head to head · open source
diagram-design vs Evidence
diagram-design has 64,318 GitHub stars, 4,247 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Evidence has 7,082 stars, 437 forks, 37 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. diagram-design leads on adoption by 808% (64,318 vs 7,082 stars). diagram-design is written in HTML under MIT; Evidence is written in TypeScript under MIT. diagram-design has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Evidence 6%. diagram-design was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (data-visualization), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| diagram-design | Evidence | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 64K | ★ 7.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | HTML | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 437 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick diagram-design if
- You weight community size — 64K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Evidence if
- You want the Evidence feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Evidence fits your workflow better
About diagram-design
Diagram Design Editorial diagrams your designer won't hate. New in 2.0 — the Loop: flywheels with a shared memory hub. The dashed lines are the write backs. New in 2.3: semantic system patterns and optional accessible motion, while static output stays the default. New in 2.5.10: ten more layout grammars — Sankey, fishbone, Wardley map, kanban, user journey, deployment, dependency graph, UML class, story map, and database schema. 39 editorial diagram types for Claude Code, Codex, Factory Droid, Pi, and Agent Skills compatible hosts. Self contained HTML + SVG. No shadows. No Mermaid slop. Semantic patterns…
read the full diagram-design overview →
About Evidence
Evidence is an agent ready tool for creating reports using your data Docs Slack How It Works Evidence is an open source, code based alternative to drag and drop business intelligence tools. Create reports in code using SQL and markdown Develop using Evidence's Agent, or on your local machine with Claude Code / Cursor etc Self host or publish on Evidence Studio Install macOS / Linux Windows Create a Project Publish Publish your project on Evidence Studio for hosted reports, or self host the generated static site on your own infrastructure. See the publishing docs for options. Join the Evidence Community Join our…
read the full Evidence overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is diagram-design or Evidence more popular?
diagram-design has 64,318 GitHub stars and Evidence has 7,082. diagram-design has the larger community by that measure.
Are diagram-design and Evidence free?
Both are open source. diagram-design is licensed under MIT and Evidence under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between diagram-design and Evidence?
diagram-design is written in HTML and Evidence in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, diagram-design or Evidence?
Choose diagram-design if you want the larger community (64,318 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Evidence if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.