We use Lucidchart for our sales team. It displays what our sales flow should look like from start to finish once we contact the customer, all the way through closing out a sale. It displays the whole process.
Sales Representative at a consumer goods company with 10,001+ employees
Easy to understand and enables our sales flows to look clean and straightforward
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "With the clean format and the straightforward boxes and arrows and everything like that, it makes it so you don't have to dig and you don't have to spend personal time flipping through pages, because everything is right there and super easy to read and super understandable."
- "This might already be a feature, but I remember sometimes when we're just all viewing, if you accidentally click, then there's an arrow that pops up, and you have to go back and delete it. A lot of times there are accidental arrows being drawn when really we're just trying to present to each other."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
We're a smaller company and we're trying to establish some roots. We want to get the sales flow and other aspects of the company down before expanding and trying to get new hires.
Lucidchart is really beneficial because we've been able to establish what the criteria is going to be for everyone going forward with our company. It's been an easy process to make sure that it's a universal thing, we can all decide on what it's going to look like, and make sure when a new hire does come, they can see that chart and know exactly what to expect and know exactly what to do.
What is most valuable?
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.
We use Lucidchart to collaborate among users in real-time so that everyone is accessing and working on the same version of a document. We are able to do that because instead of just crowding around one of our computers, even if we're all in the same room, we're able to see each other's mouses and make changes in real-time. That really helps because it's all about making it easier. It has really been beneficial that way.
The real-time collaboration has definitely saved us time. Even though we're still in the same room doing it, it saves time getting up and walking over to someone's computer just to huddle around there. Then if someone wanted to make changes, they would have to walk back to their computer. So even though it was still in the same room, it saves time by not having to get up and getting distracted from our computer by having to go to someone else's. It's all interactive over the cloud. It's really good.
We use Lucidchart to compare versions of documents. The primary document that we've had is the collaborative ones with our sales flow. So we haven't gotten to the stage to compare it yet. We do see the potential in doing that in the future because anytime we want to update our flow, we could always make a new document and then be able to compare and contrast. As of right now, we haven't had to do that. It's obviously something that we foresee ourselves doing in the future.
Its ability for people to look at the diagram rather than reading through written documents has saved time and as a result has also saved money because when it's in that chart, it's all right in front of you. With the clean format and the straightforward boxes and arrows and everything like that, it makes it so you don't have to dig and you don't have to spend personal time flipping through pages. Everything is right there and super easy to read and super understandable. We've been able to save us time and money.
I've only been at this job for about a month working with our sales team, but I would say instead of spending full days of work, which are usually six to eight hours, depending on the day, we're able to make that into a chart and do that in real-time in only a couple of hours, or even less. Over the course of a month, it's been able to save us around 15 hours a week, which is 60 hours so far this month.
What needs improvement?
We're still getting comfortable with it and we want to make sure that we see all the different features that it has to offer. This might already be a feature, but I remember sometimes when we're just all viewing, if you accidentally click, then there's an arrow that pops up, and you have to go back and delete it. A lot of times there are accidental arrows being drawn when really we're just trying to present to each other. That's not even that big of a problem, but definitely, something that I thought of.
Buyer's Guide
Lucidchart
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about Lucidchart. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
907,664 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I started using Lucidchart when I started my job, about a month ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't had any problems as far as it crashing or not loading fast enough. It's always been super easy to access it right away on the web-based version. So as far as availability goes, it has definitely not caused me any trouble thus far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The software is very outreaching. It has a lot of different opportunities that we as a company can use it for. As far as extendability, we can use that in not only our sales department that we're primarily using it for right now but also our marketing and customer service. It can extend to all those different types of our company as well.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support has been really straightforward and super available to us at all times, but we haven't had any issues to have to reach out to the tech support yet.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was really straightforward. My supervisor was able to explain what it was to me and it really was not hard to understand what it was and how we're using it as a company. Overall, I think it was really straightforward and super easy to understand.
What was our ROI?
As long as I've been here, it's hard to see the overall impact it's had, but my supervisor has definitely made it seem like it's been worth every penny. Exactly narrowing down how much that return on investment was, it's hard to say, but without a doubt, there has been, to some capacity, a return on that investment month after month.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Based on what I've heard from my supervisor and what he's commented on it, pricing has never been an issue. It's definitely worth what we have to pay for it.
What other advice do I have?
We're a smaller company, so we're still trying to expand all the software that we have access to, but as of now, we haven't really expanded to Atlassian, Salesforce, Microsoft, G Suite. We have been able to just share it over the cloud and make sure everyone has access to it on all their different devices. That makes it a lot easier for everyone to see it and understand it as well.
Lucidchart is unique and you're able to see the flow and see everything all at once. So comparing it to something like a PowerPoint-type thing, it's definitely a lot easier.
My advice would be to dedicate even just an hour to it because once you get that first hour to understand the different features that Lucidchart has, it's going to be a very straightforward and easy process the rest of the time. Obviously, with any software, it takes some time to learn all the different features and learn how it can best integrate with your company. Dedicate that time and make sure you put in a little effort because it's super easy, it's super clean and quick to understand, so if you just put in that little bit of time, it's going to be beneficial and it's going to make any flow that you have within your company a lot easier to teach and to delegate.
I would rate Lucidchard an eight or a nine. There are always features that any software can implement to improve. Obviously, there's always room for improvement. Overall, it's been a wonderful experience, so I'd give it an eight.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Senior Financial Analyst at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Provides real-time collaboration among users so that everyone can access and work on the same version of a document
Pros and Cons
- "Documenting things such as processes, systems, and new teams has been my primary use case. Lucidchart is really, really valuable for its ability to create a process chart from start to end. The web app makes it easy because everything is similar to other tools like Visio but Lucidchart feels a little bit more intuitive. It has been easy to use the web app. I definitely have learned a lot about how to bring in my own graphics or images in place of some of the shapes and I'm able to create and use the arrows within the processes, so it definitely has been useful for me."
- "My advice would be to be open to another product that, in the end, is just a whole lot more intuitive and easy to adopt and so much more valuable for collaboration."
- "They should continue to bring in more shapes. For example, I saw something cool the other day that was a timeline and in between each step, there was a circle. I thought that that was very clean and that's something that I could see myself using. Lucidchart could come up with more visualizations. I'm not a designer so I would like to have more visuals. That would make my job easier because it would make my job much more professional looking but without having to be a designer myself."
- "They should continue to bring in more shapes. Lucidchart could come up with more visualizations."
What is our primary use case?
I've been using Lucidchart to create process flow charts. I've been using the shapes, swimlanes, and arrows. I haven't really been doing anything too formal, but it definitely has a lot of value for our team.
I only use the diagrams. I don't really use all of the features.
How has it helped my organization?
I recently created a technology roadmap for our department, which is the finance department. We really needed a tool to be able to show what our current finance ecosystem looked like and what the future state would be. Lucidchart really allowed me to easily and independently create the before and after state so that our 10 person organization was able to visualize what our technology state is and actively collaborate on that. I was able to share the document as a PDF or as a web link. Being able to collaborate on that live was crucial for our 10 person organization.
The tool was able to let me do this particular project in half the time as Visio or half the time if I decided to do something old school in Excel. The tool is definitely empowering me to do my job more quickly and better.
Lucidchart provides real-time collaboration among users so that everyone is accessing and working on the same version of a document.
It speeds up the product development process because everyone is able to access the document in real-time and there's no issue for version control because everyone is working on the latest and greatest version at all times.
It's saved about three hours in the past month because I don't have to flip back and forth on versions. I don't have to send versions. It really just allows everything to happen in real-time.
I don't use the integration with Slack but it's a great idea. I definitely could see myself integrating it with Slack. I think that's a great feature to take advantage of.
The ability for people to look at a diagram rather than reading through written documents saves time. To put a number on it, it has probably saved around two hours because someone doesn't have to pour through a written narrative or other loose documents. This definitely has saved a lot of time for us collaborating as a team.
It has definitely helped to realize efficiencies in the project that we use it for. It visually gives us an idea of how our technology should work. It gives us a great starting place from which to then project manage our development.
What is most valuable?
The shapes are the most valuable feature. Being able to copy my own images and pasting them from outside has also been a good feature. Some of the collaboration features like exporting to PDF and then also presenting have all been pretty cool. For the price, I definitely have gotten a lot of value out of it so far.
