# Graphviz vs Mermaid

## Key differences

- Mermaid has 61× as many GitHub stars as Graphviz (90.5K vs 1.5K).
- Graphviz is licensed under EPL-2.0; Mermaid under MIT.
- Mermaid is the older project: its repository was created in 2014, Graphviz's in 2017.

| | Graphviz | Mermaid |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Open source graph visualization command line tool and library. From input text to SVG,PDF,interactive web graph browser. | Generate diagrams and flowcharts from markdown-like text definitions, with a live editor. |
| GitHub stars | 1,473 | 90,531 |
| Commits (12 months) | – | 2,472 |
| Contributors | – | 365 |
| License | EPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | – | TypeScript |
| Status | Active | Active |
| Install | – | `npm install mermaid` |

Source: https://awesomedataviz.com/compare/graphviz-vs-mermaid/ · Data updated 2026-10-04 · Content: CC BY 4.0, Awesome Dataviz (https://awesomedataviz.com).