Alternatives to Eraser, by what you are optimising for.
Eraser's bet is diagram-as-code with a visual editor on top. The alternatives all disagree about a different part of that.
Eraser combines a diagram-as-code syntax with a visual editor, cloud icons, a document editor for runbooks and an MCP server so an AI client can create diagrams in your workspace. The alternatives sort by what you are actually optimising for. For a free text source you own, Mermaid, D2 and PlantUML. For collaborative C4 modelling, IcePanel and Structurizr. For diagrams derived from the repository rather than authored, CodeViz, GitDiagram and Lucid Train. For a general canvas, draw.io and Excalidraw.
If the hosted workspace is the problem
Eraser is a hosted product, so diagrams live in its workspace and your architecture is on someone else's servers. If that is the blocker, the options are a local text format such as D2 or PlantUML, a local canvas such as draw.io's desktop app or Excalidraw, or a desktop application such as Lucid Train that reads the repository without uploading it.
If you want to stop authoring diagrams
Eraser still asks you to describe the diagram, whether by typing its syntax or prompting a model. Tools that read the codebase remove the authoring step entirely: CodeViz inside VS Code, GitDiagram for a public repo URL, and Lucid Train as a desktop app whose diagrams also become implementation specifications. The trade is that generated diagrams show what exists and cannot state intent.
If you want the MCP server specifically
Eraser's MCP server lets an AI client create and edit diagrams in an Eraser workspace, which is the right answer if that is where your diagrams should end up. Lucid Train also runs as an stdio MCP server, and the difference is architectural: its diagram tool takes a semantic graph with no coordinates and runs a layout solver, so the model never chooses positions. Lucid Software publishes an official MCP server for Lucidchart and Lucidspark if that is your workspace instead.
If price is the constraint
Mermaid, D2, PlantUML, draw.io, Excalidraw and GitDiagram are free. Lucid Train's CLI is free and open source with the desktop app at $3 a month or $30 a year. IcePanel has a free tier capped at 5 editors and 100 model objects.
Where Lucid Train sits
Lucid Train is one of the options below rather than the conclusion. It is a desktop application that generates architecture diagrams from a codebase and hands them to a coding agent, it has no browser version, no real-time collaboration and no share links, and for several of the needs on this page it is the wrong answer.
When this was checked
Facts here were checked against each vendor's own site on 22 August 2026. Pricing and features change without notice, so verify anything you are about to decide on.
By reason for leaving
| You want | Look at |
|---|---|
| Nothing hosted | D2, PlantUML, draw.io desktop, Lucid Train |
| No authoring at all | CodeViz, GitDiagram, Lucid Train |
| A diagramming MCP server | Lucid Train, Lucid Software's official server |
| Free | Mermaid, D2, PlantUML, Excalidraw, GitDiagram |
| Collaborative C4 | IcePanel, Structurizr |
Questions
Related
- Structurizr AlternativesThe question is whether you want to keep a model. Everything else follows from that.
- Mermaid AlternativesAlmost everyone leaving Mermaid is leaving because of how the diagram looks, not what it can express.
- Miro Alternatives for Software ArchitectureMiro is a workshop tool. Most people looking for an alternative want the diagram to mean something afterwards.
- Claude Code AlternativesTwo different questions get asked as one: which agent, and what runs around it.
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