Documenting things such as processes, systems, and new teams has been my primary use case. Lucidchart is really, really valuable for its ability to create a process chart from start to end. The web app makes it easy because everything is similar to other tools like Visio but Lucidchart feels a little bit more intuitive. It has been easy to use the web app. I definitely have learned a lot about how to bring in my own graphics or images in place of some of the shapes and I'm able to create and use the arrows within the processes, so it definitely has been useful for me.
Lucidchart's organizational charts for visualizing and understanding hierarchies and relationships are definitely something I would love to take advantage of. I understand that there are a lot of other templates ready for me to use. When I have other kinds of processes or relationships to map out, like hierarchies, I think using some of the templates would be a good use case, but I haven't had a need for that so far. I know it's there to take advantage of.
I have a good understanding and impression of the processes and workflows. It feels more intuitive than, for example, Microsoft Visio. I've used both, but I would say that Lucidchart is more intuitive, has less of a learning curve, and it especially helps me collaborate with my team because I can quickly share this as a web link. That's another feature I haven't mentioned, but that's pretty cool because even if someone doesn't have a Visio license, a Lucidchart account can also collaborate with me by looking at what they need to on the web link. That's been pretty cool so far.
I haven't yet used Lucidchart to create database schemas or modify existing data structures but as part of my role, I definitely would love to take advantage of that some time. There are a lot of cool templates that are available. I would love to take advantage of that.
I don't yet use the integrations with Atlassian, Salesforce, Microsoft, or G Suite but that's something I would also love to take advantage of. I know that a lot of those features are available.
What needs improvement?
Truly the only improvement I can think of is having the ability to export it to a PowerPoint file or slide. That would be nice to have. There are other workarounds for that, but just to be able to have that feature would be good for us. I think you can do it with the integration but I haven't taken advantage of it yet.
They should continue to bring in more shapes. For example, I saw something cool the other day that was a timeline and in between each step, there was a circle. I thought that that was very clean and that's something that I could see myself using. Lucidchart could come up with more visualizations. I'm not a designer so I would like to have more visuals. That would make my job easier because it would make my job much more professional looking but without having to be a designer myself.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Lucidchart for two and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability seems good. There's been one time so far where I didn't have my file, or I had to recover my file, so I had to refresh the browser, but overall, it's definitely very stable. Definitely much more stable than Microsoft.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's very scalable because it's called a browser-based product. It is browser-based and it is a collaboration-centered tool. So it definitely is very scalable.
It is just myself and my boss who's a director of finance that uses Lucidchart. We got the product on our own. We own it. We don't get any support from IT. It's pretty much just me and her that use it to be able to collaborate and provide feedback on what I need to do.
It does not require any maintenance that I can think of.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I switched from being a Visio user. I had used Visio a few years ago and when I started to have a need to do more diagrams, I learned about Lucidchart. I found it on my own and then I started using the free version and am now paying for it. I do find it a better experience than Visio.
It was an easy migration. I didn't really have any files to migrate, but as far as adopting it, it was easy as a user.
Lucidchart is definitely more favorable than Visio. Visio is a solid product, but from what I remember, when you're doing connectors on a diagram, you have to choose the connector in Visio, whereas, in Lucidchart, you just pick the start and the endpoint. That to me is a whole lot more useful.
How was the initial setup?
I don't have too formal a setup. As far as setting up, it's pretty much plug-and-play. Lucidchart makes it easy to adopt the product. You're not really twisting and turning and setting things up. It's plug-and-play.
It took me around five minutes to set up.
I'm a beginner. I'm using around 15% of the product but there's a lot more for me to use. That's definitely exciting.
What was our ROI?
I feel like I've gotten a lot of value. It's saved around five hours of work. Given what I make, it's probably delivered five hours of savings for not having to do other work or for not having to do other work on other tools. I would quantify it as a total savings of about five hours of work.
In the last two months, it's saved me about five hours of work.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I pay $95 a year for it. It seems like a reasonable price.
There are no additional costs to standard licensing.
What other advice do I have?
My advice would be to be open to another product that, in the end, is just a whole lot more intuitive and easy to adopt and so much more valuable for collaboration. It's good to be open to new products, especially outside of Microsoft or Google Suite. Have an open mind to other products outside of my main technology stack.
I don't yet use the other products in the Lucid suite but I definitely would. It's just going to be one at a time for me, but I definitely will be taking advantage of other features and products.
I would rate Lucidchart a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Buyer's Guide
Lucidchart
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about Lucidchart. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
907,664 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Marketing Director at a construction company with 11-50 employees
Intuitive, designed in a way that it gives you what need, and saves time and money
Pros and Cons
- "The ease of creating some of the maps and diagrams is most valuable. Lucidchart is just simpler and works more intuitively than other solutions that I have used in the past, such as Microsoft Visio. I am not in a creative role, but I know how to use Adobe Illustrator and other solutions like that. If I need to map out something that I've never mapped out before, and it is going to need a totally custom graphic, eight times out of 10, I'm going to go to Lucidchart rather than trying to build it in Illustrator. Its intuition and flexibility are really big features for me."
- "Lucidchart is just simpler and works more intuitively than other solutions that I have used in the past, such as Microsoft Visio."
- "I would really like to be able to set default appearance settings for new documents because I have a set of appearance settings that I always use. I end up setting that manually every time. There may be a way to do that, and maybe I am not able to find it. This is my only major point of feedback for improvement. There are other little nitpicky things, such as being able to lock layers without them looking like a big red line around them would be nice, but every graphic design software does that, so I understand why they have that. All my concerns are nitpicks. They're not big."
- "I would really like to be able to set default appearance settings for new documents because I have a set of appearance settings that I always use."
What is our primary use case?
There are a few different things. The main one, obviously, is creating business workflows.
I've been using its web-based version.
How has it helped my organization?
It is excellent for documenting things such as processes, systems, etc. We have a guy who is a salaried commission salesperson who was doing very dry due diligence work on real estate deals. I took what he was doing and mapped it out so that a $12 an hour temp person can do it. It is very good for that. It is also good for mapping out things like marketing campaigns to explain to clients. I also run an agency on the side, so having here's what we're going to do and let me visualize it for you has been extremely useful as well.
It is important for us that Lucidchart accommodates both MAC and PC users. We have a mix at our current company, and I have guys who work from an iPad. We're currently in the process of transitioning everyone to MAC. It has been a headache because some of the software products that we can get on a Windows computer are not available for MAC. We're a construction company first and foremost, and a lot of construction software is designed around Windows. Lucid is a huge part of my day-to-day work. I use it almost every day. It is very helpful that it is web-based, and it accommodates both MAC and PC users.
The ability for people to look at the diagram rather than reading through written documents has absolutely saved so much time, and as a result, money. For our due diligence process, I can't give a written manual to the kind of employee I have for this work and expect that employee to follow it. There's no way. Without Lucidchart, the whole project of having that employee do due diligence kind of dies because I don't have a way to show them that this is how to follow this workflow. If I'm paying somebody $12 an hour, I'm not going to expect them to be proficient at reading a technical manual. That would be a huge learning curve, but almost anyone can read a flow chart. I worked at fast food when I was 16, and I had flow charts on how to do stuff. You can give that to somebody who's very low-skilled and have them working above their skill level. It is a tool for employee growth in a way because you're able to give somebody a task that might be out of their pay grade and grow them into that role because you're able to explain it more simply.
It has definitely helped us in realizing efficiencies in our projects. Just yesterday, I was working on this due diligence project. We buy land, and when we get any land under contract, we have a period of time where we have to go and assess the land and decide if we want to buy it. It seems like you have to be an expert to do it, but it's really following a mental checklist. I got with my guy who does that, and I said, "I need you to tell me every question that you need to be answered in order to tell me if we can buy this land." He was like, "Well, this one, no." I was like, "No, you need to tell me every single question, and we'll get it on the chart." Doing that, I realized that sometimes, he's sending people out to look at stuff that he knows we can't build on. I was like, "They shouldn't be going out to look at that if you know that we can't build on it." That's an employee who is more highly paid than the person is who is going out to look at the land. That person is wasting two to three hours of their time to drive out and look at a lot that may not be buildable. That was just yesterday, and that's going to save us thousands of dollars. That's a huge time saving, which is time and money.
What is most valuable?
The ease of creating some of the maps and diagrams is most valuable. Lucidchart is just simpler and works more intuitively than other solutions that I have used in the past, such as Microsoft Visio. I am not in a creative role, but I know how to use Adobe Illustrator and other solutions like that. If I need to map out something that I've never mapped out before, and it is going to need a totally custom graphic, eight times out of 10, I'm going to go to Lucidchart rather than trying to build it in Illustrator. Its intuition and flexibility are really big features for me.
