head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Mermaid
Excalidraw has 135,053 GitHub stars, 15,973 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mermaid has 90,981 stars, 9,444 forks, 1,781 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 48% (135,053 vs 90,981 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 | ★ 135K | ★ 91K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 9.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Excalidraw if
- You weight community size — 135K 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 Editor Blog Documentation Excalidraw+ An open source virtual hand drawn style whiteboard. Collaborative and end to end encrypted. Create beautiful hand drawn like diagrams, wireframes, or whatever you like. Features The Excalidraw editor (npm package) supports: 💯 Free & open source. 🎨 Infinite, canvas based whiteboard. ✍️ Hand drawn like style. 🌓 Dark mode. 🏗️ Customizable. 📷 Image support. 😀 Shape libraries support. 🌐 Localization (i18n) support. 🖼️ Export to PNG, SVG & clipboard. 💾 Open format export drawings as an .excalidraw json file. ⚒️ Wide range of tools rectangle, circle, diamond…
read the full Excalidraw overview →
About Mermaid
Mermaid Generate diagrams from Markdown like text. Live Editor! 📖 Documentation 🚀 Getting Started 🌐 CDN 🙌 Join Us 简体中文 Try Live Editor previews of future releases: Develop Next :trophy: Mermaid was nominated and won the JS Open Source Awards (2019) in the category "The most exciting use of technology"!!! Thanks to all involved, people committing pull requests, people answering questions! 🙏 Table of content Expand contents About Examples Release Related projects Contributors Security and safe diagrams Reporting vulnerabilities Appreciation About Mermaid is a JavaScript based diagramming and charting tool…
read the full Mermaid overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Mermaid more popular?
Excalidraw has 135,053 GitHub stars and Mermaid has 90,981. 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 (135,053 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Mermaid if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.