ArchBoard vs Mermaid

Mermaid and ArchBoard are complementary more than competing. Mermaid excels at text diagrams that live in Markdown and render in documentation. ArchBoard is a freeform canvas where you can import Mermaid, rearrange the result by hand and export flowcharts back.

Choose Mermaid when

• You want diagrams that live as text in a repository and render automatically inside Markdown on code hosts.
• You need many diagram types, such as Gantt charts or state machines, described entirely in code.
• You want diffs of a diagram to read as a plain text change in review.

Choose ArchBoard when

• You want to move boxes, add icons and annotate freely without fighting an automatic layout.
• You want a presentation, comments, version history and pages around the same drawing.
• You want the best of both: import Mermaid into the canvas, polish it and export a flowchart back to text.

Try ArchBoard

Last reviewed 2026-10-07. Products change; check Mermaid's own documentation for current details. Mermaid is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with ArchBoard.