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SmartDraw Logo

SmartDraw

Diagram tool to draw any type of chart or diagram

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(48)

SmartDraw Reviews

Overall rating

4.1

/5

111

Rating criteria

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend7.62/10

Reviews by rating

Pros and cons

An inexpensive but fantastic software for both network diagrams and any other business and other needs.
There are lots of templates to start with, which makes it a lot easier to get started with this software. I like the integration with popular tools such as Trello and Jira.
Your projects are also all saved online, you can access your software and files from any computer with an internet connection.
This software is CRAP if this is how they treat their clients who spent a years subscription, only to find all the work they did in a year is no longer accessible.
A program that is incredibly complicated to understand. They attempt to simplify the architecture process but it is miserably complicated and lacks an intuitive interface.
Further, it constantly just stops and closes itself - and dumps all of your work during that session, even if you have been saving.
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111 reviews

Recommended

AR
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Verified reviewer

Used weekly for 1-2 years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend10/10

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Great platform for simple submittal drawings.

Reviewed 5 years ago

If you are trying to do small professional projects, or simply create a blueprint of you home, SmartDraw's ease of use and robust set of options make it the smart choice over competitors.

Pros

Where this software really shines for our business is its ease of use for submittal drawings when bidding and creating contracts for jobs. It allows us to empower our salesmen to create their own submittals without the expense or training needed for some of the more "professional" suites. This means for smaller projects we do not need to tie up our senior estimators, leaving their time free and better spent with CAD. What this means is that for job cost, we are able to use lower wage employees to perform simpler tasks and not eat into the margins of a job from utilizing higher paid engineers.

Cons

It can be a bit finicky in trying to get it to do exactly what you want it to do. Its ease of use sometimes means that you are fighting those very elements that make it easy to make it do what you want it to do. Snap to grids and the like, while toggle-able, provide an annoyance when they should "just work".

NT
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Nicky T.

Design, self-employed

Used daily for 6-12 months

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend7/10

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Basic floor plans but easy to use

Reviewed 4 years ago

I've used other floor planners and this one is definitely the easiest to use at a great price.

Pros

It's very easy to draw up a basic house floor plan.

Cons

Limited symbol options specific to interior design. If you use too many JPEG images within the file the system struggles to convert to PDF. (which isn't the case with my other design software). Often glitches when opening files and/or is very slow to open existing documents.

Vendor response

Hi Nicky, Thank you for the positive review and for the feedback. I'll pass the review along to our development team, so we can take a look at the PDF export and file opening issues you mentioned. If you reply back to me, or contact our support using the below info, we can further investigate and help. If there is any other way we can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. International: +1 858 225 3300 US: 800-768-3729 email: support@smartdraw.com -Chris

MS
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Mark S.

Religious Institutions, 11-50 employees

Used weekly for 1-2 years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend2/10

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Frustratingly buggy, and bad tech support.

Reviewed 2 years ago

Easily the most frustrating software that I have to use. I am unfortunately not aware of any other options in that price range that have the simplicity of interface and the features I need. This software would be great if it worked and if customer support wasn't abysmal.

Pros

The interface would be great if it worked. At the price, it would be a great value, if it worked.

Cons

1. Many, many bugs. In particular, things often move when they shouldn't, and saving your work never works like you expect it to. In particular, if you save a project, via the "save" button, then "save as" another file, the work that was "saved" on the original is lost. They refuse to acknowledge this bug, but, over the phone, they did explain to me how to use templates, which gives a decent workaround...

SW
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Simon W.

Construction, 11-50 employees

Used monthly for 2+ years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend3/10

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Payment Plan a deterrent

Reviewed 3 years ago

Many of our processes were formalized using Smartdraw, unfortunately we have since moved on.

Pros

Great software for flow charts and process maps. Used extensively for 3 years under a one time license.

Cons

Was only available for Windows at time of last use, since then it has moved to a subscription, web-based platform which is a significant cost considering other better-value or free softwares that can do the same.