It is very flexible. I use it for creating flow charts, processes, checklists, and if this/that or decision trees kind of things. I also use it for creating social media posts such as how to have a sales conversation with a prospective client. I like tools where you start from scratch. I know there are some great templates, but I don't really use those. I'm mostly using the start from the scratch feature, but I have used templates for things like customer journeys or to get inspiration for how complicated my campaigns should be. They have been useful situationally.
In terms of user-friendliness for someone who is more of a viewer, such as a client whom I just met or who isn't technical, I'm pretty confident about sending a Lucid link or even a PDF of the document to them. They're going to understand it. It is very well designed, which makes the UI elements of Lucidchart easy for people to understand.
What needs improvement?
I would really like to be able to set default appearance settings for new documents because I have a set of appearance settings that I always use. I end up setting that manually every time. There may be a way to do that, and maybe I am not able to find it. This is my only major point of feedback for improvement. There are other little nitpicky things, such as being able to lock layers without them looking like a big red line around them would be nice, but every graphic design software does that, so I understand why they have that. All my concerns are nitpicks. They're not big.
For how long have I used the solution?
Overall, I have been using this solution for two or three years. My user account is only three or four months old because I started with a new company.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I've never had an issue with it being down or unavailable. I've never had an issue where somebody was on a device and couldn't access it.
Performance-wise, I've never really had a problem. I can't even think of a time that it had slowed down, or I've had to refresh.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Extendability-wise, I don't know how many third-party plugins or additional integrations are there, so I can't speak about that too much.
Scalability-wise, I could easily see a future where every one of our employees has a license and is using it. It would actually make our lives easier as opposed to more complicated. In that sense, I would say that it is super scalable.
Currently, I'm the only one using it as a creator or editor. Our land acquisition guy is also using it. He is just looking at it; he is not editing. Our two co-founders, our VP of operations, and our VP of construction are using it as viewers. All four people at the executive or VP level are using it. I'm a director, so I'm not quite at the VP level, and everyone else above me is using it, which is cool. We'll very soon be at a place where there are people under me who are using it. That's definitely going to happen soon, so I would say across all levels of our company, it will be used. We have maybe six people right now, but in the next couple of months, we'll be at a point where we have 10 to 15 more people using it. As we get up to that point, we would probably have more editors too.
How are customer service and technical support?
I don't think I've ever used their tech support. I haven't had a problem where I've needed it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used Visio very recently. I basically told my boss, "We either have to buy a Visio subscription or a Lucid subscription. I'm buying a Lucid subscription because I don't want to work in Visio." We're on the 365 stack, and they like us to use as much of that as possible, but I was like, "No, I'm using Lucid." I didn't have to migrate anything over.
The ease of use is the main reason for using Lucidchart. I know that Visio and Lucidchart can do similar things. For my purposes, I wouldn't even touch some of the more advanced stuff that can be done in Visio, so it doesn't make sense to me to use something that's clunkier.
One of my complaints with Visio is that it gives you a thousand different tools, but most people need just five tools. Lucidchart is designed in a way that it gives you what need for a task, and if you need more, it tells you where to find it. It's very well organized and user-friendly, so that's great. With Visio, you have a box with no organizers, shelves, or anything in it, and everything is just thrown in there. You have to know where your stuff is to know how to use it. Lucidchart provides you a little shelf for workflows if you're doing a workflow.
Another thing that I do for people is CRM object mapping, where I define the custom objects that we're going to have in a CRM and all the attributes of those objects, including other objects that an object can have in it. This would even be useful for object-oriented programmers, such as Java or C# programmers. They can also use it for such things. That's how flexible it is. I use the same tool that I use to do my workflows and process maps. It is intuitive to map out what an object has in it because it can have other objects. With Visio, I'd be spinning my wheels a lot more and looking for the right tools for that end product. Capability-wise, they are the same or very similar, but in terms of getting to that end product, it is going to be faster if I use Lucidchart.
How was the initial setup?
Its initial setup is very straightforward. It is just a matter of you basically going to the website, and it is right there. You don't even need to have used any graphic design software such as Visio. If you've used any document management tool, such as Microsoft Word, you can go into Lucid and set it up and use it very easily. It is so simple.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing-wise, it is pretty fair. I don't really know what group pricing looks like, but right now, I pay $10 a month for my Lucid subscription. One thing I would say is that I do worry about my bosses being okay with paying $10 a month for every single employee because we would have around 20 people. It makes me a little nervous about whether they are going to pay $200 a month for people to be able to use this software. At the same time, from where I'm sitting, it's totally worth it. We save a thousand dollars from using this software. It's still a no-brainer.
What other advice do I have?
It is definitely for most businesses. I've worked in a couple of different industries in my professional career. I've been a teacher. I've been in construction. This is my second time in construction. I've also been in marketing for a marketing company. I've been a business owner, and it has always been useful, so I can't really think of an industry where you wouldn't benefit from using it.
I used to use it with Slack. We have Teams now, which I hate. I like Slack much better than Teams, and when I use Slack, I integrate it. I don't know if I ever used the direct integration, but we definitely used to bounce stuff back and forth in Lucid when we were using Slack as our communication platform. These two tools are pretty complementary. They're both SaaS products. I tend to prefer the SaaS experience to having to download something.
I am currently not using Lucidchart for real-time collaboration among users because generally, I'm the document owner. I have done that in the past with my business partner for agency work, but never with a team or with more than one other person. This is something that I would like to do in the future. I see that as a huge plus. I just haven't used it yet. When I used it with my business partner, the development process was much faster because he didn't have to tell me first what needs to be changed and then I would change. It was so much easier. That's what I'm dealing with now. I'm going to slowly roll it out and start giving some of my co-workers access to Lucidchart because if they have feedback on a document, they have to be over my shoulder telling me what to change, whereas I could be sending them the link, and they could be changing it themselves if they have the feedback. That's obviously more preferable to what we're doing now.
I have very briefly touched Lucidspark. I don't think I've created a complete document in Lucidspark. It's something that I would like to use more, especially as we get into using more of these tools for strategic planning as opposed to mapping existing processes or improving processes. Right now, Lucidchart does pretty much everything we need, and I'm even using Lucidchart for things where I might use Lucidspark. For example, for the object mapping solution, I should be using Lucidspark, but Lucidchart does what I need, and so I don't have to use Lucidspark. That's why I haven't felt the need to move over to Lucidspark.
I would rate Lucidchart a 10 out of 10.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Principal Solution Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
I'm able to diagram process flows and articulate them to others, while centralizing subject matter so I'm not searching for things
Pros and Cons
- "The collaboration, hands-down, is the top feature. It is valuable because our company doesn't believe in working in silos... While I may be the one leading the efforts, it's very important that my team gets buy-in on decisions being made when we're designing. It's critical, especially in this virtual environment, when we're not in an office to have a team meeting and able to whiteboard something. Lucidchart is an extremely useful tool for our team."
- "It does everything I need it to do."
- "If you're trying to expand a comments box that is sitting on top of the chart, it automatically defaults to assuming you're trying to connect it to the next step in the process, when all you're trying to do is make the box bigger. It automatically goes to the arrow, but I just want to resize the box. That gets a little cumbersome because it does it every single time. It's not just a bug."
What is our primary use case?
Primarily, since I'm a solution engineer, I use it to create mock-ups of ideas for building out demo instances; what they should look like based on what we currently have in inventory. I take screenshots, throw them in there, and do all the diagramming. That is not my core responsibility, but it's one of things I am responsible for. I use Lucidchart to build out those mock-ups and to collaborate with the team so that they can have input on the layout, how things should look, and on behind-the-scenes processes.
How has it helped my organization?
The real-time collaboration within Lucidchart saves time. It keeps things centralized to the subject matter so I'm not having to go dig something out of email or to look for things in some other tool we utilize.
What is most valuable?
The collaboration, hands-down, is the top feature. It is valuable because our company doesn't believe in working in silos. It's not just "my show" all the time. I work with a team and they all have valuable insights and input. While I may be the one leading the efforts, it's very important that my team gets buy-in on decisions being made when we're designing. It's critical, especially in this virtual environment, when we're not in an office to have a team meeting and able to whiteboard something. Lucidchart is an extremely useful tool for our team.
In addition, it gives me the flexibility to diagram process flows so that I can articulate to someone else, "This is our idea of how things should flow." Then we'll pull in developers if needed so that our product will match something I have built using Lucidchart.
