Creately
Creately is an AI-powered visual collaboration platform where diagrams, whiteboards, linked databases and tasks all share one infinite canvas. It covers 70 diagram types, ships more than 8,000 templates, and generates charts straight from plain text.
What is Creately?
Creately is an online visual collaboration and diagramming platform published by Cinergix Pty Ltd, an Australian company that has been running the product since 2008. Its core is an infinite canvas where diagrams, whiteboards, notes, tasks and structured data coexist instead of living in separate tools, a design the company sums up as the world's first work management platform that runs on a smart visual canvas.
The diagramming layer is the widest part of the offer: 70 professional diagram types, more than 1,000 purpose-built shapes with context-aware connectors, over 8,000 ready-made templates and some 200,000 community examples. Flowcharts, org charts, concept maps, mind maps, ER diagrams, network diagrams, genograms, family trees, wireframes, BPMN, UML, SWOT grids and cloud architecture diagrams all sit under the same editor.
AI runs across that surface rather than beside it. Diagram generation from text is included from the Starter plan upward, the assistant accepts targeted commands such as recolouring one department, it spaces shapes to keep connectors from crossing, and a role-based mode tailors suggestions to a family therapist, genetic counsellor or legal researcher. Confidence-based enrichment applies high-certainty data updates automatically and flags the rest for review.
Underneath sits a data layer that distinguishes Creately from a pure drawing tool. Custom databases hold reusable items that stay synchronised across several views and workspaces, with rich property types, per-item notes and attachments, universal full-text search, and two-way sync with Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. Tasks, multiple roles per item, workflows, OKR and KPI mapping turn the same canvas into a delivery board, and linked navigation turns it into a wiki.
Collaboration is real-time: live cursors, follow and spotlight, comment threads, timed voting, password-protected sharing, guest access and a presentation mode that runs straight off the canvas. Deployment covers the web app, a mobile application mentioned in the privacy policy, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Confluence Cloud, plus an API and on-premise installation at the Enterprise tier. Security credentials are substantial for the price: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA compliance with business associate agreements, and data residency across the United States, the European Union, Australia and the United Arab Emirates. The company claims more than 10 million users.
What it does
- Generate a diagram from plain text or structured data using the AI assistant
- Map a business process as a flowchart, BPMN diagram or swimlane
- Build and maintain an org chart with photos and detailed profiles
- Model a database in ER notation, Crow's Foot or Chen
- Draw cloud and network architecture using AWS, Cisco and Azure shape libraries
- Run a workshop or brainstorm on an infinite whiteboard with live collaborators
- Track delivery in Kanban, timeline or grid views with tasks and multiple roles per item
When to use Creately / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Creately is the right fit.
When to use Creately
- Product, software and IT teams that need architecture, ER, network and process diagrams kept in one place
- Project and programme managers running Kanban boards, timelines and multi-role workflows on the same canvas as the plan
- HR and operations teams maintaining org charts, onboarding flows and internal process documentation
- Regulated organisations with data residency mandates, including public bodies and banks that need EU, Australian, UAE or on-premise hosting
- Teams migrating away from Miro, Lucid, Visio or Mural, who can import existing boards at high fidelity
When not to use Creately
- Anyone planning to keep confidential work on the free tier, which the terms define as a public service producing publicly available documents
- Users who need an offline or desktop editor, since the plan table lists no offline sync and no desktop build
- Developers looking for a documented public API, as API access is an Enterprise line item with no published reference
- Buyers whose procurement checklist requires a published DPA and an online subprocessor list rather than one supplied on request
- People under 18, whom the privacy policy explicitly places outside the service
How to use Creately
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Sign up free at creately.com/register, or jump straight into a demo workspace via the Go to App link, with Google or Microsoft sign-in available
- Choose your storage region during sign-up, and choose carefully: the setting is permanent and applies to every user on the account
- Start from one of the 8,000-plus templates, import an existing file, or describe what you need and let the AI generate the first draft
