Lucidchart vs Visio comparison

Lucid Software and Microsoft are both solutions in the Mind Mapping Software category. Lucid Software is ranked #2 with an average rating of 10.0, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.0. Lucid Software holds a 24.0% mindshare in MMS, compared to Microsoft’s 30.5% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Lucid Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Lucidchart

Read 54 Lucidchart reviews

787 Views
703 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Visio

Read 106 Visio reviews

1,365 Views
1,094 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Lucidchart

Visio

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 27, 2025

Visio and Lucidchart compete in the diagramming software category. Lucidchart holds an advantage due to its intuitive design and collaborative features favorable for remote teams.

Features: Visio offers seamless integration with Microsoft Office and a vast library of shapes and templates, supporting BPMN 2.0 for standardization. Lucidchart is known for its intuitive design, collaborative features, and flexibility in creating complex diagrams.

Room for Improvement: Visio could enhance by adding XPDL support and improving pen input capabilities. It also needs better integration with non-Microsoft tools. Lucidchart could improve by adding features for Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) creation and improving process organization layers. Both can enhance third-party tool integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Visio is mainly used on-premises with a cloud option, catering to enterprise environments with Microsoft products. Its customer service quality varies by support plan. Lucidchart is cloud-based, simplifying deployment for public cloud environments. Customer support is generally efficient, with easy access and issue resolution.

Pricing and ROI: Visio is priced higher, especially the professional version, offering potential ROI through integration with Microsoft tools for process documentation efficiency. Lucidchart offers competitive pricing for individual users and small teams, delivering ROI through collaboration and ease of use.

To learn more, read our detailed Lucidchart vs. Visio Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Lucidchart vs. Visio

April 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Lucidchart

Ranking in Mind Mapping Software

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Visual Collaboration Platforms (3rd)

Visio

Ranking in Mind Mapping Software

1st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

106

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Mind Mapping Software category, the mindshare of Lucidchart is 24.0%, up from 18.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Visio is 30.5%, down from 32.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Mind Mapping Software

Featured Reviews

MichaelChirinian

Data Engineer at Mindmap

Intuitive, integrates well, and is a great way to change text into visual ideas

I'm not a super user, and there might be a way of doing it that I haven't explored, but I was looking for some specific icons that are just standard icons, and I found the icon library to be very focused on architecture icons. It didn't have as many standard or generic icons. Another thing that somewhat irritated me is the fact that there is a paste function in the menu, but when you right-click and select paste, it tells you that you can't use paste. You must press Command-V or Apple-V to paste. They give you a menu option to paste, but every time you use that, they say, "We don't accept it." On top of that, normally, you'd have an option for paste or paste values, but when you use the paste function, you don't have that capability. So, to copy text from one place, I have to use Command-V to paste it, but if I don't like the format, I've got to go back and do copy style and then paste style on top of that. It is a small detail, but when you're doing diagrams, it is annoying that they don't support paste values. It is a small irk. I'm not penalizing it, and I still think it is a five-star product. In terms of other bigger things, I don't really have any comments or criticism so far.

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Tugrul TASCI

IT Professor at Sakarya University

We have seen return on investment in the form of time savings but should have more design tools

I am generally using Visio to create some diagrams Visio should implement more complex tools or graphics to facilitate processing and use flexible templates. It should allow users to easily drag and drop some previously created diagrams. The tools supplied or provided are very basic, and there…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The organizational charts for visualizing and understanding team hierarchies and relationships are the reason why we purchased the package that would allow me to do more with it. I tried to find all the cheap ways to do things but the ease of access and the already preset structure that Lucidchart had in place made it easier. Out of all the choices that I saw come across my desk, Lucidchart was the best and easiest choice."

"The best part of Lucidchart is its comfortableness when sharing it with my teammates. Lucidchart provides me a folder for my ERD. I can make a dozen lists of my chart, then share them with my teammates easily through the diagrams of Lucidchart. This is their main comfortableness, which is the reason why I choose Lucidchart rather than some other chart program."

"Documenting complicated workflows and technology integrations so that we can go back to it has also been a benefit. And without having to dig into a lot of technical, the codes, the documents, I can simply understand on a high level what's happening."

"The wireframe and mock-up features have been the most useful so far. It's easy to create the mock-ups and then communicate to our development team what they need to look like. Lucidchart's capabilities for visualizing and understanding process flows or workflows is very good as well. I'm able to easily use any style of box that I need to create on a flowchart, to effectively communicate to our development team."

"Lucidchart's ability to create a visualization that people prefer to look at, over reading written documents, has definitely saved me a lot of time. Moreover, it has helped to make my code bug-free because I no longer have broken endpoints."

"Lucidchart is a 10 out of 10 when it comes to documenting things such as processes, systems, and new teams. It's just so user-friendly. The fact that even if you've never used Lucidchart, if you take a template and adapt it, you'll inevitably find something to fit your needs, but it's also perfect for building from scratch. It's the ease of use, clarity, and the different functionalities that make it incredibly useful."

