Flow vs Microsoft Visio

Overview

Flow

Stacks91

Followers58

Votes15

Microsoft Visio

Stacks140

Followers153

Votes7

Flow vs Microsoft Visio: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Flow and Microsoft Visio

Introduction:

This article outlines the key differences between Flow and Microsoft Visio, highlighting their distinct features and use cases.

Integration with Microsoft Office 365: Flow is built on the Azure Logic Apps platform and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office 365 and other Microsoft services. It allows users to automate workflows across various applications, making it suitable for individuals and teams who heavily rely on Microsoft products. Visio, on the other hand, is a diagramming tool that primarily focuses on visualizing information, process flows, and organizational charts.
Functionality and Purpose: Flow is primarily used for creating automated workflows, enabling users to connect different applications and services together. It provides a wide range of pre-built connectors and templates, making it easier to automate tasks and business processes. Visio, however, is a powerful diagramming tool that allows users to create professional-looking diagrams, flowcharts, and visualizations. It provides a rich set of shapes, symbols, and templates to represent complex information in a graphical format.
Accessibility and Ease of Use: Flow offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface, making it accessible to users with little or no programming experience. It allows users to create workflows through a visual editor, without the need for any coding knowledge. Visio, on the other hand, provides a more comprehensive set of tools and options for diagramming. While it offers a user-friendly interface, it may require a steeper learning curve for users unfamiliar with diagramming tools.
Collaboration and Sharing: Flow enables users to work collaboratively by creating and sharing workflows with other team members. It allows multiple users to edit and update workflows simultaneously, ensuring effective collaboration and communication. Visio, on the other hand, offers collaboration features through integration with Microsoft Teams, allowing users to collaborate on diagrams in real-time. However, it does not provide the same level of collaborative functionality as Flow.
Cost and Licensing: Flow is available as part of the Microsoft Power Platform, which includes Power Apps and Power BI. It offers a range of pricing plans, including a free version with limitations and premium plans with additional features. Visio, however, is a standalone product and requires a separate license for usage. It offers different editions, such as Visio Online Plan 1 and Plan 2, with varying features and pricing options.
Advanced Customization and Extensibility: Flow offers a variety of options for advanced customization, including the ability to create custom connectors and actions. It also provides integration with Azure services, enabling users to leverage advanced functionality and capabilities. Visio, on the other hand, offers extensibility through the Visio Developer Platform, which allows users to build custom solutions and integrate with other applications using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) or JavaScript.

In summary, Flow and Microsoft Visio differ in their integration with Microsoft Office 365, functionality and purpose, accessibility and ease of use, collaboration and sharing capabilities, cost and licensing models, as well as advanced customization and extensibility options.

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Advice on Flow, Microsoft Visio

Julien

Principal Software Engineer at Stessa

Mar 17, 2019

Decidedon

Microsoft Visio

Lucidchart

When starting my new role at #Stessa, I needed a solution to start diagramming some of my #Architecture so I'd be able to share my views on #SystemArchitecture with the rest of the team.

#Visualization is key. Especially when working with complex/distributed systems. You want to make sure everybody's got the same understanding of your approach, so you can better communicate, and start delegating more.

In the past, I had worked with #VisualParadigm for #UML, in both desktop and #SaaS version of the product. Also worked with #LucidChart We also looked at potential alternatives such as Microsoft Visio for instance.

Ultimately, my recommendation was & we closed on Lucidchart, as it won on couple of key aspects : #Team #Collaboration, #Integrations with #AWS for instance, and certain specific visualizations we were looking for / others didn't have.

This isn't just for #Engineering. I've seen Lucidchart being used by #Product Teams, #Network #Engineers, #IT Departments, #DevOps, or non-Engineering related teams.

