ER Designer

What ER Designer is

ER Designer is a web-based platform for building entity-relationship diagrams, restructuring database schemas, and generating logical schemas. The editor handles entities, attributes, keys, composite and multivalued attributes, relationships, and generalizations, with Classic, Oval, and Tabular diagram styles. A restructuring wizard points out issues such as missing keys, multivalued attributes, and ISA structures, then lays out proposed steps to address them. From a restructured diagram, the tool can generate tables, primary and foreign keys, and crow’s foot notation. Diagram files can be imported and exported as JSON, with PDF and PNG export also available. ER Designer includes classroom workflows: teachers can create classes, assign exercises with attachments, monitor submissions, and review student projects in read-only mode. Students join with a code or invitation, access assigned work, and submit exercises. The site also offers an anonymous whiteboard, while saving projects on the server requires signing in. Sign-in options include email and password, Google, or GitHub OAuth. Student and Teacher plans are free; the Institute / Department plan has a price on request and includes multiple teachers, centralized user management, and dedicated onboarding. Teacher access requires a profile request in account settings that an administrator reviews. The site identifies Di Menna Riccardo as the creator and invites bug reports and suggestions through a feedback form.

Who it suits

ER Designer can suit teachers and students working through database design exercises, as well as independent users and business database design teams. Its diagram editor and guided restructuring also support people who need to turn a diagram into a logical schema.

Limits

The Student and Teacher plans are free. Anonymous whiteboards do not save projects on the server; saving requires sign-in, and teacher access requires administrator review of a profile request.

Getting started

1. Visit https://ermap.io/.
2. Open an anonymous whiteboard or sign in with email and password, Google, or GitHub.
3. Sign in to save projects on the server.
4. Use the Student plan to access a teacher’s classes, the full editor, and exercise submission, or the Teacher plan to create and manage classes.
5. Request teacher access through the profile request in account settings and wait for administrator review.
6. Ask about the Institute / Department plan for multiple teachers, centralized user management, and dedicated onboarding.

Verdict

Choose ER Designer if you need browser-based ER diagramming with guided schema restructuring or classroom assignment tools. Its free Student and Teacher plans make those workflows available without a listed charge. Look elsewhere if you require reverse or forward engineering or SQL export.