Gliffy - Online tool to create and share diagrams for free

Posted on March 31, 2007 at 8:59 am

If you’re in IT and you’re creating your process or network diagrams in Visio, then you SHOULD read this post! There is a REALLY cool web based software called Gliffy that allows you to create UML models, network diagrams, process flow charts, etc all online through your web browser and for free! This is a great way to be able to have many users in your company create and modify company diagrams (Organization charts, Floor layouts, etc)!

The app has a rich interface that makes you feel as if you are using a desktop application. The menus respond very quickly, so you don’t feel like you’re working on the web. You can create Flow charts, UML, Entity-Relationship diagrams, Network diagrams, User Interfaces, Floorplans, or use basic shapes. You simply drag and drop the items just like you would in Visio. The app also gives you the ability to load up your own images and use them in your diagram.

With the free account, you can store unlimited public diagrams, but only 3 private diagrams. But instead of paying 100’s for Visio, you can pay $30 for 1 year or $45 for two years! That’s great for a small business!

Yet the best part about the app is not the fact that you can just create diagrams online, you can also easily collorborate or share the diagrams via email or by publishing it, which creates a read-only image of your diagram that you can then embed in a wiki, blog, or some other web software. Also, Gliffy backs up all of your documents automatically, so you don’t have to worry about losing anything!

Another very cool feature I just learned by playing with it is that the graphics are all vector based, so you can resize the objects and they’ll still look perfectly fine. I’m impressed to see this in a web app!