The Showdown

Lucidchartvspenrose

Why pay monthly fees for Lucidchart when you can self-host penrose for free? Let's look at the facts.

Lucidchart

The Expensive Option

  • Closed Source (Black box)
  • Expensive monthly fees per user
  • Data stored on their servers
WINNER

penrose

The Freedom Choice

  • 100% Open Source Code
  • Free forever (Self-hosted)
  • You own your data completely
Interactive Calculator

Calculate Your "SaaS Tax"

SaaS pricing is designed to scale with your success. See how much wealth transfers from your bank account to Lucidchart's shareholders.

10 people
150100200+
$

*Estimated standard pricing for Lucidchart. Adjust if needed.

Estimated Annual Waste
$1,440
Monthly Burn Rate$120
5-Year Projection$7,200
Cost with Self-Hosted$0
Start Saving Today

Calculations based on 10 users at $12/mo.

Detailed Breakdown

0
Drag-and-drop
Plain text notation
1
Manual placement
Constraint-based optimization
2
Visual approximation
Mathematical accuracy