PlantUML.com
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Developers and docs teams should use it . it's free, open source, and diagrams live as versionable text.
Comparison
PlantUML.com vs PlantText
PlantUML.com and PlantText both land on Worth it.
PlantText
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're a developer or student who wants fast, text-based UML diagrams in a browser . the core is free and Pro is only $6/month.
| Compare | PlantUML.com | PlantText |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Worth it |
| Best for | Developers diagramming architecture as code | Developers documenting software architecture |
| Who it's not for | Non-technical teams wanting drag-and-drop drawing | Anyone wanting drag-and-drop visual diagramming |
| Privacy | A few public CVEs, mostly affecting server deployments; patch promptly and avoid exposing servers unpatched.³ | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed. |
| Support quality | No support evidence found | Email support from two-person team |
| Public sentiment | Public sources describe PlantUML as a versatile, comprehensive free text-based diagramming tool popular with developers for documentation.⁶ | Developers on Reddit and blogs praise PlantText as the fastest way to turn PlantUML text into diagrams. |
| Biggest gotcha | Fedora 2024 high-severity type-confusion fixes; run the latest release⁵ | Support is email-based from a two-person bootstrapped team |
Pick PlantUML.com when
- Developers diagramming architecture as code
- Docs-heavy engineering teams
- Teams versioning diagrams in Git
- Anyone wanting free UML with no licenses
When PlantUML.com is not a fit
- Non-technical teams wanting drag-and-drop drawing
- Buyers needing vendor support or SLAs
- Polished exec-deck diagrams . use a presentation tool
- Overkill for one-off flowcharts . a whiteboard does it
Pick PlantText when
- Developers documenting software architecture
- Docs-as-code and Git-based workflows
- Students learning UML
- Quick browser-based diagram edits
When PlantText is not a fit
- Anyone wanting drag-and-drop visual diagramming
- Non-technical teams making diagrams for slides
- Enterprises needing vendor SLAs and dedicated support
- Anyone pasting highly sensitive designs into hosted cloud tools
Sources
- PlantUML official siteplantuml.comofficial
- PlantUML security pageplantuml.comofficial
- CVE-2022-1231 . NVDnvd.nist.govsecurity
security
- Fedora 40 PlantUML type-confusion advisorylinuxsecurity.comsecurity
- Mermaid vs. PlantUML comparisongleek.ioreview
- Edrawmax PlantUML reviewedrawmax.wondershare.comreview
- GitLab PlantUML integration docsdocs.gitlab.comofficial
- PlantUML crowdfunding pageplantuml.comofficial
- Reddit r/programming threadreddit.comreview
- TheirStack: 40 APAC companies use PlantUMLtheirstack.comnews
- Slack PlantUML rendererslack.comofficial
official
- Announcing PlantText Problog.planttext.comofficial
- PlantText Version 22.7blog.planttext.comofficial
- PlantText Problog.planttext.comofficial