Vendor response

Hi Simon, Thank you for the feedback. If it helps, we do still offer SmartDraw for Windows, which is a one time payment with no required ongoing fees in order to use it. That can be found here: https://www.smartdraw.com/buy/ or by visiting smartdraw.com and clicking Buy in the top right. Anything more, please let us know. Thank you, Chris support@smartdraw.com 800-768-3729 +1 858 225 3300

GK
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Gulshan K.

Computer Software, 501-1,000 employees

Used daily for 2+ years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend9/10

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Powerful tool for designing software

Reviewed 4 years ago

Over-all experience as per my requirements is good and doing my work done easily and fast.

Pros

Very easy to draw flowcharts. Easily import and export visio. Available at cheap price and can easily replace visio i believe which is much costlier. One can use its rich library of colours. Templates help alot to quickly built mocks.

Cons

When I used i didn't find multiple user facility.

AR
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Verified reviewer

Education Management, 1-10 employees

Used weekly for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend10/10

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SmartPurchase

Reviewed 3 years ago

SmartDraw helps visualize complex concepts in an accessible way.

Pros

Powerful but easy to use platform with numerous applications across industries.

Cons

Complexity - which is a factor of how robust the software is, so it’s not really a criticism.

Vendor response

Thank you very much for the positive words. If we can help in any way, please do reach out to us. We do not charge for phone or email support. Thank you, Chris support@smartdraw.com 858-225-3300

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Joely R.

Used weekly for 2+ years

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  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
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Smart draw is very user friendly, i am able to show others how to do the basics really easily.

Reviewed 5 years ago
Pros

Ease of manipulation of floor plans, handy clip arts. User friendly, can move groups of objects together. 3D modeling is something we rarely use, but it was easy to learn to do.

Cons

I don't care for the cloud based option and it seems like this is what it is migrating to. I prefer to save copies to my hard drive. I was unable to open previous files unless I upgraded software as well. That isn't right.

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Natasha A.

Government Administration, 1,001-5,000 employees

Used weekly for 6-12 months

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend9/10

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The perfect solution for diagramming work processes

Reviewed 4 years ago

The diagramming is excellent for getting the information to others, helps to understand and document ideas, with this software the experience is unique, we have presented ideas of work, organization in diagrams and diagrams that have allowed us to understand, visualize the flow of information circulating in our area and the importance of each step we take from beginning to end

Pros

Create your diagrams and document the processes step by step of your workflow, ideal for planning strategies, powerful and easy to use, contains many templates to choose from to make your visual presentations.

Cons

The price can be a problem, since it is really expensive

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christopher h.

Consumer Goods, 1-10 employees

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend8/10

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Ease of use as a trial

Reviewed 3 years ago

Product was pretty good to use as a beginner. Not over stuffed with functions. But those functions you may want

Pros

Program was a little easier to use then some other programs. Wasnt overly difficult

Cons

Not as good features that other programs offer. expecially if your a advance person in design

Vendor response

Hello Christopher, Thank you for the positive feedback. We are constantly adding new features to SmartDraw and love to hear new suggestions. If there is a feature you would like to see, please let us know and we can add it to the software. -Chris US: 800-768-3729 or 858-225-3300 International: +1 858 225 3300 email: support@smartdraw.com

AR
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Verified reviewer

Internet,

Used other for 1-2 years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend9/10

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Professional 2D Floor Plans at affordable price

Reviewed 5 years ago

Imported 2D flow into network management system.

Pros

2D Floor feature . I used to implement software monitoring solution at customer site. Very often I have been asked to insert as background of the network map the floor plan of the building to easily determine the physical location of the network devices.

Cons

At time I used it there was not SmartDraw Cloud now available. This is perfect for small/individual business.

DY
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David Y.

Hospital & Health Care, 11-50 employees

Used other for 2+ years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend5/10

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Not a Replacement for Visio/Project

Reviewed 6 years ago

Not many, we tried hard to use it for our intended purposes for 6-12 months. Then we gave up. Now we use it infrequently when we need to create a simple visual. The mind mapping tool is ok - but free tools online are just as good if not better.

