# Mermaid

> Generate diagrams and flowcharts from markdown-like text definitions, with a live editor.

- Category: [Diagrams as code](https://awesomedataviz.com/categories/diagrams-as-code/)
- Website: https://mermaid.ai/open-source/
- Repository: https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid
- License: MIT
- Language: TypeScript
- Status: Active (commits in the last 90 days)
- GitHub stars: 90,531
- Commits in the last 12 months: 2,472
- Contributors: 365
- Last commit: Oct 2, 2026
- Latest release: @mermaid-js/tiny@12.1.0 (Oct 2, 2026)
- Install (npm): `npm install mermaid`, 20M downloads per week
- Topics: Diagrams & diagrams as code

## Overview

Mermaid is an open-source diagram-as-code tool released under the MIT license. Its GitHub repository has 90,531 stars, 9,322 forks, and 365 contributors. It is actively developed with 2,472 commits in the last 12 months. The latest release, @mermaid-js/tiny@12.1.0, was published on Oct 2, 2026. On npm it is downloaded about 20M times per week.

## Alternatives

- [Diagrams](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/diagrams/): Diagram as code in Python for prototyping cloud system architectures. (42.7K stars)
- [D2](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/d2/): Declarative diagram scripting language that turns text into diagrams. (25.6K stars)
- [PlantUML](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/plantuml/): Generates UML, Gantt, mind map and other diagrams from plain text. (13.4K stars)
- [Markmap](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/markmap/): Builds interactive mind maps from Markdown. (13.1K stars)
- [flowchart.js](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/flowchart-js/): Draws SVG flowcharts from a textual description. (8.7K stars)
- [Penrose](https://awesomedataviz.com/tools/penrose/): Creates diagrams from mathematical notation in plain text, from Carnegie Mellon University. (8K stars)

## Comparisons

- [Diagrams vs Mermaid](https://awesomedataviz.com/compare/diagrams-vs-mermaid/)
- [D2 vs Mermaid](https://awesomedataviz.com/compare/d2-vs-mermaid/)
- [Mermaid vs PlantUML](https://awesomedataviz.com/compare/mermaid-vs-plantuml/)
- [Markmap vs Mermaid](https://awesomedataviz.com/compare/markmap-vs-mermaid/)
- [Graphviz vs Mermaid](https://awesomedataviz.com/compare/graphviz-vs-mermaid/)

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