7+ Best System Design Tools [Ranked and Reviewed]

Are you a system architect, designer, or engineer looking to improve your system development process?

Do you want to ensure that your systems are efficient, effective, and reliable?

If so, you might be interested in using system design tools.

System design tools can help you to model, analyze, and optimize your systems, providing you with a structured and systematic approach to system development.

In this blog post, we will introduce you to some of the most popular and powerful system design tools available today, and explain why they are essential for system architecture and design.

So, whether you’re a seasoned pro or a novice, read on to discover the design system tools that can take your system development process to the next level.

What Are The Best System Design Tools?

A great system design tool should provide users with creative, effective solutions for a wide range of tasks and optimize efficiency without sacrificing quality.

System design tools should be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing teams to quickly get up to speed on a project without needing to invest in extensive onboarding or training.

Let’s look at 7 of the market’s top system design tools to find the right one for you.

1. Draw.io

Overview

Draw.io is a system design tool for confluence teams to collaborate using diagrams and whiteboards in real time. It is ideal for creating, editing, and styling diagrams quickly and easily.

Highlights

• Create advanced diagrams with power functionality designed to save you time.
• Draw.io fully integrates with your confluence workflow.
• Export diagrams to numerous file formats and embed your existing diagrams from Google Drive & OneDrive.
• Full control over privacy, and a rapid customer support team.
• The interactive tutorials let you onboard yourself in just minutes.
• Desktop and web app versions.

Pricing

Draw.io’s sample pricing starts at $15 per month for 20 users. Contact them directly for an exact pricing structure depending on your needs.

Wrap-Up

Draw.io is a system design tool for all things visuals, like flowcharts, organizational charts, and network diagrams. It’s a great resource whether you’re diagramming complicated processes or visualizing data sets.

Also, draw.io is a user-friendly platform with intuitive drag-and-drop tools and plenty of useful templates to design system documentation.

It can help you create depictions that are easy to clearly comprehend and make complex ideas more easily understood.

For anyone looking to quickly create professional-looking visuals without any graphic design experience, draw.io is the ultimate solution. Try it for free.

2. Invision Design System Manager

Overview

The Invision Design System Manager is a system design tool for any architect, developer, or project manager looking to streamline their design workflow.

This user-friendly system allows designers and developers to use a cohesive component library, maintain consistency across projects, expedite the design process, and ensure system scalability.

Highlights

• Quickly access existing UI and brand standards easily with the Asset Library feature
• Experiment with color palettes in real-time with the Color Tool,
• Generate uniform code in seconds with the Code Output feature.
• Currently only compatible with Sketch.

Pricing

Design System Manager (DSM) is available in two plans: DSM Free and DSM Enterprise. You will need an InVision Enterprise plan to purchase DSM Enterprise.

To compare the features of each plan, check out the DSM plans page.

Wrap-Up

This comprehensive system design tool provides an intuitive way to build powerful design systems and simplify the tedious parts of designing digital experiences.

Invision Design System Manager is the perfect tool for any designer or design team looking to streamline their work and improve the consistency of their designs.

It allows designers to store and organize all their design assets, collaborate with teammates, securely access library components, and quickly share updates for review.

3. Lucid Chart

Overview

Lucid Chart is a system design tool for diagramming people, processes, and systems. It allows users to collaborate and visualize on one cloud-based platform.

Highlights

• The cloud-based platform and intuitive interface allows for diagramming on any device, browser, or operating system.
• It features real-time co-authoring, in-editor chat, shape-specific comments, and collaborative cursors.
• Large component library to easily use in your data flow diagram
• You can overlay important metrics on existing diagrams through data linking
• Use auto-visualization to generate org charts, ERDs, and more.
• Integrates with common apps like Google Workspace, Atlassian, Microsoft Office, Asana, and Slack.

Pricing

The free version includes 3 editable Lucidchart documents, 60 shapes per Lucidchart document, and 100 templates.

Options for individual, team, and enterprise levels are also available starting at $7.95 per month. Compare features by plan here.

Wrap-Up

Use Lucid Chart to optimize business design processes, visualize technical systems, and brainstorm with remote teams.

This system design tool helps build a superior user experience and plan and deploy new features faster.

With a variety of plans and pricing options, Lucid Chart is a versatile option for businesses and individuals alike. Check out a free trial.

4. Sketch

Overview

Sketch is a system design tool powered by macOS that includes all of the tools you need to design collaboratively.

Highlights

• Offers flexible Artboards and Templates for the beginner designer or for a quicker design process.
• Includes variable fonts and RTL support, alternate characters, ligatures, and more with full support for OpenType features.
• Manage, browse, and organize everything in one place with Components View.
• Insert easily with searchable menus and a dedicated Insert Window.
• Designed with Mac users in mind, appreciate features such as dark mode and TouchBar support.
• Top-notch designer for UI components

Pricing

For a smaller team, a standard plan starts at $9 a month per user. Larger teams should opt for a Business plan, starting at $20 a month per user. See a full plan comparison here.

Wrap-Up

This system design tool is ideal for Mac users and teams of all sizes. Use it on its own or add in extensions powered by macOS.

The online workspace is ideal for storing and sharing work, and designers of any skill level will benefit from templates and artboards.

Sketch is a very flexible platform, and offers a 30-day free trial so you can test it for yourself.

5. Figma

Overview

Figma is a cloud-based system design tool that speeds up the design and prototype processes. It is ideal for collaboration and offers multiple pricing levels to satisfy your needs.