Because it integrates with Slack, it's super helpful with the way we work. We have Lucidchart set up to integrate with the tools that we use for communication all day long. Most of us are in Slack as our primary chat tool. Slack is a lot more powerful than just a chat. Instead of copying a link to everybody directly from Lucidchart, I'm able to push everything to a group Slack, rather than having to remember individuals. They can access the document and I can give them read/write privileges. And if I send it to somebody in the group that doesn't have Lucidchart, I love the fact that they can easily request access and I get that pinged over Slack, so I don't have to seek it out through Lucidchart. They work nicely together. It's pretty seamless. Our company has guided us to really lean away from emails as a form of communication. They're really trying to get us more focused on utilizing Slack as our primary communication tool.
It is also important to me that Lucidchart accommodates both Mac and PC users because my company issues equipment agnostically. We get to choose. If you are more of a Samsung/PC person, or if you want a Mac, you can choose your device. My team and I are on different devices. It's hugely important that Lucid is operating in a system-agnostic way as well.
What needs improvement?
If you're trying to expand a comments box that is sitting on top of the chart, it automatically defaults to assuming you're trying to connect it to the next step in the process, when all you're trying to do is make the box bigger. It automatically goes to the arrow, but I just want to resize the box. That gets a little cumbersome because it does it every single time. It's not just a bug.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have only been using Lucidchart for about three to four weeks.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not experienced any downtime. My impression, so far, is that it's up the typical 99.9 percent of the time, as it's cloud-based. I've had zero issues regarding it being down or being latent in performance. It's been great.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For my team, it's scalable for the things that we need it to do. We have a little bit more of a narrow focus on what we utilize it for, but I could see using it for other things besides what I actually have to use it for regularly. My core focus is delivering demos, so using Lucidchart is not a core function of mine; it's a tool for me. But it's my go-forward tool for anything that's related to process flows: needing to capture a process flow or diagram or mock-up of how we want to design an instance, for a demo in the future. I won't use anything else. And if they make me, I'll probably pitch a fit.
From what I have seen, it seems like it's pretty scalable. It must be because our company is so huge. It has to be scalable for a company of our size.
Obviously, anything that is that big can always go down too, as far as the number of users that are hitting it goes.
In terms of extensibility, they should continue to keep integrating it with other cloud apps, the way that it's been integrated with Google Suite and Slack, as those are helpful to us.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've had no need to use their technical support. We have an internal layer of support within our company, so I've only had to deal with them. And the only instance in which I did was requesting a license.
How was the initial setup?
Everything was straightforward, but in part that is because of the way our organization does everything. Lucidchart lives in a tile on a landing page where we access tools. I hit that and then it said, "You'll have free access for seven days, but to get a license click here." When I clicked for a license it went through our company's process and then they added me to the enterprise license and I got an email. It was just seamless. I didn't have to talk to anybody and didn't have to download anything. It was just done.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When it comes to visualizing and understanding process workflows, I like it better than Visio so far. My impression of it is very high, and that's despite the fact that Visio is a pretty standard and dominating tool. I had never heard of Lucidchart until I came to my current company, and right off the bat, I said, "All right, I love it." It was very easy to use. I didn't have to go through training. It was self-explanatory. Very user-friendly.
Visio is the only comparable tool that I've used. To me, it was a lot of steps and it was cumbersome. I can't say anything bad about Lucidchart right now. I am definitely all in favor of giving feedback for improvement but the only one I've given is about changing the way that you work with the tools to create what you need to create. I would like that to be a little bit less binding than it is. But it's still not bad compared to what I've experienced with Visio or when having to hand-create something using Microsoft Word.
In other companies I worked for, I would make stuff with Microsoft tools, dragging shapes, when they didn't provide me with tools. That was really painful, but it makes using Lucid like getting a dessert and eating ice cream. You're happy, it's easy. You get done what you need to get done.
What other advice do I have?
Get a trial and try to recreate exactly what you want to create. See if it's going to work. Obviously, you need to get feedback from whoever is making the purchase, so get a trial to make sure it meets your needs before you dive on in. It's pretty powerful and it's definitely worth the purchase, but it's a competitive landscape. I knew I needed the license right away, so I didn't wait seven days to request a license. But for most people, the evaluation during a seven-day free trial is critical. Also, talk to comparably sized companies as a reference to see how they implemented it and to gauge their success with it.
In terms of documenting things such as processes, systems, and new teams, on a scale of one to 10, I would put the solution at an eight, only because I just haven't gotten into the depth of all the features yet, as I've only been using it for about four weeks. I definitely see potential for it pushing toward a 10.
We've got G Suite (Google Workspace) in place and I know Lucid works with it, but I try to stay out of G Suite. It has nothing to do with Lucid, it's that I'm not a big fan of G Suite.
I haven't had a need for Lucidcharts' ability to compare versions of documents yet, but it will actually be useful. Versioning is huge. It's one of the things we tout into our own products' capabilities as well.
In my role as an engineer, I use it pretty heavily and like it. It gives me the option to save something as a PDF if somebody doesn't have access to Lucidchart or doesn't have a license, if they just need a picture instead of actual collaboration access. We're a large company with 55,000 employees. There are so many levels of users who might use it differently. But obviously, if it wasn't useful, our company would be getting rid of it. It's a preferred tool whenever we bring up org charts.
It does everything I need it to do. I'm on the excited end of things as far as being a user goes. I really love it.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Enables us to remotely collaborate in real time and be more efficient, but the UI and UX need work
Pros and Cons
- "Lucidchart is very visual in nature, and it is something that we do use extensively for stakeholder mapping, for example. If you want to build graphs for things like who the decision-makers are in a particular organization, Lucidchart can be used for that."
- "The team could not operate without it."
- "There is a premium for the use of certain elements in Lucidchart... It becomes very annoying, especially if you are a first-time user of Lucidchart and you don't have a premium plan. It feels a little too restrictive, in terms of using very basic shapes and icons. It asks you to sign-up for the premium account, which I think shouldn't be the case."
- "There is a premium for the use of certain elements in Lucidchart, like a drop-down. These features come at a premium and are only accessible in the premium plan."
What is our primary use case?
As a product manager, I often use these infinite canvases for coming up with ideas and for brainstorming. I also use it for defining workflows of new products or features that we are brainstorming on.
Now that remote working has become so prominent, these types of tools come in handy when you are collaborating with a lot of folks and you need their input quickly, in a manner that is manageable. That is where I have used Lucidchart.
It's a SaaS-based service, through the browser. Things are automatically saved over the cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
We are a very visual organization. We are an Agile team and we practice XP (extreme programming). When we were on the floor in the office, we used to use whiteboards to create and visualize flows. The whiteboard was always stuck in front of the team's table so that we would know where we were up to as a team and the decisions that had been taken on that flow. When we all started working from home, in March 2020, those meetings became extensive and intense. That resulted in a little bit of Zoom fatigue. Being on a call for so long ends up with people tuning out. That is when we started looking at products with infinite canvases, and Lucidchart came in handy. It enabled us, once again, to work as a team. We could sketch out ideas and brainstorm on things collaboratively and comment on things in real time. We could see where and how things are moving in real time. It almost emulates the in-person meetings. Of course, it cannot replace the feeling of being on the same board, writing with felt markers. But it's a good enough replacement.
The team could not operate without it. We were actually collaborating on Google Slides, which sort of worked. You can obviously edit a Google document in real-time, but it did not give us the same feeling of an infinite canvas, where the team could contribute and people could express their opinions on every step. I wouldn't say it improved the processes that we already had in place, pre-lockdown, but once we started working from home, it certainly aided us in doing something that we used to do.
The solution also helped us be more efficient because we were using Google Slides. It's efficient in the sense that the information is percolated to everyone better. Everybody is on the same page and that is the most important thing when you are in the development stage of a project. Having everybody rowing in the same direction is very important. With Lucidchart, there is a document that everybody is able to look at and contribute to at the same time. It maintains the document well and in a very lucid manner so that the decisions are very clearly chalked out. That improves efficiency. Every member spends less time figuring out in which document decisions were taken or where that email is where they can get a sense of what the outcome was of a certain meeting. Instead of that, they can just look at Lucidchart and get the answers.
It saves time and money, at the end of the day.
What is most valuable?
The basic valuable feature is the infinite canvas, because that gives you the space to come up with anything.
There are a few templates as well, for things like brainstorming or coming up with a mind map, although I haven't explored them much. I usually opt for a free-form canvas where I can build my flows from scratch and the team can collaborate at the same time.
