European Alternatives to Lucidchart
Looking for a European alternative to Lucidchart? Lucid Software Inc. is a company with its global headquarters in South Jordan, Utah, and its Terms of Service are an agreement with Lucid Software Inc. itself. It stores customer data in AWS regions that include Germany and Ireland, but transfers personal data from the EEA, UK and Switzerland to the US under Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.
Eleven European tools cover the diagram and flowchart work: free editors, diagram-first browser tools, BPMN and process modellers and whiteboards with real shapes and connectors, from companies in the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Austria.
How we rank these tools — 4-step process
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1
European ownership, verified
The company is headquartered and incorporated in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, and processes customer data in Europe. A US parent company disqualifies a tool from this page regardless of where its servers are.
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2
Category fit and hands-on review
What the tool actually does, who it suits, and where it falls short — checked against the vendor’s own documentation, changelog and pricing page rather than its marketing copy.
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3
Compliance and pricing check
GDPR posture, hosting location and the prices quoted on this page are verified against the vendor’s public pricing before publication, and re-checked when we revisit the category.
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4
Position on this page
Placement on this page can be paid, and that can affect which tools appear here and the order they appear in. It never buys a good review: a tool that fails the checks above is not here at any price, and payment does not change the shortcomings we write about. A vendor can ask us to correct a factual error — not to remove a criticism.
Vendors can pay for visibility on this page. It never changes what an entry says about a product, including the criticism, and we earn nothing when you click through to a vendor. Paid placement can affect which tools appear here and the order they appear in. Editorial policy
11 European Alternatives to Lucidchart
draw.io
Free, Apache 2.0 diagram editor with no sign-up, desktop app and storage in your own Drive, SharePoint or GitHub
yEd
Free desktop graph editor from yWorks in Tuebingen with automatic layout, and a browser version that keeps data local
Sketchboard
Espoo whiteboard with a flowchart maker, UML tool and cloud architecture diagrams, a free plan and EU-stored data
Moqups
Romanian flowchart, UML, wireframe and whiteboard app with a free plan, under Romanian law
Excalidraw
MIT-licensed hand-drawn diagramming whiteboard from Brno, free to use; Excalidraw+ costs $6 a user a month
Camunda Modeler
Berlin BPMN and DMN modeller: free desktop app and unlimited free web modelling, for process diagrams that can run
Coggle
Oxford mind map and flowchart tool, hosted on AWS in Ireland, with a free plan and flowcharting on the $5 plan
LibreOffice Draw
Free, open-source drawing app in the LibreOffice suite from a Berlin foundation, for simple diagrams on your own computer
Collaboard
Swiss whiteboard with connectors for flowcharts and mind maps, hosting in the Netherlands, Switzerland or Germany
Mindomo
Mind, concept and logic maps, organigrams and fishbone diagrams with a free plan; data hosted in Germany
ADONIS Community Edition
Free cloud BPMN and business-process tool from BOC in Vienna, for process maps and business architecture
Key takeaways
- Lucid Software Inc. of South Jordan, Utah is the contracting party for Lucidchart. It stores customer data in AWS regions including Germany and Ireland and uses SCCs or the Data Privacy Framework for transfers to the US.
- draw.io (draw.io Ltd, Northampton, Apache 2.0) is the closest free match: free forever, no sign-up, a desktop app, and storage you choose.
- yEd (yWorks GmbH, Tuebingen) is a free desktop editor with automatic layout, and yEd Live runs in your browser without sending graphs to a server.
- Sketchboard (Finland), Moqups (Romania), Excalidraw (Czech Republic) and Collaboard (Switzerland) are collaborative browser tools with a free plan.
- Camunda Modeler (Berlin) and ADONIS:Community Edition (Vienna) are the picks for BPMN process models.
- Moqups processes data primarily in the US and Excalidraw+ is hosted in the US, so a European company does not always mean European hosting.
