Pros & Cons
-
- Intuitive user interface
- Smooth performance
- Adequate shapes and templates
- Excellent collaborative features
- Integrates with many third-party apps and services
-
- No desktop apps
- Mobile apps don't work offline
Lucidchart Specs
| Free Version | |
| Real-Time Collaboration | |
| Sharing Features | Yes |
| Web App |
Whether you're creating a floor plan for a new office or redesigning an app, diagramming software can be extremely helpful. Lucidchart makes it easy to get started, thanks to its wealth of templates and an expansive object library. It appeals equally to diagramming experts and those who lack confidence in their artistic skills. We wish it offered dedicated desktop apps, but Lucidchart easily earns an Editors' Choice award among productivity software due to its top-notch collaboration tools and flexibility.
Pricing: Four Plans, From Free to Enterprise
Lucidchart offers four account types—Free, Individual, Team, and Enterprise.
The Free tier is pretty basic. You can create three documents with up to 60 shapes each and get access to just 100 templates. You also miss out on the ability to edit drawings you import from other diagramming software, such as Visio. This level also limits you to basic collaboration and integration features.
The Individual plan ($11 per month) offers premium templates, removes the restriction on the number of objects you can use per document, supports an unlimited number of editable documents, and unlocks 1GB of cloud storage. It also allows you to import and edit documents from popular diagramming software, but you don't get advanced integration and collaboration features.
The Team plan ($12 per person per month, with a minimum of three licenses) adds commenting, revision history with versioning, and password-protected sharing. You can also access integrations with other services such as Jira, LeanIX (SAP), and Zoho Connect.
Finally, with an Enterprise plan (custom pricing), you get not only Lucidchart but also Lucidspark, a whiteboard app from the same company. This plan provides access to additional features, including enhanced sharing restrictions and Salesforce integration.
Lucidchart costs about the same as its competitors. For example, SmartDraw's entry-level plan costs $10.95 per month, but it doesn't have a free tier. Draw.io, another competitor, is free; however, it lacks the extensive template library of Lucidchart. Creately also offers a free tier, with its most affordable plan starting at $8 per month. However, it's missing some features that you get with Lucidchart.
Getting Started: Fast Signup and Smooth Onboarding
Signing up for Lucidchart is easy. Simply pick a pricing plan and create an account with an email address and a password. Alternatively, you can sign up using your Google, Microsoft 365, or Slack account.
(Credit: Lucid/PCMag)The software is fast, responsive, and quick to learn. Many templates come with helpful tutorials that teach you how to edit them. Lucidchart doesn't have desktop apps, but it works fine in a browser. Lucidchart's mobile apps (available for Android and iOS) require an internet connection, but the web version doesn't. The website will sync any changes you make if you lose and then regain a connection. I recommend you use a dedicated mouse to work within Lucidchart since it allows for more control than a trackpad or a touch screen.
By default, Lucidchart uses a bright white background and dark shapes. While this theme works for many, others might miss or need a dark mode. Browser extensions are a potential solution, but I would prefer for Lucidchart to implement this feature directly.
Interface and Ease of Use: Familiar Tools, Helpful Layout Options
The basic functions of any diagramming and flowchart app are the same. You either start with a blank canvas or a template. Templates usually have a selection of arrows, rectangles, squares, and text boxes already on the canvas. In Lucidchart, a panel on the left provides more shape options for you to add to the page.
Then, you can duplicate the shapes, move them around, resize them, rotate them, group and ungroup them, and so forth, until you create whatever diagram or chart you had in mind. Lucidchart offers a range of useful layout tools, all of which are easily accessible and intuitive to use. Some are quite standard, like the ability to align and distribute objects. Most of the tools are self-explanatory, and navigating around a document page works smoothly.
Apart from its diagramming tools, Lucidchart offers several powerful features that enable you to leverage large datasets. For example, you can import a CSV file to create a grid of sticky notes from the text or data. Alternatively, you can connect a data source, such as an active Google Sheet, to specific shapes so that they automatically refresh whenever data in the spreadsheet changes.