Lucidchart is very visual in nature, and it is something that we do use extensively for stakeholder mapping, for example. If you want to build graphs for things like who the decision-makers are in a particular organization, Lucidchart can be used for that. It's a use case for which you might use a Google Doc or a Google Slide, but if you want to get everything on a single canvas, Lucidchart does come in handy.
We design flows and wireframes and models and we put in where the data would flow. I have used Lucidchart to create the diagrams and flows of system architecture, and how the data would flow downstream and upstream. One thing that I really appreciate about Lucidchart, a standout feature, is that whenever you attach a Google Sheet link, to signify the data flows in a particular sheet, it actually captures a particular DB or Google Sheet with its link. If you double-tap on it, it redirects you to that particular sheet. I don't know if that feature is available in other products. I really like that in Lucidchart. It comes in handy if you don't want to have to bookmark that sheet separately. You can get it from within Lucidchart itself, which helps you to keep everything neatly in one place.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Lucidchart for about two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have had no issues with the stability. Everything is saved in real time and whenever I access it, what I have worked on is there. I have no complaints. It almost works with the reliability of Google Sheets and Google Docs. Google is the gold standard for real-time saving of edits. Lucidchart is pretty much the same in that respect.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I haven't really thought of Lucidchart in terms of scalability. From an enterprise perspective, if 1,000 or 2,000 people were collaborating on a particular canvas in Lucidchart, it would probably become a mess. It works well for smaller teams, perhaps a maximum of eight to 10 people. Beyond that, it's not really practically possible. Even in physical settings, we do not do whiteboarding with more than 10 people. If there are 20 or 30 people in a meeting, on a whiteboard, it becomes very messy. A small, nimble team, like an XP team or a scrum team, can use Lucidchart.
Whether we will expand our usage depends on how Lucidchart evolves as a product. If the product gains enough momentum and enough industry adoption, where more and more people end up using it, then everybody ends up using it. So it is dependent on the adoption of the product itself and is not necessarily something related to the product's features. If it provides better value through its pricing, people will start adopting it. That is the same curve that we saw with Google Suite. They provided immense value to organizations and now everybody is using Google Suite. There might be better products than Google Suite, but the adoption of Google Suite has spread. In the three organizations I have worked at during my career, I haven't seen any using Microsoft Outlook.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't used their technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We tried using draw.io as a stop-gap solution, but that didn't work that well. While draw.io looks very similar to Lucidchart in terms of its UI, I don't think it has evolved much.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was done by our client's organization, so I wasn't involved. But because it is a cloud-based solution, I don't think there was any kind of deployment needed. I expect it is a plug-and-play solution that they paid for and we started using.
It doesn't really require any day-to-day maintenance because everything is stored in the cloud. It doesn't require any kind of configuration.
We have six or seven folks right who are using it. There are developers, people on the QA team, the product manager, and the engineering manager.
What was our ROI?
Right after the lockdown started, meetings were really long. That is when we felt the need to select something like Lucidchart. As a result, on average we have saved one and half hours per day in meeting time. That translates to value.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I wasn't involved in the purchase of Lucidchart, but Lucidchart does the same things that other products do, like Miro and MURAL. The way I would make the decision is that if Lucidchart is cheaper than those products I would pick it. Maybe the UI is not the most modern, but it helps you achieve the same goals. If there is a major difference in price, I would definitely go with Lucidchart. Otherwise, I would take Miro or MURAL, because they are more modern looking and have better UIs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I do really appreciate that Lucidchart is actually on par with draw.io. That is a tool that I have been using for a very long time, and it is a free tool as well. Lucidchart can pretty much do what draw.io can do. It has been structured in a very similar manner. draw.io doesn't give you as many ready-made templates. Lucidchart can pretty much do what you ask of it, in terms of building workflows. draw.io is primarily used for creating architectural diagrams, to show how systems interact in a software program, for example.
But I feel that there is a premium for the use of certain elements in Lucidchart, like a drop-down. These features come at a premium and are only accessible in the premium plan. Most of draw.io's icons and clip art are free. It becomes very annoying, especially if you are a first-time user of Lucidchart and you don't have a premium plan. It feels a little too restrictive, in terms of using very basic shapes and icons. It asks you to sign-up for the premium account, which I think shouldn't be the case. I realize that companies need to make money, but first impressions are important. Without completely communicating the value of the product, people might switch to something else. After a while, my organization did take the premium account, so that problem was solved, at least for me. But this was one of my biggest gripes with Lucidchart in the beginning.
With the unpaid version of Lucidchart, where you can get a feel for the user experience, when you try to drag a premium icon into a chart, a pop-up says that you have to buy the premium account. There is a product called Canva. It's an online platform for designing. Something they do, which is really smart, is that they call out premium elements very clearly in the menus. If something is premium, you already know that you can't use it without a premium account, and that saves you time, instead of ending up with a premium element and seeing a pop-up. In Lucidchart, there's no clear demarcation that something is a premium element, unless you try to bring it into your chart. That is annoying at times.
I have been using a couple of other products, such as Miro, which is also an infinite canvas, as well as MURAL. What I have found is that Miro and MURAL certainly have better UIs compared to Lucidchart. Lucidchart emulates draw.io in terms of its UI. It's a little dated. A user will be able to find their way through Lucidchart and draw.io, but Miro and MURAL have a much more modern look.
Other than the visual aspects, Lucidchart can be used to achieve the same goals as the others when it comes to functionality. You can collaborate on the same canvas in real time and you can see other peoples' cursors.
What other advice do I have?
Collaboration is the key. For teams to move faster, they need to make decisions in real time and keep everybody in the loop. As a scrum team or an XP team, these are the things that we valued even before Lucidchart. But then, we needed something that would aid our discussions in the absence of a whiteboard.
My advice would be to visit product review sites, like IT Central Station, and see how the products in the category compare to each other. You might unearth certain features which are not very evident from a product website itself. Word of mouth is something that
will give you an unbiased opinion. It's actual users who can articulate the value proposition. If your own use case matches that of somebody who has already used it, read the reviews and evaluate it yourself.
Lucidchart is not seen as a tool that can be used for documentation purposes. It is primarily seen as a tool that can come in handy for things like brainstorming and when sketching out new processes. It is basically a replacement for a whiteboard, and the processes that we used to do at the office around that, such as collaboratively sketching. That is what it has replaced. It has not replaced Google Docs or other things that are primarily used for documentation.
We use Lucidchart's Slack integration, so if you share Lucidchart in Slack, it will automatically pop up if you want to share it with somebody who is on Slack. When you want to integrate Lucidchart with Slack, it asks for certain permissions. After that, if you want to share a particular file, it will start showing it to all the people who are on the Slack channel. Once you share that file for collaboration, it pops up on their Slack channel, and they can open it from there. That is a neat feature I would say. But if I had to use some other product that has better features than Lucidchart, but lacked this particular integration, I would be fine with it.
I would rate Lucidchart a seven out of 10. It achieves what it says in the value prop. But there is a lot of scope for improvement in making it easier and more modern in terms of the look and the experience for new users.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Project Manager at Freelancer
The ease of use, clarity, and different functionalities make this one incredibly useful tool
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "What I do find extremely frustrating is that when I've sent the sheet to non-license holders, you have to create an account. You create a username and password. The path taken to create that account is so confusing that everyone thinks that they have to give their credit card number, and then they're reluctant. They don't want to go through the sheet."
What is our primary use case?
I have used Lucidchart for many things, but the biggest piece that ended up generating the most work was process mapping.
I have done Kanban charts. I've used it for organizational charts. I've even used it for describing business entities to describe relationship management, which isn't necessarily a process.
How has it helped my organization?
Lucidchart has been an outstanding visualization tool when words aren't enough. Ensuring you understand your business' fundamentals is essential.
What is most valuable?
Lucidchart is a 10 out of 10 when it comes to documenting things such as processes, systems, and organizational charts. Even if you've never used Lucidchart, you'll inevitably find a template to fit your needs, but it's also perfect for building from scratch. It's the ease of use, clarity, and different functionalities that make it incredibly useful.
Lucidchart accommodates both Mac and PC which is important to me because I work in a Mac environment but when it relates to business, a lot of people work on a PC. Accounting and Business Development teams are typically PC users and they've had to see process charts or have needed to manipulate them.
I have used Lucidchart to collaborate among users in real time when accessing and working on the same version of a document. It has positively affected the project development process by creating efficiencies because, especially in our new hybrid reality, we're not all at the office and we can't all be in one room working on a sheet together. So it's allowed us to be able to work remotely on one document.