Why people leave Lucidchart
Lucidchart is the browser diagramming tool that many companies standardise on. You draw flowcharts, process maps, org charts, UML and cloud architecture diagrams, share them with a link and drop them into Jira, Confluence, Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Workspace.
It can generate a first draft with AI, and it has a "diagram as code" feature. You can sign up free, it sells paid plans, and the amounts on its pricing page load in the browser, so none are quoted here.
It is run by Lucid Software Inc., with its global headquarters at South Jordan, Utah. The Terms of Service you accept at sign-up are an agreement with Lucid Software Inc.
Lucid stores customer data in AWS regions that include Germany and Ireland, and it says it moves personal data from the EEA, the UK and Switzerland to the US under Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. The clauses of the terms themselves load in the browser and could not be checked for this page, so it does not say which law or court applies.
This page covers tools that draw diagrams and flowcharts, not general workshop whiteboards (see the Miro page for those) and not design tools.
Eleven European options qualify, and they differ a lot: three are free editors you can run on your own computer (draw.io, yEd and LibreOffice Draw), three are collaborative browser tools with flowchart or UML features (Sketchboard, Moqups and Coggle), two are BPMN process modellers (Camunda Modeler and ADONIS:CE), two are whiteboards (Excalidraw and Collaboard), and one is a mind-map tool that also draws logic and organisation charts (Mindomo).
- The contract is with a Utah company Lucid Software Inc. is the contracting party in its own terms, and the company is headquartered in South Jordan, Utah. An EU data region reduces the distance your diagrams travel, but it does not change who the vendor is, and Lucid itself relies on SCCs or the Data Privacy Framework for transfers to the US. Several tools below, such as draw.io, yEd and LibreOffice Draw, let you keep the file on your own disk, so there is no vendor server in the picture.
- A diagram is a file, and some tools let you keep it Lucidchart stores your diagrams in its cloud. draw.io saves to the storage you choose (your own drive, SharePoint, GitHub) or to a local file, and says it cannot access your data. yEd Live says your graph is never sent to a server unless you store it in a cloud service. If the diagrams describe your network, your processes or your customers, where the file lives is a real question.
- You may be paying for more than you draw Lucid sells an intelligent diagramming suite with AI, integrations and enterprise controls. Many teams mainly draw flowcharts and org charts. Free tools cover that: draw.io is free forever without sign-up, yEd is freely available, LibreOffice Draw is free and open source, and Excalidraw, Sketchboard, Moqups, Coggle, Collaboard and Mindomo all have free plans.
- Process modelling has its own European tools If your diagrams are BPMN process models, Camunda Modeler (Berlin) and ADONIS:Community Edition (Vienna) are built for exactly that, and both are free to start. They are narrower than Lucidchart but deeper on BPMN, and Camunda models can run on its engine.
What you have to replace, not just match
Sort your Lucidchart documents by what they are. A handful of flowcharts and org charts move to almost any tool here. BPMN process maps go to Camunda Modeler or ADONIS:CE. Cloud architecture or UML diagrams go to draw.io, Sketchboard or Moqups. Anything tied to Jira or Confluence needs a check of the integration first: draw.io has apps for both, distributed by Seibert Group GmbH.
Export your diagrams before you cancel, as PDF or image copies at least. Expect to redo layout and connectors rather than get a perfect conversion. Run one real diagram in the new tool, share it with a colleague, and only then move the rest.
