Creately vs SmartDraw

Creately

• Teams that mix flowcharts, mind maps and whiteboards on one canvas
• Larger groups that want a flat price for unlimited users on Business
• Organizations that need on-premise hosting or regional data residency
• Teachers and students, who can request discounted pricing

SmartDraw

• Floor plans, site plans and other scaled layouts without CAD software
• Police and fire departments documenting scenes and pre-incident plans
• Organizations replacing Visio or Lucidchart across many users
• Teams that keep files in OneDrive, SharePoint or Google Drive

Creately

• The Free plan allows 45 items per canvas, 1 folder and 2 imports.
• Starter and Team cap a canvas at 1,000 and 1,500 items; databases, guest access, custom templates and the Microsoft Teams integration start at Business.
• The vendor's pages list no desktop or mobile apps; Creately is used in a web browser.
• Enterprise and on-premise deployment have no public price and are quoted by sales.

SmartDraw

• There is no free plan; the free trial lasts 7 days.
• SmartDraw is sold only as an annual license, and the vendor says it does not offer a monthly payment plan.
• The $7.95 and $6.95 prices on the buy page are introductory prices for new customers; the regular price shown is $10.95.
• The Team plan has a 3-user minimum, and SSO and multiple shared folders need the Enterprise license.

Creately

Canvas for diagrams and whiteboards

One canvas handles flowcharts, mind maps, org charts, UML, ERDs and freeform whiteboards. The free plan lists 50 professional diagram types and paid plans list 70.

AI diagram drafts

Describe a process, structure or set of ideas and the AI lays out a first version made of editable shapes and connectors. AI Diagrams is listed from Starter up.

Real-time collaboration

Several people edit a canvas together with live cursors and comments. Version history covers 30 days on Starter and Team and 1 year on Business.

Databases and data sync

Business adds 50 databases with 500 items each, two-way sync with Excel and Google Sheets, and project management tools.

Template library and toolkits

Premium templates and shape libraries come with paid plans, and Business adds HR, product, IT and process toolkits plus custom templates.

Enterprise and on-premise options

Enterprise offers data residency in the United States, Australia, the EU and the Middle East, and Creately On-Prem runs inside a customer's private infrastructure.

SmartDraw

Floor plans and scaled drawings

Draw a plan to scale from scratch, or import a PDF or a Google Map and add a scaled layout on top, using libraries of industry-standard symbols.

General diagramming

Templates cover flowcharts, org charts, mind maps, project charts, and engineering and IT diagrams, and they adjust connections and layout automatically as items are added.

Diagrams generated from data

Built-in data visualizers produce AWS and Azure architecture diagrams, org charts, ERDs, class diagrams, timelines and Jira reports from imported data.

Collaboration and whiteboarding

People invited by link edit the same document with labeled cursors, and whiteboarding tools add sticky notes, emojis, a pen and highlighter, and a session timer.

Storage in your own systems

Files can be saved directly to OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive, Dropbox or Box, using the folders and permissions an organization already has.

SmartDraw AI and MCP server

SmartDraw AI generates diagrams from natural-language prompts, and an MCP server lets Claude or ChatGPT create floor plans and diagrams that stay editable in SmartDraw.

Creately

• Free$0

  Unlimited canvases and collaborators with 45 items per canvas, standard shape libraries, 1 folder and 2 imports.

• Starter$5

  per month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly)

  For one professional: 1,000 items per canvas, premium shape libraries and templates, 20 folders, AI Diagrams, PDF and SVG export, and 30-day version history.

• Team$5

  per user / month, billed annually ($8 billed monthly)

  Multiple named users with 1,500 items per canvas, 30 folders, advanced collaboration, chat support and an account management portal.

• Business$89

  per month, billed annually ($149 billed monthly)

  Flat price for unlimited users: 3,000 items per canvas, 100 folders, 50 databases, guest access, Microsoft Teams integration and 1-year version history.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Quoted by sales, with an on-premise option for organizations that need to host Creately on their own infrastructure.

SmartDraw

• Individual$10.95

  per month, billed annually

  A single-user license. New customers are shown an introductory price of $7.95 a month in place of the regular $10.95.

• Team$10.95

  per user / month, billed annually

  3-user minimum, with team admin controls, 1 shared team folder, document retention and premium support. Introductory price of $6.95 for new customers.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Everything in Team plus SSO, multiple shared folders, a custom company theme and a dedicated success manager. Advertised from $99 per user per year.

Creately

• Annual discount

  Save $36 a year with annual billing

  Starter and Team cost $5 a month when billed annually against $8 billed monthly, which the pricing page labels as saving $36 a year. Business drops from $149 to $89 a month.

• Education

  Discounted pricing for teachers and students

  Creately's pricing FAQ says teachers and students can request discounted pricing with a school or college email address. The size of the discount is not stated.

SmartDraw

• Other savings

  Introductory price for new customers

  The buy page offers new customers $7.95 a month for Individual and $6.95 per user a month for Team, billed annually, against a crossed-out $10.95. No end date is given.