AI that follows your standards
Presets of rules, templates and reference architectures shape every diagram Eraser AI draws. draw.io’s AI starts from scratch each time.
The AI-native draw.io alternative
Generate any diagram in seconds, from AI or your live systems, and bring your draw.io files with you.
Eraser vs draw.io
How Eraser compares to draw.io
draw.io is a free, open-source drawing tool, and it now drafts diagrams with AI too. Eraser goes further: frontier AI models that follow your team’s standards, diagrams drawn from your live cloud accounts, CMDB and code, and real-time collaboration on every plan. It still reads and writes draw.io files.
| Compare | Eraser | draw.io  |
|---|---|---|
| AI diagramming | Supported: Yes Powered by frontier models: architecture, network, cloud, process and more | Supported: Yes Built-in Generate tool; off by default in Confluence |
| Edit with AI | Supported: Yes Describe the change; the diagram updates | Supported: Yes Attach a diagram or selection and describe the change |
| AI follows your standards | Supported: Yes Presets of rules, templates, reference architectures and brand styles | Not supported: No Admins can set custom prompts; no rules, templates or references for the AI |
| MCP server for AI agents | Supported: Yes AI assistants and coding agents, like Claude, Copilot and others, can create, read and update diagrams | Partially supported: Create only Official server creates and opens diagrams; no tool to edit an existing one |
| Generate diagrams from live cloud environments |
| Not supported: No Only through a third-party Cloudcraft export |
| Generate diagrams from CMDBs and EA tools |
| Not supported: No |
| Generate diagrams from codebases |
| Not supported: No Git repositories are storage only |
| Expandable views | Supported: Yes Click into any box to open its own view, then move from a system overview down through layers of detail | Partially supported: Partial Multiple pages, page links, layers and collapsible containers |
| Animations | Supported: Yes Animated flows show how a request or data moves step by step, so processes are easier to follow | Partially supported: Connectors only Animated flow on connectors |
| Real-time collaboration | Supported: Yes On every plan, in the browser, with comments and unlimited free guests | Partially supported: Depends on storage Live on Google Drive, OneDrive and Confluence Cloud; not for files on your device, Dropbox or GitHub |
| Docs and diagrams in one file | Supported: Yes A note editor with embedded diagrams and wikilinks | Not supported: No Diagrams only |
| Diagram as code | Supported: Yes Edit as text, or drag on the canvas | Partially supported: Mermaid import Converted to shapes and regenerated from the stored source, not edited as live text |
| Deployment options |
| Supported: Yes Self-host with Docker, or run the offline desktop app |
The difference
Why teams choose Eraser over draw.io
Diagrams of what actually exists
Connect AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, a CMDB, a codebase or any other data source and Eraser draws what is really running. draw.io only gets cloud data through a third-party export.
Real-time collaboration, built in
Edit together in the browser on every plan, with comments and unlimited guests. In draw.io, live editing depends on where the file is stored.
Switching
Bring your draw.io diagrams with you
Moving off draw.io does not mean redrawing years of diagrams by hand, or leaving draw.io users behind.
Drop a .drawio file into AI chat and Eraser redraws it as a native, editable diagram, here as an AWS architecture. You can also drop it straight onto the canvas to convert it as is.
Frequently asked questions
-
Can I import my draw.io files into Eraser?
Yes. Drop a
.drawiofile onto the canvas, or import it, and Eraser converts it into a native, editable diagram. You can also upload it to the AI sidebar and file-to-diagram redraws it, for example in your team’s style. -
Can I export Eraser diagrams back to draw.io?
Yes. Select a diagram and export it as
.drawio, so teammates who still use draw.io can open it. draw.io export is available on paid plans. -
What does Eraser do that draw.io doesn’t?
Eraser’s AI follows your team’s rules, templates and reference architectures, draws diagrams from your live cloud accounts, CMDB, codebase and any other data source, and lets your team edit together in the browser on every plan, with docs alongside your diagrams.
-
Can Eraser’s AI follow our team’s standards?
Yes. AI presets bundle your rules, templates and reference architectures, so every diagram Eraser AI draws follows your notation, layout and naming.
-
Can Eraser generate diagrams with AI?
Yes. Eraser AI runs on frontier models. Describe a system, paste code or upload a file, and it drafts an architecture diagram, flowchart, ERD, sequence diagram, BPMN process or almost any other diagram, and you can keep editing it by prompt, as code or on the canvas.
-
Can Eraser draw diagrams from my live infrastructure?
Yes. Connect AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, a CMDB such as ServiceNow, VMware, Cisco networks, a Git repository and other data sources, and Eraser draws architecture diagrams from what you actually run. Live data sources are available on paid plans.
-
Does Eraser provide an MCP server?
Yes. The Eraser MCP server lets an agent create, search, read, update and export diagrams from clients like Claude, Cursor, VS Code and ChatGPT. It is free to use, subject to the AI credit limits of your plan. See the MCP client catalog for setup instructions.
-
Can I trust my data with Eraser?
Eraser is committed to enterprise-grade security. We are SOC II type 2 certified and annually penetration tested. Security documentation is available on our trust portal, or reach out to hello@eraser.io. Additionally Eraser will never use user data for training models. Nor will our LLM API providers.
Diagram in seconds with Eraser
Stop dragging boxes. Import a draw.io file or generate your first diagram for free.