Lucidchart also features a useful conditional formatting option that allows you to automatically edit a large group of shapes using "if this, then that" logic. For example, you may want to convert all text boxes with a specific value to a particular fill color.
Similar Products
Our Current Picks for The Best Online Collaboration Software for 2026
If you have trouble locating any of Lucidchart's features, you can always press / or go to Help > Feature Finder and search for them.
Business Features: AI Tools, Versioning, and Integrations
As mentioned, Lucidchart offers revision history with versioning for paying customers. That could come in handy if your team decides an earlier process diagram is better than the latest one.
Several other features suit businesses, too. For example, a generative AI tool that can generate, rewrite, or summarize text. It can also create an editable diagram based on your text prompt, though this isn't too different from working with a template. As with all AI features, I encourage you to think about the ethical, environmental, and societal costs before using it.
(Credit: Lucid/PCMag)Another business-oriented feature is the ability to embed links to documents from Microsoft 365 apps, Google Workspace apps, and Figma. You can open these documents directly in Lucidchart. The app allows you to add shared Lucidchart documents to Google Calendar meeting invitations and control access permissions for collaborators when creating events.
Finally, a Universal Canvas option lets Enterprise customers combine a diagram from Lucidchart with a whiteboard from Lucidspark.
Templates and Libraries: A Strong, Well-Organized Selection
Templates are huge time-savers in any diagramming and flowchart software. From simple pie charts to complex floor plans for office layouts, Lucidchart has sufficient templates to get you started. Templates are organized into clearly labeled sections, including Brainstorming, Planning, Teamwork, and Systems. SmartDraw offers a wider and better selection, including evacuation plans, restaurant floor plans, residential space floor plans, and more.
(Credit: Lucid/PCMag)In addition to templates, a reasonably diverse object library lets you customize and complete your vision. Lucidchart offers device mockups and interface elements for smartphones, as well as engineering icons for factories. It also features an Images panel, where you can search for photos, icons, and GIFs if you need something that isn't included natively.
Collaborating: Real-Time Editing With Flexible Sharing Controls
Lucidchart supports real-time collaboration, a must-have feature for any team diagramming app. If you've worked with shared documents in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace apps, you won't have any trouble adjusting to Lucidchart. You can invite any other Lucidchart user to collaborate with you, even free ones. The limits of your pricing tier continue to apply during collaboration, however. For example, if you're on the free plan, you can use only 60 shapes per document.
Once you click the Share button, you decide if you want collaborators to be able to edit the document or if they should just have commenting and viewing permissions. You can choose to add a passcode and create links with an expiration date. Admins can set a default time for expiring links, making it easier to adhere to their business's security policies.
A chat box allows you and your collaborators to communicate while working in the app. If your organization pays for Enterprise accounts, your company's IT admins can restrict you from inviting external people to collaborate.
File Support: Broad Import/Export Options and Easy Publishing
Good diagramming software lets you not only export your final diagrams, but also import from other diagramming apps. Lucidchart lets you import from Draw.io, Gliffy, Omnigraffle, Visio, and Lucidspark. You can export to CSV, PNG, PNG with a transparent background, PDF, JPEG, SVG, SVG with a transparent background, Visio (VSDX), and Visio 2010 (VDX) formats.
(Credit: Lucid/PCMag)You can also publish your document on the web and share the link with anyone to view it. If you pay for the Enterprise plan, you can protect these links with a password. Similarly, you can embed your Lucidchart document directly onto any web page. If you do this, changes to your diagram automatically update on the web page.
All of Lucidchart's paid plans allow you to convert diagrams into presentations, which is useful when you need to display your diagrams to a large audience. Making presentations is fairly simple. Just click the Presentation Builder icon in the upper right to get started. A small box appears on the screen, and you simply need to place it over the content you want to include in the current slide. When you're satisfied with the placement, click Add New Slide to move to the next slide. This tool might not be as impressive as the one in Miro, but it's easier to use.
Editors' Note: Pranay Parab contributed to this review.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: Lucidchart)
Lucidchart
Lucidchart is an easy-to-use online diagramming tool that offers outstanding collaboration features and a wide range of templates.