Category
AI diagram and whiteboard tools: what they are and who makes them
prompt-to-diagram generators, diagram-as-code editors, workshop whiteboards with ai, diagramming inside a wiki: Eraser, Napkin AI, Mermaid through draw.io.
Types of AI diagram and whiteboard tools
Prompt-to-diagram generators
These tools take a paragraph or a document and return a finished diagram, with the canvas as a place to correct the draft. Eraser, Napkin AI and Mermaid belong here. They suit people who diagram as a side task and care about the first draft.
Diagram-as-code editors
Here the diagram is stored as text, such as Mermaid syntax, so it can be versioned, diffed and regenerated on demand. AI writes the code and the canvas renders it for review. That approach keeps diagrams close to repositories and documentation pages, which suits teams that review changes in pull requests.
Workshop whiteboards with AI
Large shared canvases built for sticky notes, voting, timers and facilitation. AI clusters, summarizes and drafts diagrams on the board. Miro, Mural and FigJam are the established names, and seat price and participant limits matter most once a whole department joins.
Diagramming inside a wiki
A few products live inside a documentation system, mainly Confluence, so the diagram sits on the page that explains it. Gliffy is the clearest example. Permissions and data location follow the host product, so the admin who already runs the wiki also controls who can see the diagrams.
Facts at a glance
| Tool | Publisher | Based in | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eraser | Eraser Labs, Inc. | United States | Free tier + API |
| Napkin AI | Second Layer, Inc. | United States | Free tier + API |
| Mermaid | Mermaid Chart Inc. | United States | Free tier |
| Excalidraw | Excalidraw s.r.o. | Czech Republic | Free tier + API |
| Whimsical | Whimsical, Inc. | United States | Free tier |
| Miro | RealtimeBoard, Inc. (Miro) | United States | Free tier + API |
| Gliffy | Gliffy, Inc. (Perforce) | United States | Free tier |
| Mural | Tactivos, Inc. (Mural) | United States | Free tier + API |
| FigJam | Figma, Inc. | United States | Free tier + API |
| Creately | Cinergix Pty Ltd | Australia | Free tier |
| draw.io | draw.io Ltd | United Kingdom | Free tier |