"I love the simplicity and how clean all the different boxes, arrows, and charts can be. Especially with something complicated like our sales flow, it could be really easy to be all cluttered and everything like that, but my favorite feature is how clean it is, how straightforward it makes our flow look, and how easy it is to understand. Lucidchart accommodates both Mac and PC users which is important to us because at my company right now, our sales floor and then every other computer we have as a company is a Mac, but a lot of our employees actually have PCs and Android as well. So it's really beneficial because if we're ever on the go or we need to make a change, it's versatile and is open for both Mac and PC."

"The most valuable features are the different templates that they have already created, as well as all the different shapes you can use in the process charts because each shape stands for a different element or thing that's being done. It's easy to distinguish between different steps using the already set-out shapes."

More Lucidchart pros

"The fact that it's on-premises allows you to get fantastic speed. It's got a faster response rate, it doesn't lag, and it doesn't have any latency when you're working on it."

"On the scalability front, the aspect of increasing the number of endpoints is relatively easy to handle."

"It is a standard and easy-to-use solution from Microsoft, and you benefit from the general functions of Microsoft solutions. It integrates easily with SharePoint, which is a useful tool from Microsoft."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to draw models quickly."

"I find the control flow and settings features valuable."

"I like the solution's ease of use and its the integration with different templates from a variety of manufacturers."

"The fact that you could program in VBA is most valuable."

"The most valuable features are that the user experience is simple, and it's customizable."

More Visio pros

Cons

"The layering is something that can be improved because sometimes, it is confusing for me when I'm trying to get to the layer that I want to edit."

"Lucid should create some proper documentation and video tutorials to demonstrate the capabilities of the product to new users. It should explain everything that it offers and everything that it can be used for."

"It would be helpful if there were different options available for organizing the folders, such as having a high-level display with pictures."

"Sometimes, I have created charts with a lot of layers, which locks down parts of the chart and hides parts of the chart to edit it. If they have a better way to deal with specific layers when it gets complex, then that would be helpful. I would like to see something like an illustrator program, where they have a pallet of these layers that I want and don't want as well as being able to see each layer individually. That is the one thing that could be helpful."

"I would like an on-premises version of the software that I can just download and use. I think that it's easier that way."

"One area for improvement is the fact that I had to create two sheets. I had to create a process flow diagram, and I had to create a timeline. I wasn't able to do that in one sheet. If they could add that kind of feature, where you could input a timeline and different types of templates into one worksheet, that would be really useful. I had to include two and then cut and paste, and that was an extra step for me."

"It would be nice to have more features that help me visually present information. Since I use it as a canvas, my use case for it is probably very specific. I use it as a way to present information to people visually on a large mind map. So, it would be nice to be able to have more graphical things to clean it up, like a header, banners, or something to help draw attention to certain areas. I would also like more infographic-like features, because I am kind of limited to float chart shapes. This makes the solution a little cumbersome."

"Lucidchart subset their older components or something like that had happened. I don't entirely know the totality of it, but we were forced to upgrade to a different integration with Lucid than what we had. I've had a lot of frustrations with that because I've lost a lot of diagrams. I can't get them back and I'm getting pop-ups that are showing me that our data will be loading and I can't run four or five years of my engineering diagrams"

More Lucidchart cons

"The solution should be included in Microsoft Office 365. For some reason, it's not. It should be bundled in with everything else."

"I would like to be able to present diagrams in multiple ways, such as a Swimlane diagram."

"The product's installation phase can be a difficult process if you don't have the deployment script with you since it is very important to know what you are doing when you are dealing with the setup process."

"It's a very large install that uses many gigabytes."

"The improvement I want to see in Visio is being able to edit it more quickly, particularly when pulling it out of another software and then editing it on that non-Visio software. Currently, the process affects the overall performance because it's not as quick as I want it to be."

"It requires a lot of skill to get into it."

"The solution could improve by making it more modern."

"System architecture could be improved."

More Visio cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I was using the free version of Lucidchart, which was very helpful."

"The pricing and licensing are fine, though I wish they didn't require you to buy the licenses in batches of five."

"The pricing is very reasonable, and they have a free trial available that you can play with."

"The price of this product is a little bit high. It is probably 20% higher than what I expected to pay for such a solution."

"We chose Lucid based on the price comparison between it and draw.io... Lucidchart was about 15 percent cheaper per user... I was surprised to learn that it came with a separate subscription model and was not included in my existing Lucidchart subscription."

"The price and licensing are good."

"There is a nominal charge for the paid version of the product. They have a free version available and from what I could see, there was not much difference between it and the pro version."

"I have a subscription as an individual user for one year, and it is not expensive."

More Lucidchart pricing and cost advice

"I don't have any issue with the pricing. It has a subscription-based model, and the subscription is done on a yearly basis. Of course, we need internal approvals in place."

"The pricing of Visio is much better. It has a free version of the cheapest functionality which is enough for us."

"The pricing is reasonable and I would rate it 6 out of 10."

"The solution could be less expensive."

"I believe Visio to be priced pretty reasonably."

