# draw.io + MCP vs Lucid API + MCP > draw.io + MCP has a score of 62.4 (B) against Lucid API + MCP's 60.9 (C). Both do diagram create. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 53 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drawio-vs-lucid - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drawio-vs-lucid.md (~1,500 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drawio-vs-lucid.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drawio-vs-lucid.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - Updated: 2026-10-05 draw.io + MCP has a score of 62.4 (B) against Lucid API + MCP's 60.9 (C). Both do diagram create. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 53 points. - draw.io + MCP: grade B, 62.4/100, rank #219 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/drawio.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/drawio.json - Lucid API + MCP: grade C, 60.9/100, rank #238 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lucid.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lucid.json ## Which one, for what Pick draw.io + MCP for schema & documentation (+9), payments & pricing (+35), maintenance & community (+53), transparency & trust (+11). Pick Lucid API + MCP for reliability (+17), agent ergonomics (+13), security & auth (+25). ## Score by category | Category | Weight | draw.io + MCP | Lucid API + MCP | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 67 | Lucid API + MCP +17 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 73 | draw.io + MCP +9 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 49 | 62 | Lucid API + MCP +13 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 80 | Lucid API + MCP +25 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 25 | draw.io + MCP +35 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 33 | draw.io + MCP +53 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 63 | draw.io + MCP +11 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | | | **Total** | | **62.4 · B** | **60.9 · C** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | draw.io + MCP | Lucid API + MCP | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | MCP server | HTTP API | | Vendor | draw.io | Lucid Software | | Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.draw.io/mcp` | `https://api.lucid.co` | | Transports | Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | | Auth | None | OAuth or key | | Pricing | Free | Freemium | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Apache-2.0 | proprietary | | Tools exposed | 2 | 9 | | Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a | | p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet | | Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | no | yes | | MCP registry | `io.draw/mcp` | `app.lucid.mcp/lucid` | | Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-06-15 | | Popularity | 8.5k stars, 25k npm/wk | none | | Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) | ## Verdicts **draw.io + MCP.** Free, keyless and Apache 2.0, with a Docker image for self-hosting. Tool descriptions embed a 34.5 KB XML reference and a 14 KB Mermaid reference, roughly 13,000 tokens. **Lucid API + MCP.** OAuth 2.0 scopes with `:readonly` variants, and audit log endpoints in the REST API. No public changelog for the API or the MCP server. ## Before you call either ### draw.io + MCP 1. Pass `mermaid` to `create_diagram` for any type on its Mermaid list. Use `xml` only for icons, mockups or hand-placed layouts 2. Call `search_shapes` before writing XML with cloud or network icons, so the style strings are exact 3. Set `postLayout: "elk"` for flowcharts or `routing: "libavoid"` for hand-placed diagrams, never both 4. Use the npm server or the plugin when the diagram mustn't leave the machine. The hosted App sends it to draw.io's server 5. Expect the tool list to cost about 13,000 tokens before the first call ### Lucid API + MCP 1. Always send `Lucid-Api-Version: 1`, or prefix the path with /v1 2. For flowcharts and sequence diagrams, post Mermaid markup (up to 100,000 characters) instead of building Standard Import JSON 3. Request `:readonly` scopes when the agent only reads documents 4. On 429, wait 60 seconds or back off. Create Mermaid Diagram allows 60 calls a minute 5. Sharing and embed endpoints need an OAuth token. An API key won't work there ## Other comparisons with draw.io + MCP or Lucid API + MCP - [Cloudviz API vs draw.io + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-drawio.md) - [Cloudviz API vs Lucid API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudviz-vs-lucid.md) - [Diagrams.so API + MCP vs draw.io + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/diagrams-so-vs-drawio.md) - [Diagrams.so API + MCP vs Lucid API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/diagrams-so-vs-lucid.md) - [draw.io + MCP vs Eraser API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drawio-vs-eraser.md) - [draw.io + MCP vs Mermaid Chart MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drawio-vs-mermaid-chart.md) - [draw.io + MCP vs Structurizr + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drawio-vs-structurizr.md) - [draw.io + MCP vs tldraw SDK + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drawio-vs-tldraw.md) - [draw.io + MCP vs Whimsical MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drawio-vs-whimsical.md) - [Eraser API + MCP vs Lucid API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eraser-vs-lucid.md) - [Lucid API + MCP vs Mermaid Chart MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lucid-vs-mermaid-chart.md) - [Lucid API + MCP vs Structurizr + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lucid-vs-structurizr.md) - [Lucid API + MCP vs tldraw SDK + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lucid-vs-tldraw.md) - [Lucid API + MCP vs Whimsical MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lucid-vs-whimsical.md)