Before you can use Gliffy, sign in with your email address or a Google, Microsoft, or Facebook account. After the free trial period of 14 days, it can only continue to be used for free with limited functionality. However, you can upgrade to a premium account with a monthly subscription.
Gliffy has a large, well-assorted shape library. In addition to UML, you can use it to model simple flowcharts or business process modeling and notations (BPMN), among other things. At the beginning, an orientation window allows you to define your desired modeling language. If you select groups, the corresponding tools are highlighted in the menu bar. Grid and guidelines allow you to place diagram elements precisely where you want them.
The theme tool should determine the color family for the diagram but is limited to the arrow elements in the test. By clicking on classes, components, and the like, you can still quickly adjust the color and font of the symbols. You can also create different layers in no time by clicking on the corresponding menu item (far right in the tool bar). In addition, you do not have to plan the diagram construction step by step in advance. You can simply undo errors with the delete function. If you want to insert an element, Gliffy detects the change and suggests appropriate insert options.
As a free UML tool, Gliffy imports diagrams in GON, Gliffy, and gXML formats. For the Microsoft Visio format, VDX, you need a business account. The same applies when exporting common image formats such as JPG, PNG, and SVG and the connection to Google Drive. Free accounts also have the native “Gliffy” format. Save a document in this format, share it easily with others via a download link, or embed it on various platforms such as HipChat, Slack, Confluence, or WordPress.
A free account also provides 2 MB of cloud space for your diagrams and allows you to share five models publicly at the same time. With a paid account from about $7.99 per month, Gliffy offers you even more possibilities: unlimited memory, diagram import from Visio, and export to the mentioned image formats. An enterprise account is required for significantly more performance. For such high demands, however, there is better software.