Lucidchart is hired for diagrams and flowcharts: drawing a process, sharing it and keeping it editable. For many small teams that is a few dozen files and a handful of editors, which makes it one of the more portable tools to move. Below: the realistic replacement, the file-format test that decides whether you can move, and what to settle before cancelling.
Diagrams accumulate. A flowchart drawn for one onboarding becomes the picture in a wiki page, a slide in a board deck and a link in a ticket. The subscription then feels attached to all of those places even when only two people open the editor.
Seats spread the same way. One person tries it for a project, a team plan is bought, and the people who left are still on it a year later. Nothing about that is unusual, and it is why the first step is counting editors instead of comparing products.
Only alternatives we have checked. An open-source project is listed with the license its repository reports, on the date shown; one whose license could not be read as a single standard id is not offered as open source. Read the license guide before running any of them.
| Alternative | Kind | License | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|
| diagrams.net | Open source | Apache-2.0 | diagrams.net repositoryChecked Oct 25, 2026 |
Each feature below is what the product's own page or README says, linked to where we read it on the date shown. Pros and cons are limited to what those pages state and to what the path itself changes. We do not rank products on quality.
Diagramming is hired for a narrow job: draw boxes and arrows, share the result, and keep it editable. Most small teams use a small slice of any diagramming product, so the first question is which slice. A flowchart someone draws twice a year is a different case from an org chart that three people edit every month.
The real constraint is the file. A diagram is only portable if the destination can open what the source can export. That is a test you can run in an afternoon on a copy, and it is more reliable than any compatibility claim on a web page.
Samples are made up and are not Lucidchart's prices. Type in the figures from your own invoice or order form.
The honest yearly cost of running open-source software yourself, set against the bill it replaces, with the seat count where it stops paying.
Paid seats against seats in use: what the idle ones cost a year, and what you save by right-sizing at renewal.
Arithmetic only, not tax, accounting or legal advice. Check the figures against your own order form.
The procedure is mostly about the files. Do the format test first, because it decides everything after it.
Count the diagrams, note who last edited each one and when, and list the ones embedded in a wiki, ticket or deck. Archive the ones nobody has opened in a year instead of moving them.
Decide which formats you must keep: a picture for slides, a PDF for sending, an editable file for the next change. Write the list down so the test has a pass mark.
Export five real diagrams, including your most complex one, from a copy of the account. Open each in the replacement and check shapes, connectors, text wrapping and any layers or images. Note what has to be redrawn.
Diagrams can contain fonts and images that are licensed to you under the vendor's terms or a third party's. Check that you hold the right to use them outside the old tool, and replace any you do not.
Run one team on the replacement for a few weeks, with the real people who edit. Count how often someone goes back to the old tool and why.
Move the diagrams that pass, replace the embeds and links, and set the old account to view-only if the plan allows it.
Wait a full month, keep a dated export, then end the plan inside the contract's notice window and keep the confirmation.
Run the vendor report for QuickBooks Online or Xero, then open the free audit.
General information, not legal advice. See cancelling without penalties. Last reviewed Oct 25, 2026. Product names belong to their owners and are used only to identify them.
Send us the export and see which lines are worth a second look. A connected version is planned. Lucidchart is one of the lines worth a look.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
| Self-hosting, per year | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hosting, backups, tooling | 720.00 |
| Admin and restore-test time | 2,640.00 |
| Total | 3,360.00 |
| One-off set-up (not in the yearly total) | 1,200.00 |
The saving holds only if the time is real. Price the admin hours at what that person's time costs the company, not at zero.
Worked example. Type over it.
Result
“In use” is your call: last sign-in in the past 30 or 90 days from the vendor's admin report. A seat for someone on leave is not idle.