The alternatives compared
| Position | Tool | Headquarters | Pricing | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #3 | Sketchboard | Espoo, Finland | Starter USD 6 per month or USD 60 per year (1 editor); Team USD 20 per month or USD 200 per year (5 editors); Business USD 39 per month or USD 390 per year (10 editors); extra editors USD 5 to 6 per month. | EU (Finland) |
| #5 | Excalidraw | Brno, Czech Republic | The editor is free; Excalidraw+ costs USD 6 per user per month, with a 14% saving on annual billing. | EU (Czech Republic) |
| #6 | Camunda Modeler | Berlin, Germany | Self-managed development free / self-managed production and SaaS on request | EU (Germany) |
| #8 | LibreOffice Draw | Berlin, Germany | Free and open source | EU (Germany), non-profit foundation |
| #9 | Collaboard | Bonstetten, Switzerland | Basic USD 6 per user per month billed yearly (USD 7.50 billed monthly); Advanced USD 11.50 per user per month billed yearly (USD 14 billed monthly); Enterprise with self-hosting at a custom price. The pricing page also offers EUR and CHF as currencies. | Switzerland (outside the EU, covered by an EU adequacy decision) |
How each alternative compares to Lucidchart
draw.io
the closest free match to a general diagram editor, with your own storage
Best for: Anyone who needs flowcharts, UML or architecture diagrams without paying for a seat
draw.io is provided by draw.io Ltd, registered in England and Wales (company number 04051179, Artisans' House, 7 Queensbridge, Northampton). Its terms are under the law of England and Wales with the courts of England and Wales, and its privacy statement names draw.io Limited as controller under the UK GDPR. The footer also names draw.io AG, whose country could not be verified.
Its homepage describes free forever use with no sign-up, an Apache 2.0 licensed source code, real-time collaboration with shared cursors, a desktop app and the claim that your data stays yours because the company cannot access it. It integrates with Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, GitHub and VS Code. The Confluence and Jira apps are distributed by Seibert Group GmbH under a separate licence.
There is no price to check, which is the point. What you do not get is a managed account with team administration, since the model is that you store files where you already store files.
What draw.io does better than Lucidchart
- Free forever with no sign-up, where Lucidchart sells paid plans
- Apache 2.0 source code and files in the storage you choose
- Desktop app and embeds for docs and wikis
- Company in England under English law, where Lucid is a Utah company
Where draw.io is a step down from Lucidchart
- No built-in team workspace with accounts, folders and admin controls
- Fewer AI features than Lucidchart
- The country of draw.io AG could not be verified
- The UK is outside the EU, though covered by an EU adequacy decision for personal data
Standout against Lucidchart. It is the only tool here that is free without an account and keeps your files in storage you choose.
yEd
a free desktop graph editor that lays out large diagrams for you
Best for: People who build large or data-driven diagrams, such as networks and dependency graphs, and want automatic layout
yEd is made by yWorks GmbH, Tuebingen, Germany (HRB 382340, VAT DE 813061488, per its imprint). The yEd licence is an agreement between yWorks GmbH and the user. yWorks says yEd is freely available and runs on Windows, Linux and macOS, and the current release is 3.25.1.
Its strength is automatic layout: you create diagrams by hand or import data, for example from an Excel file, and the layout algorithms arrange even large data sets with a button press. yEd Live is the browser version and says it runs completely in your local browser and sends your graph to no server unless you store it in a supported cloud service.
It is a graph editor, not a team space. Sharing means saving a file and sending it, or using the cloud storage that yEd Live supports.
What yEd does better than Lucidchart
- Free, with automatic layout algorithms for large diagrams
- Import of data from Excel to create a diagram
- yEd Live runs in the browser without sending the graph to a server
- German company with a registered entity
Where yEd is a step down from Lucidchart
- No real-time collaboration in the desktop version
- No AI diagram generation or Lucid-style template library
- No built-in Jira or Slack integration listed on its pages
- Closed source, though free to use
Standout against Lucidchart. It does the layout for you, which makes it the tool for big network and dependency diagrams.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Finland). Lucidchart is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Google Cloud Platform in Belgium and Amazon Web Services in Ireland.
- Source code. Closed source, as Lucidchart is.
Best for: Software and product teams that want diagrams and a whiteboard in one place
Sketchboard is run from Espoo, Finland (the contact page gives A Grid, Otakaari 5, 02150 Espoo). The legal entity name and terms could not be read on its own pages today, so only the address is verified here. Its privacy policy says it uses Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services and that data is stored within the European Union.
