Online Inkscape Alternative for Diagrams
Make diagrams quickly and easily. Draw diagrams with automatic connectors, math symbols, plenty more.
No account required!
Why switch from Inkscape
Need diagram connectors, and shapes and arrows to stay connected.
Diagrams shouldn't lag. You need quick, responsive tools, even for complex systems.
Just want something simple and focused, not 300 buttons.
Inkscape is great, just not for diagrams.
As a general illustration tool, Inkscape is a tool worth keeping. For diagrams, Inkscape leaves a lot to be desired. Vexlio is an online Inkscape alternative purpose-built for fast diagramming.
Vexlio is built for speed, clarity, and easy diagramming
Full suite of tools specifically designed to help you draw diagrams easily and quickly.
Common diagramming tasks are a breeze.
Smooth live previews for every operation. Resize objects and move connectors stutter-free.
Made in under 3 minutes with Vexlio
Comparison of Vexlio vs Inkscape
| Vexlio | Inkscape | |
Smooth performance even for complex diagrams |
Yes
|
No
|
Minimal, focused UI |
Yes
|
No
|
Smart tools to make common tasks easy |
Yes
|
No
|
Built-in code syntax highlighting |
Yes
|
No
|
LaTeX label support |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Works for general illustration |
No
|
Yes
|
No sign-in required!
Key point: Focus and Clarity
Inkscape's physical-page based interface focuses on print media. Vexlio gives you an infinite drawing canvas for diagramming and a clean, minimal UI, changing how you can think about and interact with your diagrams. We have found this mental shift to lend a significant boost in focus as you're creating your diagrams.
A lot of diagramming work comes down to representing complexity with simplicity. Vexlio reduces visual clutter and focuses on the essentials, helping you do the same for your engineering diagrams.
Key point: Productivity
Here are a few of the tools Vexlio offers with a deliberate eye towards productivity:
- Code syntax highlighting. Need code snippets? Vexlio offers automatic syntax highlighted code text boxes with support for 50+ languages.
- Connectors with labels. Vexlio's robust connector system lets you add text labels with auto-placement to your connectors with just one click.
- Rapid grid duplication. Duplication of an object or objects into a customizable grid is a powerful design tool. After you use this tool for yourself, you'll see opportunities for it to reduce excessive copy/pasting while drawing.
Vexlio helps you draw diagrams faster, no matter if you're drawing flowcharts, UML or block diagrams, state machine diagrams, or figures with math symbols.
Key point: Performance
Inkscape has a wide variety of functionality, but suffers from slow and laggy performance, even for simple operations like moving or resizing objects. While it may not seem like a deal-breaker right away, laggy or stuttering performance will have you pulling your hair out eventually.
Vexlio was designed with performance in mind, and uses GPU-accelerated rendering for lightning fast everything.
Here's what our users have said
Real users speaking about Vexlio's previous desktop version:
I was able to knock together some pretty nice diagrams super-quickly using the demo version. Lots of nice touches.— Gabe R.
Definitely addresses many of the pain points I have with Google Drawings, Inkscape etc. for making diagrams.— Jim M.
Your application fits an empty spot in my toolbelt.— Clint P.
Vexlio has no learning curve - so easy to use.— Peter L.
No sign-in required!
Why Vexlio instead of Inkscape for diagrams?
If you're looking to draw diagrams like any of these:
- Flowcharts
- UML diagrams
- Block diagrams
- Math diagrams, or anything with math symbols
- Software architecture diagrams
...then we think you'll have a better time with Vexlio than trying to draw them with Inkscape.
Vexlio as a whole is a simple and focused app, designed to help you keep your eye (literally) on what matters: your content. We've put our focus on paring the app down to the essentials, the tools and content types that are most basic to all types of diagrams. And we've made those tools work in the way you need.
Design tools are only as useful as their environment allows them to be, and no tool is smart enough to overcome slow or laggy performance of the app itself. A commonly reported experience with Inkscape is laggy and stuttering performance while drawing. Vexlio is designed with performance in mind, using the latest web technologies including GPU rendering and WASM for accelerated compute. No matter how large or complex your diagram is, you can count on Vexlio to give you smooth scrolling and low-latency UI responses.
As you move objects around, Vexlio automatically aligns and snaps, showing visual guides to let you know what's being aligned.
Connectors know what you want, and their labels do too.
Code syntax highlighting for 50+ languages and multiple themes.
Native live-updating math symbols and LaTeX equations.
A few other places where Vexlio shines:
- Diagrams with connectors, using our robust system of snapping and connector constraints
- Scaling objects without distortion (a common Inkscape frustration)
- Automatically center text in objects
- Live-updating objects that instantly show the results of your operation
- Labeled arrows that move with their connected objects
With each feature that we design for Vexlio, we make careful efforts to ensure that the feature is intuitive, quick to use, and composes cleanly with the snapping system and other precision-oriented features. In other words, Vexlio offers tools designed with productivity as a first-class concern.
Give Vexlio a try for your next diagram - we think you'll like it!