- Build out the canvas with the shape libraries, the PlusCreate keyboard shortcuts, freehand drawing or markdown text formatting
- Attach notes, files and custom data fields to individual items so the detail travels with the picture
- Connect a data source such as Excel or Google Sheets and let items sync two ways across every view that uses them
- Add tasks, assign multiple roles per item, and switch to Kanban, timeline or grid views to run the work
- Invite collaborators, or share by link, by named user, with a password or as a guest, using folder, workspace and field-level permissions
- Present directly from the canvas, or export to JPEG, PNG, SVG, vector PDF or CSV depending on your plan
- For enterprise rollouts, configure SAML single sign-on and SCIM through Azure AD, Okta or Google, then enable audit logs and multiple admins
Pros & Cons
Pros
- One canvas replaces a diagramming tool, a whiteboard, a lightweight database and a task board
- Unusually broad diagram coverage at 70 types, with a template library few competitors match
- A permanent free plan with unlimited canvases and unlimited collaborators
- Low paid entry point at USD 5 per month on annual billing
- Data residency across four regions plus on-premise deployment, rare at this price level
- Credible security posture: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA compliance with business associate agreements
- High-fidelity import from Miro, Lucid, Visio and Mural, with a dedicated migration team for enterprise accounts
Cons
- The free tier is defined in the terms as a public service, and documents created there are publicly accessible
- Free accounts are capped at 45 items per canvas and a single folder, too little for real work
- The pricing page renders its amounts in JavaScript, so no figure appears in the page source
- No public API documentation: the API is an Enterprise selling point rather than a self-serve capability
- Clause 3.11 of the terms rules out refunds, yet the checkout links to a separate refund policy in the help centre
- The subprocessor list is supplied to customers on request rather than published
- Nothing is published about whether customer content is used to train AI models
Pricing & Plans
Creately offers a permanent free plan alongside four paid tiers. The free plan carries no charge and no time limit, with unlimited canvases and unlimited collaborators but 45 items per canvas and a single folder. The cheapest paid entry point is the Starter plan at USD 5.00 per month on annual billing, or USD 8.00 per month billed monthly. Team is priced per seat at USD 5.00 per user per month annually, Business at USD 89 per month annually for unlimited users, and Enterprise on quotation. A 7-day free trial is available on the Business plan on request. Charges exclude taxes, and the terms state that no refunds or credits are offered.
- unlimited canvases
- unlimited collaborators
- 45 items per canvas
- standard shape libraries
- 1 folder
- 2 imports
- basic collaboration controls
- 50 diagram types
- unlimited canvases
- 1
- 000 items per canvas
- premium shape libraries
- 20 folders
- unlimited imports
- JPEG
- PNG
- 1
- 500 items per canvas
- 30 folders
- 10 GB storage
- advanced collaboration
- email and chat support
- multiple named users
- account management portal
- everything in Team plus 3
- 000 items per canvas
- 100 folders
- 30 GB storage
- Microsoft Teams integration
- two-way sync with Excel and Google Sheets
- HR
- product
- unlimited items
- folders
- databases and storage
- permanent version history
- on-premise deployment
- advanced API integrations
- SSO
- SCIM
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Creately handles your data.
GDPR overview
Compliance is claimed explicitly. The privacy policy, effective 1 November 2024, states that Cinergix complies with the GDPR and the CCPA, and lists the rights it recognises: access, rectification, erasure, portability, objection and restriction of processing. Rights are exercised in account settings or by writing to support@creately.com, with identity verification possible. Cinergix presents itself as the data controller. The security page adds regional hosting in the United States, the European Union and Australia, privacy by design, SOC 2 Type 2 certification and ISO 27001 certification. Two gaps are worth noting for an Australian company serving European customers: no EU representative is named under Article 27, and no data protection officer is identified anywhere on the site.
Who owns the data?
Cinergix does not claim ownership of user material: your diagrams, text, images and documents stay yours. The catch sits in clause 6.2 of the terms. Posting material to the site, or setting it to be shared publicly, grants Cinergix and other site users a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate and distribute it, in current or future media, with a right to sub-license. That licence is described as irrevocable, except while the owning member holds an active Premium subscription. Employee access to customer content requires explicit authorisation and is logged and audited; support staff only open an account when a ticket or the customer requires it.
