2026-09-26
mermaid.live is the official, canonical Mermaid editor, and it's genuinely well built. Searching for an alternative to it usually isn't about a shortcoming — it's about timing: you're already in the middle of formatting a JSON payload or decoding a JWT somewhere else, and now you need a quick flowchart for the same task. Opening a new tab, waiting for another app to load, and finding your place again feels like more friction than a three-box diagram deserves.
The diagram itself is usually small and disposable — a flow explaining a PR, a sequence for a Slack message, something for a doc — not something that needs a saved link, a dedicated app, or a bookmark of its own.
Mermaid Diagram Editor runs the same Mermaid rendering engine mermaid.live uses, in the same tab you're already working in alongside JSON formatting, regex testing, or whatever else brought you to iLoveDevTools. Paste the syntax, get a live preview a moment after you stop typing, copy the SVG or download it as SVG or PNG — done.
mermaid.live keeps a live, URL-encoded link up to date as you edit, which is a nice way to hand a teammate the exact same diagram. iLoveDevTools now has a Copy share link button that does the same thing: it compresses the diagram into the part of the URL after the #, which browsers never send to a server. mermaid.live is also the official Mermaid project's own editor, so brand-new syntax and diagram types land there first.
For a fast diagram you need for a doc, a PR, or a message, iLoveDevTools's version does the job without a new tab, and it can share, export to SVG or PNG, and autosave. If you want the very newest Mermaid syntax the day it ships, mermaid.live's own editor is where it lands first.