Blueprintr vs Mermaid
Mermaid is one of the engines inside Blueprintr, so a Mermaid diagram can be a tab of a blueprint with a stratum behind every node. The comparison is between text rendered on its own, or in Mermaid Chart's online editor, and text rendered inside a document that also holds the drawn diagrams and the detail.
Also searched as Mermaid vs Blueprintr, Mermaid alternative, and Mermaid vs Blueprintr pricing.
The short version
Choose Blueprintr if
You want a cloud estate with fifty icons drawn by hand, the runbook behind each shape, one published page, and Mermaid tabs beside the drawn ones for the sequences.
Choose Mermaid if
Every diagram should be text in a repository, rendered wherever the Markdown is read, and the automatic layout is good enough for what you draw.
Use both when
Sequence diagrams stay Mermaid, in the repository and as Mermaid tabs in the blueprint. The architecture that needs icons and placement is drawn in Vellum on the tab next to them.
How Mermaid works
The Mermaid library turns a few lines of text into a flowchart, sequence diagram, state chart, entity diagram or gantt chart, laid out automatically, and it renders natively in GitHub, GitLab, Notion, Obsidian and most Markdown tools. Mermaid Chart adds an online editor with a visual editor for some diagram types, a whiteboard, AI generation from text and documents, view-only sharing links, presentations, an MCP server and plugins for Confluence, Jira and Google Docs.
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 Mermaid’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 | Mermaid | Blueprintr |
|---|---|---|
| Diagrams and the detail behind them | ||
| Documentation behind every shapeCan a shape hold real content: markdown, tables, code, files? | No: A node carries a label and, in the library, a click handler or link. Mermaid Chart adds comments on a diagram, not prose on a node. | 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? | Partly: Mermaid Chart's visual editor covers flowcharts, class, sequence, state, mind map, entity and requirement diagrams, and a separate whiteboard. No vendor icon packs. | 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? | Yes: The whole point: diagrams are text, with several automatic layout engines. | 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. | 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? | Yes: Mermaid Chart presentations are Markdown decks that stay linked to diagrams. | 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: Mermaid Chart generates diagrams from text, documents, transcripts and schemas, and repairs syntax. Metered in AI credits by plan. | 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. AI can draw an architecture from uploaded documents. | 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: Text in git carries its own history. Mermaid Chart's Confluence listing mentions version history; the user guide does not describe it. | 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? | Yes: A Mermaid Chart MCP server for Claude, Cursor and VS Code, and a GitHub app. The library renders anywhere an agent writes text. | 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? | Partly: Simultaneous editing on Mermaid Chart's Premium plan; view and comment on Plus. | Yes: Multi-cursor editing on Vellum diagrams.Premium and up |
| Live embedsCan the live diagram sit inside Confluence, SharePoint, a README or your site? | Yes: View-only links without an account and a live SVG link that updates automatically, from Mermaid Chart. The library renders inline wherever Markdown does. | 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? | Partly: Mermaid text. Documents and images through AI. No draw.io, Visio or Lucidchart import is documented. | 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, SVG, PDF and the Mermaid text itself. | 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? | Partly: No desktop app. The library and its command-line renderer run locally, and IDE plugins exist for VS Code and JetBrains. | 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: SAML SSO on Mermaid Chart's Enterprise plan per the pricing table. SCIM is not documented. | Yes: SAML and OIDC single sign-on, SCIM provisioning and IP allow-listing.Enterprise |
| Free planWhat do you get without paying? | Partly: The library is free forever. Mermaid Chart's free plan holds six diagrams of limited size with 15 AI credits. | Yes: Unlimited public and private blueprints, Vellum and draw.io, icon packs, embeds and a portfolio page.Free |
Where Blueprintr differs
Placement when it matters
Mermaid lays out the diagram for you. A cloud estate, a network fabric or a data platform with vendor icons needs hand placement, and Vellum gives it. The same blueprint keeps Mermaid tabs for the sequences.
Documentation behind the node
A Mermaid node carries a label. Inside Blueprintr, Mermaid nodes take strata: markdown, tables, code, files and tabs open when a reader clicks the node.
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. Mermaid renders what you write.
Unlimited, for free
Mermaid Chart's free plan holds six diagrams of limited size. Blueprintr's free plan holds unlimited blueprints, with Mermaid, Vellum, draw.io and Excalidraw as engines.
Where Mermaid is the better choice
Anyone who wants sequence diagrams, state charts and flowcharts as text in a repository, rendered wherever Markdown is rendered.
- Free, open source and rendered natively by GitHub, GitLab, Notion, Obsidian and most Markdown tools.
- Diagrams as text: reviewable in a pull request and generated by scripts and AI without a canvas.
- The best sequence diagrams, state charts and gantt charts in a few lines.
- Mermaid Chart adds a visual editor, AI generation from documents, an MCP server and a GitHub app that regenerates diagrams on pull requests.
- A free Confluence app with a built-in editor.
Pricing
Mermaid
The library is free. Mermaid Chart is free for six diagrams, then about 8 or 16 euros a user a month billed annually, as its page reads from the EU. Enterprise is quoted.
- Mermaid library
- $0, open sourceMIT-licensed; renders in GitHub, GitLab, Notion, Obsidian and more.
- Mermaid Chart Basic
- $0Up to 6 diagrams of limited size, 15 AI credits.
- Mermaid Chart Plus
- 8 euros / user / month billed annually, as shown from the EUUnlimited diagrams, 300 AI credits, external sharing. Annual billing only.
- Mermaid Chart Premium
- 16 euros / user / month billed annually, as shown from the EU2,000 AI credits a year, unlimited free viewers, co-editing. Enterprise adds SSO and invoicing, quoted.
Read on 7 September 2026 from Mermaid’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 Mermaid
Nothing to convert. Paste the Mermaid text into a Mermaid tab of a blueprint and it renders as before, with strata available on every node. Keep the source in the repository if you like; the tab holds the same text. Redraw the diagrams that fought the auto layout in Vellum, on the tab next to it.
Frequently asked
Does Blueprintr render Mermaid?
Yes. Mermaid is one of the four diagram engines, alongside Vellum, draw.io and Excalidraw. A blueprint can mix them, and strata bind to nodes on all four.
Can I keep my diagrams as text in git?
Keep the source wherever you like and paste it into a Mermaid tab. The tab holds the same text, so an update is a paste. Blueprintr does not pull from a repository on its own.
What does a Mermaid tab give up compared with Vellum?
Live collaboration, Continuum Cloud drawing on the canvas, icon packs and Podium presentation are Vellum-only. Strata, publishing and embedding are the same.
Is Mermaid Chart the same as Mermaid?
Mermaid is the open-source library. Mermaid Chart is the company's online editor around it, with its own plans and AI credits. The library stays free either way.
Draw the first diagram. The document follows.
Mermaid and Mermaid Chart are trademarks of Mermaid Chart Inc. Blueprintr is not affiliated with Mermaid Chart Inc. and is not endorsed by it. Facts about Mermaid were read from its published pages on 7 September 2026. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.