An example of the most basic diagramming functions: create a box, give it a label, connect it to another box, label that connection. It also demonstrates shorthand ID substitution, if it exists in the syntax.


basic

Software architecture (partial) of Wii U. Source: https://www.copetti.org/writings/consoles/wiiu


wiiu

Support for LaTeX equations make the tool suitable for academic and scientific use cases.


latex

Class diagrams show structure (attributes and methods) and relationships of classes. These are common in demonstrating and OOP (object oriented programming) design.


class

An example using containers to group objects and connecting shapes of various nesting levels.


containers

An example covering many different types of shapes. No two tools have the same overlap in coverage of shapes, so each one showcases a few unique to it and a few common.


shapes

Trees and tree-like strucures (one way flow of direction and each shape has one edge pointing to it).


trees

Hans Niemann is sueing Magnus Carlsen after cheating accusations were made. Here's a high level diagram outlining the key players of this drama. The syntax also showcases comments and multiple connection labels.


chess

Icons and images are essential to professional-looking diagrams. How do the different tools handle it? Note: PlantUML's icon system is to include pre-packaged icon sets, so the example shown is one that uses their icon set.


icons

Show the flow of data, concretely, with a diagram of SQL tables pointing to
each other, otherwise known as an ERD (Entity Relation Diagram).

There's a lot of variation in how the different langauges implement this.
PlantUML and Mermaid have mature support for different types of endpoints,
which is showcased here. GraphViz does not support table shapes natively, but a
replica built with HTML is used instead to get a comparable render. Notice that
Mermaid declares a new graph type, whereas D2 and PlantUML change the shape.


tables

The best part of UML. Sequence diagrams are a clear way of showing a sequence of interactions between multiple actors.


sequence

Supporting rich text is essential to professional diagrams. D2 allows using Markdown, while Graphviz and Mermaid have some support for HTML. However, Graphviz's HTML support is limited to a small subset of tags. Mermaid does not alow splitting HTML into multiple lines.


text

Code snippets make diagrams concrete, especially when you're diagramming a lower level of abstraction, like how services talk to each other. Currently, D2 is the only language that support syntax-highlighted code snippets.


Features
Open source: The language is free and open-source.Open source
License: The license that governs terms of usage.License	MPL 2.0	GPL 3.0
Downloadable CLI: Is a runnable download available (if not, it requires building from source).Downloadable CLI
Server-side execution: Can the language render diagrams without a browser.Server-side execution
Container edges: Edges going from or to containers is very popular in software architecture diagrams.Container edges
Released in: First year of public releaseReleased in	2022	2009
Maintenance: Is the language actively maintainedMaintenance
Compiler language: The language it is implemented inCompiler language	Go	Java
Editor support: The state of editor support for the languageEditor support	Creator-made extensions for VSCode and Vim	Community-made extensions for VSCode, Vim, Atom
Themes: Configurable themes for diagramsThemes
Friendly error messages: Not just "syntax error"Friendly error messages
Images & Icons: What are the available options for including images and iconsImages & Icons	Any URL
Sequence diagrams: The best part of UMLSequence diagrams
SQL tables: Support for Entity-Relational-Diagrams (ERD)SQL tables
Markdown: Use Markdown for text objects in the diagramMarkdown
Code snippets: Render syntax-highlighted code snippetsCode snippets
LaTeX: Render math equations suitable for academic usageLaTeX
Accessibility: Support for accessibility options like description tags for screen readersAccessibility
Autoformat: Language tooling to autoformat a fileAutoformat
Native Github rendering: Does it render natively on GithubNative Github rendering
Responsive dark mode: Can the diagram render with both light and dark mode, switching depending on user preferenceResponsive dark mode
PDF exports: Can the CLI export PDF outputPDF exports

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