head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Mermaid
Excalidraw has 132,255 GitHub stars, 15,328 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mermaid has 90,299 stars, 9,266 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 46% (132,255 vs 90,299 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Mermaid is written in TypeScript under MIT. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Mermaid 10%. Excalidraw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (diagrams), 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
| Excalidraw | Mermaid | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 132K | ★ 90K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 9.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Excalidraw if
- You weight community size — 132K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Mermaid if
- You want the Mermaid feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Mermaid fits your workflow better
About Excalidraw
Excalidraw is an open source virtual whiteboard application built in TypeScript, designed for sketching hand drawn style diagrams, wireframes, and freeform ideas. It lives within the web based productivity and design visualization ecosystem, offering a lightweight alternative to commercial tools like Figma, Miro, and Canva. The project includes both a standalone web app at excalidraw.com and an embeddable npm package for integration into third party applications.
read the full Excalidraw overview →
About Mermaid
Mermaid is a JavaScript based diagramming tool that renders diagrams from Markdown like text definitions. It lives in the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and operates both in the browser and in Node.js environments. The project’s core purpose is to eliminate the gap between software development and documentation by letting developers write diagrams alongside code, avoiding the rot and overhead of manual diagram maintenance.
read the full Mermaid overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Mermaid more popular?
Excalidraw has 132,255 GitHub stars and Mermaid has 90,299. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and Mermaid free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT and Mermaid under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Mermaid?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and Mermaid 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, Excalidraw or Mermaid?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (132,255 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Mermaid if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.