Its pages describe an online whiteboard for planning, diagramming and remote teamwork, with a UML diagram tool, a flowchart maker, a process mapping tool and AWS, Google Cloud and Azure diagram pages. It has a free plan, and on its pricing page paid plans are shown at $6 per editor (Starter), $20 (Team) and $39 (Business), with monthly or yearly billing.
It is a whiteboard first, so a very large formal diagram will feel less precise than in a dedicated editor.
What Sketchboard does better than Lucidchart
- Free plan and cheap per-editor pricing
- Flowchart, UML and cloud-architecture diagram pages in one whiteboard
- Says data is stored in the EU
- Finnish company, not a Utah one
Where Sketchboard is a step down from Lucidchart
- The legal entity and terms could not be verified
- Whiteboard-style editing is less rigorous than a dedicated diagram editor
- Smaller integration list than Lucidchart
- Prices are shown in US dollars
Standout against Lucidchart. It combines a whiteboard with UML, flowchart and cloud diagram tooling and says its data is stored in the EU.
Moqups
a flowchart, UML and wireframe app with a free plan, from Romania
Best for: Teams that draw flowcharts and wireframes in the same app
Moqups is provided by S.C. Evercoder Software S.R.L., a Romanian company. Its terms are governed by Romanian law, with exclusive jurisdiction for the courts of Cluj-Napoca. Its privacy policy says it uses hosting and cloud infrastructure located primarily in the United States, and its list of sub-processors is almost entirely US companies, including AWS.
Its product pages describe a flowchart maker with a library of flowchart symbols, a UML diagram tool, an online whiteboard and wireframing in one subscription. The free plan covers 2 projects and 400 objects, and paid plans lift those limits. The amounts and currency on its pricing page could not be read reliably, so none are quoted.
This is the case where a European company still runs its service on a US stack, which you should weigh if data location is the reason you are leaving Lucid.
What Moqups does better than Lucidchart
- Free plan, and a flowchart maker plus UML and wireframes in one app
- Romanian company under Romanian law with a local court
- Unlimited projects and guests on the paid plans, as it lists them
- Wireframes and diagrams in one subscription
Where Moqups is a step down from Lucidchart
- Data processing is primarily in the United States
- Paid prices could not be verified
- Fewer enterprise controls than Lucidchart
- A smaller integration list
Standout against Lucidchart. It puts flowcharts, UML and wireframes in one app, but its hosting is mainly American.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Czech Republic). Lucidchart is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Excalidraw+ servers are located in the United States according to the privacy policy; the open-source editor can be self-hosted from the official Docker image.
- Source code. Open source, where Lucidchart is not: you can read what it does rather than take the description on trust.
- Independently checked. SOC 2 (badge shown on the Excalidraw+ site).
Best for: Developers and teams that want a quick, informal diagram and an open-source tool
Excalidraw is provided by Excalidraw s.r.o. in the Czech Republic. Its terms are governed by Czech law with the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Brno. The code is MIT licensed on GitHub. The terms and privacy policy of its cloud product say the site is hosted in the United States and that its servers are located there.
The free editor gives you one infinite scene, unlimited collaborators, export to PNG and SVG, libraries and, according to its pricing page, end-to-end encryption stored locally in your browser. Excalidraw+ costs $6 per user per month (prices in USD) after a 14-day trial and adds unlimited scenes, cloud storage, access management and AI features such as text to diagram.
The hand-drawn look is a strength for sketches and a limit for formal documentation, and it is less suited to large formal flowcharts.
What Excalidraw does better than Lucidchart
- Free editor with unlimited collaborators
- MIT licence and a very fast, simple interface
- Text to diagram, as its site describes, and UML sketches
- Czech company under Czech law, with a court in Brno
Where Excalidraw is a step down from Lucidchart
- Excalidraw+ is hosted in the United States
- Hand-drawn style and fewer formal diagramming features
- Not designed for large formal diagrams
- Plus pricing is in US dollars
Standout against Lucidchart. It is the quickest way to sketch a diagram, but the paid cloud runs in the US.