Pros

This product ships with a lot of prebuilt content, templates that can let you create quick and easy diagrams, visuals, etc for presentations.

Cons

We bought this thinking it might be a lower cost replacement for Visio and that we'd be able to use the Project Planning template for our PM needs. Neither turned out to be true. This tool will give you a good variety of templates, but if you want to move something manually... forget it. Don't like how the basic flowchart looks or need to make room for a 3rd branch? You'll go back to Visio after a month. Project plans look create, but when you need to update 1 date good luck. ugh. This had a lot of potential but it just isn't flexible enough for real use cases in our experience.

SM
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Simon M.

Photography, self-employed

Used weekly for 2+ years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support

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Good when it doesn't crash

Reviewed 4 years ago

Cannot recommend to others due to the continual crashing. When it works it does a good job. Customer support were good when I contacted them several times in the first year. They gave me a program to remove the software and a link to re-install each time, sometimes worked well for a few times but then the crashing started again. Interested to hear others still experience the same problem with the latest version.

Pros

Good when it works, good symbol library, versatile

Cons

Have the desktop version for drawing floor plans only and have persevered with it for 2 years (version 2017). It regularly crashes on me as others have detailed. If it crashes once you may as well start again as it will crash continually after that. For the price I paid I was hoping for much better and feel ripped off.

WK
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Wojciech K.

Professional Training & Coaching, self-employed

Used weekly for 2+ years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend7/10

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I use SmartDraw to prepare visual documents in management area

Reviewed 5 years ago

communication support and good way to share knowledge with others

Pros

SmartDraw has tons of images to support visual documentation. It's great way to share knowledge with others using this solution. I use SmartDraw to create: process maps, easy mindmaps, data flows and creative mix of ideas. Sometimes there is good opportunity to export document as image file and put to MS Excel and add contextual values to present bigger picture of business in easy to understand way (complex but easy to see relations).

Cons

I'd like to see more options in mindmapping area, to be able to manage task information in advanced way.

KW
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Karen W.

Higher Education, 501-1,000 employees

Used other for 2+ years

Review source

Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend7/10

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A Review of SmartDraw

Reviewed 3 years ago

I have had only positive experiences with the use of Smart Draw

Pros

Smart Draw is relatively easy to use. It has all the various kinds of charts and graphs on its website you can imagine.

Cons

Smart Draw does not have any negative features. I used it to teach Quality Improvement concepts. It was great!

Vendor response

Hi Karen, Thank you for the positive review. Glad to hear SmartDraw is working well for you. If we can help in any way, please let us know. We offer free phone and email support should anything be needed. Thank you, Chris support@smartdraw.com 858-225-3300

CL
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Cynthia L.

Management Consulting, 10,001+ employees

Used weekly for 2+ years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend9/10

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Helpful and versatile

Reviewed 2 years ago
Pros

The templates give you a structure when you are starting out and make things easier for you . The data migration process is intuitive and relatively quick .

Cons

More customization options when setting up the metrics you would like to follow would be welcome . Some functions are more complex and you need to be trained to use them .

MV
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Matthew V.

Construction, 11-50 employees

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend8/10

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Great First Impressions

Reviewed 2 years ago

Great first impression. This is definitely not going to replace a major CAD software, but if you're looking for a fairly inexpensive, fairly easy to use drawing software, this is a great option. I only used the free trial so far, but intend on purchasing this software because I was impressed with the value it offers and the usability.

Pros

Excellent value for the money. Contains a wealth of symbol libraries and is relatively easy to pick up.

Cons

Some of the options for line thickness, etc. can e a bit difficult to locate at first until you get used to it. The snap function barely works sometimes and works too well other times.

JR
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Juan R.

Used daily for less than 6 months

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
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Perfect for my flow chart and flowchart designs

Reviewed 5 years ago
Pros

Easy to use. It has a great variety of modes of modeling adapting to any type of objective that we want to define or design. Concept maps can be made. You can create all kinds of graphics that you can then use in your presentations by exporting to PowerPoint. It has 70 types of visualizations / diagrams, and examples and templates for almost all.