Reuse rights
For their own content, users keep full reuse rights: nothing in the terms requires permission to export, republish or commercialise a diagram you created, and exports run to JPEG, PNG, SVG, vector PDF and CSV. The constraint is on what you put in rather than what you take out, since user material must not be unlawful, defamatory, obscene, or infringe anyone's copyright, trade mark, privacy or confidentiality rights. Material published on the free tier becomes visible to every visitor through the community pages, so reuse also runs the other way. On Cinergix's side, the privacy policy limits collected data to delivering and improving the service, notifying collaborators, support, usage analysis, incident detection and marketing you can opt out of. Analytics go to Google Analytics and mParticle, remarketing to Google AdWords, payments to PayPal, Braintree and Chargebee. Nothing in the published documents addresses whether customer content feeds AI model training.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
Creately runs on Amazon Web Services. Customers choose a storage region at sign-up from the United States, the European Union, Australia and the United Arab Emirates; the security page lists the first three, while the enterprise page and the feature tour add the Middle East and the UAE. That choice is permanent and applies to every user on the account. Data may still leave the chosen region when content is shared with collaborators whose accounts sit elsewhere. Data in transit is encrypted with TLS 1.2 or higher and Perfect Forward Secrecy, with an A+ Qualys rating claimed; data at rest is encrypted with AES-256 using centrally managed and rotated keys. Datastores are backed up every 24 hours across redundant, clustered systems. Payments are handled by Chargebee, a PCI-DSS certified provider, and no card data is stored on Creately systems. Enterprise customers who cannot use shared infrastructure can deploy Creately on-premise.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Creately.
- The free plan is a public service under the terms: documents created there are publicly accessible and appear in the community pages, so anything confidential needs a paid workspace from day one
- Clause 6.2 grants a worldwide, sub-licensable and irrevocable licence over material you publish or share publicly, with the irrevocability lifted only while you hold an active Premium subscription
- Your storage region is fixed at sign-up and cannot be changed later, and sharing with collaborators in another region can move data outside the region you chose
- The terms refuse refunds in clause 3.11 while the checkout links to a separate refund policy, so establish which document governs before you pay
- Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled, billing disputes must be raised within 90 days, and prices can rise on 14 days' notice
- Nothing is published about AI training on customer content, so treat sensitive diagrams as potentially in scope until the vendor says otherwise in writing
- A canvas that holds the plan, the data and the tasks becomes a single point of dependency: keep exports of anything you cannot afford to lose, and remember the governing law is Victoria, Australia
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Low for individuals and teams. Sign-up takes a few minutes, Google and Microsoft logins are available, and the Go to App link opens a working canvas with no configuration at all. No coding is required, and Creately markets its workflow and rule builder as needing none. One decision matters: the storage region is chosen at sign-up and cannot be changed afterwards. Enterprise rollouts are a different exercise, involving SAML single sign-on, SCIM provisioning, audit logs, custom residency and possibly on-premise installation, though a migration plugin and a dedicated team handle moves from other tools.
Deployment
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind Creately
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Alternatives
Tools that compete with or complement Creately.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a permanently free plan?
What does the cheapest paid plan cost?
Is there a free trial?
Where is my data hosted?
Which security certifications does Creately hold?
Who owns the diagrams I create?
Is my content used to train AI models?
Does Creately have an API?
Can I migrate from another diagramming tool?
Should you pick Creately?
Creately is one of the older names in online diagramming, and 18 years of iteration show. The pitch is not simply a better drawing surface but a canvas that also holds databases, tasks and notes, so a process map and the work that follows from it live in the same place. That ambition is what makes it interesting and also what makes it harder to evaluate than a single-purpose tool.
The value equation is unusual. Seventy diagram types, more than 8,000 templates and AI diagram generation start at USD 5 per month on annual billing, and the free tier carries no collaborator limit. Alongside that sit credentials normally seen much higher up the market: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA compliance, data residency in four regions and on-premise deployment. Public sector and banking references back this up.
The reservations are real and mostly contractual rather than technical. The free plan is defined in the terms as a public service, meaning documents created there are publicly accessible, which is easy to miss and expensive to discover late. The pricing page renders no figures in its source, so a buyer cannot check prices without running JavaScript. Clause 3.11 refuses refunds while the checkout links to a separate refund policy. The subprocessor list is available on request rather than published, no EU Article 27 representative is named, and the documents say nothing at all about whether customer content trains AI models.
The verdict follows from that split. For teams that want breadth of diagram types, a genuine free tier and residency control at a low price, Creately is a strong candidate. For anyone with a procurement checklist, read the terms and the security page carefully before committing.
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