Camunda Modeler
the BPMN and DMN modeller for diagrams that should run as processes
- Which law reaches it. EU (Germany). Lucidchart is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. The pricing page states the SaaS Console and Modeler are hosted in the EU and that clusters can be created in other regions.
Best for: Process analysts and developers who model BPMN and want the diagram to be executable
Camunda is operated by Camunda Services GmbH, Zossener Strasse 55-58, 10961 Berlin (Amtsgericht Charlottenburg HRB 113230 B). Camunda Modeler is a desktop application for BPMN diagrams, DMN decisions and forms, released under the MIT licence and powered by bpmn.io, which Camunda builds and maintains.
The Desktop Modeler is free. Camunda SaaS comes with a 30-day trial of process execution and, according to its pricing page, free and unlimited modelling that continues after the trial. Running processes in production needs an Enterprise licence and has no public price. Hosting of the SaaS is covered on the existing Camunda tool page and was not re-checked here.
It is narrow on purpose: it draws BPMN, not org charts or network maps.
What Camunda Modeler does better than Lucidchart
- Free desktop modeller and free web modelling
- Strict BPMN 2.0 and DMN modelling that can be deployed to run
- MIT licence on the desktop app
- German company with a registered entity
Where Camunda Modeler is a step down from Lucidchart
- Only BPMN, DMN and forms, not a general diagram editor
- Production use needs a commercial licence with no public price
- Aimed at developers and process analysts, not casual users
- No general-purpose shape libraries for network or org charts
Standout against Lucidchart. The diagram is the process, since the model can be deployed to Camunda's engine.
Coggle
a light mind-map and flowchart tool, hosted on AWS in Ireland
Best for: Small teams that want simple flowcharts and mind maps with a free start
Coggle is operated by CoggleIt Limited, registered in England and Wales (No. 9030487, registered office in Summertown, Oxford). Its terms say Coggle is hosted on Amazon Web Services in Ireland, with a backup copy in London, and that the English courts have non-exclusive jurisdiction.
Its homepage describes real-time flowcharts built from a mind-map structure. The Free plan allows 3 private diagrams and unlimited public ones, and the Awesome plan at $5 a month lists the shapes used for flowcharts, process maps and other diagrams, plus unlimited private diagrams.
It is a tree-shaped tool at heart. A flowchart with many loops is easier in a free-form editor.
What Coggle does better than Lucidchart
- Free plan and a low-priced paid plan at $5 a month
- Real-time collaboration and share by link
- Hosted in Ireland with a backup in London, stated in its terms
- Collaboration by link without a login on the Awesome plan
Where Coggle is a step down from Lucidchart
- Flowcharting shapes are on the paid Awesome plan
- Less suited to complex, free-form diagrams than Lucidchart
- Prices in US dollars
- The UK is outside the EU
Standout against Lucidchart. It starts from a mind map and grows into a flowchart, with hosting in Ireland.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Germany), non-profit foundation. Lucidchart is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Runs entirely on your own machine.
- Source code. Open source, where Lucidchart is not: you can read what it does rather than take the description on trust.
- Independently checked. GDPR — no data leaves the device.
Best for: People who want an offline, no-account tool for simple diagrams and print layouts
LibreOffice is developed under The Document Foundation, a charitable foundation under German law at Winterfeldtstrasse 52 in Berlin. LibreOffice describes itself as free and open source software, and Draw is the vector drawing part of the suite, described as a tool to design everything from simple diagrams to complex 3D illustrations.
It runs on your computer, so a diagram is a file you own, and nothing needs an account. That is a clear contrast to a cloud service. It also means no real-time co-editing and no cloud sharing links.
The card links to the LibreOffice page on this site, which covers the full suite.
