yEd Graph Editor — The Complete Guide: Free Diagrams With Smart Automatic Layout

yEd Graph Editor from yWorks is a desktop diagram editor that stands out for its automatic layout algorithms: you enter nodes and connections, and the program arranges them in hierarchical, orthogonal or circular layouts. It is free, closed-source software, and according to the official site it may also be used in a commercial environment.

yEd Graph Editor

yWorks

A diagram editor with smart automatic layout — flowcharts, org charts, networks and BPMN, including import from Excel.

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What you get

Automatic layout — rearrange a messy diagram with one click.
Many diagram types — flowcharts, UML, BPMN, org charts and networks.
Excel import — build a graph from a table of nodes and links.
XML import — load structured data from files.
Export — to PNG, SVG and PDF for reports.

Engineering uses and licence terms

The advantage shows when there are many items: a system structure with dozens of components, dependencies between work packages or the structure of a design team. Prepare a table in Excel, import it and get a tidy diagram without dragging boxes around. You may not distribute yEd on its own or use it in automated processes, and the licence agreement must be accepted before download. It is written in Java and the interface looks somewhat dated.

Related tools

For an open diagram editor in the browser and on the desktop — diagrams.net. For diagrams generated from code — Graphviz. For text-based diagrams inside documentation — Mermaid.