head to head · open source
open-design vs draw.io
open-design has 105,526 GitHub stars, 12,030 forks, 1,090 open issues and last shipped yesterday. draw.io has 9,138 stars, 1,361 forks, 95 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. open-design leads on adoption by 1,055% (105,526 vs 9,138 stars). open-design is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; draw.io is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. open-design has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, draw.io 15%. open-design was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| open-design | draw.io | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 106K | ★ 9.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick open-design if
- You weight community size — 106K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick draw.io if
- You want the draw.io feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and draw.io fits your workflow better
About open-design
OpenDesign: The open source Claude Design alternative ⚡ OpenDesign Cloud — the official model service. One recharge to use both agent and image models inside OpenDesign: GPT, Claude, and DeepSeek for agents; GPT Image 2.0, Seedream 5.0 Pro, and Nano Banana 2.0 for images. 🚀 DeepSeek V4 Flash and V4 Pro are now available. Put top tier intelligence to work across prototypes, decks, design systems, and everyday agent tasks. OpenDesign members can use both models without limits for two weeks, directly inside the app. 🧩 DeepSeek Harness is now supported. Connect DeepSeek's official dsh agent harness to OpenDesign…
read the full open-design overview →
About draw.io
draw.io About draw.io is a configurable diagramming and whiteboarding application, jointly owned and developed by draw.io Ltd (previously named JGraph) and draw.io AG. We also run a production deployment at License The source code in this repository is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. The icon sets, stencil libraries, and diagram templates are provided under the following terms: The icon sets and stencil libraries included in this software, and any derivatives thereof (including conversions to other formats, traced reproductions, substantially similar visual representations, or AI generated images created…
read the full draw.io overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is open-design or draw.io more popular?
open-design has 105,526 GitHub stars and draw.io has 9,138. open-design has the larger community by that measure.
Are open-design and draw.io free?
Both are open source. open-design is licensed under Apache-2.0 and draw.io under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between open-design and draw.io?
open-design is written in TypeScript and draw.io in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, open-design or draw.io?
Choose open-design if you want the larger community (105,526 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose draw.io if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.