changer compared to simple markdown. https://mermaid.js.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 days ago
  • Integrate Ory in a NestJS application
    To visualize the user flow for the CatFoster project, we will create a series of diagrams using Mermaid to illustrate the different user interactions within the system. These interactions include signing up and signing in, creating a cat profile, updating and deleting their cat profiles, requesting to foster a cat, and approving fostering requests. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Show HN: Collaborative, text-based technical diagramming tool
    There is no documentation of the syntax. How is this different from MermaidJS[1]? [1]https://mermaid.js.org/#/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • AsciidocFX: The Asciidoc Editor for documentation and authoring
    Mermaid Diagram - Create diagrams using text and code. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
View more

PlantUML mentions (6)

  • Code Diagrams - 3 Tools to Try
    PlantUML, like Mermaid, is an open source tool that allows users to create diagrams from plain text descriptions. PlantUML is the original ‘diagrams as code’ platform. It has a deep feature set, can be integrated into just about any environment, and can be extended to fit just about any use case. For example, the most useful thing to me about PlantUML is its support for visualizing .JSON files. - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • PlantUMLApp 3.0 - Let's play with AI Multi-Modality
    New version 3.0 of my PlantUML App for iPad is out with exciting update! 🤩 The new multi-modality feature now lets you transform hand-drawn diagrams into PlantUML scripts with just a pencil ✍🏻 or your fingers 👆. Take a look 👀 to this short on YouTube and download it from App Store to support me 👍🏻. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • What is your favorite tool for designing complex architecture, and why is it MS Paint?
    Someone at work showed me https://plantuml.com/ recently. If you want your diagrams as code . Version controlled etc.. I highly recommend it. Source: 6 months ago
  • Discovering the Power of PlantUML: Visualizing YAML, JSON, and More!
    Open-source tool that uses simple textual descriptions to draw beautiful UML diagrams. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Pikchr: A PIC-like markup language for diagrams in technical documentation
    Seems like a considerable upgrade from PlanUML (https://plantuml.com/ - which is amazing, but sometimes you just can't seem to be able to align the stuff the way you want too). - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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.

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.

Excalidraw - Excalidraw is a whiteboard tool that lets you easily sketch diagrams that have a hand-drawn feel to them.

Ilograph - Interactive system architecture diagrams for cloud, software, platform, and security engineers

Dia - Dia is a GTK+ based diagram creation program for GNU/Linux, MacOS X, Unix, and Windows, and is released under the GPL license.