I was looking for an easy-to-use alternative to Microsoft Visio for Mac, and a friend of mine recommended Edraw diagram software for Mac. It is a very user-friendly software, and I have been using. There are many Microsoft Visio alternatives for Mac: Lucidchart, OmniGraffle, ConceptDraw. Let's look through Visio replacements and find the best way to work.
Microsoft Visio is arguably the most popular diagramming software in the planet. This is understandable because in the early days Windows operating system had a major market share and Visio was the only compatible diagramming tool.
But the Mac is starting to challenge Windows and Mac OS is very popular among techies. Below are few Visio alternatives to Mac OS which you can use for your diagramming needs. OmniGraffle is a product very similar to Visio and in some areas it is much better than Visio as well. It allows you to import and export some Vision formats, so if you are planning on using both the software in different machines then this is a very good option. It has support for all the major diagram types and the drawing interface is very user friendly. OmniGraffle has two versions, standard edition costs 99.99$ while the professional edition costs 199.99$.
Checking out comparison of features available in the websites is advisable before selecting which version to buy. For users with simple diagramming needs, the standard edition is more than enough. If you’re an educational institute or a non-profit you are entitled to a discounted price.
Creately Online Diagramming Tool is another good Visio alternative for Mac OS. Because it’s a web based application you can access your diagrams from anywhere in the world. It supports all the major diagram types but doesn’t support every diagram type in Visio. It is much suited for project teams, because of the online collaboration support. If you are keen to draw diagrams offline there is a desktop version that costs 75$. The online version is 5$ per month and there are team plans for discounted rates. They also give discounts for educational institutes and non-profits.
Dia is an open source diagramming tool modeled very similar to Visio. As their websites says this is more suited for casual drawing and not the best solution for complex business drawings.
It doesn’t support the same number of diagram types, but if you are just looking to draw a simple flowchart then this might be the best solution for you. There are various additional downloads like shapes available to you.
You won’t find any dedicated support so you have to rely a lot on documentation. Mentioned above are some good Microsoft Visio alternatives for Mac OS.
There are many more similar products with advantages and disadvantages. Ease of use, cost, reliability and security are some of the factors you should consider when choosing a suitable diagramming product.
In searching of alternative to MS Visio for Mac and PC with ConceptDraw PRO Many of us use MS Visio frequently at work in all Windows environment, but to run Visio on Macintosh we had to install a virtual machine to emulate PC, which made work difficult and slow a great deal. It should seem that solution is quite difficult to find.
But there is always an alternative. ConceptDraw from CS Odessa has been developed to satisfy all your needs as an alternative product to Visio. If you have heard from many people that they frequently faced difficulties with sharing their MS Visio documents among Mac users, be sired that there were no ConceptDraw PRO users among them. ConceptDraw users do not meet such problem, because they can work on Macintosh with a document created on PC and vice versa. Now many users find ConceptDraw PRO the best analog of Visio for Macintosh. If you prefer working in Macintosh environment, then ConceptDraw PRO is your choice.
The advantages of ConceptDraw PRO over Visio for you:. Cross-Platform Compatibility;.
Compatibility with MS Visio;. Powerful Drawing and diagramming Tools;. Huge Set of Object Libraries;. Advanced Presentation Capabilities;. Park of Specific Solutions for Businesses;. Flexible licensing policy;.
Reasonable Price;. Free technical support;.
Free online Visio Files from VSD to ConceptDraw PRO (CDDZ) format. With the introduction of Visio 2013 Microsoft has changed the native file format used in earlier versions of Microsoft Visio. Thus, when you are looking for professional tool to open and save in the newer Visio 2013 file format on Mac, ConceptDraw PRO 11 is exactly solution for you. ConceptDraw PRO 11 file import and export works roundtrip with the new Visio VSDX file format and supports the Improved import of VDX file format. In addition to the above, we would like to give opinions of some users who have already switched from Visio to ConceptDraw PRO: 'I choose ConceptDraw PRO because it was the closest to Visio on the Mac side.
ConceptDraw PRO has all of the features I need and can output as a Visio file if needs to be.' - says Kris Rockwell, Hybrid Learning Systems 'The main reason I switched is that I moved from a PC to Mac and currently there is no version Visio for Mac. And installing virtual PC etc. Was just too much of a hassle.' - says Randolph Jacinto 'Visio has become quite complicated and it turns out that UML diagrams are easier to create with ConceptDraw PRO. Visio has some strange behavior that, I think, is related to integrating with modeling tools such as Rational, etc. I just want a diagramming software and nothing more!
Another reason is I like the Apple OS X operating system very much. I've been a long-time Window's user (and software developer) and I'm tired of the same old thing, I suppose. In general, the software for Apple platform seems nicer and easier to use.' - says Andrew Joseph.
'The main reason for the switch is my switch from a PC to a Mac computer. I have tried OmniGraffle Pro and found that it wasn't the perfect replacement. I am still playing with the ConceptDraw PRO draw capabilities. One thing that Visio does extremely well ( better than any other diagram product that I have seen) is that you can cut and paste the diagram into a Word.doc and it looks perfect. That is not true of Graffle Pro and quite frankly not really the case with ConceptDraw PRO from what I can tell. ConceptDraw PRO does have some nice templates and useful features. I will continue to use it and evaluate the capabilities.
The ability to go back and forth between PC and Mac and Vision and ConceptDraw is an important capability.' - says John Latham.PhD, Managing Partner, GENITECT LLC.