Microsoft Visio vs SmartDraw

Microsoft Visio

• Organizations already licensed for Microsoft 365
• IT, facilities and engineering teams drawing networks, floor plans or P&ID
• Process teams documenting BPMN 2.0 workflows
• Buyers who want a one-time license instead of a subscription

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

Microsoft Visio

• The desktop app's system requirements list only Windows 11, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019; on other systems Visio is limited to the web app.
• Visio Plan 1 is web and Teams only. The desktop app, BPMN 2.0, floor plans, engineering diagrams and data linking need Plan 2.
• The web app bundled with Microsoft 365 has limited templates and needs a work or school account; personal Microsoft accounts are not supported.
• Trials cover only Plan 1 and Plan 2 and require a credit card. Visio Standard 2024 and Professional 2024 have no trial version.

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.

Microsoft Visio

Templates and shape libraries

Templates, starter diagrams and stencils come with every version. Plan 1 adds thousands of shapes and Microsoft product icons, and Plan 2 opens more than 250,000 shapes.

Technical and business diagram types

Plan 1 covers cross-functional flowcharts, network, Azure and AWS, ERD and UML diagrams. Plan 2 adds BPMN 2.0, floor plans, P&ID, electrical and engineering diagrams.

Co-editing on the web and in Teams

Visio for the web and the Visio app in Microsoft Teams support real-time collaboration, commenting and sharing. Teams itself is licensed separately.

Data-linked diagrams

The desktop app links shapes to Excel workbooks, Access databases, SharePoint lists, SQL Server and other sources. The web app can only view data-linked diagrams.

Microsoft 365 integrations

Data Visualizer turns Excel process data into diagrams, Visio Visual embeds diagrams in Power BI dashboards, and diagrams can be exported to Word and PowerPoint.

Desktop app with offline support

Plan 2 includes the Visio desktop app with local file and offline support and AutoCAD file support, installable on up to five Windows PCs per user.

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.

Microsoft Visio

• Visio in Microsoft 365Included

  with Microsoft 365 commercial plans

  Web and Teams app for viewing and basic editing, with limited templates for general diagrams and basic flowcharts. Not sold separately.

• Visio Plan 1$5.00

  per user / month, paid yearly

  Web and Teams apps with thousands of shapes, cross-functional flowcharts, network, Azure and AWS, ERD and UML diagrams, mind maps and 2 GB of OneDrive storage.

• Visio Plan 2$15.00

  per user / month, paid yearly

  Adds the Windows desktop app with offline support, 250,000+ shapes, BPMN 2.0, floor plans, P&ID and electrical diagrams, and two-way data connectivity.

• Visio Standard 2024$309.99

  one-time purchase

  Non-subscription Windows desktop app with templates, thousands of shapes, in-app commenting, DWG import and org charts generated from data sources.

• Visio Professional 2024$579.99

  one-time purchase

  Adds diagram validation against BPMN 2.0 and UML 2.5 and links to live data from Excel, Access, SharePoint, SQL Server and other sources.

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.

Microsoft Visio

• Lifetime license

  Visio 2024 one-time purchase

  Visio Standard 2024 at $309.99 and Visio Professional 2024 at $579.99 are sold as one-time purchases of the Windows desktop app, with no subscription.

• Education

  Visio web app in free Office 365 A1 for schools

  Microsoft donates Office 365 A1 to eligible educational institutions at no cost, and Visio's FAQ lists Office 365 A1 among the plans that include the Visio web app.

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.