Free diagram maker
Flowchart maker
A flowchart turns a process you can only describe in a paragraph into something a reader takes in at a glance. It answers three questions at once: what the steps are, what order they happen in, and where the process branches.
Free, no account, and nothing you draw is uploaded.
Published . By the DiagramDesk team.
This editor gives you the standard flowchart symbols, connectors that find their own route between shapes, and a canvas with no cap on how much you put on it. Nothing is uploaded and nothing asks you to register.
When a flowchart earns its place
- Writing down a process that currently only lives in somebody's head
- Onboarding notes, so a new starter can follow a task without being walked through it
- Working out where approvals and hand-offs actually slow things down
- Course work and exams that ask for correct flowchart notation
Drawing a flowchart, step by step
- Open the editor. It starts with a Start shape, a couple of steps and a decision already in place.
- Double-click any shape to retype its label, or double-click bare canvas to drop a new one.
- Hover a shape and drag one of its four dots to another shape to connect them.
- Drag a dot onto empty canvas instead, and the next shape appears already joined up.
- Label the branches out of a decision Yes and No by double-clicking the connector.
- Export a PNG for a document, an SVG to keep it sharp, or a PDF to hand round.
The standard symbols and what each one means
- Terminator (stadium)
- The start or the end of the process. Every flowchart needs one of each.
- Process (rectangle)
- A single action or step. If a rectangle needs the word “and”, it is probably two steps.
- Decision (diamond)
- A question with a small number of answers. Label every line leaving it.
- Data (parallelogram)
- Something going in or coming out: a form submitted, a report produced.
- Predefined process
- A step defined properly somewhere else, so you do not repeat it here.
- Document
- A step that produces a document a person will read.
A worked example: a refund request
Start with an oval, Request received. An arrow leads to a rectangle, Check the order date, and then to the first diamond: Within 30 days? The No branch goes to a rectangle, Offer store credit, and on to an end oval. The Yes branch reaches a second diamond: Item unused?
From there, Yes leads to Refund in full and No to Refund less a handling charge, and both meet at a single end oval, Refund issued. Seven shapes and two decisions, and a new starter can follow it without asking anyone. Notice that every diamond has exactly two labelled exits; a diamond with an unlabelled arrow is the most common reason a flowchart gets misread.
Ready to draw yours?
The example above opens in the editor, so you can edit rather than start cold.
Flowchart questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Every shape, every export and every diagram you save is free, and there is no account to make. The plan is for adverts on the pages around the editor to pay for the site, never inside the editor itself.
How many flowcharts can I keep?
As many as your browser's storage will hold, which in practice is hundreds. There is no three-document cap.
Where are my diagrams stored?
In your own browser, on the device you drew them on. They are never sent to a server, which also means they will not follow you to another computer unless you export the file and open it there.
Can I open it again later?
Yes. Come back to the editor on the same browser and your last diagram is waiting. Everything else you have made is under Diagrams in the top bar.