Gleek vs Lucidchart

Gleek

If you think in text, Gleek is faster than any drag-and-drop canvas, and at 6.95 euros a month it undercuts the diagramming tools people usually reach for. The cost of the approach is its own syntax - not Mermaid, not PlantUML - so what you write here stays here.

Pros

• +Its own terse syntax covering flowcharts, UML, ERD, Gantt and user journeys
• +AI chat drafts the syntax when you do not know it
• +Git connection, shareable links and custom themes
• +Usable free tier, and Premium at 6.95 euros a month or 58.40 a year

Cons

• −Proprietary syntax rather than Mermaid or PlantUML, so diagrams are not portable
• −Free tier caps you at five files of 40 objects, stored only in the browser, with PNG export, ads and no AI chat
• −No API and no desktop application

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

Does Gleek or Lucidchart have a free tier?

Both: Gleek has a free tier, and Lucidchart has a free tier.

Which has a public API, Gleek or Lucidchart?

Lucidchart ships a public API, as of our last verification. A public API for Gleek is not confirmed by us — check its developer docs before you plan an integration.