The ability for people to look at the diagram rather than read through written documents has saved significant time, and as a result, money. In some cases it's invaluable. If there was a hole in the process and things were falling in the cracks, it could have cost the company millions, but it didn't.
What needs improvement?
You don't need to have a Lucidchart account or license in order to view a sheet if you're just a viewer. However, I found it frustrating when non-license holders created their accounts, which should only consist of creating a username and password, the setup process lead them to believe that they needed to give their credit card numbers to proceed. I have at least two colleagues who did put in their credit card information and then they forget to cancel the subscription, and they ended up getting charged for a license that they don't use.
To me, the confusing setup for non-license holders is a barrier to entry. If you want new people to see this tool, the process shouldn't be that confusing to view a sheet for non-users. But as a user myself, it truly is perfect. For non-users, this is a pain point.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Lucidchart for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is impeccable. I've never had any issues, hiccups, or any problems at all.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It scales well. One of the strong points of Lucidchart, beyond the actual tool creation of sheets itself, is the organization: the fact that you can create folders, and that you can share those folders or share sheets. That portion of it is an added bonus.
Because I work on different projects at different times, in this current project, I haven't needed Lucidchart much yet. However, in my last project, it was one of my central tools that added value in many areas of the business, because the nature of the business was heavily process-oriented. It was a government-regulated environment, which means the process is everything. So it was one of my top two tools.
Every project is unique and the tool scales well for each one.
How are customer service and support?
In five years, I've never had any problems with the tool so I guess I'm happy to say I can't speak to the quality of Lucidchart's service/technical support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used to be a big fan of Visio, but when I found Lucidchart, it just blew Visio out of the water.
I tried importing Visio sheets once but it didn't work that well. It was faster for me to start over, which is what I did, and it looked better anyway. I also tried the web version of Visio recently and I just couldn't figure it out. To me, Lucidchart is a clear winner. It's more attractive, intuitive, and just overall better.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward and easy. I taught myself to use the tool by following tons of tutorials online.
There are so many cool functions that learning the tool is ongoing. You don't need a tutorial to start since you just drag and drop shapes but there's a world to discover! To this day, I still look up better ways to use the tool and love to learn new functionalities.
What about the implementation team?
I was initially introduced to the tool when our company shifted from Visio to Lucidchart (five year ago).
What was our ROI?
I've ended up looking like a superstar so many times, especially when it comes to, for example, how a business is structured. In one instance, it took me 30 minutes to put together a chart to show business entity relationships that solved weeks of conversation in a moment. Suddenly I look like a genius in the room because I had the ability to put a scenario in images.
The same with hyper-complex processes; you can draw inputs, outputs, roles, and responsibilities in one sheet, and then highlight holes by colour-coding to quickly identify "This is a hole, this is an issue." Then you focus on what's important.
My return on investment is that this tool has made me more efficient and dare I say, more competent at my job.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I think the pricing is fair. It's competitive with other tools so the price is a non-issue. I hope it doesn't increase though!
There are no additional costs to standard licensing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I may have looked at other solutions. But ever since I discovered Lucidchart, I haven't tried anything else.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Lucidchart a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Talent Acquisition Specialist at eDreams ODIGEO
Easy usability, great real-time collaboration capabilities, and works on both Mac and PC
Pros and Cons
- "In general, the usability is great. You have a ton of customization options with different colors, different borders, different thicknesses of lines, different types of arrows, et cetera. There's so much variety. You can really make a chart with all sorts of color-coding, and color charts in different colors, link them together, for example, or use different types of arrows for different types of links between the chart elements. That variety, while not a specific feature, is really useful. If you want to make a chart, you can basically do anything."
- "Lucidchart's capabilities for visualizing and understanding those flows and processes are absolutely excellent."
- "I've had an issue is when you create, let's say, a rectangle box. You can write some text in it and give it a name, and, depending on how you shape the size of the box, the text will rearrange itself to fit. That is, except if your box is very, very narrow, but very long, like a long, narrow rectangle in a vertical position. In this case, the text will always go out of the rectangle."
What is our primary use case?
I've used Lucidchart much more on a personal project than at work, just by coincidence. Mainly at work, we've used it to create a very simple diagram chart, some squares, some circles, and arrows connecting them. It's for HR purposes. I work in human resources. We basically map out the process that a candidate goes through when they're hired in the company. We made some squares saying all the steps that need to be done to onboard someone and we connected them with some arrows and made a flow chart.
On the other hand, I've actually used it very extensively for a personal project of mine, which is a video game. Since I'm developing a video game, I'm using Lucidcharts to organize all the different pieces of the game, including the levels, the maps, and how they all interact with each other. That's also basically a giant flow chart and diagram with loads of connecting pieces.
How has it helped my organization?
My company uses Lucidchart way more in the product, tech, and other departments that work directly on our product. Being in HR, we only use it for a few things, however, I know that they use it for all sorts of flows and processes in terms of tech development. They do have it integrated with Jira, and I'm sure that they make use of that integration as well.
What is most valuable?
In general, the usability is great. You have a ton of customization options with different colors, different borders, different thicknesses of lines, different types of arrows, et cetera. There's so much variety. You can really make a chart with all sorts of color-coding, and color charts in different colors, link them together, for example, or use different types of arrows for different types of links between the chart elements. That variety, while not a specific feature, is really useful. If you want to make a chart, you can basically do anything.
I've mainly used it as a chart. What I've appreciated the most is the variety of options. I use the different types of blocks that they offer as well. You can use a normal rectangle, however, you can also use a post-it block note that I use for different purposes, for example. With all that variety, you can really organize yourself however you want. That's the most powerful part of this tool for sure.
Lucidchart's capabilities for visualizing and understanding those flows and processes are absolutely excellent. I'm very happy with it. Even in a work setting, as soon as we actually used it and put these flows into a visual format, everything was much smoother. We started understanding everything much better. As a visual tool, I would say it is excellent.
There have been many efficiencies achieved using Lucidchart. For example, in the professional project, once we mapped out the flow, it allowed us to identify pain points. Seeing the flow so visually, when we moved from step A to step B we were able to pinpoint the exact pain points and when they happened during the flow.
It's important that Lucidchart accommodates both Mac and PC users as I do really use both, especially for the kinds of projects I'm working on. I usually use the Mac as the side of the screen with Lucidchart, and then I use the Windows big screen to work on the actual project. I don't know if it's common to be in my situation, however, for me, it's absolutely important that I can use the product on either operating system.
I have used Lucidchart to collaborate among users on the same version of a document in real-time. The flow that I have been working on, that we did for each chart, was done in real-time. It was great. Obviously, people need to be a little organized and not start moving things around altogether. We were well organized and it worked great. Everyone could see what everyone else was doing in real-time. It's really good. It works perfectly.
Real-time collaboration has saved us time. We were genuinely stuck until we did that, and it's something that completely unblocked our process. We didn't know how to proceed, due to the fact that pre-Lucidchart, everything was unclear. Nothing was really organized and nothing was visually presented. We were completely stuck. This product really allowed us to move forward.
It's a bit hard to assess how much time was saved. That said, considering we had about one meeting per week to work on this specific project and the first three or four weeks, we basically made zero progress. Then, on the week we started using Lucidchart, we made a lot of progress, and two weeks went by, and we already made way more progress than in the first four weeks. You could say it doubled our efficiency.
What needs improvement?
Mostly, for what I use it for, it has absolutely everything I need. I use it for 99% visual presentation, as I'm working on a project that has 70 moving pieces. If I didn't put that into a visual format, I would be completely lost. That's really all I use it for and that functionality to me is absolutely perfect. In all the time I've used it, I've never been in a situation where I thought, "Oh, damn, I wish they had this feature." I really can't think of any time it's happened. That's why, for me, really, it has everything I need.
There is a tiny detail, however, that is a minor feature. Possibly the only time ever I've had an issue is when you create a rectangle box, for example, you can write some text in it and give it a name, and depending on how you shape the size of the box, the text will rearrange itself to fit. Except if your box is very, very narrow like a long, narrow rectangle in a vertical position. In this case, the text will always go out of the rectangle. It could be nice to just have the option to rotate the text, for example, 90 degrees so that the text fits perfectly in the vertical rectangle. That said, it's really a minimal feature and I wouldn't call it a pain point at all. It's really just a small detail.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for two months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product runs great. Even though my personal project with the charts is really big, it still loads very fast, and there's no lag. There are no delays. It never fails in saving or any of that.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have to admit I've hit the maximum, however, for my personal project, it might be due to the fact that I'm using the free version. I did get a warning that told me that I reached the limit, the maximum number. Honestly, it is a decent number. It's around 300, and my chart is definitely very, very big. There is a limitation, however, for the free version.
