Free in your browser
Try Sydal in your browser, free.
The Sydal Playground is Sydal in a browser tab: no download and no account needed. Build and explore a model of up to 150 elements and 3 views, import your own schemas, and save the model as a file on your computer. Like the draw.io web app, Sydal doesn't upload or store your models; the app opens them from your files and saves back to them.
Needs a current desktop browser; we test in Edge and Chrome. It opens on a new model with one empty view, and File offers sample models to explore.
Honest limits
What the free web version does, and doesn't, do.
Your model stays on your computer
Open a model from a file on your computer and save it back there (File → Open, File → Save). The model is a plain .arch.json file that also opens in the Sydal desktop app. Sydal's server sends your browser the app's own files, and Sydal doesn't upload or store your models.
No autosave
The browser keeps no copy of your model. Closing or reloading the tab discards unsaved work, so save a file to keep it. The page warns you before you leave with unsaved changes. The browser remembers only your preferences, such as the theme and panel layout.
Soft size limits
Models of up to 150 elements and 3 views. A larger file opens to look at but not to change, and an edit or import past the limit is undone. The bundled samples are larger and open editable at their own size. The limits run in your browser; they're there to keep the free tier small, not as a security control.
No account needed, no tracking
You don't need an account to use it. Optional Sydal accounts are planned; the free version will keep working without one. The app loads no third-party scripts, analytics or fonts. Today it loads only its own files; once live connections arrive, it will also contact the services you connect, as described below. Cloudflare, our host, processes connection data such as IP addresses, as described in our privacy policy.
What's included
Free in the browser
- Every view, presentation mode, search, zoom and path finding
- Lineage and impact, down to the column
- Editing with undo, auto layout, the diagram standards, templates and diagram examples
- The model check, glossary and data-model tools; field rules, technology standards, links on elements and views, and decision records
- Imports: SQL DDL, DBML, JSON Schema / YAML, CSV and Mermaid, plus draw.io, Visio, Structurizr, PlantUML and ArchiMate diagrams
- Exports: PNG, SVG and Letter / A4 PDF with a small "Made with Sydal" mark; Mermaid, DBML and SQL DDL
Sydal Professional
In the desktop app
- Models of any size
- Read-only connectors to Databricks, Snowflake, SQL Server, Azure, Power BI and more, with re-sync
- Data assessment, the governance dashboard, EA portfolio, roadmap and surveys
- Version history and drafts
- PowerPoint, Visio, draw.io, Structurizr, PlantUML and ArchiMate export; 11 × 17 and A3 PDF; pictures without the mark
- Publishing a read-only site, the Markdown report and the data dictionary
- Code scanning and the AI assistant
Live connections Planned, not in the web version yet
Connecting from the browser
Today the web version has no live connectors: bring metadata in by importing files, or open a model saved from the desktop app. We're building read-only connections for the free web version, with these rules:
- Up to 2 live connections at a time per browser tab. Disconnect one to connect another. Like the size limits, this runs in your browser.
- Tokens are held in memory only, for the session. They're never written to browser storage, cookies, your model file or any export, and they're gone when you disconnect, close the tab or reload. There's no "remember me".
- dbt Cloud and Power BI / Fabric connect directly from your browser to the vendor. Power BI uses Microsoft sign-in in a pop-up window.
- Databricks and Snowflake go through a stateless Sydal relay on Cloudflare, because their APIs don't accept requests straight from a browser. Your requests and the vendor's responses, including your access token, pass through the relay in memory only. It has no storage, doesn't log credentials, request bodies or responses, and only forwards calls to an allowlist of the vendor's own API hosts and paths; the app sends only metadata queries, and we recommend a read-only role. We'll publish its source.
- Use a short-lived token with a read-only role. The app only reads metadata, but your token's role decides what the vendor lets it do.
- Your saved model keeps only a description of each connection (such as the connector type and host), never a token or password.
Need SQL Server, Postgres, scheduled sync, service principal or key-pair sign-in, or a network where outside relays aren't allowed? Use the desktop app, which connects straight from your PC.
FAQ
Questions about the free web version
Do I need an account?
No account is needed. Open the Sydal Playground and start. Optional Sydal accounts are planned; you won't need one to use the free version.
Where is my model saved?
Only where you save it: a file on your computer. Sydal doesn't upload or store your models, and the browser keeps no copy. Reloading or closing the tab without saving discards your changes.
Can I move a model to the desktop app?
Yes. The web version saves the same .arch.json format the desktop app opens. Models of any size open in Sydal Professional for editing.
What happens past 150 elements?
An edit or import that would go past 150 elements or 3 views is undone, with a message. A file that's already larger opens read-only. Sydal Professional has no limit.
Does it work on Mac or Linux?
It runs in your browser, so it doesn't need Windows; we test in current Edge and Chrome. The full Sydal app is a Windows desktop app (installer or MSI).
What does Sydal see?
Our host, Cloudflare, sees standard request data such as your IP address when your browser loads the app's files and, once live connections arrive, when Databricks and Snowflake requests pass through the Sydal relay. The app doesn't upload your model to Sydal and sends no analytics or usage data. See our privacy policy.