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9 open-source diagram and mind-mapping apps

Open Source Diagram & Mind Map Software

The most popular open-source diagram and mind-mapping apps for Windows, macOS and Linux on GitHub are draw.io Desktop, Mind Map and Drawio Skill. appsgit lists 9, including free alternatives to Microsoft Visio, Lucidchart and XMind, each with its platforms, license and install commands.

Updated Oct 8, 2026

FAQ

Diagrams & mind maps: FAQ

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What are the best open-source diagram and mind-mapping apps?

By GitHub stars, draw.io Desktop is the most popular (63,420 stars), followed by Mind Map and Drawio Skill. People often use these instead of Microsoft Visio, Lucidchart and XMind. Each page lists the platforms, license and last commit.

Which of these run on Windows, Mac and Linux?

7 of the 9 open-source diagram and mind-mapping apps listed here run on Windows, 9 on macOS and 7 on Linux; on a Mac, the most starred is draw.io Desktop. 1 can be installed with a package manager such as Flathub, Homebrew, winget or Chocolatey.

Are these open-source diagram and mind-mapping apps free?

Yes. All 9 use an open-source license (OSI-approved or FSF-free), so you can use, copy and change them for free.

How are these open-source diagram and mind-mapping apps chosen?

Apps come from desktop awesome lists (Awesome Linux Software, awesome-mac, awesome-windows, awesome-electron and the media and file sections of awesome-cli-apps), more than 70 GitHub topics such as desktop-app, electron-app, tauri-app, gtk, qt, macos-app, pdf-editor, cad and remote-desktop, and a hand-picked list of flagship apps. An app is listed only if it has a license (one GitHub detects, or one appsgit checked by hand), a README and a commit in the last six months, is not archived or a fork, and has 1000+ GitHub stars (topics), 500+ (awesome lists) or 100+ (hand-picked). It must also be an end-user application with a desktop signal: installers in its releases, install instructions for Windows, macOS or Linux, or a Flathub, Homebrew, winget, Chocolatey, Snap or AUR package. Libraries, frameworks, themes, plugins and servers are left out, and source-available apps are labelled as such.