What LibreOffice Draw does better than Lucidchart
- Free and open source with no account
- Works offline and keeps files on your own disk
- Charitable German foundation with a Berlin address
- Part of a full office suite you may already use
Where LibreOffice Draw is a step down from Lucidchart
- No real-time collaboration or browser sharing
- No AI diagram generation or Lucid-style integrations
- Desktop-first, so sharing means sending files
- A drawing app first, not a dedicated diagram tool
Standout against Lucidchart. It is a free, local drawing app from a foundation, with no account and no cloud.
- Which law reaches it. Switzerland (outside the EU, covered by an EU adequacy decision). Lucidchart is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Microsoft Azure in the Netherlands by default; Microsoft Azure Switzerland or Open Telekom Cloud in Germany on the Advanced plan (Germany at an additional charge); on-premises, private cloud and air-gapped installs on Enterprise.
- Source code. Closed source, as Lucidchart is.
Best for: Organisations that need workshop whiteboards with flowcharts and want to pick the hosting country
Collaboard is made by IBV Informatik, Beratungs und Vertriebs AG, Stallikerstrasse 1a, 8906 Bonstetten, Switzerland (VAT CHE-108.018.903). Switzerland is outside the EU and the EEA. Its pricing page lists cloud hosting in the Netherlands and Switzerland on Microsoft Azure, and Germany on T Cloud Public for an additional charge.
Its features page describes connectors that you can use for mind maps and flowcharts, shapes, tables, concept maps and org charts on a large canvas. The free plan has up to 3 whiteboards. Basic is listed at $6 per user per month billed yearly and Advanced at $11.50, and EUR and CHF can be selected.
It is a whiteboard with diagram tools, not a diagram editor with shape libraries for UML or network symbols.
What Collaboard does better than Lucidchart
- Free plan, and a choice of hosting in the Netherlands, Switzerland or Germany
- Connectors for flowcharts and mind maps on a shared whiteboard
- Prices selectable in EUR or CHF
- Self-hosting on the Enterprise plan
Where Collaboard is a step down from Lucidchart
- A whiteboard first, with fewer formal diagram shapes
- Switzerland is outside the EU and the EEA
- Germany hosting costs extra
- Smaller integration list than Lucidchart
Standout against Lucidchart. You choose where the whiteboard is hosted, and you can self-host on Enterprise.
Mindomo
mind and concept maps with logic charts and organigrams, hosted in Germany
Best for: Students and teams who think in maps and outlines, and sometimes need an org chart or a logic chart
Mindomo is owned by Expert Software Applications srl in Romania. Its terms are governed by Romanian law with the courts of Timisoara, and its pricing FAQ says all data is hosted in Germany. The terms shown were last updated on 22 April 2024.
It is a mind-mapping tool first: its pricing page lists concept maps, organigrams, tree organigrams, timelines and logic charts among the layouts, and its homepage lists fishbone diagrams, outlines and Gantt charts. The free plan allows 3 diagrams, with unlimited collaborators, and Premium is shown at €6 a month.
It is not a flowchart editor with a shape library, so use it for structured thinking rather than for formal process diagrams.
What Mindomo does better than Lucidchart
- Free plan with unlimited collaborators and a low price for Premium
- Data hosted in Germany, stated on its pricing page
- Concept maps, organigrams and fishbone diagrams as built-in layouts
- Romanian company under Romanian law
Where Mindomo is a step down from Lucidchart
- Mind-map-first, with no full flowchart shape library
- Free plan limited to 3 diagrams
- Smaller integration list than Lucidchart
- The terms were last updated in April 2024
Standout against Lucidchart. It is the one here that offers concept maps and fishbone diagrams, with data in Germany.
ADONIS Community Edition
a free cloud BPMN tool from a Viennese company, for process documentation
Best for: Process managers who document and analyse business processes and need BPMN
ADONIS:Community Edition is provided by BOC Products & Services AG, Operngasse 20b, 1040 Vienna, according to its own site footer. Its legal terms and privacy policy sit on boc-group.com and could not be retrieved, so the governing law and the hosting location are not verified here.
