Blueprintr vs draw.io
draw.io is one of the engines inside Blueprintr, so this is a comparison between the editor on its own and the editor inside a document. What draw.io lacks is not drawing power. It is the page around the drawing: the detail behind the shapes, the live URL, and the scan that keeps it true.
Also searched as draw.io vs Blueprintr, draw.io alternative, and draw.io vs Blueprintr pricing.
The short version
Choose Blueprintr if
You want the drawing to be a document readers navigate, with strata behind the shapes, one live URL, and a scan of AWS or Azure on Team. You can keep drawing in draw.io inside it.
Choose draw.io if
You want a free editor with no account, files in your own storage, and diagrams living inside Confluence or Jira pages you already have.
Use both when
Existing draw.io files open as draw.io tabs inside a blueprint. Strata bind to their shapes, so the team keeps its editor and gains the document around it.
How draw.io works
draw.io is an Apache-licensed editor with shape libraries for AWS, Azure, GCP and many more, text inserts from Mermaid, CSV and SQL, and an AI generate tool. There are no accounts: files save to Google Drive, OneDrive, GitHub, a local disk or a Confluence page, and the paid Confluence and Jira apps embed the editor in those pages.
Blueprintr is diagram-first documentation. You draw the system in Vellum, write the detail into the shapes as strata, and publish one live URL. On Team, Continuum Cloud draws AWS and Azure from a read-only scan, and on AWS it also shows Terraform drift on the canvas. On Enterprise, Continuum Link attaches timestamped snapshots from monitoring and ITSM tools to the shapes, and Continuum Local sweeps your on-premise network from inside it so Blueprintr can draw it.
Side by side
Read from draw.io’s own pages on 7 September 2026 and from Blueprintr’s pricing table. The plan label is the Blueprintr tier the capability lands on.
| Capability | draw.io | Blueprintr |
|---|---|---|
| Diagrams and the detail behind them | ||
| Documentation behind every shapeCan a shape hold real content: markdown, tables, code, files? | Partly: Key-value metadata and tooltips on a shape, shown on hover. Markdown or files behind a shape are not documented. | Yes: A stratum on any shape: markdown, tables, code, files, links, tabs, even another diagram.Free |
| Hand-drawn diagrams with vendor iconsCan you draw freely, with real AWS, Azure, GCP and Kubernetes icons? | Yes: A full freeform editor with AWS, Azure, GCP and many other shape libraries. | Yes: Vellum, with vendor icon packs and your own SVGs. draw.io and Excalidraw are engines too.Free |
| Diagrams from textCan a diagram be written as code and kept in version control? | Partly: Inserts from Mermaid, CSV, SQL and plain text, with editable Mermaid converted to native shapes. | Partly: Mermaid tabs render from text and sit beside drawn tabs. Vellum diagrams are drawn, not coded.Free |
| A documentation siteLong-form docs with a nav tree, search and your own domain? | No: Not offered. Diagrams embed in Confluence, Notion or GitHub Markdown. | Yes: Folium: nested pages, search, your subdomain or custom domain, with live blueprints in the pages.Team and up |
| Present from the diagramCan the diagram itself be the slide deck? | Partly: A presentation mode in the editor, added in July 2026. | Yes: Podium frames regions of a live canvas as slides and presents them in the browser.Premium and up |
| AI draftingCan AI draw a first draft, or convert a document you already wrote? | Yes: A Generate tool using OpenAI, Claude or Gemini, with your own API keys or endpoints if you prefer. Disabled in the desktop app. | Yes: Draft from a description or a document, and explain a shape. Every change is proposed, then confirmed by you.Free allowance, credits on paid plans |
| Keeping the diagram true | ||
| Draw AWS or Azure from a live accountWill it diagram what is actually running, read-only? | No: Not offered. | Yes: Continuum Cloud takes a read-only role or a Reader app registration and scans the accounts or subscriptions and regions you choose, narrowed to a VPC, subnet or resource group.Team and up |
| Terraform drift on the diagramDoes it compare what you declared with what is running? | No: Not offered. | Yes: Point an AWS connection at your Terraform remote state. Drift from the declared infrastructure shows on the diagram.Team and up |
| Operational data on shapesCan a shape show the on-call, the open incidents or the uptime from the tools that report them? | No: Not offered. | Yes: Continuum Link attaches 39 connectors (PagerDuty, Datadog, ServiceNow, CloudWatch and more) as tabs on a stratum, each a timestamped snapshot an editor refreshes. On-premise systems such as SolarWinds, Zabbix and NetBox answer through Continuum Local, an agent inside your network that also sweeps it for Blueprintr to draw.Enterprise |
| Version history and diffsCan you see what changed since the last review, and restore? | Partly: Depends on the storage: Google Drive, Dropbox and Confluence keep revisions. No diff view. | Yes: Every publish is a snapshot. History diffs against any earlier version and restores it.Team and up |
| AI agents and an APICan Claude Code, Cursor or a script read and write your documentation? | No: No API or MCP server is documented for the editor itself. | Yes: A personal MCP server and a REST API, with scoped keys you mint yourself. |
| Sharing, teams and platform | ||
| Real-time collaborationCan two people draw on one canvas at once? | Yes: Real-time editing for files in Google Drive, OneDrive or Confluence Cloud. | Yes: Multi-cursor editing on Vellum diagrams.Premium and up |
