Flowchart app for OSX?

Question

Hey guys! I'm working on a new software project, and the company I work for uses macs, so I don't have access to Visio. Is there any good flowchart software for OSX? The topic seems to be pretty popular on the mac forums, but with almost no good answers (most seem to end up at MS Word's flowcharts).

So what do you think? Best flowchart app for OSX?

Answer 1

OmniGraffle Professional.

I used this for two years at a previous company, and going back to Visio felt like entering the dark ages.

Answer 2

I've used OmniGraffle for doing flowcharts and many other types of diagrams in the past. I love it.

Answer 3

There's nothing that's the equivalent of Visio for Mac OS X. Many people, however, like OmniGraffle for flowchart diagrams.

Answer 4

OmniGraffle is one of the best out there.

(Keep in mind it's Om-ni-graff-le, not Om-ni-giraffe!)

Answer 5

If this is for a software product, I'd recommend you take a step into learning and using UML rather than just plain flowcharts.

Visual Paradigm for UML is a fully featured UML product (and, yes, it does plain flowcharts, too) that is pure Java, so it'll run on OSX without a hitch. Although I'm primarily a Windows developer (so I don't know how well it'll run on OSX), I've used Visual Paradigm many times on Windows and like it a lot.

Edit: I should point out that VP has a free community edition that watermarks your exported images; the least expensive edition that doesn't watermark is the Modeler edition at about $120 per license.

Answer 6

I know it's not an "app" in the traditional sense but I always find myself using Gliffy. It does the basics really well and it seems that it has everything I ever really need.

Answer 7

I ran across this while Googling for, predictably, OS X diagrams. I almost grabbed Omnigraffle and then suspected there was a web based charting startup out there begging to be found. So I googled again and added 'techcrunch' to my criteria and came across LovelyCharts.com flash based charting. [had to remove direct link to lovelycharts becuase I can only post one link - I'm new, so see techcrunch article below for link to site.]

Just created my first chart. It's basic but works great. The free option doesn't let you collaborate which is fine for my needs.

There are a few other web based charting companies mentioned in the Techcrunch article that you might want to check out.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/09/create-stunning-diagrams-on-the-web-with-lovelycharts/

BTW, I exported the chart from lovelycharts and printed it from OS X Preview and it came out great.

Mark.

Answer 8

Try yEd. This amazing diagram editor is freely available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. My personal choice for creating flowcharts quickly. Also allows to export to various formats such as svg, swf, pdf, png, and emf.

Answer 9

ConceptDraw has now support for Snow Leopard.

Answer 10

There is a working port of graphviz for Os X now. http://graphviz.org/