Octonote AI vs Eraser
Notes and diagrams side by side — made to publish.
Eraser and Octonote AI share an idea: a document and a diagram belong side by side. Eraser leans into diagram-as-code and AI diagram generation for engineering teams. Octonote AI leans into freehand drawing, math and publishing explainers for readers.
Side by side
| Octonote AI | Eraser | |
|---|---|---|
| Doc and diagram side by side | ||
| Drawing canvas | Infinite tldraw canvas with auto-shape | Whiteboard canvas |
| Diagram-as-code | Mermaid, in notes and via CLI to editable canvases | Eraser's own syntax (flow, sequence, ERD, cloud) |
| AI diagram generation | No — use your own agent | 10 on Free, unlimited on Pro |
| Claude Code / Codex can write into it | octonote CLI | Eraser MCP server |
| LaTeX math in notes | Not documented | |
| Public pages | Published pages with byline, upvotes, analytics; whole notebooks | Publicly viewable share links |
| Free plan | 10 notes, 10 canvases, 10 projects, 10 notebooks | 5 files, 10 AI diagrams |
| Paid plan | Pro $10/month per workspace | Professional $10/member/month yearly, $12 monthly |
Eraser details checked October 2026 from Eraser pricing, Eraser MCP docs, Eraser sharing docs. Prices are monthly unless noted.
What's different in Octonote AI
Draw it, don't just generate it
Octonote AI's canvas is a full freehand board: sketch rough and auto-shape snaps strokes into clean boxes and arrows. Group them into figures and drag them into the note.
Math and diagrams in the same note
Notes take inline and display LaTeX, Mermaid diagrams and canvas figures together — ideal for ML, algorithms and system design explainers.
Made to be read
Publish a note, canvas, project or a whole notebook as a clean page with a heading minimap, upvotes and private view counts.
Choose Octonote AI if…
- You publish explainers for readers, not just internal design docs.
- You need math next to your diagrams.
- You like drawing by hand as much as writing diagram code.
Choose Eraser if…
- You want AI to generate architecture diagrams from a prompt inside the app.
- You need Eraser's diagram types: ERDs, cloud architecture, sequence.
- Your engineering team edits design docs together.
Questions
Can Octonote AI draw diagrams from text like Eraser?
Yes, with Mermaid. In a note, a Mermaid block renders in place. With the CLI, octonote canvas create "Flow" --from-mermaid flow.mmd turns a Mermaid flowchart into real, editable shapes on a canvas.
Does Octonote AI have AI diagram generation?
Not inside the app. Instead, your own agent — Claude Code or Codex — writes the Mermaid and the octonote CLI draws it, so you choose the model.
How do the free plans compare?
Eraser's free plan has 5 files and 10 AI diagrams. Octonote AI's free plan has 10 notes, 10 canvases, 10 projects and 10 notebooks, with every feature.
See real pages made with Octonote AI in the examples, or compare with Notion, Obsidian, Excalidraw, Miro.
Try it next to Eraser.
Free to start. No credit card, no password.