Its homepage describes a free cloud BPM tool for creating BPMN diagrams, building a business architecture and analysing processes, with links from processes to systems, roles, documents and risks. The FAQ says the Community Edition is free of charge and can be used to try the full ADONIS editions.
It is a process tool, not a general drawing tool, and it is built for process management teams more than for casual flowcharts.
What ADONIS Community Edition does better than Lucidchart
- Free cloud BPMN tool with a business-architecture view
- Links processes to roles, systems and risks for analysis
- Austrian company with a Vienna address
- A path to a full process management suite from the same vendor
Where ADONIS Community Edition is a step down from Lucidchart
- Terms, governing law and hosting could not be verified
- Not a general-purpose diagram editor
- Aimed at process management, not casual flowcharts
- Its terms and hosting need a direct check with the vendor
Standout against Lucidchart. It treats the diagram as part of a process architecture, and the Community Edition is free.
What actually breaks when you switch
The hard part of leaving Lucidchart is the conversion, not the account. Diagrams do not import as editable files in most tools, so budget time to redraw the important ones. Keep PDF or image exports of every diagram you want to keep before you cancel.
Check the limits on the free plan you plan to use. Collaboard caps whiteboards at 3, Coggle caps private diagrams at 3, Moqups caps the free plan at 2 projects and 400 objects, and Mindomo caps diagrams at 3. draw.io and yEd have no such limit because the files are yours.
Look at where the data lives, not only where the company sits. Moqups processes data primarily in the United States and Excalidraw+ is hosted in the United States, while Sketchboard, Coggle, Mindomo and Collaboard state European or Swiss hosting on their own pages.
Is there a European tool that works like Lucidchart?
The closest in shape is draw.io: a general diagram editor with real-time collaboration and shared cursors, and integrations with Google Drive, Microsoft 365, Confluence and Jira. It is run by draw.io Ltd in England and is free. Sketchboard and Moqups are the nearest collaborative apps with accounts, projects and a free plan.
None of them matches Lucid in every respect. Lucidchart has AI diagram generation, a long integration list and enterprise administration such as SCIM. Check that the specific integration you rely on exists before you move.
Which of these are free?
draw.io is free forever with no sign-up, yEd is freely available, and LibreOffice Draw is free and open source. Excalidraw has a free editor, Sketchboard, Moqups, Coggle, Collaboard and Mindomo have free plans, and ADONIS:CE is a free cloud tool. Camunda Modeler is free as a desktop app and Camunda SaaS offers unlimited free modelling after a 30-day trial.
The free plans have limits. Collaboard and Sketchboard cap the number of boards, Coggle limits private diagrams to 3, Moqups limits the free plan to 2 projects and 400 objects, and Mindomo to 3 diagrams.
Which of these keep my diagrams out of a vendor cloud?
draw.io saves to the storage you choose or to a local file, and says it cannot access your data. yEd and LibreOffice Draw are desktop applications, and yEd Live runs locally in the browser. Camunda Modeler also exists as a desktop app.
The cloud tools differ. Sketchboard says its data is stored in the EU on Google Cloud and AWS, Coggle runs on AWS in Ireland, Mindomo says its data is hosted in Germany, and Collaboard offers the Netherlands, Switzerland or Germany. Moqups and Excalidraw+ process data in the United States.
What about BPMN and process maps?
Camunda Modeler models BPMN 2.0 and DMN, and its models can be deployed to the Camunda engine. ADONIS:Community Edition from BOC in Vienna is a free cloud tool for BPMN diagrams and business architecture. For occasional process maps, Sketchboard has a process mapping tool page on its own site.
The process modellers do not replace a general diagram editor. They are better when the diagram is the process, and clumsy when you want to sketch a network or a floor plan.
Which one to pick
If you want the nearest thing to Lucidchart without paying, draw.io is the one: a full diagram editor, free, no sign-up, with storage you choose. If your diagrams are large graphs of networks or dependencies, yEd lays them out for you. If you want a hosted team workspace with a free plan, look at Sketchboard or Moqups, and check that Moqups hosts mainly in the US.