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Flow	Microsoft Visio
Flow is an online collaboration platform that makes it easy for people to create, organize, discuss, and accomplish tasks with anyone, anytime, anywhere. By merging a sleek, intuitive interface with powerful functionality, we're out to revolutionize the way the world's productive teams get things done.	Create flowcharts, diagrams, org charts, floor plans, engineering designs, and more, using modern shapes and templates with the familiar Office experience.
Simple Project Management- Visually plan and organize all of your projects as lists or cards on kanban boards;Team Collaboration- Invite anyone to collaborate on a task whether they have an account or not.;Live Updates- With Flow, updates happen in real-time so everyone’s always up-to-speed.;Mobile App- Get all the functionality of Flow’s web app right in the palm of your hand.;Mac App- Create and delegate tasks and receive notifications directly from your desktop.;Email Integration- Flow’s email integration lets you manage tasks right from your inbox.	Versatile templates and thousands of shapes; Support for industry standards; Built-in validation; Simultaneous team editing; In-app commenting; Real-time presence indicators; Simple, highly secure sharing; Simple data linking; Data-connected org charts
Statistics
Stacks 91	Stacks 140
Followers 58	Followers 153
Votes 15	Votes 7
Pros & Cons
Pros 6 Easy to use 6 Great for collaboration 3 Free	Pros 7 Libraries allow the quick creation of diagrams
Integrations
Amazon S3 Slack Heroku Mailgun sendwithus	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Flow, Microsoft Visio?

Trello

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Asana

Asana is the easiest way for teams to track their work. From tasks and projects to conversations and dashboards, Asana enables teams to move work from start to finish--and get results. Available at asana.com and on iOS & Android.

Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps provides unlimited private Git hosting, cloud build for continuous integration, agile planning, and release management for continuous delivery to the cloud and on-premises. Includes broad IDE support.

Basecamp

Basecamp is a project management and group collaboration tool. The tool includes features for schedules, tasks, files, and messages.

Confluence

Capture the knowledge that's too often lost in email inboxes and shared network drives in Confluence instead – where it's easy to find, use, and update.

Redmine

Redmine is a flexible project management web application. Written using the Ruby on Rails framework, it is cross-platform and cross-database.

Taskulu

Taskulu is a collaborative project planning service. It combines task management, real-time chat and time tracking into a single interface.

Notion

A new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It's a unified and collaborative workspace for you and your team

Aha!

Set product strategy, visualize and share roadmaps, and articulate features so your product development teams can build what matters.

Ora

Ora enables you to customize your projects and collaborate the way you want! Choose an existing methodology or create your own. Ora has everything your team might need to boost productivity and collaborate! Task management, kanban, lists...

Related Comparisons

Flow vs Microsoft Visio: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Flow and Microsoft Visio

Introduction:

This article outlines the key differences between Flow and Microsoft Visio, highlighting their distinct features and use cases.

Integration with Microsoft Office 365: Flow is built on the Azure Logic Apps platform and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office 365 and other Microsoft services. It allows users to automate workflows across various applications, making it suitable for individuals and teams who heavily rely on Microsoft products. Visio, on the other hand, is a diagramming tool that primarily focuses on visualizing information, process flows, and organizational charts.
Functionality and Purpose: Flow is primarily used for creating automated workflows, enabling users to connect different applications and services together. It provides a wide range of pre-built connectors and templates, making it easier to automate tasks and business processes. Visio, however, is a powerful diagramming tool that allows users to create professional-looking diagrams, flowcharts, and visualizations. It provides a rich set of shapes, symbols, and templates to represent complex information in a graphical format.
Accessibility and Ease of Use: Flow offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface, making it accessible to users with little or no programming experience. It allows users to create workflows through a visual editor, without the need for any coding knowledge. Visio, on the other hand, provides a more comprehensive set of tools and options for diagramming. While it offers a user-friendly interface, it may require a steeper learning curve for users unfamiliar with diagramming tools.
Collaboration and Sharing: Flow enables users to work collaboratively by creating and sharing workflows with other team members. It allows multiple users to edit and update workflows simultaneously, ensuring effective collaboration and communication. Visio, on the other hand, offers collaboration features through integration with Microsoft Teams, allowing users to collaborate on diagrams in real-time. However, it does not provide the same level of collaborative functionality as Flow.
Cost and Licensing: Flow is available as part of the Microsoft Power Platform, which includes Power Apps and Power BI. It offers a range of pricing plans, including a free version with limitations and premium plans with additional features. Visio, however, is a standalone product and requires a separate license for usage. It offers different editions, such as Visio Online Plan 1 and Plan 2, with varying features and pricing options.
Advanced Customization and Extensibility: Flow offers a variety of options for advanced customization, including the ability to create custom connectors and actions. It also provides integration with Azure services, enabling users to leverage advanced functionality and capabilities. Visio, on the other hand, offers extensibility through the Visio Developer Platform, which allows users to build custom solutions and integrate with other applications using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) or JavaScript.

Flow vs Microsoft Visio

Overview

Flow vs Microsoft Visio: What are the differences?