Free ER Diagram Tools For Everyone

ERDs or Entity-relationship diagrams provide an easier way to show and present complex entity relationship in a simplified way. They are containers of information for constructing relational and logical structures of databases. For example databases are very complex structures to present in a logical manner it’s where ERD apps come into play. They help use demonstrate everything in a logical manner to make sense to even those who do not understand programming. Here we have a collection of free ER diagram tools that will help you present data structured in simplistic and nominalistic way.

Free ER Diagram Tools For Everyone

1. Creately
2. ERDPlus
3. Quick DBD
4. GitMind
5. Gliffy
6. Visual Paradigm
7. Lucidchart ER
8. Draw
9. SqlDBM
10. DBDiagram

#1 Creately

All ER diagram tools on our list serve the same purpose but also each one of them has a distinct feature. Creately helps us to create different versions of the same database structure or ER diagram. It helps us create different charts with a variety of editing tools available on the platform. So we just need to drag-drop the elements according to our choosing and boom our diagram is ready to share with others. You can also invite your teams to work on the same project. At this point Creately can be used only in the browser. The free version is available but annual subscription is also very cheap.

Pricing: Free with limitation; Personal- $48 annually

Features:

• We can save our diagrams in various formats like SVG, PNG and JPG
• wwe can also add comments for online collaboration
• Drawing shortcuts are available

#2 ERDPlus

We have mentioned almost every popular web-app ERD tool except ERDPlus. ERDPlus is also can only be used in the browser which is an absolutely free tool with loads of features. It has also all the necessary features to logically create database structures. It’s a decent tool with all the functions that are required to create the best ER diagram. One major differentiating feature that ERDPlus has is it’s simple to use. While all other tools on our list have some sort of complexity for average Joe. It’s the best ERD tool which is free to use and is web-based there’s no need for installing or paying.

Pricing: Free

Features

• It allows use schema diagram creation
• Provides database support for its users

#3 Quick DBDiagram

QuickDBD is another popular ER diagram tool that lets us use keyboard to type changes to our diagrams. It also allows us to share our project with our colleagues to create awesome database structures. Like the last tool QuickDBD also lets us import the schema from MySQL, Oracle and other servers. This way we can quickly generate our diagrams. Also if you want to add logical structure to your project quickly and share it with the team QuickDBD is the best tool for that. Besides, we can install it as an app on our Windows, Mac or Linux machines and also use its web app. Its pro version is also not very expensive if you use just its free version you can pretty much do everything but there are certain limitations. So it’s best to use their premium version.

Pricing: Free with limitation; Professional- $14/month

Features:

• Save and share projects publicly

• Create ERD by typing the schema

• Supports MySQL, SQL Server, and Oracle

#4 GitMind

GitMind is an absolutely free tool for ER diagrams and mindmapping. It’s on top of the list here because we get great features to add detailed shapes to our diagrams. It’s library is very vast contains everything that we need for free. It’s diagram tools provide a vast usability due to its elements and security. We can secure our designs with the passwords, keep them private or share it with others if we want to.

Pricing: Free, Paid

Features:

• Completely online and free
• Huge library of figures and shapes
• Share projects via a share link

#5 Gliffy

Gliffy is another very popular tool that we can use for creating detailed diagrams. We can use it on web or Windows operating system. Let’s say if you want to work with your team you can share everything you both can use it work remotely. It helps to keep the track of changes added to the project and you have liberty to manage workflow on every step. Gliffy also allows to import or export diagram or images. It’s one of the best ER diagram tools used by corps these days.

Pricing: Free trial; Professional- $7.99/month; Team $4.99/month

Key features:

• CAllows teams to collaborate for diagramming

• Access to previous versions

• Import and export diagrams

#6 Visual Paradigm

Visual Paradigm is an absolutely free ER modeling program. There are also hundreds of free templates of Visual paradigm that we can use that help us create stunning database structures for our projects. It also allows to create as many projects as we want to as it never expires. While exporting our project it does not carry watermark with it. The best thing about Visual Paradigm is it’s available for Mac, Windows, Linux distros and web.

Pricing: Free online; Standard- $19/month; Professional- $35/month

Key features:

• AFree templates

• No limitation to the number of diagrams

• No watermark

#7 Lucidchart

Lucidchart ER is an ER diagram maker which helps us easily visualize our database structures in a more logical way. It makes working with the large number of diagrams a lot easier by using its drag and drop feature. It has so many features that we can easily use them to create our own ER diagrams from our own database tables. It also lets us export our ERDs to the database services like MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server and more. We can install it on Windows or Mac or even use its web-based app. It comes with the free and paid version. Obviously the paid one would provide us more features as compared to the free one.

Pricing: Free with limitation; Individual- $7.95/month

Features:

• Drag and drop interface

• Generate ERD automatically

• Export diagrams to database service

#8 SqlDBM

SqlDBM is a free as well as paid ER diagram maker that works only in the browser and does not require to installing it on our machine. So we can work with this tool from anywhere we want to. We can also use its version history feature for finding out discrepancies in data type, defaults or nullability etc. What we liked the most in SqlDBMS is its various themes to make the diagrams more appealing and presentable. So it’s easily the best tool for creating porfessional ER diagrams and presentations.

Pricing: Free with limitation; Basic- $25/month

Features:

• Compare revisions

• Customizable viewing modes

• Light and Dark theme

#9 Draw.io

Draw.io is another great tool for creating relationship diagrams without having to register on the website. We need to specify the saving directory for our projects before starting it. We can use Google Drive or Dropbox for that as well if we don’t want to use our computer. However, beside all that don’t forget to choose the preferred language. We can also use Jira and Confluence productivity programs to make amplify the productivity of our workflow. Draw.io is only web-based there’s no app or software to install on the system.

Pricing: Free

Features:

• location specification is a must

• Multilingual

• Jira and Confluence integration

#10 DBDiagram

While talking about all the great web-based ER D tools it’s injustice to not mention DBDiagram.io. It’s way more unique than our previous mentions. For instance we need to write code to produce diagrams. It’s the best tool for programmers addicted using terminal or writing everything through their keyboards. We can easily share our workflow on DBDiagram or export our ERDs into different formats such as JPEG or PDF etc. We can also update the data on every step of our project or even use the database schema such as Django for that. It’s available in free and paid both versions and it’s solely web-based there’s no app installation required for it.

Pricing: Free; Professional- $9.00/month

Features:

• Allows to generate diagrams by typing code

• Save diagrams as Images and PDFs

• Use web frameworks to upload database schema

If you have to deal with complex data structures and need a logical solution before starting on your project we suggest using ERD tool is the best solution to use. It let’s you see how your project could be materialized and what could be the challenges. All the necessary features are available on these ERD tools there are freemiums, premiums, keyboard and drag-drop tools available on this list at the same time. This is so far best ER diagram tools list for anyone to pick the suitable ERD tool from.