| Live embedsCan the live diagram sit inside Confluence, SharePoint, a README or your site? | Partly: HTML iframe embeds and publish links that load the viewer from draw.io's servers. Publish links cannot be revoked. No password protection. | Yes: An iframe or oEmbed embed of the live blueprint. Readers open strata inside it. Footer-free on Premium.Free |
| Bringing existing work inWhich files and sources come across? | Yes: draw.io XML, Gliffy, Lucidchart, Visio VSDX, PNG with embedded XML, SVG, and text inserts. | Yes: draw.io files, PDF, DOCX, PPTX, Markdown and images through the import wizard. Confluence, Notion and SharePoint through a grant.Premium and up |
| Getting work outWhich formats can you leave with? | Yes: PNG, JPEG, SVG, WebP, animated GIF, PDF, HTML, XML and JSON. | Yes: PNG, SVG, PDF and GIF from Vellum. Whole blueprints as Markdown and YAML. A folium as a static site.Free |
| Desktop appIs there a native app, and does it work offline? | Yes: draw.io Desktop for Windows, macOS and Linux, fully offline. Cloud storage, online clipart and AI are unavailable there. | Yes: Blueprintr Vellum for macOS, Windows and Linux, plus Vellum Core: local files, no account, no network.Free |
| SSO and SCIMCan your identity provider own sign-in and provisioning? | Partly: No accounts. Sign-in and provisioning belong to the host: Atlassian, Google or Microsoft. | Yes: SAML and OIDC single sign-on, SCIM provisioning and IP allow-listing.Enterprise |
| Free planWhat do you get without paying? | Yes: The editor is free forever with no sign-up. The Confluence app is free for up to ten users. | Yes: Unlimited public and private blueprints, Vellum and draw.io, icon packs, embeds and a portfolio page.Free |
Where Blueprintr differs
The document around the drawing
draw.io attaches key-value metadata and tooltips to a shape. A Blueprintr stratum holds markdown, tables, code, files, links and tabs. draw.io diagrams inside Blueprintr get strata on their shapes too.
One live page instead of a file
A draw.io file lives in a drive or a wiki page. A blueprint is a published page with tabs, a contents tree and a sidebar, embeddable in Confluence, SharePoint or a README, and it shows the current version to every reader.
A scan that draws for you
Continuum Cloud draws AWS and Azure from a read-only scan on Team, and shows Terraform drift for AWS. draw.io draws what you draw.
History that belongs to the document
draw.io's history is whatever the storage provides. Every blueprint publish is a snapshot, with diffs and restore on Team.
Where draw.io is the better choice
Anyone who wants a capable, free editor with no account, files they control, and diagrams inside Confluence or Jira pages.
- Free and open source, with no account and no shape or file limit.
- Files live where you put them: Google Drive, OneDrive, GitHub, Nextcloud or a local disk.
- Imports Visio, Gliffy and Lucidchart files, and inserts diagrams from Mermaid, CSV and SQL text.
- A desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux that works fully offline.
Pricing
draw.io
The editor is free and open source. The Confluence Cloud app is free up to ten users, then from $1.95 a user a month.
- draw.io web and desktop
- $0Apache-licensed, no account, no limits.
- draw.io for Confluence Cloud
- Free up to 10 users, then $1.95 / user / month on the first 100 users, falling with volumeLicensing it in Confluence also covers Jira.
- draw.io for Jira Cloud
- From $0.75 / user / monthSold on the Atlassian Marketplace.
Read on 7 September 2026 from draw.io’s pricing page. Prices change; check there before you decide.
Blueprintr
Free forever for unlimited blueprints. Premium is $10 a month, Team is $29 a seat a month, Enterprise is quoted.
- Personal
- $0, foreverUnlimited public and private blueprints, Vellum and draw.io, icon packs, embeds.
- Premium
- $10 / month, or $100 / yearLive collaboration, Podium, a subdomain, footer-free embeds, analytics, the import wizard.
- Team
- $29 / seat / month, or $290 / seat / yearContinuum Cloud, Terraform drift, version history, approvals, foliums, password-protected blueprints.
- Enterprise
- Quoted, per seat, from 10 seatsContinuum Link, Continuum Local network drawing, SSO and SCIM, IP allow-listing, custom contracts.
USD, before tax. The pricing page shows your local currency and every capability by tier.
Moving work from draw.io
Nothing to convert. Upload the .drawio files through the import wizard, or create a diagram tab with the draw.io engine and open them there. The shapes are pickable, so strata bind to them the day they arrive. Redraw the ones you want in Vellum when you want live collaboration, Continuum or Podium, which work on Vellum tabs only.
Frequently asked
Is draw.io really inside Blueprintr?
Yes. The full draw.io editor runs inside Blueprintr as one of four engines, next to Vellum, Excalidraw and Mermaid. A blueprint can mix them, and strata bind to shapes on all four.
What does a draw.io tab give up compared with Vellum?
Live collaboration, Continuum Cloud drawing on the canvas, icon packs and Podium presentation are Vellum-only. Everything about strata, publishing and embedding is the same.
Why pay for Blueprintr when draw.io is free?
Blueprintr's free plan is also free, with unlimited blueprints. The paid plans buy live collaboration, a subdomain, Continuum Cloud scans, version history and the team features, not the editor.
Can I keep my files in Google Drive?
No. Blueprintr stores the blueprint and serves it as a page. Export whole blueprints as Markdown and YAML, and diagrams as PNG, SVG or draw.io XML, whenever you want a copy.
Draw the first diagram. The document follows.
draw.io is a registered trademark and diagrams.net is a trademark of draw.io Ltd. Blueprintr is not affiliated with draw.io Ltd and is not endorsed by it. Facts about draw.io were read from its published pages on 7 September 2026. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.