At my company, there are different teams using the product, and I don't have visibility on everyone. The product team definitely uses it. The team that uses it the most is product owners and product designers, and anyone who's really working directly in how the product flow works would use it. For example, they would be mapping customer journeys through our products - how they enter into our platform and what they do, which steps could they follow for conversion, et cetera. All of that is very much done on Lucidchart, and that's the product team mostly. There are also some engineers, probably the more senior ones that intervene more in the actual product development steps.
The big users and the ones who installed and set up Lucidchart and promoted it through the whole company are our agile coaches. We have a whole team of agile coaches due to the fact that our engineering team is 600 people. We are a very large organization with a very complex structure, and we have an entire team of 10 agile coaches whose role is to really help the engineering department run smoothly. They're really the biggest fans of Lucidchart and the first advocates of the product.
In the case of HR, we really only used it for that one very specific project, and we will never use it again. I really wouldn't say it's due to the product at all. It's simply due to the fact that we haven't really had any project that requires that as of now. That said, I would definitely be recommending it if we start a project that would really need some good visual representation. That would be my first recommendation to the team.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't contacted technical support, however, I'd tell them it's great. I would tell them how useful it was for me. Honestly, I'm a big fan. I would just tell them they've done a pretty good job, as it's a great product.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm really not familiar with any proper charting tools. I used PowerPoint and Microsoft Word until now. I've definitely not used specialized tools. Anything else would be considered very inconvenient to use for something like the tasks I've worked on compared to Lucidchart. It's not even comparable.
How was the initial setup?
On my personal project, the initial setup was super easy. I just logged in and I started using it. I have to say we had a little bit of difficulty when we used it with my company because for some people, when the person who created the chart started inviting us to the chart, we had a few difficulties in getting the permission and access we needed. That's probably related to the fact that we are using the company's Lucidchart account. Therefore, we had to get some special admin permissions. That said, it took us a little while to get everyone on it and authorized to start working on it.
To set everything up took a couple of days due to the fact that there were six of us working on a specific project. It was created by one person, and out of the six of us, three of us had some issues, as in, we received the invitation, we accepted it, and it redirected us, and yet we were sent to a blank board instead of the board we needed. What happened is the admin of our Lucidchart account either triggered permission or sent us a link, and we accessed it directly and we ended up being fine. It was nothing very problematic.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not the most expert or knowledgeable in terms of product prices and what companies usually consider expensive or not. If I base it, for example, on my knowledge of typical HR tools that charge you for user licenses, the team package for Lucidspark to get users collaborating together, I wouldn't say it's exactly cheap, however, it's within a reasonable amount. I've seen much more unreasonable products that really weren't worth their price. In comparison, it's relatively fair. I wouldn't say it's a great deal, however, it's definitely worth it if you make use of it.
There's the individual license, which is seven euros per month. That one is really targeted to non-professional users, or at least to people who use it individually. In my case, I wouldn't be willing to pay that, as I can do everything I want with the free version. Also, my buying power is slightly limited to be paying a monthly subscription for this.
That said, for example, if I was working as a freelancer, working on projects like these every day, every week, I would definitely pay the monthly cost. Considering how much easier it can make your life, seven euros a month also seems quite acceptable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Considering how much I like Lucidchart, I'm really curious to look into the other products that are part of the Lucid suite.
What other advice do I have?
I'm using the web-based version of the product.
I have not used Lucidchart's integrations with third-party solutions like Atlassian, Salesforce, Microsoft, or any others, however, I am aware this is a possibility.
In our case, we haven't used the solution with Slack, however, I'm sure they do on the tech side, as we use Slack and it's integrated with everything we can integrate it with.
I would advise potential users to really make the most of it. For me, for example, being a very visual person, I really made the most of it in terms of using the color code. I have six different shapes of blocks to indicate different types of events. I have four different types of arrow connections to describe different types of connections. I have different types of post-its to use to leave notes. Make the most of it and don't be shy. Really go for it. Explore all the features and really make the most of it. That's the best advice I have.
For me, I'd rate the product at a ten out of ten. I've been super happy with it since I started.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Professional Services Consultant at a energy/utilities company with 11-50 employees
Affordable, easy to use, and gets things done quickly
Pros and Cons
- "Its ease of use is most valuable. As compared to draw.io, connecting the lines and doing things like that are much easier in Lucidchart. It has been great for some of the process flow diagrams and data flow diagrams. I can export these diagrams as PDFs and share them with team members."
- "Based on my experience, Lucidchart is better in terms of functionality and ease of use, and it is the tool to go for."
- "When you log in the first time, they ask you a lot of questions, such as what are you going to use it for. Half of the things weren't applicable to me. I couldn't see the skip button, so I picked random things because none of the given options was applicable to me. It is a tech startup, and I am in a consultant role. I use it for a variety of things, but the questions were tailored for HR professionals who are creating org structures or IT professionals who are doing data flow diagrams. What if I do both of them depending on the project I'm working on? I just felt that I am wasting time with those questions and just wanted them to stop asking me these questions and get into charting."
- "I just felt that I am wasting time with those questions and just wanted them to stop asking me these questions and get into charting."
What is our primary use case?
I worked as a business analyst before, and now, I am a consultant. I am mostly using it for data flow diagrams and process flow diagrams. I don't constrain myself to just CAD diagrams. I also create ad-hoc charts and diagrams for Apex user stories and things like that.
I am using the web-based application of Lucidchart.
How has it helped my organization?
It makes it easy to get things done quickly. That was the only reason why we asked our management to get Lucidchart. With draw.io, it is impossible to get things done quickly. Lucidchart keeps your peace of mind. It is very annoying when you're trying to do simple things, and they don't happen easily.
I have briefly used Lucidchart to collaborate with users in real-time so that everyone is accessing and working on the same version of a document. It saves time. The saved time is proportionate to the number of people collaborating. It isn't linear. draw.io also has a similar feature for collaboration, so it isn't a feature that makes Lucidchart stand out.
The ability for people to look at a diagram, rather than reading through written documents, saves time. Yesterday, I presented a diagram that I created to our president and co-founder. He complimented that it looked good. Creating a diagram saved me 1,000 words in explanation. I can show the diagram and give a two-sentence description, and then just answer the follow-up questions.
It has helped us in realizing efficiencies in our project. There is a big difference in the ease of use of Lucidchart as compared to draw.io, which is probably the only sophisticated drawing tool that I've used before. The ease of use of Lucidchart is just incomparable.
What is most valuable?
Its ease of use is most valuable. As compared to draw.io, connecting the lines and doing things like that are much easier in Lucidchart. It has been great for some of the process flow diagrams and data flow diagrams. I can export these diagrams as PDFs and share them with team members.
Its capabilities for visualizing and understanding process flows or workflows are great. I've been using it quite a bit. I try not to constrain myself to CAD diagrams. I look at what's there, and then I do my own thing. Lucidchart is not just about UML, and once you know about the shapes for the depiction of different processes, you can easily create a data flow diagram. You've got it all there, and it is just a matter of picking the right shape and the right box.
I have used it a couple of times in my previous job for peer relationship diagrams (PRDs), and it worked great.
It accommodates both Mac and PC users. I've always been a PC user, but in this company, we only have Macs. It is great that I can use it on either computer.
What needs improvement?
When you log in the first time, they ask you a lot of questions, such as what are you going to use it for. Half of the things weren't applicable to me. I couldn't see the skip button, so I picked random things because none of the given options was applicable to me. It is a tech startup, and I am in a consultant role. I use it for a variety of things, but the questions were tailored for HR professionals who are creating org structures or IT professionals who are doing data flow diagrams. What if I do both of them depending on the project I'm working on? I just felt that I am wasting time with those questions and just wanted them to stop asking me these questions and get into charting.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used it in my previous job for half a year, and in this job, which I started two months ago, I have been using it for a month.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
So far, there are no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't tried to scale it. There are three team members in my team who are using this solution.
I use it almost on a daily basis but typically, not for massive diagrams. I typically use it when I have to deliver something or when I need to collaborate with peers. I expect its daily use going forward.
How are customer service and technical support?
I didn't have a need for it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
When I started with this company, I used draw.io because they had a subscription for that. I've also used it a couple of times previously. There is a night-and-day difference between these two solutions. The features are similar, but the usability is at a completely different level in Lucidchart. Lucidchart is easy to use for connecting the lines and doing other such things, and that makes 50% of what I'm doing with it. I didn't want to spend most of my time drawing diagrams and trying to connect things, which was the case with draw.io.
