DrawNet.ai vs draw.io for network diagrams
Both run in the browser and cost nothing for personal use. draw.io draws any diagram; DrawNet.ai draws the ports.
What draw.io is
draw.io (now diagrams.net) is a free, general-purpose diagram editor. Flowcharts, org charts, UML, network topologies — it has a shape library for all of them, it runs in the browser, and it needs no account. It is genuinely good software and it is not going anywhere.
Where the two differ
A network shape in draw.io is an icon. You draw a line from one switch to another and write "Gi0/12 → Gi0/3" on it, because the switch has no ports to click. The port numbers live in the label, which means they live nowhere the diagram can check — and in practice they end up duplicated in a spreadsheet that drifts out of step within a month.
In DrawNet.ai the switch is drawn with all of its ports. You click port 12 on one and port 3 on the other, and the connection carries those numbers as data: the patching table, the CSV export and the port legend are all generated from it. The diagram is the patching documentation, so there is nothing to keep in sync.
Feature by feature
| DrawNet.ai | draw.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Physical ports drawn on each device | ✓ | — |
| Port-to-port connections as data | ✓ | — |
| Built-in patching table | ✓ | — |
| Cable path tracing | ✓ | — |
| AI diagram generation | ✓ | — |
| One-click cable auto-routing | ✓ | Straight links only |
| Visio (.vsdx) export | ✓ | — |
| Works offline as an installed app | Yes, except Tidy Links | — |
| Export PNG / SVG / PDF | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free for personal use | ✓ | ✓ |
| Runs in the browser, no account | ✓ | ✓ |
| General-purpose diagrams | — | ✓ |
When draw.io is the better choice
- You need anything other than a network diagram — a flowchart, an architecture slide, a floor plan.
- You want your diagram stored in Google Drive, Confluence or a Git repository through their integrations.
- Your network is small enough that "Switch A — Switch B" is all the detail anyone needs.
When DrawNet.ai is
When the question you need the diagram to answer is “which physical port is that on?”. Documenting a rack, a patch panel, a floor of a building, a ship or a factory line — anywhere the ports themselves are the information, and the diagram has to replace the spreadsheet rather than sit next to it.
Open the editor — no account needed