"Cloud-based tools are always cheaper since they are subscription-based. I use the on-premises version of Visio hence the price is quite expensive. However, I believe that the cloud version of Visio may not be as expensive as the on-premises version."

"Visio is included with our Microsoft enterprise license."

"There is a licensing fee, but it is fairly priced."

More Visio pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

LucidChart vs LucidSpark for brainstorming sessions over Zoom

Hi @Krista Thompson - Yes, LucidSpark is a much more nimble and, in some ways, user-friendly tool than LucidChart. LucidSpark is designed to do a better job managing multiple users participating ...

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Do you recommend Lucidchart?

I definitely recommend Lucidchart. I feel it is one of the top visual collaboration platforms that’s available on the market. Out of all the solutions I have tried, it is by far the best for diagra...

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How easy is it to migrate process flow charts (modeled using tools like Visio) into Bizagi?

I have been using Bizagi with a major project for a state government agency for about four years now. It is pretty straightforward to load in files that are BPMN 2.0 compliant. The option to load V...

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What do you like most about Visio?

The diagrams Visio creates are quite impressive in the sense that we can cooperate with more colleagues in one task and see the flow of the process.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Visio?

One of the main problems with Visio is its licensing options and associated issues, which lead to discussions about the price with a Microsoft representative. If asked to rate the price, I would gi...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 16% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs Lucidchart

Compared 10% of the time

Visual Paradigm vs Lucidchart

Compared 9% of the time

erwin Data Modeler by Quest vs Lucidchart

Compared 8% of the time

Bizagi vs Lucidchart

Compared 8% of the time

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Bizagi vs Visio

Compared 21% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs Visio

Compared 12% of the time

Visual Paradigm vs Visio

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Blueworks Live vs Visio

Compared 8% of the time

Camunda vs Visio

Compared 6% of the time

More Visio Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Lucidchart

April 2025

Download Lucidchart product report

Buyer's Guide

Visio

April 2025

Download Visio product report

Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft Visio

Overview

Our online diagram application makes it easy to sketch and share professional flowchart diagrams. From brainstorming to project management, we support all of your communication needs. That’s why millions of users choose Lucidchart.

Lucid Software

Visio is an innovative collaborative solution that enables users to quickly visualize data-connected business process flows with a host of integrated intuitive features that bring the power of Microsoft 365 to Visio. Visio allows users to easily create professional diagrams, graphs, and other visual data, easily anywhere, anytime, and with anyone. Users are able to confidently and easily transform data into creative powerful visuals. Visio provides dozens of easy-to-use templates along with thousands of customizable colorful shapes that bring a user's best ideas to life. Visio is available for all Microsoft 365 commercial users and is available on desktop and Web applications.

Visio Features

Visio can easily create visual data for today’s business needs. Some of its most useful visual data include:

Flowcharts: Users can easily bring business concepts to fruition with Visio’s robust flowchart features. Visio provides a huge library of shapes, stencils, and templates to transform numbers and data into impactful, easy-to-understand business stories.
Organizational charts: Visio makes it easy to design articulate org charts to better visualize team, reporting, and hierarchy structures. Users are then able to seamlessly share the charts with stakeholders, teams, and employees.
Network diagrams: Users are able to creatively display how a system design processes function and visually illustrate how devices and networks interact with each other using a variety of network shapes, templates, and connector tools.
Brainstorming: Visio makes brainstorming simple and actionable with a wide range of templates designed specifically for interpreting problems and mapping out solutions, including fishbone and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) diagrams.
Floor plans: Users can design ergonomic workspaces, retail store layouts, new homes, and more with accurate, scalable templates and tools to help them better visualize function, flow, and overall aesthetic appeal.
Accessible: Visio is able to integrate with a wide variety of accessibility tools, such as Narrator, Accessibility Checker, and high-contrast support, to ensure Visio diagrams are available to your entire team.

Reviews from Real Users

“Visio has improved my workflow by making it easy to create charts, diagrams, and essential illustrations to use in my client reports and proposals. It has saved me a lot of time I would otherwise spend creating visuals for clients manually.” - Michael B., Principal Consultant at Lexington Consulting

“I use it for diagramming networks, racks, data centers, data flow applications, etc. It is a useful tool to map data flows, network objects, and computer science technology and to show to clients. It does what I need it to do. It's a tool I've used the longest, so I know it the best, and that's probably the claim to fame.” - Greg S., Director of Solution Architecture at Winslow Technology Group

“We use Visio for architecture modeling. We also use it to facilitate communication with other people. The feature I like most about Visio is that it acts as a facilitator of communication, as it displays information in a way that's easier to understand.” - Guy M., IT/Business Architect at a financial services firm

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Google, Salesforce, Adobe, Whirlpool, Uber, Wal Mart, Pearson, Twitch, Riot Games, Western Union, Trimble, Starbucks

Thomas College, Hamburg Port Authority, Portigon AG, Conseil G_n_ral du d_partement des Hautes-Alpes, AAA Auto a. s., Commonwealth Financial Network, ICA, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company

Buyer's Guide

Lucidchart vs. Visio

April 2025

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