I have also used Visio with another employer a while ago. Visio is not as bad as draw.io. Based on my experience, Lucidchart is better in terms of functionality and ease of use, and it is the tool to go for, but they might have improved Visio. Lucidchart is definitely ahead of the game.
How was the initial setup?
Its initial setup takes a couple of minutes. When you log in the first time, they ask you a lot of questions, which is the longest part of it.
What was our ROI?
Our pitch to the management was that we spend more time trying to connect the dots with draw.io. If they think about our hourly rate, we're going to pay off the cost of Lucidchart in half an hour.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
One of the reasons we were able to get approval within two hours from our management was that it was cheap enough. We have a 3% or 10% collaboration package, which comes out to be 70 bucks a year. It was very cheap, and we had no issues actually getting the full version. It was very affordable for a business.
What other advice do I have?
My advice would be to just get it and use it. You'll love it. Play with the tool, and as long as you know what you're trying to build, you'll find a way to implement it in Lucidchart. I'm not the most advanced user. In terms of functionality, it has been great for what I've been using it for.
I haven't used its organization charts, but I used a similar idea. I work for a software company, and we have three main hubs in our software. I'm working on one of the hubs. So, I just draw one hub, and it is similar to the chart hierarchy or personnel hierarchy. I have the hub at the top, and then it branches off into Apex and user stories. It worked great for me.
I wasn't aware of its ability to compare versions of documents. Similarly, I didn't know about its integration capabilities with other solutions, such as Atlassian, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Slack. We have Slack and Atlassian, and I will find out what we can do with those.
I would rate Lucidchart a nine out of 10. There are probably some areas of improvement, but I'm super happy with it.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Engineering Student at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Good collaboration capabilities, efficient, and has a user-friendly interface
Pros and Cons
- "The interface is very user-friendly and it is not a hassle to use the site at all. They did a really good job in that regard."
- "Lucidchart is a free application and it is very helpful for documenting processes and workflows."
- "The UML diagram that it gave me initially was a huge flow with a bunch of UML tables, and I wasn't going to need that many. If it was a more simple linkage between the tables then it would be easier to finish projects, instead of having to select unnecessary tables and delete them."
What is our primary use case?
I am an engineering student at college and I was using Lucidchart for a research project. I was using it to create flow diagrams.
How has it helped my organization?
Lucidchart is a free application and it is very helpful for documenting processes and workflows. It is very easy to use and it can assist in every possible way.
It's important that Lucidchart accommodates both Mac and PC users because due to today's technology, not every person is going to be situated on a Windows, or Linux, or iOS platform. Lucid's accessibility on any type of platform allows more users and therefore more downloads. With more users, it leads to more reviews. With the additional coverage and scrutiny, it means that the product will be expanded and better maintained.
My classmates and I were using real-time collaboration and it had a positive impact on our development process. It made things very easy for everybody to understand and it was super helpful.
The real-time collaboration saved me time, considering other projects took much longer. Lucidchart allowed me to enter information and shape my project very effectively, probably shaving off more than 20 minutes per chart.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is developing flowcharts and being able to collaborate on them.
Using the product to create charts is efficient. It meant that I didn't have to rely on Microsoft Word or another application to draw them from scratch.
Lucidchart is really good and very informative.
The interface is very user-friendly and it is not a hassle to use the site at all. They did a really good job in that regard.
What needs improvement?
When you start the software, it requests what type of diagram you would like. In one instance, I chose UML because I needed it for an assignment. The UML diagram that it gave me initially was a huge flow with a bunch of UML tables, and I wasn't going to need that many. If it was a more simple linkage between the tables then it would be easier to finish projects, instead of having to select unnecessary tables and delete them.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Lucidchart a handful of times.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Lucidchart is a very stable application, and at the moment I see not too many bugs or errors, so it's running very effectively.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability was not a problem. It did exactly what I needed to do and it didn't require that I spend several hours to figure it out.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not been in contact with technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I tried some other applications and websites, such as Draw.io, and I found that Lucidchart was very efficient compared to the others.
Lucidchart and Draw.io are fairly similar applications and I have used them both for creating charts. I found that it was more difficult to draw and work with charts using Draw.io.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is a straightforward process. It took me under a minute to complete it, and it explained every step, very well.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I was using the free version of Lucidchart, which was very helpful.
What other advice do I have?
This is a well-rounded application and I have recommended it to my classmates.
If Lucid could make a deal with universities, where it was free for students to use for projects over the duration of their courses, then it would be very good because many more people would become familiar with the platform. It is user-friendly to the point where it is easy for anyone to understand and use the platform, and Lucid is a top company because of that. I also think that for business owners, Lucid should have a bulk package that is available for multiple workstations.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Web Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Quick to set up and easy to use, but each shape should be accompanied by hints on usage
Pros and Cons
- "Using Lucidchart for documenting processes is great. The elements are ready to use and it is quick to do."
- "Using Lucidchart, I was able to save between two and three hours on my project."
- "When I download a flowchart as a PDF file, it breaks it up. I would like to see the continuous display of flow charts, even if they are larger than one page."
- "Overall, I would rate this product somewhere in the middle. Not bad, but not good."
What is our primary use case?
I am using Lucidchart to help me with learning about flowcharting and workflows. Essentially, I was creating flowcharts.
How has it helped my organization?
Using Lucidchart for documenting processes is great. The elements are ready to use and it is quick to do. Sharing the chart with somebody else can also be very effective.
Using Lucidchart, I was able to save between two and three hours on my project. Using other software would have required some customization but Lucidchart has some ready-made functionality that made the design process very fast, as well as easy to use.
Having people look at a diagram, rather than reading through written documents, saves me between two and three hours for a small task that might take one or two days.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the ease of use. When I was working on a chart and wanted to add arrows or new lines, I just had to drag and drop or copy and paste. These operations make it simple.
Being able to share my chart with a colleague is a feature that I really like.
What needs improvement?
When I download a flowchart as a PDF file, it breaks it up. I would like to see the continuous display of flow charts, even if they are larger than one page. What happens is that when my layout is four to five pages long, it looks like it is cut from one page to the next. Having no space would make my design look better.
After I started my subscription, I was billed and payment was automatically deducted two times. Because I was not using the product regularly, I did not plan on continuing my subscription so I raised a ticket with them regarding the cancellation. Ideally, there should be a reminder before there is a payment taken for renewal.
The software should provide additional information about the shapes that are available. For example, if I use a round shape, then the software should suggest or point out that it is normally used to represent a database. This would help new users to draw layouts that follow the standard. Explaining the purpose of each shape will make it easier, overall.
For how long have I used the solution?
I only used Lucidchart for a short time. I was able to complete my task in between four and five hours. I will continue to use it based on my requirements.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, this platform is good. It provides a space to work where we can share it with others, and data can never be lost. It's great.
The performance is good. My project was saved online in less than a minute.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I did not notice any problems with scalability.
How are customer service and technical support?
I did not contact technical support for issues regarding functionality.
Rather, I contacted them one time because I had canceled my account and wanted them to refund my last payment. It had been withdrawn without any warning. Yesterday, they responded and told me that I would receive my refund within two or three days. However, I still have not received it, nor any updates about the status of it, so I am not very happy with the support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to Lucidchart, I used Figma. I switched because the free version of Lucidchart provided more features.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not too complex. After I logged in, I found the starting stages a little bit confusing. However, once I figured out how and where to start, it became easier to do.
It took approximately half an hour to set up.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a nominal charge for the paid version of the product. It is suitable for a normal-sized budget. They have a free version available and from what I could see, there was not much difference between it and the pro version.
I think that they should add more features so that the paid users have more. There was definitely a difference but it did not affect me. However, it will affect people who work on larger projects.
For example, a user might be able to finish 80% of their work but then, to move on to 81%, they need the pro version. A user might work for between four and five hours before hitting the limit, and without warning. I think that it would be better if the limit was declared at the beginning so that the users properly understand the differences with the free version.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated both Figma and Adobe XD before choosing Lucidchart.
I found that the flowcharting capabilities were more accessible and had better performance in Lucidchart.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for anybody who is considering Lucidchart is to first study the basics, and how it can be used in projects. The product is good, but my usage in the future will vary depending on my projects and requirements. Overall, I would rate this product somewhere in the middle. Not bad, but not good.
I would rate this solution a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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Updated: July 2026
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