If your diagrams are BPMN process models, pick Camunda Modeler if they should run, or ADONIS:Community Edition if you document and analyse processes. Excalidraw is for quick sketches, Coggle and Mindomo are for mind maps that grow into flowcharts or organisation charts, Collaboard is for workshops with a choice of hosting country, and LibreOffice Draw is for plain offline diagrams.
Be realistic about the gap. Lucidchart has a long integration list, AI diagram generation and enterprise administration, and none of the eleven matches all of that. Switch if you want a vendor outside the US, files you control, or a free tool that covers what you actually draw, and keep Lucidchart if your team depends on a specific integration that has no equivalent.
Frequently Asked Questions
draw.io is the best fit if you want the same kind of general diagram editor for free, with no sign-up and your own storage. Sketchboard and Moqups are better if you want a hosted team workspace with a free plan, and Camunda Modeler or ADONIS:CE are better if your diagrams are BPMN processes. Which is best depends on whether you mostly draw flowcharts, architecture diagrams or process models.
No. Lucidchart is made by Lucid Software Inc., with its global headquarters at 10355 South Jordan Gateway in South Jordan, Utah. Its Terms of Service are an agreement with Lucid Software Inc. It has offices elsewhere, including Amsterdam, and it stores customer data in AWS regions that include Germany and Ireland.
Its security page says Lucid stores customer data in AWS data centres across six regions: the US (Virginia, Ohio), the EU (Germany, Ireland) and Australia (Sydney, Melbourne). It also says it uses SCCs or the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework to transfer personal data from the EEA, the UK and Switzerland to the US, and it lists ISO 27701. Lucid Software Inc. remains the vendor.
It has a free sign-up. The amounts for paid plans load in the browser on Lucid's pricing page and could not be checked for this page, so none are quoted here. Check the current price on its own site for the number of users you need.
Excalidraw has a free editor, and Excalidraw+ is $6 a user a month with a 14-day trial, in US dollars. Collaboard has a free plan with up to 3 whiteboards, Basic at $6 a user a month billed yearly and Advanced at $11.50, and it lets you pick EUR or CHF too. Coggle has a free plan with 3 private diagrams and the Awesome plan at $5 a month, which is where its flowcharting shapes are listed.
Sketchboard has a free plan and lists Starter at $6 per editor, Team at $20 and Business at $39, with monthly or yearly billing. Mindomo has a free plan with 3 diagrams and lists Premium at €6 a month. Moqups also has a free plan, with 2 projects and 400 objects, but its paid amounts could not be read reliably from the page.
Its terms are an agreement with draw.io Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 04051179) with its registered office in Northampton, under English law. The site footer also names draw.io AG, and the source code on GitHub is described as jointly owned by the two. The country and address of draw.io AG could not be confirmed on its own site, so this page lists draw.io as a United Kingdom company.
Yes, yWorks says yEd is freely available and runs on Windows, Linux and macOS. It is a desktop application from yWorks GmbH in Tuebingen, with automatic layout algorithms and import from Excel. It is a graph editor, so it is stronger on layout than on collaboration, which it does not offer in the desktop version.
draw.io is Apache 2.0, Excalidraw and Camunda Modeler are MIT, and LibreOffice is open source under The Document Foundation. yEd is free but not open source. Sketchboard, Moqups, Coggle, Collaboard, Mindomo and ADONIS:CE are closed products.
Not directly as a lossless file. Export from Lucidchart to a common format such as PDF or an image, and expect to rebuild connectors and layout in the new tool. Check the import options of the specific tool before you plan a bulk move.
draw.io for general architecture diagrams with Confluence or GitHub, Sketchboard for UML and cloud diagrams in a shared whiteboard, and Camunda Modeler when the diagram is a BPMN process that should run. Excalidraw is good for fast, informal sketches in a hand-drawn style, but the Plus cloud is hosted in the US.
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