Software Alternatives & Reviews

PlantUML VS Mermaid

Compare PlantUML VS Mermaid and see what are their differences

PlantUML logo PlantUML

PlantUML is an open-source tool that uses simple textual descriptions to draw UML diagrams.

Mermaid logo Mermaid

Create diagrams and visualizations using text and code.
  • PlantUML Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-22
  • Mermaid Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-17

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

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PlantUML and Mermaid)
Diagrams
90 90%
10% 10
Flow Charts And Diagrams
80 80%
20% 20
Flowcharts
95 95%
5% 5
Wireframing
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using PlantUML and Mermaid. 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 PlantUML and Mermaid

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...

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Mermaid should be more popular than PlantUML. It has been mentiond 24 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.

PlantUML mentions (5)

  • 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 / 25 days 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: 5 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 / 9 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 / 10 months ago
  • Entity Relationship Diagrams
    Plantuml is amongst the best there is. kroki.io has a sandbox for it Mermaid.js can do it in notion, it works as well as any other mermaid. Dbvisualizer is fantastic if you have an existing schema in a db instance. you may need the trial license to render the diagrams. Source: 11 months ago

Mermaid mentions (24)

  • AsciidocFX: The Asciidoc Editor for documentation and authoring
    Mermaid Diagram - Create diagrams using text and code. - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
  • ChatCraft Adventures #13, UI Changes
    This is an Issue I opened up for a potential feature. A couple weeks ago, I added nomnoml support to ChatCraft. ChatCraft renders previews for Mermaid and Nomnoml. - Source: dev.to / 22 days ago
  • Building a Mermaid.js Gantt Chart in a FileMaker Web Viewer
    Mermaid JS is a powerful JavaScript library that allows developers to create complex diagrams and visualizations using simple text and code syntax. It’s a lot like markdown, but for charts instead of plain text. - Source: dev.to / 26 days ago
  • ChatCraft Adventures #10
    Currently, ChatCraft supports Mermaid rendering. This feature request involves adding support for nomnoml rendering. Nomnoml is similar to Mermaid, in that they're both used in generating uml diagrams. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Mermaid Chart, a Markdown-like tool for creating diagrams, raises $7.5M
    People should know, Mermaid and Mermaid Chart are not the same thing. Mermaid is just the JS library. Mermaid Chart is a diagramming tool built on top of it. https://mermaid.js.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

draw.io - Online diagramming application

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.

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.

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

Visio - Simplify and communicate complex information using data-linked diagrams.