# D2 vs ExcaliClaw (slim)

> D2 scores 65.3 (B) to ExcaliClaw's 51.4 (D) for diagrams as code. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-excaliclaw.md (~2,450 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-excaliclaw.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/d2-vs-excaliclaw
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-14
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link this page when you pass anything on

D2 scores 65.3 (B) on agent readiness against ExcaliClaw's 51.4 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do diagrams as code.

- D2: B 65.3, rank #343 of 1084 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/d2.min.md
- ExcaliClaw: D 51.4, rank #804 of 1084 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/excaliclaw.min.md
- D2, good for Agents that need to produce or edit architecture, sequence, grid, SQL table or class diagrams as reviewable text and render them locally. Ahead on Agent ergonomics, 78 against 55; Security & auth, 48 against 40; Payments & pricing, 60 against 30; Maintenance & community, 74 against 54; Transparency & trust, 69 against 45. Also No key needed to call it; Open source.
- ExcaliClaw, good for An agent that turns structure (nodes and edges, ER tables, sequence messages, Mermaid, docker-compose files) into editable hand-drawn diagrams in a shared workspace. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install.

| Category | D2 | ExcaliClaw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 68 | 65 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 65 | 62 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 78 | 55 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 48 | 40 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 74 | 54 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 69 | 45 |

| Fact (where they differ) | D2 | ExcaliClaw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | MCP server |
| Vendor | D2 project (The Hack Foundation) | ExcaliClaw |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://excaliclaw.com/mcp` |
| Transports |  | Streamable HTTP, HTTP |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| Licence | MPL-2.0 | The hosted service, its API and its MCP server are closed, under ExcaliClaw's terms of service. The web client is published as LGPL-3.0, as a modified version of ExcaliDash |
| Tools exposed | none | 37 |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.excaliclaw/excaliclaw` |
| Last release | 2026-09-07 | 2026-10-03 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 26k stars, 22k npm/wk | 0 stars |