Cons

It can be tested without limit for a while, and then its use requires an individual license, although the cost is relatively low.

TH
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Teddy H.

Used daily for less than 6 months

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend8/10

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The perfect software for edit and modify with vector tools

Reviewed 5 years ago
Pros

This is the best software if you want and need to edit segment of a picture or image, because is pretty easy to use, the tools are very friendly and you can even work a pixel level with the maximum zoom and the results are awesome.

Cons

It is a very heavy software and demands many resources of your computer you need a very high speed ram memory and a good video card to get the most of this software.

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Jebin P.

Information Technology and Services, 11-50 employees

Used monthly for 2+ years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend8/10

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SmartDraw - Review

Reviewed a year ago

Very happy with overall experience with smartdraw. So never got the chance to think about an alternative.

Pros

Its an essential tool especially in IT Field to design network topology. Almost everything is there in templates to make the diagram more presentable and selfexplanatory.

Cons

Nothing at the moment as negative. Never changed to any other software for network design drawing.

BJ
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Brian J.

Consumer Goods, 201-500 employees

Used weekly for 1-2 years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend5/10

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SmartDraw

Reviewed 4 years ago

Not the best drawing software on the market but decent for simple work

Pros

SmartDraw is straightforward and easy to learn.

Cons

Advertised as free but is only a free trial. Functionality is limited to simple drawings

MP
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Mercedes P.

Used weekly for less than 6 months

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When I want to work with flowcharts and creating graphics, this is the best app!!

Reviewed 5 years ago
Pros

It is an unbeatable visual processor that uses complex algorithms to generate various types of graphics. This allows you to create flowcharts, other diagrams, calendars, flowcharts, family trees, architectural plans, maps and other types of graphics to make presentations. It has many templates needed to create items quickly. It also provides export options to other productivity applications including Adobe Reader, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel.

Cons

Having a computer with enough processing capacity and memory so that it does not become slow to work in this application because it requires a lot of resources.

GD
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Gabriela Del valle G.

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This simple tool allows to design powerful diagrams of any nature.

Reviewed 5 years ago
Pros

It offers a user-friendly interface which contains a categorization of diagrams that can be made from this tool. It is as easy as selecting the type of diagram and beginning to build it by embedding the elements or forms that make it up.

Cons

Try to install it and it was very slow download and installation, which I think may also be caused by the quality of Internet service and the potential of the computer you are using.

JK
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Judy K.

Management Consulting, self-employed

Used monthly for 2+ years

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend10/10

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Great program to help me offer the unexpected services.

Reviewed 4 years ago

I use SmartDraw to prepare various flowcharts for my training sessions; check lists for processes; use for experiments of room flow for work space placement.

Pros

Easy to use, well documented help tutorial.

Cons

I would like a print preview screen. .

KJ
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Kyle J.

Education Management, 51-200 employees

Used monthly for 6-12 months

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Overall Rating
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend8/10

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Good cheaper alternative to Microsoft Visio

Reviewed 5 years ago

Quickly create professional quality diagrams.

Pros

Very affordable compared to Visio and if needed you can even export into Visio which is cool. You can create complex flowchart across most Operating Systems either from the desktop application or through the web browser. Very user friendly to not much holding new users from getting started quickly.

Cons

Finicky when trying to be very precise where you want even with snap-to grids can be a problem. Also can be a resource hog on both the desktop and browser version.

DD
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Douglas D.

Used monthly for 6-12 months

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Diagrams and Flowcharts made easy

Reviewed 5 years ago
Pros

SmartDraw gives us the ability to create custom workflow charts for various processes in our business. It is easy to use without being a graphics disign person. I like that it design library has an adequate amount of shapes and symbols for our processes.

Cons

I have problems making changes or additions to charts at times when I started with free trial. Had to buy individual license before i was able to finish learning to use.