Flowchart Maker Free flow chart maker online

What is a flowchart maker?

A flowchart shows a process as a chain of steps: where it starts, what happens next, where a decision splits the path and where it ends. This free flowchart maker builds that diagram from text. You write the steps and the links between them, and the chart lays itself out with the right shapes and arrows. No dragging boxes, no fixing crooked connectors when you add a step in the middle.

It runs fully in your browser with no sign-up. Your draft is autosaved in this browser, and you can export PNG or SVG with no watermark.

How to make a flowchart in four steps

1. Write the steps. Use the table, type links in the Text tab, paste rows from Excel or Google Sheets, or load a sample: Order fulfilment, Login with retry loop or Support ticket triage.
2. Connect them. In the table, put the next step (or several, separated by commas) in the Next column and optional edge labels such as Yes, No in the Label column, in the same order.
3. Pick a layout. Auto layout runs top-down or left-right. Loops that go back to an earlier step are routed around the side so they do not cross the main path.
4. Check and export. Read the Checks panel, fix what it flags, then download PNG or SVG. Undo, redo, zoom and fit are there while you work.

Flowchart text syntax

The Text tab is the fastest way to use this flow chart maker online. Write one link per line as A -> B. Add an edge label after a colon, as in A -> B: yes, and write a whole chain on one line with A -> B -> C. Brackets set the shape:

• (Start) gives a rounded start or end shape.
• [Process] gives a rectangle for an action.
• {Decision?} gives a diamond for a question.
• /Input or output/ gives a parallelogram for data going in or out.

Without brackets the tool guesses: a step that ends with a question mark becomes a decision, and steps called Start, End, Begin, Finish or Stop become start and end shapes.

(Start) -> /Enter email and password/ -> {Password correct?}
{Password correct?} -> [Open dashboard]: yes
{Password correct?} -> [Show error]: no
[Show error] -> /Enter email and password/
[Open dashboard] -> (End)

The line from Show error back to the input step is a loop, and it is drawn around the side of the chart.

What the Checks panel catches

Most flowchart mistakes are logic mistakes, not drawing mistakes. The tool warns you about:

• Decisions with fewer than 2 exits. A question with only one answer is not a decision.
• Dead ends. Steps that lead nowhere and are not an End step.
• Unreachable steps. Steps that cannot be reached from the start.
• Missing steps. If you link to a step you never defined, it is created for you so the chart still draws.

Flowchart best practices

• One start, clear ends. Readers look for the entry point first. Name end steps by outcome, such as Order shipped or Refund issued.
• Start every step with a verb. Check stock reads better than Stock.
• Write decisions as yes or no questions and label both exits, so nobody has to guess which arrow is which.
• Keep it to one screen. If the chart grows past 25 to 30 steps, split it into sub-processes and chart each one separately.
• Keep the source in text. A text flowchart is easy to diff, review and paste into a ticket or a doc.

Where a free flowchart maker helps

Use it to document how an order moves from cart to delivery, to explain a login or signup flow to developers, to write a support triage path, or to turn a written procedure into a picture before you hand it to a SOP writer. Analysts use flowcharts to map the current state before they change it, which is the core of work done by a business process analyst or a business analyst. A handy trick: ask any AI chat to describe a process as A -> B lines, paste the answer into the Text tab and you have a diagram in seconds.

Free version vs Pro

Building, checking and exporting PNG or SVG are free, with no account and no watermark. Your draft lives only in this browser, so clearing browser data removes it. With the All-Access subscription (Pro $9 per month, Team $29 per month for 5 seats) you can save diagrams to your account, share a read-only link you can revoke at any time, and export PDF or PPTX for slide decks.

Need roles and teams on the diagram? Use the Process Map Maker, which adds swimlanes to the same step syntax.

More free diagram tools

Same editor, same free exports, different diagram:

• Mind Map Maker
• Process Map Maker
• Timeline Maker
• SWOT Analysis Maker
• Org Chart Builder
• Gantt Chart Maker

Or browse all free AI tools and generators.

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