Cacoo vs. Microsoft Visio

It's a great alternative to taking photos of whiteboards to save for later reference, you can just create them here. It's also the best option I've found for creating workflows and organization charts, especially complex ones. If you have just a simple workflow or chart, it's probably too robust or complicated for those needs. Save it for the trickier or messier ones!

Incentivized

I believe any company or individual that is looking to get a process map visualized; would be a great tool. The tool is a great way to get complex ideas onto “paper” for all to see. Visio can be harder to use if you have an idea that is going in many different directions. If all ideas can fit on one page, this is the tool to use to visualize it all.

Incentivized

• Creative resource for various visual support items
• The free version is robust and nice to staff who have not used it before to get to know the product
• Support has been helpful when needed

Incentivized

• The templates for basic flowcharting are simple to use and cover most of the basic functions and touch points in a diagram.
• The variety of included icons and connectors means it's very easy to create floor plans and/or network diagrams.
• The ease at which you can customise connectors with different colours/thickness makes it very effective in overall presentation of a diagram.

Incentivized

• UI navigation
• Connector flexibility
• Improved table object

Incentivized

• Its inability to delve deeply into micro information successfully.
• It is a paid software which comes after paying a Microsoft licensing fee.
• The cost is high and the integration of the stencil library is unnecessarily fragmented.
• The more you use it, the faster and more effective you will get.

Incentivized

We use Microsoft Visio to keep our diagrams updated and to that end we will need the subscription to keep using the software. Otherwise we will be left with PDF versions of the diagrams.

Incentivized

I think Microsoft Visio is pretty easy to initially pick up and understand the user interface to dive into make basic models. It would be nice if there were some fit for purpose templates so that not as much time needs to be spent on some types of engineering diagram structure. Trying to work on a single Visio file with multiple team members is also a sticking point.

Incentivized

Overall, I feel that Microsoft's support is weak. They are now such a behemoth that their model of putting documentation online for their users to sift through is totally outgrown. Given the amount of money you pay for these licenses, Microsoft should provide easy one-on-one support for their products via email or chat. The idea of paying their rates for support incidents is ridiculous. If you have an enormous amount of time on your hands, use their support websites and you will eventually find a solution most of the time.

Incentivized

Cacoo is web-based and OS independent. OmniGraffle is a local install and mac only. Microsoft Visio is a desktop app also and Windows only. Two strikes for me, as I use between 2-4 different computers daily where I expect my applications to be always up-to-date and files synchronized.

Incentivized

I have personally never used or evaluated other programs similar to Microsoft Visio. I started using it following an indication from a colleague who told me that our University distributes it free of charge to its users. Since I first used it (more or less three years ago), I have never left Microsoft Visio. Excellent!

• Allowed us to diagram out our user needs, saving us many hours of collaboration
• Allowed us to diagram out our system architecture, saving us many hours of rework
• Sufficient to wireframe a UI as a guiding post to the design while prototyping. Lowers overhead of additional software adoption at early stages.

Incentivized

• Greatly enhanced time to create share and finalize documentation.
• Better collaboration between disparate teams, such as marketing opts and sales ops.
• Transparency/visibility into standardize, workflows and processes have led to better team, relationships, and better results that translate directly to the bottom line and ROI.

Incentivized