Instead of Dia, try one of these 5.
Every alternative is lined up against Dia on what people actually switch for: price, open source, self-hosting, offline use and platforms. Dia sits in the first row, so you can see what you give up.
Alternative
Price
Open source
Self-host
Offline
Platforms
Likes
DiaWhat you have now
Classic open-source editor for UML, flowcharts and network maps.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Win · Mac · Linux
Hand-drawn style whiteboard, free and open source.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
draw.io#2
Free, open-source diagramming for any flowchart.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · Win · Mac · Linux
LikesVisit ↗
Diagramming and visual collaboration for teams.
PriceFreemium
from $9/user
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
yEd Graph Editor#4
Java desktop tool that auto-arranges large graphs and flowcharts
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflinePartial
Platforms
Web · Win · Mac · Linux
LikesVisit ↗
PlantUML#5
Plain-text UML generator runnable from JVM or editor plugins
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflinePartial
Platforms
Web · Win · Mac · Linux · Android
LikesVisit ↗
How to read this. “Yes” means fully supported by the maker. “Partial” means it works with caveats. Likes reflect community popularity; vendors can’t pay for them or for placement. How we compare.
Dia alternatives at a glance
Dia is a free whiteboards app. We compared 5 alternatives: 3 are open source, 4 are completely free, 0 can be self-hosted and 0 work fully offline. The most popular is Excalidraw, with 720 likes.
Best open-source optionPlantUML
Plain-text UML generator runnable from JVM or editor plugins
Free · Open source