Highlights

• The modern pen tool lets you draw in any direction with Vector Networks.
• The Arc tool helps to design circular objects and diagrams easily.
• Uses advanced font features to fully express your brand using OpenType.
• Automate your work with Plugins and Widgets.
• Developers can get the specs and assets they need easily with the collaborative workspace.
• Many diagramming UI components

Pricing

Figma offers a free version for the casual user, with professional and organization plans starting at $12 a month per user. Compare all of the tools and features here.

Wrap-Up

Design systems are easy to create and streamline with Figma. Build libraries that are always up-to-date, aligned with code, and evolve as you grow.

From design to prototyping, Figma helps maintain brand consistency while offering collaborative functions and easy-to-use tools. Try the free version.

6. Cacoo

Overview

Cacoo is a system design tool for collaborating on and creating flowcharts, wireframes, network diagrams, mind maps, and more.

It allows users to collaborate in real-time with colleagues on a shared project, take advantage of vast artwork libraries and objects, or dive right into diagramming with dozens of templates.

Highlights

• Multiple people can edit the same diagram at the same time, and there is an in-app video and chat.
• There are hundreds of templates to choose from.
• Import assets from Google Drive, Adobe Creative Cloud, Confluence, and more.
• Easily export, share, embed, and present your designs.

Pricing

Plans are free for small projects, but for longer projects, pro plans start at $6 a month for one user and team plans start at $6 a month per user.

Wrap-Up

Cacoo is an online system design tool that can be utilized by users with any level of knowledge, from the experienced graphic designer to the first-time learner.

Cacoo features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface where you can quickly create and edit visuals and then share them electronically with co-workers or friends. Check out a free trial.

7. Creatly

Overview

Creately is a system design tool that lets teams create diagrams, charts, and other visuals with ease. It enables teams to quickly bring clarity to their plans and ideas by making it easy to suggest, collaborate and visualize all in one place.

Highlights

• Items on a workspace are data-linked and context-aware, adding data, notes, tasks, workflow statuses, and more.
• Data from the source gets synced back, and data added on Creately stays inside Creately and is synced to all contexts.
• Add multiple task roles, build a workflow with multiple members, and assign clear responsibilities.
• Hundreds of templates and millions of shared diagrams from all over the world.

Pricing

For basic use, Creately offers a free subscription. Paid plans start at $5 a month per user and vary based on your needs.

Wrap-Up

Small businesses, large enterprises, and educational institutions alike can benefit from using this system design tool since its online collaboration capabilities allow for easy insight into complex architectures or projects with drag-and-drop simplicity.

Creately not only simplifies creating diagrams but also makes it easier to collaborate and communicate over visuals of all kinds. Check out a free trial.

Who Should Use System Design Tools?

System design tools are essential for anyone in the architectural, engineering, or related design field. They help to streamline the creative process and make complex projects easier to manage.

From IT architects designing business systems to electrical engineers redesigning a power grid – these types of tools give users the ability to take advantage of state-of-the-art technology so they can get their jobs done quickly and efficiently.

System design tools make it easier for anyone looking to develop and maintain applications and online sites.

If you’re a professional programmer, these tools can help design efficient code, while those with no coding experience can still benefit from them by creating branching diagrams and flows.

These design system tools are perfect for IT architects who need to design logical architectures of programs, as well as any business owners who want to ensure their processes run smoothly while they juggle different tasks.

Ultimately, system design tools are helpful for anyone – regardless of technical proficiency – looking to grow their business’s efficiency by streamlining systems and managing data.

What Are The Types Of System Design?

System design is a method to create or develop software, hardware, and processes that deliver the desired performance and quality.

There are four main types of system design documentation: functional, logical, physical, and object-oriented.

Functional design focuses on functions and operations within a system; it is often designed using data flow diagrams and process models.

Logical design describes how data is processed by components within a system, which can be further broken down into sub-analysis steps.

Physical design pinpoints how components of the system interact with each other, from processing data to producing output.

Finally, object-oriented design uses objects as principles, giving systems flexibility in delivering desired performance and quality.

Every type of system design plays an important role to ensure desired functionality for all systems.

What Is A Data Flow Diagram?

A Data Flow Diagram (DFD) is a graphical representation of how data flows in and out of a system or process. It’s typically used to identify how data moves through an organization or system, and how processes act on the data.

Essentially, it provides a clear visual understanding of how data moves from one point to another. Creating this diagram requires looking at each step or stage of the process to see where the data needs to go and which services or programs must be used for processing it.

DFDs can be used to make sure that existing systems are operating properly and efficiently, as well as to understand new systems more clearly before investing resources in their development.

They can also provide powerful insights that help organizations identify where improvement opportunities lie.

Why You Need To Design System Documentation

System Documentation is an essential part of system development and maintenance. It facilitates easier sharing of knowledge between the engineering, maintenance, and operations teams, helping minimize disruption to service.

System Documentation allows teams to quickly pinpoint the cause of a problem, thus reducing time researching for solutions, and enabling a faster resolution.

Additionally, consistent documentation prevents costly errors by keeping all stakeholders on the same page regarding procedure protocols and overall goals.

With accurate documentation readily available to everyone on the team with access permissions, collaboration amongst team members is streamlined into an efficient workflow.

To ensure success when designing systems, it’s important that system documentation be included in all stages of design processes.

Final Thoughts

System design tools eliminate redundancies or inefficiencies, ultimately streamlining the entire development and design process from start to finish.

Whether you are developing a simple application or a complex network, utilizing a system design documentation tool with an established component library can help ensure success every step of the way.