Draft1 vs Lucidchart

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan: Both have one
Public API: Both have one
Best fit: Draft1: Engineers who need architecture diagrams from Terraform or docker-compose they already have · Lucidchart: Engineering and ops teams documenting systems
Platforms: Draft1: Web · Lucidchart: Web, iOS, Android
Trust score: About even — Draft1 87, Lucidchart 90

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

Draft1Turns plain English, Terraform or a SQL schema into an editable draw.io diagram in about 20 seconds

LucidchartBrowser diagramming for flowcharts, org charts and architecture, with data-linked shapes and AI generation.

Side by side

Fact	Draft1	Lucidchart
Category	Diagramming & Whiteboards	Diagramming & Whiteboards
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	$24/mo	—
Public API	Yes	Yes
Trust score	87 / 100	90 / 100
Platforms	Web, API	Web, iOS, Android, API
Company	Draft1	Lucid Software Inc.
Last verified	Oct 16, 2026	Oct 15, 2026

What our research says

Draft1

The useful decision here is the output format: a draw.io file you can keep editing, not a PNG you have to regenerate every time something changes. Accepting Terraform, docker-compose and SQL as input means the diagram can be derived from the actual infrastructure rather than someone's memory of it. The documented API with a PATCH endpoint for iterating in plain English makes it viable as a docs-pipeline step rather than a one-off toy.

Pros

Accepts Terraform, docker-compose and SQL as input, not only prose
Output opens in draw.io and stays editable rather than being a flat picture
Covers ER, UML, Kubernetes, network, cloud, flowchart and database diagram types
Documented REST API with key auth, an OpenAPI spec and an endpoint for iterating on an existing diagram

Cons

Quotas count prompts, so failed attempts and refinements cost the same as successes
Only three free diagrams before a card is needed
Collaboration and GitHub version control are held back for the $99 per user Enterprise tier
No company registration number published, only a Paris street address in the terms

Lucidchart

The default choice for team diagramming: data-linked shapes and layers handle diagrams that outgrow a whiteboard tool, and the integration list means the diagram ends up where the work already happens. Per-seat pricing with a three-user minimum on Team makes it expensive for small groups, and Lucid keeps moving the product's URLs around.

Pros

Data-linked shapes with conditional formatting
Layers for managing dense diagrams
Lucid AI generates and summarises diagrams from prompts
Over 100 integrations including Jira, Confluence, Slack and AWS

Cons

Free tier caps editable documents to a handful
Team plan carries a three-seat minimum
Per-seat pricing, and published figures differ across Lucid's own pages

Which one fits

Choose Draft1 if you need

Engineers who need architecture diagrams from Terraform or docker-compose they already have
Teams keeping diagrams in docs that must stay editable in draw.io
Anyone automating documentation generation through an API

Choose Lucidchart if you need

Engineering and ops teams documenting systems
Org charts driven from an HR spreadsheet
Companies already on Jira, Confluence or Teams