Gliffy vs SmartDraw (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Gliffy if

• Fits if your team already writes its documents in Confluence
• Works for a team of up to 10 that wants free diagrams there

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you do not use Confluence, since the pricing page covers Confluence apps only
• Pricey if your instance is large: the price follows the size of your Confluence users, not who draws
• Watch out: on Confluence Cloud, diagrams become read-only if the licence is not renewed
• Watch out: all purchases and renewals go through Atlassian
• Watch out: the Zero Egress price is shown as an as-low-as figure

Pick SmartDraw if

• Fits if you need floor plans or site plans to scale but don't want CAD software
• Works for teams whose files have to stay in their own OneDrive, SharePoint or Google Drive

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to pay monthly, since it's sold only as an annual license
• Pricey if you're watching the bill, at a regular $10.95 a month when the middle here is $8.33
• Tight if you're a team of two, because the Team plan starts at 3 users
• Watch out: the $7.95 and $6.95 prices are introductory, and there's only a 7-day trial with no free plan
• Not for you if you want a desktop or phone app, or SSO below the Enterprise license

Gliffy

• The pricing page covers Confluence apps only, and all purchases, renewals and upgrades go through Atlassian.
• Prices are per Confluence user and follow the size of your instance, not just the people who draw.
• On Confluence Cloud, diagrams become read-only if the license is not renewed.
• The Zero Egress price is shown as an as-low-as figure.

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.

Gliffy

Native Confluence diagrams

Diagrams are created inside Confluence pages and stored as attachments, as a .gliffy file and a PNG image.

Diagram types

Flowcharts, UML, BPMN, network and Mermaid diagrams are listed, with sticky notes and freehand drawing for sketching during sessions.

Import and export

Microsoft Visio and draw.io diagrams can be imported, and diagrams export as JPEG, PNG and SVG.

AI diagram generation

Gliffy added AI diagramming in 2025 and describes it as turning a text prompt into a diagram in Gliffy for Confluence.

Zero Egress edition

A second app keeps diagram data inside the Atlassian environment, and lists ITAR, GDPR, HIPAA and SOC 2 compliance.

Searchable text

All text inside diagrams is searchable from Confluence.

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.

Gliffy

• Confluence app, up to 10 users$0

  Free with no time limit for up to 10 users, with unlimited diagrams on Confluence Cloud.

• Confluence app, 11-100 users$3.80

  per user / month, billed annually

  Unlimited diagrams, flowchart, UML, BPMN, network and Mermaid support, plus exports to JPEG, PNG and SVG. Bought and renewed through Atlassian.

• Gliffy Zero Egress$2.80

  per user / month, shown as an as-low-as price

  For security-focused teams: no diagram data leaves the Atlassian environment, and it works with Atlassian Government Cloud and Isolated Cloud. Up to 100 users listed.

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.

Gliffy

• Annual discount

  Annual billing

  Gliffy says apps are billed annually at a discount of 12 months for the price of 10 when the Confluence host product is on annual billing.

• Education

  Academic and open-source licenses

  Atlassian offers special licenses for academic institutions and the open-source community, which Gliffy says extend to Marketplace apps.

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.