And you can attach (multiple!) documents as well in the creation of the file.
Overall, macro.com is the winner with their free plan and paid plans having all of the same features for generating and editing diagrams. It’s nice to have this in the flow of AI Chat (Macro is a complete chat tool, instead of having to depart to another app):
Figjam added a simple AI tools recently as pictured below. It’s just a text input no documents ❌. The diagram tool is really nice and editable and collaborative, so that’s a big plus.
Figjam generally is a great mind-mapping tool but isn’t the best for technical diagrams, so you may prefer this for brainstorming but not for questions like “generate me a hierarchical diagram of the legal entities in this contract,” which it couldn’t do anyways without attachments.
Figma’s iterating on diagrams is not so good. After the above image I asked “make it more detailed” referring to my diagram on ATP / key concepts in biology. Here’s what the output looks like… Not very good; instead of making the diagram more detailed it gave me another diagram with some useless content that wasn’t related to my query.
So I think that’s a definitive no on “can it edit existing diagrams” ❌.
Edit: After more testing, I think what’s going on here is that it’s completely unable to edit existing diagrams and instead always creates new content. I guess that’s fair since the modal says “Generate” but it does really reduce the scope of the feature.
Miro has a really great implementation of AI generation as screenshotted below. You can choose between generating a bunch of sticky notes, an image, a document (TIL Miro has documents!) and under diagrams there are a few different types Miro can generate: flowcharts, mindmaps, ER diagrams, UML sequence and UML classes. Not really sure what those last few are but I chose to create a flowchart to match what we did before in the Figjam AI tool for a fair compare.
Again I asked the bio question relating to ATP and here’s its output. Much better than Figma in my opinion. More readable and just better (though my knowledge of the subject is limited).
Now let’s try editing this document… failure. It started talking about a different topic entirely unrelated to biology, and it wasn’t able to edit the existing node graph.
Maybe I did that wrong? Let’s try something else: highlighting a node and hitting the button that looked AI-coded. Yep, that’s it. But it doesn’t seem to be able to edit the existing diagram either.
Here’s a full list of all the general purpose tools we considered here. By that we mean tools that are targeted at generic whiteboard, diagram, 2D canvas-type use cases as opposed to specific industries. We didn’t feature all the tools because they don’t all meet our bar, and we had limited time and space here, but for reference:
Tool | Key Features ⚙️ | Pricing & Access 💲 | Pros ✅ | Cons ❌ | Best For |
Macro | Infinite canvas, embed documents on the canvas | Free, $20 or additional plans | Simple, embed files on canvas, best AI overall | Advanced color and styling options | Overall best |
Miro | Infinite canvas, real-time collaboration, AI-generated diagrams from text | Free (3 boards); Starter ~$8/user/month; Business ~$16/user/month; Enterprise via sales | Versatile; excellent collaboration; robust integrations | Steep learning curve; free plan is limited | Teams needing flexible, live whiteboarding |
FigJam | Intuitive whiteboard with AI (Jambot) for diagram generation, seamless Figma integration | Free (up to 3 files); Pro ~$5/editor/month; Enterprise via sales | Engaging interface; ideal for design teams; quick ideation | Limited advanced diagramming tools | Product/design teams for brainstorming & flowcharts |
Excalidraw | Hand-drawn style, simple interface, open source, real-time link sharing | Free; Excalidraw+ ~$7/user/month | Simple; free and open source; privacy-friendly | Lacks built-in advanced AI features | Quick sketches and informal collaboration |
draw.io (diagrams.net) | Extensive shape libraries, smart AI templates, cloud storage integration | Completely free, self-serve | Comprehensive diagram types; no cost | Less polished UI; limited real-time co-editing | Users needing a full-featured free diagram tool |
Lucidchart | Professional-grade diagrams, data linking, AI text-to-diagram generation | Free tier (limited); Individual ~$7.95–$9/month; Teams & Enterprise via self-serve or sales | Robust feature set; powerful automation and integration | Higher cost; steeper learning curve | Business/technical professionals for formal diagrams |
Whimsical | Clean, guided interface; fast AI-generated flowcharts/mind maps | Free (limited); Pro ~$10/editor/month; Org ~$20/editor/month | Intuitive; polished visuals; efficient for idea mapping | Fewer diagram types available | Teams needing clear, quick diagrams and mind maps |
SmartDraw | Extensive templates (70+ types), automated formatting, industry-specific content | Individual ~$9.95/month; Team pricing available; Enterprise via sales | Broad range of templates; automated layouts | Outdated UI; more expensive than free alternatives | Professionals across diverse industries (engineering, org charts, etc.) |
And here are tools that might be better for your specific use case, although to be frank some of these tools are more marketing-tailored than they are product-tailored. In other words, they may have icon packs or other niceties that are specific to the industry, and some industry-specific jargon, but otherwise are generic tools. That might be what you’re looking for though!
We were not able to test some of these tools because they aren’t self-serve.
Tool | Key Features ⚙️ | Pricing & Access 💲 | Pros ✅ | Cons ❌ | Best For |
StructureFlow | Auto-generates finance/legal structure diagrams from data; tailored shapes for entities | Enterprise pricing; contact for quote | Tailored for corporate structures; strong data integration | Niche use; high cost | Finance, legal, M&A professionals |
Jigsaw | Visualizes complex connections in investigative data; AI hints for linking entities | Enterprise pricing; contact for quote | Data-rich, ideal for investigations | Limited to investigative work; evolving platform | Investigators, fraud analysts, legal teams |
IcePanel | Model-driven architecture (C4) diagrams, real-time updates from code/data | Free tier for small teams; Paid ~$20+/editor/month; Enterprise options | Ensures consistency across diagrams; developer-friendly | Requires discipline; narrow focus | Software architects and development teams |
Ayoa | AI-powered mind mapping with task management, multiple visual views | Free plan available; Paid ~$10–$13/user/month | Boosts creative ideation; combines mind maps with task boards | Not suited for formal diagrams | Business strategists and creative teams |
Overall, Macro.com was the best across our 4-dimention matrix for evaluating these tools. It can generate the first draft of a diagram (called Canvas in Macro), it can then edit it and it’s free. It works in the larger context of the Macro app where you can work with PDFs, docs, images, etc., and then these files can be embedded on the canvas which is great for reducing context switching and making sure word product reflects your mind-map, if that’s what you’re using it for.