Can draw.io do UML properly?

It draws all of it. The UML and UML 2.5 shape libraries cover the structural and behavioural diagram types, and a diagram built from them is as correct as the person drawing it. What draw.io does not do is model: there is no metamodel underneath, so nothing rejects an illegal relationship and nothing ties the same element across two diagrams together.

Can I move a draw.io diagram into Archyno?

Yes - draw.io import is one of the formats Archyno reads today. What it can recover is what the file actually contains: shapes, labels and connections. It cannot recover the meaning that was never recorded, so an imported diagram arrives as a drawing to be typed into the metamodel rather than as a finished model. Going the other way, Archyno to draw.io, is not available yet.

Is draw.io really free?

Yes. It is Apache 2.0 licensed, requires no sign-up, and there is no paid tier of the diagramming tool itself. Some Atlassian marketplace integrations are commercial, but the editor is not.

Comparison

Archyno vs draw.io

draw.io is a general diagramming canvas with UML shapes on it. Archyno is a modelling tool that happens to draw. Both produce a class diagram; only one of them knows it is a class diagram.

What draw.io is

draw.io is a free, Apache 2.0 licensed diagramming tool that runs in the browser or as a desktop app. It is storage-agnostic by design - diagrams live in your Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, GitHub or on local disk rather than on the vendor's servers, and the vendor states plainly that your data stays yours and they cannot access it. Its UML support is a shape library: enable the UML and UML 2.5 libraries and you have 220 shapes covering every structural and behavioural diagram type, alongside many thousands of general, IT and cloud-platform shapes.

What draw.io does better

It is free forever with no sign-up and no account, under an Apache 2.0 licence, and there is no paid tier to grow into.
You choose where the file lives - Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, GitHub, or local disk with the desktop app - so no diagram of your architecture sits on a vendor's server.
Its shape breadth goes far past UML into IT, network and cloud-platform icons, so one tool covers the architecture diagram and the AWS topology beside it.
It works offline in the desktop app, and embeds inside Confluence and Jira where a lot of architecture documentation actually lives.

The difference that matters

In draw.io a UML class box is a rectangle that looks like a class box. The shape library gives it the right notation, and nothing underneath knows what it means: the same class drawn on two diagrams is two unrelated shapes, an association to nothing in particular draws exactly as readily as a legal one, and there is no model to query, validate or export. Archyno inverts that - the metamodel is the source, the shapes are a view of it, and the rules engine refuses a relationship the notation does not allow. The cost is real: Archyno will not draw you a network topology or a mind map, and draw.io will.

At a glance

Dimension	draw.io	Archyno
What a UML shape is	A shape from a library, with UML notation	A view of a typed element in a metamodel
Illegal notation	Draws - nothing is checking	Refused by the rules engine
Where the file lives	Your storage - Drive, OneDrive, GitHub, local disk	Archyno's, with exports out to standard formats
Cost	Free and open source, Apache 2.0	Free tier, paid for collaboration and interop
Output	SVG, PNG, PDF	PNG, SVG, Mermaid, XMI, ArchiMate Exchange, Sparx .qea

Choose draw.io when

You want one free tool for every kind of diagram, you want the file in your own storage, and a diagram that reads correctly is the goal. draw.io is excellent at that and costs nothing.

Choose Archyno when

The same elements recur across diagrams and must stay consistent, you want the notation checked rather than merely drawn, or you need a model export - XMI, ArchiMate Exchange, Sparx .qea - that a drawing tool does not produce.

Templates

Common questions

Can draw.io do UML properly?: It draws all of it. The UML and UML 2.5 shape libraries cover the structural and behavioural diagram types, and a diagram built from them is as correct as the person drawing it. What draw.io does not do is model: there is no metamodel underneath, so nothing rejects an illegal relationship and nothing ties the same element across two diagrams together.
Can I move a draw.io diagram into Archyno?: Yes - draw.io import is one of the formats Archyno reads today. What it can recover is what the file actually contains: shapes, labels and connections. It cannot recover the meaning that was never recorded, so an imported diagram arrives as a drawing to be typed into the metamodel rather than as a finished model. Going the other way, Archyno to draw.io, is not available yet.
Is draw.io really free?: Yes. It is Apache 2.0 licensed, requires no sign-up, and there is no paid tier of the diagramming tool itself. Some Atlassian marketplace integrations are commercial, but the editor is not.

Claims about draw.io were checked against drawio.com, draw.io UML documentation on 2026-08-10. Products change; verify anything that decides a purchase.

draw.io is a product of JGraph. We are not affiliated with them, and this page is written by Archyno.